California Bill Aims to Steer Grocery Shoppers Away From Ultraprocessed Foods
Officials Confirm Small Bird Flu ‘Outbreak’ in Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park
‘Delay’ and ‘Deny’: Even Health Insurance Companies Agree Prior Authorization Process Is Broken
California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak in the Country
Super Bloom of Death Caps Sparks Largest Outbreak of Mushroom Poisonings in Decades
Navy Apologizes for 11-Month Delay in Reporting Radioactive Material at Hunters Point
Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No
Stanford Study Offers Clue to Rare Myocarditis After COVID Vaccination
A Maze of Clinics: Navigating Ketamine’s Rapid Rise
Sponsored
Player sponsored by
window.__IS_SSR__=true
window.__INITIAL_STATE__={
"attachmentsReducer": {
"audio_0": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_0",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background0.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_1": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_1",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background1.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_2": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_2",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background2.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_3": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_3",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background3.jpg"
}
}
},
"audio_4": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "audio_4",
"imgSizes": {
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/themes/KQED-unified/img/audio_bgs/background4.jpg"
}
}
},
"placeholder": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "placeholder",
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-lrg": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-med": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"fd-sm": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"height": 533,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xxsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xsmall": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"small": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"xlarge": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1020x680.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"height": 680,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1-1920x1280.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1280,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-32": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 32,
"height": 32,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-50": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 50,
"height": 50,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-64": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 64,
"height": 64,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-96": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 96,
"height": 96,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"guest-author-128": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 128,
"height": 128,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"detail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-1333x1333-1-160x160.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 160,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/KQED-Default-Image-816638274-2000x1333-1.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
}
},
"science_2000465": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_2000465",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2000465",
"found": true
},
"title": "US-FOOD-JUSTICE",
"publishDate": 1774461408,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 2000462,
"modified": 1774478748,
"caption": "PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay Flamin’ Hot snacks are displayed at a store in Hawthorne, California. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel announced legislation aimed at helping consumers avoid harmful ultraprocessed foods.",
"credit": "Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-square": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed-600x600.jpg",
"width": 600,
"height": 600,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2249030426_qed.jpg",
"width": 1999,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_2000214": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_2000214",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2000214",
"found": true
},
"title": "FL2605",
"publishDate": 1772131640,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 2000206,
"modified": 1772131769,
"caption": "A researcher collects a nasal swab sample from a symptomatic elephant seal-weaned pup for avian influenza testing. ",
"credit": "Courtesy of Frans Lanting for the Beltran Lab/UC Santa Cruz",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/SwabFar__AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1999999": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1999999",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999999",
"found": true
},
"title": "2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED",
"publishDate": 1770829841,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1770841713,
"caption": "Ocean McIntyre goes through a file folder of health insurance claims and denial letters at her home in Panorama City. Feb. 10, 2026.",
"credit": "Jules Hotz for KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00147-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1999676": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1999676",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999676",
"found": true
},
"title": "251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1765903938,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1768440050,
"caption": "Sita Davis points to a photo of death cap mushrooms in the book Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. The top image shows an edible mushroom that resembles a death cap, from the book Diccionario Gastronómico de Hongos Mexicanos.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-03-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1999677": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1999677",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999677",
"found": true
},
"title": "251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED",
"publishDate": 1765903941,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1768435095,
"caption": "Death cap mushrooms sit by the side of a trail during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park.",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1979684": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1979684",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1979684",
"found": true
},
"parent": 1979614,
"imgSizes": {
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 576
},
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 107
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 372
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg",
"width": 1920,
"height": 1278
},
"large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg",
"width": 1020,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 679
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 1022
},
"medium": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg",
"width": 800,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 533
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54652_038_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg",
"width": 768,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg",
"height": 511
}
},
"publishDate": 1656458209,
"modified": 1701986154,
"caption": "Abandoned buildings at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco on March 8, 2022.",
"description": "Much of what remains at the Hunters Point Superfund site are abandoned and broken-down buildings. Photo taken in San Francisco on March 8, 2022.",
"title": "Bayview Hunters Point",
"credit": "Beth LaBerge/KQED",
"status": "inherit",
"altTag": "Blue bay water in the foreground with gray and tan industrial buildings along the bay's edge in the background. In the distance are hills and above is a blue sky.",
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1999408": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1999408",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999408",
"found": true
},
"title": "251126-AI KAISER-KQED_1",
"publishDate": 1764185577,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1764185598,
"caption": "Ilana Marcucci-Morris and other Kaiser therapists strike in Oakland in August 2022.",
"credit": "Courtesy of Karna Roa",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-160x106.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 106,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-768x511.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 511,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-1536x1022.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1022,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/251126-AI-KAISER-KQED_1.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1331
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1999543": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1999543",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999543",
"found": true
},
"title": "IMG_8792_qed",
"publishDate": 1765388600,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 1999540,
"modified": 1765388637,
"caption": "Hoover Tower on the Stanford University campus on April 9, 2019.",
"credit": "Rachael Myrow/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-160x120.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 120,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-768x576.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-1536x1152.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1152,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"npr-cds-wide": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed-1200x675.jpg",
"width": 1200,
"height": 675,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/IMG_8792_qed.jpg",
"width": 1778,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
},
"science_1998717": {
"type": "attachments",
"id": "science_1998717",
"meta": {
"index": "attachments_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1998717",
"found": true
},
"title": "20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED",
"publishDate": 1759446684,
"status": "inherit",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1765216672,
"caption": "Aliyah Economos poses for a portrait at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025.",
