Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
Each week, KFF Health News finds longer stories for you to enjoy. Today's selections are on prison mental health care, flu, chatbots, vaccines, and koalas.
The Marshall Project:
For People Mentally Unfit For Trial, Waits For Treatment Get Longer
U.S. defendants must be able to understand the charges against them — but many who can’t remain behind bars waiting for mental health treatment. (Aspinwall, 9/6)
The New York Times:
Rare But Serious Complication Shows Flu’s Potential Harm
Acute necrotizing encephalopathy, or A.N.E., can result from influenza or other infections, including Covid-19. (Mandavilli, 9/12)
Undark:
Are We Offloading Critical Thinking To Chatbots?
Research, much if it by companies with deep investment in AI, suggests that chatbot interactions alter how users think. (Skibba, 9/12)
NPR:
Dr. Peter Hotez Takes The War Against Science Very Personally
Peter Hotez is a prominent vaccine scientist. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a prominent vaccine skeptic. In 2023, podcast host Joe Rogan invited the two to debate — promising $100,000 to the charity of Hotez's choice as a payoff. The debate didn't happen. (More on that later.) But the incident inspired Hotez, the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, to write his sixth book, Science Under Siege. He co-authored it with Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania. (Ruprecht, 9/10)
AP:
World-First Vaccine Approved To Protect Koalas From Chlamydia
Australia has approved a world-first vaccine to protect koalas from chlamydia. This disease causes infertility and death in the endangered species. (McGuirk, 9/12)
