Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed
The Wall Street Journal: Surgery Simulation Startup FundamentalVR Raises $20 Million
Flesh is squishy. Bone is hard. Now with haptics, surgeons in training can feel the sensation of cutting into one and drilling into the other without having to be in operating rooms. With virtual reality as a backbone, companies are leveraging haptics to enable people to feel virtual objects, creating immersive experiences across a range of scenarios. Simulated surgery, for example, provides varying levels of feedback to surgeons working on virtual bone or flesh. (Bousquette, 8/12)
The Washington Post: How Coronavirus Vaccines Saved Oncologist-Patient Relationship
As Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and writer, noted about his experiences with patients: “People are having poisons dripped into their blood, some are dying, others are being saved, and every conversation you have carries a kind of potency that you just don’t encounter in the rest of the world. It is immensely challenging, both intellectually and emotionally.” All of this has been threatened by the highly transmissible coronavirus that has stretched our social bonds and thrust us into various degrees of isolation. (Baig, 8/14)
The New York Times: Polio Was Almost Eradicated. This Year It Staged A Comeback.
Although the United States and Britain have high immunization rates, they also have pockets of low immunity that allow the virus to flourish. In those communities, all unvaccinated people — not just children — are at risk. If polio continues to spread in the United States for a year, the country may lose its polio-free status under W.H.O. guidelines. (Mandavilli, 8/18)
NPR: RIP Debt Turns Debt Collection On Its Head, Buying Up Unpaid Medical Bills
After helping Occupy Wall Street activists buy debt for a few years, Antico and Ashton launched RIP Medical Debt in 2014. They started raising money from donors to buy up debt on secondary markets — where hospitals sell debt for pennies on the dollar to companies that profit when they collect on that debt. (Noguchi, 8/15)
Fortune: Remote Work Is Probably Hurting Your Body And Brain—But There Are Simple Ways To Fight It
Although we may never be able to fully replicate all of the physical and mental benefits of working in the office, there are small changes that can help improve remote work. One way to do that is by playing games, suggests Tanya Tarr, behavioral scientist and president of Cultivated Insights. Yes, you read that correctly. Creating conditions for low-stakes play simulates problem-solving, encourages collaboration, and mimics the mirror neurons (brain cells that are activated when we perform an action and observe others performing the same action) that are often created in an office setting. These neurons are also responsible for producing empathy, which translates into trust, safety, and belonging—feelings that may be missing from remote and hybrid office settings. (Payton, 8/13)
The Wall Street Journal: Men’s Body-Image Issues Got Worse During The Pandemic—Even If Many Didn’t Realize It
Having a negative body image has long been considered a female problem. Countless books, videos and after-school specials have been devoted to highlighting the concern and the damage it does to girls and women. But men are nearly as likely to suffer from negative body-image concerns—and studies suggest that the stress and anxiety of the pandemic only made things worse. (Mitchell, 8/14)
The Washington Post: Army Is Making Its First Uniform Tactical Bra. Vets Say It’s Overdue
When Sarah Hoyt arrived at Fort Jackson, S.C., for basic training in 2002, the Army confiscated all of her personal belongings. That included sports bras she had packed for the 10 weeks of strenuous physical activity that stretched ahead of her, she said. If she wanted new ones, she had to visit a reception station, which sold just one brand and one style, said Hoyt, now 41 and an Army veteran living at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. “If racerbacks were uncomfortable for you, too bad. If you needed more support, too bad. If the store was out of your size, too bad,” she said. (Kingsberry, 8/11)
NPR: Listen To Parents Around The World Speak 'Parentese' To Their Babies
When most adults, even older children, see an infant, they shamelessly slip into baby talk: Whooose a prettee baabee? Such a cuutiee. Their speech gets smoother, slower, higher pitched and sing-songy. Researchers call this altered form of speech "parentese," but almost everybody does it — an uncle, a neighbor or the nice lady at the grocery store. (Brink, 8/14)
ProPublica: What Is Radon? The Radioactive Gas Is Found In Homes Across The Country
About five billion years ago, stars merged and exploded, creating uranium that eventually became embedded in the Earth. As uranium decays as part of a natural process, it emits radon, a radioactive gas. This gas can seep into homes and other buildings through pipes and cracks in foundations. If present in high enough concentrations, the gas and its byproducts can damage lung tissue and cause lung cancer. (Miller, 8/8)