"credit": "Gina Castro/KQED",
"altTag": null,
"description": null,
"imgSizes": {
"thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED-160x107.jpg",
"width": 160,
"height": 107,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"medium_large": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED-768x512.jpg",
"width": 768,
"height": 512,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"1536x1536": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED-1536x1024.jpg",
"width": 1536,
"height": 1024,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"post-thumbnail": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED-672x372.jpg",
"width": 672,
"height": 372,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"twentyfourteen-full-width": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED-1038x576.jpg",
"width": 1038,
"height": 576,
"mimeType": "image/jpeg"
},
"kqedFullSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-2-KQED.jpg",
"width": 2000,
"height": 1333
}
},
"fetchFailed": false,
"isLoading": false
}
},
"audioPlayerReducer": {
"postId": "stream_live",
"isPaused": true,
"isPlaying": false,
"pfsActive": false,
"pledgeModalIsOpen": true,
"playerDrawerIsOpen": false
},
"authorsReducer": {
"adembosky": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "3205",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "3205",
"found": true
},
"name": "April Dembosky",
"firstName": "April",
"lastName": "Dembosky",
"slug": "adembosky",
"email": "adembosky@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news",
"science"
],
"title": "KQED Health Correspondent",
"bio": "April Dembosky is the health correspondent for KQED News and a regular contributor to NPR. She specializes in covering altered states of mind, from postpartum depression to methamphetamine-induced psychosis to the insanity defense. Her investigative series on insurance companies sidestepping mental health laws won multiple awards, including first place in beat reporting from the national Association of Health Care Journalists. She is the recipient of numerous other prizes and fellowships, including a national Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting, a Society of Professional Journalists award for long-form storytelling, and a Carter Center Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism.\r\n\r\nDembosky reported and produced \u003cem>Soundtrack of Silence\u003c/em>, an audio documentary about music and memory that is currently being made into a feature film by Paramount Pictures.\r\n\r\nBefore joining KQED in 2013, Dembosky covered technology and Silicon Valley for \u003cem>The Financial Times of London,\u003c/em> and contributed business and arts stories to \u003cem>Marketplace \u003c/em>and \u003cem>The New York Times.\u003c/em> She got her undergraduate degree in philosophy from Smith College and her master's in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a classically trained violinist and proud alum of the first symphony orchestra at Burning Man.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ef92999be4ceb9ea60701e7dc276f813?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "adembosky",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "futureofyou",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "stateofhealth",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "forum",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "April Dembosky | KQED",
"description": "KQED Health Correspondent",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ef92999be4ceb9ea60701e7dc276f813?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/ef92999be4ceb9ea60701e7dc276f813?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/adembosky"
},
"lesleymcclurg": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11229",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11229",
"found": true
},
"name": "Lesley McClurg",
"firstName": "Lesley",
"lastName": "McClurg",
"slug": "lesleymcclurg",
"email": "lmcclurg@KQED.org",
"display_author_email": false,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news",
"science"
],
"title": "KQED Health Correspondent",
"bio": "Lesley McClurg is a health correspondent and fill-in host whose work is regularly rebroadcast on NPR and PBS programs. She’s earned multiple regional Emmy awards, a national and a regional Edward R. Murrow award, and was named Best Beat Reporter by the Association of Health Care Journalists. The Society of Professional Journalists has recognized her work several times, and the Society of Environmental Journalists spotlighted her coverage of California’s historic drought.\r\n\r\nBefore joining KQED in 2016, Lesley covered food and sustainability for Capital Public Radio, environmental issues for Colorado Public Radio, and reported for KUOW and KCTS 9 in Seattle. Away from the newsroom, she loves skiing with her daughter, mountain biking with her partner, and playing with Ollie, the family’s goldendoodle. On deadline, she runs almost entirely on chocolate chips.\r\n\r\n ",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3fb78e873af3312f34d0bc1d60a07c7f?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "lesleywmcclurg",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "futureofyou",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "stateofhealth",
"roles": [
"author"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "quest",
"roles": [
"subscriber"
]
},
{
"site": "forum",
"roles": [
"administrator"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"author"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Lesley McClurg | KQED",
"description": "KQED Health Correspondent",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3fb78e873af3312f34d0bc1d60a07c7f?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/3fb78e873af3312f34d0bc1d60a07c7f?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/lesleymcclurg"
},
"smohamad": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11631",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11631",
"found": true
},
"name": "Sarah Mohamad",
"firstName": "Sarah",
"lastName": "Mohamad",
"slug": "smohamad",
"email": "smohamad@KQED.org",
"display_author_email": true,
"staff_mastheads": [],
"title": "Engagement Producer and Reporter, KQED Science",
"bio": "Sarah Mohamad is an audience engagement reporter and producer for KQED Science. She reports on audience-focused science and environment stories and manages the team's social media, newsletter, and engagement efforts. Prior to this role, she played a key role as project manager for NSF's \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/crackingthecode\">\u003cem>Cracking the Code: Influencing Millennial Science Engagement\u003c/em> \u003c/a>audience research.",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/085f65bb82616965f87e3d12f8550931?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "sarahkmohamad",
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "about",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Sarah Mohamad | KQED",
"description": "Engagement Producer and Reporter, KQED Science",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/085f65bb82616965f87e3d12f8550931?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/085f65bb82616965f87e3d12f8550931?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/smohamad"
},
"eromero": {
"type": "authors",
"id": "11746",
"meta": {
"index": "authors_1716337520",
"id": "11746",
"found": true
},
"name": "Ezra David Romero",
"firstName": "Ezra David",
"lastName": "Romero",
"slug": "eromero",
"email": "eromero@kqed.org",
"display_author_email": true,
"staff_mastheads": [
"news",
"science"
],
"title": "Climate Reporter",
"bio": "Ezra David Romero is a climate reporter for KQED News. He covers the absence and excess of water in the Bay Area — think sea level rise, flooding and drought. For nearly a decade he’s covered how warming temperatures are altering the lives of Californians. He’s reported on farmers worried their pistachio trees aren’t getting enough sleep, families desperate for water, scientists studying dying giant sequoias, and alongside firefighters containing wildfires. His work has appeared on local stations across California and nationally on public radio shows like Morning Edition, Here and Now, All Things Considered and Science Friday. ",
"avatar": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9c15bb8bab267e058708a9eeaeef16bf?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twitter": "ezraromero",
"bluesky": null,
"facebook": null,
"instagram": null,
"linkedin": null,
"sites": [
{
"site": "arts",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "news",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "science",
"roles": [
"editor"
]
},
{
"site": "liveblog",
"roles": [
"author"
]
}
],
"headData": {
"title": "Ezra David Romero | KQED",
"description": "Climate Reporter",
"ogImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9c15bb8bab267e058708a9eeaeef16bf?s=600&d=blank&r=g",
"twImgSrc": "https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/9c15bb8bab267e058708a9eeaeef16bf?s=600&d=blank&r=g"
},
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/author/eromero"
}
},
"breakingNewsReducer": {},
"pagesReducer": {},
"postsReducer": {
"stream_live": {
"type": "live",
"id": "stream_live",
"audioUrl": "https://streams.kqed.org/kqedradio",
"title": "Live Stream",
"excerpt": "Live Stream information currently unavailable.",
"link": "/radio",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "KQED Live",
"link": "/"
}
},
"stream_kqedNewscast": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "stream_kqedNewscast",
"audioUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/newscast.mp3?_=1",
"title": "KQED Newscast",
"featImg": "",
"label": {
"name": "88.5 FM",
"link": "/"
}
},
"science_2000462": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_2000462",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2000462",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1774478492000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "california-ultraprocessed-foods-label-grocery-stores",
"title": "California Bill Aims to Steer Grocery Shoppers Away From Ultraprocessed Foods",
"publishDate": 1774478492,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "California Bill Aims to Steer Grocery Shoppers Away From Ultraprocessed Foods | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>A California Democrat wants to make healthy food easier to spot with what would be the country’s first state-certified seal for foods that are not \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101908516/youre-probably-eating-more-ultra-processed-foods-than-you-think\">ultraprocessed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that we have seen that has worked really well with the organic label,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Encino, who introduced the proposal. “It’s simple, it’s clean, people understand what it means, and then consumers can make a choice for themselves and for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill builds on a broader push in California to regulate ultraprocessed foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1264/id/3272629\">law\u003c/a> creating one of the first legal definitions of ultraprocessed foods, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979856/from-anxiety-to-cancer-evidence-against-ultra-processed-food-piles-up\">contain certain additives\u003c/a> — like artificial colors, flavorings or emulsifiers — and are high in added sugar, sodium or saturated fat, or contain non-nutritive sweeteners. The law will also phase out the most concerning products from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064869/what-will-school-meals-look-like-under-new-law-on-ultra-processed-food\">school meals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Gabriel’s bill, the California Department of Public Health would oversee a certification system, with third-party groups verifying which products meet the state’s standard. Those products could carry a “California Certified” label, and large retailers would be required to make them more visible in stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000476\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 779px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"779\" height=\"796\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED.jpg 779w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED-160x163.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED-768x785.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bill proposed by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel would create a “California Certified” seal for foods that are not ultraprocessed and require them to be made more visible in grocery stores. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Environmental Working Group)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The evidence is there,” said Alyssa Moran, a nutrition researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who supports the bill. “Ultraprocessed foods clearly increase chronic disease risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the federal level, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sought to make similar connections between diet and chronic disease, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5667021/dietary-guidelines-rfk-jr-nutrition\">releasing new dietary guidelines\u003c/a> that call for Americans to consume drastically less “highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives.” Experts, however, have criticized Kennedy’s focus on red meat and animal fats, and say he often misrepresents scientific research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many consumers, even identifying which foods are healthy can be confusing. Studies have found that shoppers often misclassify ultraprocessed foods and underestimate how much of them they eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I regularly find myself picking up healthy-seeming items and then having doubts,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, which sponsored Gabriel’s bill. “Is this whole wheat bagel a good choice if it also has added sugar? Should I be concerned about the emulsifier in this vinaigrette? I find this kind of mental gymnastics to be exhausting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attend an event unveiling a new Make America Healthy Again Commission report in the White House East Room on May 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But critics, including food industry groups, say the science around ultraprocessed foods is still evolving. They argue there is no universally accepted definition and said that labeling foods could mislead consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gabriel said the intent behind his proposal is not to ban foods but to give people clearer information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, Americans are among the world’s biggest consumers of ultraprocessed foods, and we are paying the price for it,” he said, “both in terms of poor health outcomes and rising health care costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill is expected to be heard in committee in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Proposed legislation would create a “California Certified” label for foods low in sugar, fat and additives and require large retailers to display them more prominently.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1774479195,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 15,
"wordCount": 589
},
"headData": {
"title": "California Bill Aims to Steer Grocery Shoppers Away From Ultraprocessed Foods | KQED",
"description": "Proposed legislation would create a “California Certified” label for foods low in sugar, fat and additives and require large retailers to display them more prominently.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "California Bill Aims to Steer Grocery Shoppers Away From Ultraprocessed Foods",
"datePublished": "2026-03-25T15:41:32-07:00",
"dateModified": "2026-03-25T15:53:15-07:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "Health",
"sourceUrl": "https://www.kqed.org/science/category/health",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-2000462",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/2000462/california-ultraprocessed-foods-label-grocery-stores",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A California Democrat wants to make healthy food easier to spot with what would be the country’s first state-certified seal for foods that are not \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101908516/youre-probably-eating-more-ultra-processed-foods-than-you-think\">ultraprocessed\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s something that we have seen that has worked really well with the organic label,” said Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Encino, who introduced the proposal. “It’s simple, it’s clean, people understand what it means, and then consumers can make a choice for themselves and for their families.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill builds on a broader push in California to regulate ultraprocessed foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/text/AB1264/id/3272629\">law\u003c/a> creating one of the first legal definitions of ultraprocessed foods, which \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11979856/from-anxiety-to-cancer-evidence-against-ultra-processed-food-piles-up\">contain certain additives\u003c/a> — like artificial colors, flavorings or emulsifiers — and are high in added sugar, sodium or saturated fat, or contain non-nutritive sweeteners. The law will also phase out the most concerning products from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064869/what-will-school-meals-look-like-under-new-law-on-ultra-processed-food\">school meals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under Gabriel’s bill, the California Department of Public Health would oversee a certification system, with third-party groups verifying which products meet the state’s standard. Those products could carry a “California Certified” label, and large retailers would be required to make them more visible in stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000476\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 779px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"779\" height=\"796\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED.jpg 779w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED-160x163.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/260325-CALIFORNIA-CERTIFIED-NOT-ULTRAPROCESSED-KQED-768x785.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 779px) 100vw, 779px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A bill proposed by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel would create a “California Certified” seal for foods that are not ultraprocessed and require them to be made more visible in grocery stores. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Environmental Working Group)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The evidence is there,” said Alyssa Moran, a nutrition researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who supports the bill. “Ultraprocessed foods clearly increase chronic disease risk.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the federal level, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has sought to make similar connections between diet and chronic disease, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/01/07/nx-s1-5667021/dietary-guidelines-rfk-jr-nutrition\">releasing new dietary guidelines\u003c/a> that call for Americans to consume drastically less “highly processed foods laden with refined carbohydrates, added sugars, excess sodium, unhealthy fats, and chemical additives.” Experts, however, have criticized Kennedy’s focus on red meat and animal fats, and say he often misrepresents scientific research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many consumers, even identifying which foods are healthy can be confusing. Studies have found that shoppers often misclassify ultraprocessed foods and underestimate how much of them they eat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I regularly find myself picking up healthy-seeming items and then having doubts,” said Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group, which sponsored Gabriel’s bill. “Is this whole wheat bagel a good choice if it also has added sugar? Should I be concerned about the emulsifier in this vinaigrette? I find this kind of mental gymnastics to be exhausting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000464\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000464\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/03/GettyImages-2216564413_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attend an event unveiling a new Make America Healthy Again Commission report in the White House East Room on May 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But critics, including food industry groups, say the science around ultraprocessed foods is still evolving. They argue there is no universally accepted definition and said that labeling foods could mislead consumers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gabriel said the intent behind his proposal is not to ban foods but to give people clearer information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, Americans are among the world’s biggest consumers of ultraprocessed foods, and we are paying the price for it,” he said, “both in terms of poor health outcomes and rising health care costs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill is expected to be heard in committee in the coming weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/2000462/california-ultraprocessed-foods-label-grocery-stores",
"authors": [
"11229"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_4417",
"science_4414",
"science_507",
"science_5181",
"science_4277"
],
"featImg": "science_2000465",
"label": "source_science_2000462"
},
"science_2000206": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_2000206",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2000206",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1772132043000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "officials-confirm-small-bird-flu-outbreak-in-elephant-seals-at-ano-nuevo-state-park",
"title": "Officials Confirm Small Bird Flu ‘Outbreak’ in Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park",
"publishDate": 1772132043,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Officials Confirm Small Bird Flu ‘Outbreak’ in Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>Scientists have confirmed that seven weaned northern elephant seal pups at the park tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, known as H5N1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confirmation, provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, marks \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s first confirmed detection of the virus in a marine mammal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers estimate that about 30 seals, mostly recently weaned pups, plus one adult male, have died so far. Additional samples are still being processed, and officials say the outbreak appears to have been caught early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we were able to witness the very start,” said Christine Johnson, a professor of epidemiology at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Field teams already monitoring the colony noticed a slight uptick in dead seals late last week and observed animals showing neurological symptoms, including tremors, weakness and seizure-like activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a post-mortem exam on one known female weaned pup, veterinarians found signs that the disease moved quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000215\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000215\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of healthy weaned elephant seal pups on the beach at Año Nuevo State Park. The variation in fur color is a normal process of molting each year. \u003ccite>(Frans Lanting for the Beltran Lab/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The animal was in excellent nutritional condition,” said Megan Moriarty, a wildlife veterinarian at UC Santa Cruz. “That means she likely died quickly from a disease process that happened rapidly, as opposed to something more chronic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moriarty said the seal showed significant damage to the brain and lungs — findings consistent with the neurological symptoms researchers had observed in the seals out in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Highly pathogenic avian influenza was first identified in 1996 and has since spread globally, largely through poultry. The current North American outbreak began in late 2021 and has affected wild birds, poultry, dairy cows and multiple mammal species. Two prior U.S. marine mammal outbreaks — in Maine in 2022 and Washington state in 2023 — were linked to bird-to-seal transmission and were relatively short-lived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people, the risk is low,” Johnson said. But she emphasized that the bird flu is a zoonotic virus, meaning it can spread from animals to humans through close contact, in rare instances. Officials are urging visitors to stay at least 150 yards away from marine mammals, keep pets leashed and avoid touching sick or dead wildlife.[aside postID=science_2000171 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/RESIZE_Ano-Nuevo-SP_Jan-2024_Mandatory-courtesy-CA-State-Parks.jpg']At the park, public elephant seal tours have been canceled for the remainder of the season. California State Parks said the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” to protect both wildlife and to avoid inadvertently spreading the virus through foot traffic in affected areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Año Nuevo State Park hosts one of the most intensively studied elephant seal colonies in the world, led by researchers at UC Santa Cruz. About 3,000 seals use the mainland site during the winter breeding season, and scientists have tracked more than 55,000 individuals over six decades through flipper tags and long-term monitoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That long-term individual-based data set gives us a really unparalleled opportunity to understand how this virus affects uniquely identifiable animals,” said Roxanne Beltran, who leads the program at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the outbreak appears concentrated among weaned pups — young seals that have recently been left behind after their mothers return to sea. Two weeks ago, researchers counted roughly 930 pups and weanlings on the beach. Beltran said about 95% of adult females had already departed on their foraging migrations when the outbreak began, a detail scientists hope may limit broader impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Avian influenza has affected only a small proportion of the weaned pups at this time,” Beltran said. “There are still thousands, apparently healthy animals in this population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, researchers are bracing for uncertainty. In South America in 2023, H5N1 devastated southern elephant seals in Argentina, with major pup losses that altered the population’s trajectory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000217\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000217\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers disinfect field boots to prevent the spread of disease. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Frans Lanting for the Beltran Lab/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A change in the number of pups that survive in a given year has a really, really long-lasting consequence,” Beltran said. Northern elephant seals can live more than 20 years, and population shifts ripple across decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists do not yet know how the virus is spreading at Año Nuevo — whether through direct contact with infected birds, environmental exposure such as feces, or seal-to-seal transmission. Genetic sequencing of the virus is underway and could take weeks to clarify whether it matches the dominant bird strain circulating now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, monitoring has intensified. Teams are conducting systematic beach surveys, collecting samples from sick animals, flying drones to assess colony-wide health and coordinating across agencies, including NOAA Fisheries and The Marine Mammal Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County, responders have temporarily paused hands-on responses for elephant and harbor seals while assessing risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My biggest concern is that this perpetuates and continues to spread and paralyzes the operations,” said Dominic Travis, the center’s chief executive. “We’re going to be assessing that day by day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Seven elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park tested positive for bird flu. About 30 seals have died in what officials call a small, early-stage outbreak. Public tours are canceled.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1772222644,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 22,
"wordCount": 896
},
"headData": {
"title": "Officials Confirm Small Bird Flu ‘Outbreak’ in Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park | KQED",
"description": "Seven elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park tested positive for bird flu. About 30 seals have died in what officials call a small, early-stage outbreak. Public tours are canceled.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Officials Confirm Small Bird Flu ‘Outbreak’ in Elephant Seals at Año Nuevo State Park",
"datePublished": "2026-02-26T10:54:03-08:00",
"dateModified": "2026-02-27T12:04:04-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 2874,
"slug": "animals",
"name": "Animals"
},
"source": "News",
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-4[…]f-aaef00f5a073/365b33cc-84dc-426e-9f4d-b3fe011c59f8/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-2000206",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/2000206/officials-confirm-small-bird-flu-outbreak-in-elephant-seals-at-ano-nuevo-state-park",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Scientists have confirmed that seven weaned northern elephant seal pups at the park tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza, known as H5N1.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The confirmation, provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory, marks \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s first confirmed detection of the virus in a marine mammal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers estimate that about 30 seals, mostly recently weaned pups, plus one adult male, have died so far. Additional samples are still being processed, and officials say the outbreak appears to have been caught early.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think we were able to witness the very start,” said Christine Johnson, a professor of epidemiology at UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Field teams already monitoring the colony noticed a slight uptick in dead seals late last week and observed animals showing neurological symptoms, including tremors, weakness and seizure-like activity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During a post-mortem exam on one known female weaned pup, veterinarians found signs that the disease moved quickly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000215\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000215\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/WeanedPupGroup_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A group of healthy weaned elephant seal pups on the beach at Año Nuevo State Park. The variation in fur color is a normal process of molting each year. \u003ccite>(Frans Lanting for the Beltran Lab/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The animal was in excellent nutritional condition,” said Megan Moriarty, a wildlife veterinarian at UC Santa Cruz. “That means she likely died quickly from a disease process that happened rapidly, as opposed to something more chronic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moriarty said the seal showed significant damage to the brain and lungs — findings consistent with the neurological symptoms researchers had observed in the seals out in the field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Highly pathogenic avian influenza was first identified in 1996 and has since spread globally, largely through poultry. The current North American outbreak began in late 2021 and has affected wild birds, poultry, dairy cows and multiple mammal species. Two prior U.S. marine mammal outbreaks — in Maine in 2022 and Washington state in 2023 — were linked to bird-to-seal transmission and were relatively short-lived.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For people, the risk is low,” Johnson said. But she emphasized that the bird flu is a zoonotic virus, meaning it can spread from animals to humans through close contact, in rare instances. Officials are urging visitors to stay at least 150 yards away from marine mammals, keep pets leashed and avoid touching sick or dead wildlife.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "science_2000171",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/RESIZE_Ano-Nuevo-SP_Jan-2024_Mandatory-courtesy-CA-State-Parks.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>At the park, public elephant seal tours have been canceled for the remainder of the season. California State Parks said the decision was made “out of an abundance of caution” to protect both wildlife and to avoid inadvertently spreading the virus through foot traffic in affected areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Año Nuevo State Park hosts one of the most intensively studied elephant seal colonies in the world, led by researchers at UC Santa Cruz. About 3,000 seals use the mainland site during the winter breeding season, and scientists have tracked more than 55,000 individuals over six decades through flipper tags and long-term monitoring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That long-term individual-based data set gives us a really unparalleled opportunity to understand how this virus affects uniquely identifiable animals,” said Roxanne Beltran, who leads the program at UC Santa Cruz.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So far, the outbreak appears concentrated among weaned pups — young seals that have recently been left behind after their mothers return to sea. Two weeks ago, researchers counted roughly 930 pups and weanlings on the beach. Beltran said about 95% of adult females had already departed on their foraging migrations when the outbreak began, a detail scientists hope may limit broader impact.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Avian influenza has affected only a small proportion of the weaned pups at this time,” Beltran said. “There are still thousands, apparently healthy animals in this population.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, researchers are bracing for uncertainty. In South America in 2023, H5N1 devastated southern elephant seals in Argentina, with major pup losses that altered the population’s trajectory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000217\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000217\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/Boots_AnoNuevo_Feb242026_Frans-Lanting-for-Beltran-Lab-UC-Santa-Cruz-NMFS-permit-28742-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Researchers disinfect field boots to prevent the spread of disease. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Frans Lanting for the Beltran Lab/UC Santa Cruz)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“A change in the number of pups that survive in a given year has a really, really long-lasting consequence,” Beltran said. Northern elephant seals can live more than 20 years, and population shifts ripple across decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists do not yet know how the virus is spreading at Año Nuevo — whether through direct contact with infected birds, environmental exposure such as feces, or seal-to-seal transmission. Genetic sequencing of the virus is underway and could take weeks to clarify whether it matches the dominant bird strain circulating now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, monitoring has intensified. Teams are conducting systematic beach surveys, collecting samples from sick animals, flying drones to assess colony-wide health and coordinating across agencies, including NOAA Fisheries and The Marine Mammal Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At The Marine Mammal Center in Marin County, responders have temporarily paused hands-on responses for elephant and harbor seals while assessing risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My biggest concern is that this perpetuates and continues to spread and paralyzes the operations,” said Dominic Travis, the center’s chief executive. “We’re going to be assessing that day by day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/2000206/officials-confirm-small-bird-flu-outbreak-in-elephant-seals-at-ano-nuevo-state-park",
"authors": [
"11631"
],
"categories": [
"science_2874",
"science_39",
"science_40",
"science_2873",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_1120",
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_2549",
"science_2409",
"science_2688",
"science_1396",
"science_4277",
"science_5163",
"science_309"
],
"featImg": "science_2000214",
"label": "source_science_2000206"
},
"science_2000002": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_2000002",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2000002",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1770908403000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "delay-and-deny-even-health-insurance-companies-agree-prior-authorization-process-is-broken",
"title": "‘Delay’ and ‘Deny’: Even Health Insurance Companies Agree Prior Authorization Process Is Broken",
"publishDate": 1770908403,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "‘Delay’ and ‘Deny’: Even Health Insurance Companies Agree Prior Authorization Process Is Broken | KQED",
"labelTerm": {
"site": "science"
},
"content": "\u003cp>When Ocean McIntyre started having vision problems at age 34, her health plan took a month to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028048/deny-and-delay-california-seeks-penalties-for-insurers-that-repeatedly-get-it-wrong\"> authorize\u003c/a> a doctor visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressure in her brain started crushing her optic nerve, she spent three months tangled in bureaucratic red tape before the insurer finally permitted her to see a specialist, a neuro-ophthalmologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said if you had been seen earlier, we could have preserved your vision,” McIntyre remembered. “Now we’re just trying to see if we can save any of your vision. That was the first time it really clicked that the life that I had before was over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a wide-ranging career as a tattoo artist, a private pilot, and a research assistant at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena, McIntyre is now 51, legally blind and struggling to find work. “I have no peripheral vision at all. It’s like looking through a straw, and what I see is semi-clear in one eye and completely blurry in the other,” she said. “I fall, I trip on things all the time, even in my own house. I’m obviously not flying anymore, not driving a car anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, patients like McIntyre and their doctors have pressed California and other state lawmakers to rein in health insurers’ ability to review or refuse coverage for medical services after a physician has ordered them, a practice known as prior authorization. But the conversation shifted in December 2024 when Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, using bullets etched with the words “delay” and “deny.” The next year, an unprecedented 31 states, at least, passed laws limiting the use of prior authorization, almost all with bipartisan and near-unanimous support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000017 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3.png 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-160x124.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-768x597.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-1536x1195.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2025, 31 U.S. states passed prior authorization reforms. \u003ccite>(Map: Marnette Federis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While momentum for legislative change \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/prior-authorization/10-states-have-tackled-prior-authorization-so-far-2024\">had already been building\u003c/a>, several industry insiders and observers said the assassination of an insurance executive, and especially the public outcry that followed, was the catalyst that pushed so many laws over the finish line in 2025. Tens of thousands of people took to social media to both condemn the violence and to air their grievances about insurance tactics and barriers to care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really highlighted for the country this amount of anger,” said Miranda Yaver, health policy professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “And I think that placed pressure on state legislatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurers felt the pressure, too, as lawmakers complained during committee hearings about their own experiences with prior authorization before voting in favor of local bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By summer 2025, a coalition of insurance companies issued\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/news/press-releases/health-plans-take-action-to-simplify-prior-authorization\"> a pledge\u003c/a> to voluntarily streamline, simplify, and reduce the use of prior authorizations. Especially where state legislation aligned with these principles or was narrowly tailored, the insurance industry was more receptive than it had been in the past. Where there was still friction, insurance lobbyists stated their objections, but often struck a conciliatory tone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000007\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Ascendiun, the parent company of Blue Shield of California, testifies before the House Committee on Ways and Means with other health insurance CEOs on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Prior authorization process today sucks. We all take accountability for it,” said\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/people/paul-markovich\"> Paul Markovich\u003c/a>, CEO of Blue Shield of California, at a\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/committees/video/house-ways-and-means/hswm00/xBpGgfYHp9k\"> congressional committee hearing\u003c/a> in January featuring a panel of five health insurance executives. “We are fixing it by reducing the number of services that are covered, offering an online service, and standardizing electronic submission of data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior authorization started out as a tool insurers used to control costs and to\u003ca href=\"https://www.calhealthplans.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/fact-sheet-ypya-ca-health-care-affordability-dilemma-04-30-25_.pdf\"> safeguard patients\u003c/a> against unnecessary or harmful treatments. It is typically applied to\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/health/health-insurance-how-states-are-reforming-the-prior-authorization-process\"> high-cost items\u003c/a>, like experimental treatments, hospitalizations and surgeries, and certain prescription drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, back surgeries are often denied because\u003ca href=\"https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010264.pub2/full\"> clinical trials\u003c/a> show they provide little to no benefit to people who suffer from back pain compared to exercise and physical therapy. Brand-name medications can often be replaced with equally effective, but significantly cheaper, generic alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000001\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two health insurance denial letters lie on Ocean McIntyre’s table, at her home in Panorama City. Many more are stored in boxes and file folders of communication letters from her health insurance on Feb. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These efforts help keep coverage as affordable as possible,” said Chris Bond, spokesperson for\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/about-ahip\"> AHIP\u003c/a>, a national trade association for the health insurance industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in more recent years, doctors complained that insurers were abusing prior authorization, applying it to more services or using it as a tactic to delay and deter patients away from care.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/prior-authorization-survey.pdf\"> In a 2024 national survey\u003c/a>, doctors said they and their staff spent an average of 13 hours a week dealing with prior authorization requests; 23% of doctors said their patients had been hospitalized because of prior authorization delays, 18% said they’d experienced a life-threatening event, and 8% said a patient suffered permanent disability or death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mountains of paperwork and constant second-guessing by insurers drive burnout and push doctors into early retirement, said\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmadocs.org/president\"> René Bravo\u003c/a>, a pediatrician in San Luis Obispo and president of the California Medical Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is nothing that causes physicians’ blood pressure to elevate like prior authorization,” he said. “You just say the word, and doctors bristle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California targets insurance companies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>States are taking \u003ca href=\"https://chir.georgetown.edu/prior-authorization-reform-heats-up/\">different approaches\u003c/a> to regulating the insurance industry’s use of prior authorization. Some, like Nebraska and North Dakota, focused on expediting the process, mandating timelines for when reviews must be completed, while others restricted the use of artificial intelligence in making determinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many states, including Texas, Arkansas, and West Virginia, have instituted “gold card” programs that exempt doctors from prior authorization if the treatments they order already have a high rate of approval. Others, including Rhode Island and Montana, focused on exempting certain treatments, such as preventive care, insulin, mental health and substance abuse treatment, or some cancer care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David H. Aizuss, M.D., F.A.C.S., an ophthalmologist and chair of the board of trustees at the American Medical Association, in his office in Encino, California, on Feb. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The California law is different. It puts the onus on the health plans,” said\u003ca href=\"https://oaveyes.com/doctors/david-aizuss-m-d/\"> David Aizuss\u003c/a>, an ophthalmologist in Los Angeles and chair of the board of trustees at the American Medical Association, which has been tracking state legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB306\">SB 306\u003c/a> said that if a health insurer approves a medical service more than 90% of the time in one year, then it can’t require prior authorization for that service the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This creates a data-driven, common-sense approach,” said state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, who authored the bill. “If you’re approving it anyway, don’t make patients, providers jump through hoops.”[aside postID=news_12072837 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg']Though attempts to pass a previous version of this bill \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/votes/SB598/2023\">petered out\u003c/a> in 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office was particularly involved in the passage of SB 306, mediating differences between doctors who supported it and insurers who opposed it, and directing the state Department of Managed Health Care to offer technical assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulator is leading the implementation of the law. By July 2026, officials will instruct insurers on how to report the statistics that will be used to list procedures and medications that will be exempted from prior authorization, which regulators expect to publish by July 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aizuss believes a range of medications for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and arthritis will make it onto the list, as well as certain outpatient mental health treatments and cancer surgeries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hopeful that California’s broad approach will lead to more overall transparency and be more effective than other states. Insurers have found loopholes to skirt around the requirements of gold card laws, he said, and the burden is on doctors to prove they should be exempt from prior authorization. For example, in Texas, only 3% of doctors have qualified for gold card status, Yaver said. The California law, by contrast, requires insurers and regulators do the legwork. “This is a positive step toward relieving physician administrative burden,” Yaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever the approach, McIntyre is relieved to see progress in California and across the country. She said no one should suffer a heart attack or a cancer relapse, or lose their vision, because they had to wait for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "California is one of 31 states that passed laws in 2025 limiting insurance companies’ use of prior authorization to approve or deny medical treatments.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1770867089,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 27,
"wordCount": 1463
},
"headData": {
"title": "‘Delay’ and ‘Deny’: Even Health Insurance Companies Agree Prior Authorization Process Is Broken | KQED",
"description": "California is one of 31 states that passed laws in 2025 limiting insurance companies’ use of prior authorization to approve or deny medical treatments.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "‘Delay’ and ‘Deny’: Even Health Insurance Companies Agree Prior Authorization Process Is Broken",
"datePublished": "2026-02-12T07:00:03-08:00",
"dateModified": "2026-02-11T19:31:29-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/d1ec0b27-b97d-49f6-81bd-b3ec0123369d/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/2000002/delay-and-deny-even-health-insurance-companies-agree-prior-authorization-process-is-broken",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Ocean McIntyre started having vision problems at age 34, her health plan took a month to\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12028048/deny-and-delay-california-seeks-penalties-for-insurers-that-repeatedly-get-it-wrong\"> authorize\u003c/a> a doctor visit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressure in her brain started crushing her optic nerve, she spent three months tangled in bureaucratic red tape before the insurer finally permitted her to see a specialist, a neuro-ophthalmologist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He said if you had been seen earlier, we could have preserved your vision,” McIntyre remembered. “Now we’re just trying to see if we can save any of your vision. That was the first time it really clicked that the life that I had before was over.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a wide-ranging career as a tattoo artist, a private pilot, and a research assistant at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab near Pasadena, McIntyre is now 51, legally blind and struggling to find work. “I have no peripheral vision at all. It’s like looking through a straw, and what I see is semi-clear in one eye and completely blurry in the other,” she said. “I fall, I trip on things all the time, even in my own house. I’m obviously not flying anymore, not driving a car anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, patients like McIntyre and their doctors have pressed California and other state lawmakers to rein in health insurers’ ability to review or refuse coverage for medical services after a physician has ordered them, a practice known as prior authorization. But the conversation shifted in December 2024 when Luigi Mangione allegedly murdered UnitedHealth CEO Brian Thompson, using bullets etched with the words “delay” and “deny.” The next year, an unprecedented 31 states, at least, passed laws limiting the use of prior authorization, almost all with bipartisan and near-unanimous support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000017\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2000017 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1800\" height=\"1400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3.png 1800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-160x124.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-768x597.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/1qqZi-states-that-passed-prior-authorization-laws-in-2025-3-1536x1195.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1800px) 100vw, 1800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">In 2025, 31 U.S. states passed prior authorization reforms. \u003ccite>(Map: Marnette Federis/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While momentum for legislative change \u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/prior-authorization/10-states-have-tackled-prior-authorization-so-far-2024\">had already been building\u003c/a>, several industry insiders and observers said the assassination of an insurance executive, and especially the public outcry that followed, was the catalyst that pushed so many laws over the finish line in 2025. Tens of thousands of people took to social media to both condemn the violence and to air their grievances about insurance tactics and barriers to care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really highlighted for the country this amount of anger,” said Miranda Yaver, health policy professor at the University of Pittsburgh. “And I think that placed pressure on state legislatures.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health insurers felt the pressure, too, as lawmakers complained during committee hearings about their own experiences with prior authorization before voting in favor of local bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By summer 2025, a coalition of insurance companies issued\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/news/press-releases/health-plans-take-action-to-simplify-prior-authorization\"> a pledge\u003c/a> to voluntarily streamline, simplify, and reduce the use of prior authorizations. Especially where state legislation aligned with these principles or was narrowly tailored, the insurance industry was more receptive than it had been in the past. Where there was still friction, insurance lobbyists stated their objections, but often struck a conciliatory tone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000007\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000007\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/PaulMarkovichAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Markovich, president and CEO of Ascendiun, the parent company of Blue Shield of California, testifies before the House Committee on Ways and Means with other health insurance CEOs on Capitol Hill, in Washington, on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Prior authorization process today sucks. We all take accountability for it,” said\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/people/paul-markovich\"> Paul Markovich\u003c/a>, CEO of Blue Shield of California, at a\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/committees/video/house-ways-and-means/hswm00/xBpGgfYHp9k\"> congressional committee hearing\u003c/a> in January featuring a panel of five health insurance executives. “We are fixing it by reducing the number of services that are covered, offering an online service, and standardizing electronic submission of data.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior authorization started out as a tool insurers used to control costs and to\u003ca href=\"https://www.calhealthplans.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/fact-sheet-ypya-ca-health-care-affordability-dilemma-04-30-25_.pdf\"> safeguard patients\u003c/a> against unnecessary or harmful treatments. It is typically applied to\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/health/health-insurance-how-states-are-reforming-the-prior-authorization-process\"> high-cost items\u003c/a>, like experimental treatments, hospitalizations and surgeries, and certain prescription drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For example, back surgeries are often denied because\u003ca href=\"https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD010264.pub2/full\"> clinical trials\u003c/a> show they provide little to no benefit to people who suffer from back pain compared to exercise and physical therapy. Brand-name medications can often be replaced with equally effective, but significantly cheaper, generic alternatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_2000001\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2000001\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00255-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two health insurance denial letters lie on Ocean McIntyre’s table, at her home in Panorama City. Many more are stored in boxes and file folders of communication letters from her health insurance on Feb. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“These efforts help keep coverage as affordable as possible,” said Chris Bond, spokesperson for\u003ca href=\"https://www.ahip.org/about-ahip\"> AHIP\u003c/a>, a national trade association for the health insurance industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in more recent years, doctors complained that insurers were abusing prior authorization, applying it to more services or using it as a tactic to delay and deter patients away from care.\u003ca href=\"https://www.ama-assn.org/system/files/prior-authorization-survey.pdf\"> In a 2024 national survey\u003c/a>, doctors said they and their staff spent an average of 13 hours a week dealing with prior authorization requests; 23% of doctors said their patients had been hospitalized because of prior authorization delays, 18% said they’d experienced a life-threatening event, and 8% said a patient suffered permanent disability or death.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The mountains of paperwork and constant second-guessing by insurers drive burnout and push doctors into early retirement, said\u003ca href=\"https://www.cmadocs.org/president\"> René Bravo\u003c/a>, a pediatrician in San Luis Obispo and president of the California Medical Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is nothing that causes physicians’ blood pressure to elevate like prior authorization,” he said. “You just say the word, and doctors bristle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California targets insurance companies\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>States are taking \u003ca href=\"https://chir.georgetown.edu/prior-authorization-reform-heats-up/\">different approaches\u003c/a> to regulating the insurance industry’s use of prior authorization. Some, like Nebraska and North Dakota, focused on expediting the process, mandating timelines for when reviews must be completed, while others restricted the use of artificial intelligence in making determinations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many states, including Texas, Arkansas, and West Virginia, have instituted “gold card” programs that exempt doctors from prior authorization if the treatments they order already have a high rate of approval. Others, including Rhode Island and Montana, focused on exempting certain treatments, such as preventive care, insulin, mental health and substance abuse treatment, or some cancer care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999997\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999997\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2026/02/2026_02_10_DELAY_DENY_00060-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">David H. Aizuss, M.D., F.A.C.S., an ophthalmologist and chair of the board of trustees at the American Medical Association, in his office in Encino, California, on Feb. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Jules Hotz for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The California law is different. It puts the onus on the health plans,” said\u003ca href=\"https://oaveyes.com/doctors/david-aizuss-m-d/\"> David Aizuss\u003c/a>, an ophthalmologist in Los Angeles and chair of the board of trustees at the American Medical Association, which has been tracking state legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB306\">SB 306\u003c/a> said that if a health insurer approves a medical service more than 90% of the time in one year, then it can’t require prior authorization for that service the next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This creates a data-driven, common-sense approach,” said state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, who authored the bill. “If you’re approving it anyway, don’t make patients, providers jump through hoops.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12072837",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020926_KAISERSTRIKE_8137B-KQED.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Though attempts to pass a previous version of this bill \u003ca href=\"https://legiscan.com/CA/votes/SB598/2023\">petered out\u003c/a> in 2023, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office was particularly involved in the passage of SB 306, mediating differences between doctors who supported it and insurers who opposed it, and directing the state Department of Managed Health Care to offer technical assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The regulator is leading the implementation of the law. By July 2026, officials will instruct insurers on how to report the statistics that will be used to list procedures and medications that will be exempted from prior authorization, which regulators expect to publish by July 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aizuss believes a range of medications for hypertension, diabetes, asthma, and arthritis will make it onto the list, as well as certain outpatient mental health treatments and cancer surgeries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s hopeful that California’s broad approach will lead to more overall transparency and be more effective than other states. Insurers have found loopholes to skirt around the requirements of gold card laws, he said, and the burden is on doctors to prove they should be exempt from prior authorization. For example, in Texas, only 3% of doctors have qualified for gold card status, Yaver said. The California law, by contrast, requires insurers and regulators do the legwork. “This is a positive step toward relieving physician administrative burden,” Yaver said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Whatever the approach, McIntyre is relieved to see progress in California and across the country. She said no one should suffer a heart attack or a cancer relapse, or lose their vision, because they had to wait for care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/2000002/delay-and-deny-even-health-insurance-companies-agree-prior-authorization-process-is-broken",
"authors": [
"3205"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_40",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_5178",
"science_5181",
"science_309"
],
"featImg": "science_1999999",
"label": "science"
},
"science_1999828": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999828",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999828",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1768435208000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "california-combats-largest-mushroom-poisoning-outbreak-in-the-country",
"title": "California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak in the Country",
"publishDate": 1768435208,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak in the Country | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>State health officials on Wednesday issued their\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999700/super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades\"> second warning this season\u003c/a> to avoid mushroom foraging as illness and deaths from eating wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to unprecedented highs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-five people have gotten sick so far this season, three needed liver transplants, and three died, compared to a typical year that sees only three to five cases. Doctors worry more cases are coming amid a “super bloom” of death caps, sparked by early rains and warm temperatures in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We anticipate that these mushrooms could continue to be fruiting in abundance throughout the rainy season in California,” said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrants from Mexico and China make up a disproportionate number of the cases, as death caps, or \u003cem>Amanita phalloides\u003c/em>, look very similar to edible mushrooms that grow in those countries. The California Department of Public Health released a\u003ca href=\"https://flow.page/poisonousmushroomsafety\"> series of fact sheets and videos\u003c/a> on Wednesday in multiple languages,\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtmNeRXD3Cg\"> including Mixteco\u003c/a>, an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by communities in Monterey County, where the first poisonings emerged in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, people have been treated in hospitals throughout the Bay Area after eating mushrooms found in the Oakland Hills, Stinson Beach and Pinnacles National Park, among other sites, though Smollin said that they grow along the West Coast and that no part of California is a death cap-free zone. Some dogs have also died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Death cap mushrooms sit by the side of a trail during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>It’s a really dangerous time to be mushroom hunting and foraging right now,” said Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant state public health director. “It can be very hard, even for experts, to identify the difference between edible mushrooms and not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Symptoms of death cap poisoning include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and can occur 6 to 24 hours after ingestion. Extreme cases can lead to liver failure, necessitating an urgent liver transplant or death. Cooking, boiling or freezing the mushrooms does not inactivate the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A single bite of the mushroom could cause significant toxicity,” Smollin said.[aside postID=news_12069232 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/3-Agaricus-californicus-LA-2016-1.jpg']Local mushroom experts and enthusiasts have bemoaned the state’s messaging around the poisonings as narrow and fear-based. Many would prefer to see an emphasis on education, rather than a prohibition on all foraging, and point out that touching, smelling and looking at mushrooms is safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more nuance,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society. “It’s much more important to steer people to places where they can educate themselves about the safety and the dangers of eating wild mushrooms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viess said field reports coming into her organization suggest the growth of death caps may be slowing in the Bay Area, while another kind of poisonous mushroom known as the destroying angel, or \u003cem>Amanita ocreata\u003c/em>, is starting to pop up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who believe they or a family member may have ingested a toxic mushroom — or health care providers who have a patient showing signs of mushroom toxicity — can call the state’s toll-free poison control hotline 24/7, free of charge for advice: 1-800-222-1222.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Translation services are available in any language, and all personal information is kept confidential, said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a pediatrician and toxicologist with poison control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We can then determine whether you need to go into the emergency department or whether we, as poison experts, can help you treat the situation at home,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "State health officials again warned against foraging as illness and deaths from eating the wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to new highs.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1768441260,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 15,
"wordCount": 654
},
"headData": {
"title": "California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak in the Country | KQED",
"description": "State health officials again warned against foraging as illness and deaths from eating the wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to new highs.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "California Combats Largest Mushroom Poisoning Outbreak in the Country",
"datePublished": "2026-01-14T16:00:08-08:00",
"dateModified": "2026-01-14T17:41:00-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "News",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999828",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999828/california-combats-largest-mushroom-poisoning-outbreak-in-the-country",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State health officials on Wednesday issued their\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999700/super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades\"> second warning this season\u003c/a> to avoid mushroom foraging as illness and deaths from eating wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to unprecedented highs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty-five people have gotten sick so far this season, three needed liver transplants, and three died, compared to a typical year that sees only three to five cases. Doctors worry more cases are coming amid a “super bloom” of death caps, sparked by early rains and warm temperatures in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We anticipate that these mushrooms could continue to be fruiting in abundance throughout the rainy season in California,” said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Immigrants from Mexico and China make up a disproportionate number of the cases, as death caps, or \u003cem>Amanita phalloides\u003c/em>, look very similar to edible mushrooms that grow in those countries. The California Department of Public Health released a\u003ca href=\"https://flow.page/poisonousmushroomsafety\"> series of fact sheets and videos\u003c/a> on Wednesday in multiple languages,\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtmNeRXD3Cg\"> including Mixteco\u003c/a>, an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by communities in Monterey County, where the first poisonings emerged in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then, people have been treated in hospitals throughout the Bay Area after eating mushrooms found in the Oakland Hills, Stinson Beach and Pinnacles National Park, among other sites, though Smollin said that they grow along the West Coast and that no part of California is a death cap-free zone. Some dogs have also died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999677\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Death cap mushrooms sit by the side of a trail during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>It’s a really dangerous time to be mushroom hunting and foraging right now,” said Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant state public health director. “It can be very hard, even for experts, to identify the difference between edible mushrooms and not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Symptoms of death cap poisoning include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and can occur 6 to 24 hours after ingestion. Extreme cases can lead to liver failure, necessitating an urgent liver transplant or death. Cooking, boiling or freezing the mushrooms does not inactivate the toxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A single bite of the mushroom could cause significant toxicity,” Smollin said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12069232",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/3-Agaricus-californicus-LA-2016-1.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Local mushroom experts and enthusiasts have bemoaned the state’s messaging around the poisonings as narrow and fear-based. Many would prefer to see an emphasis on education, rather than a prohibition on all foraging, and point out that touching, smelling and looking at mushrooms is safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a lot more nuance,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society. “It’s much more important to steer people to places where they can educate themselves about the safety and the dangers of eating wild mushrooms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viess said field reports coming into her organization suggest the growth of death caps may be slowing in the Bay Area, while another kind of poisonous mushroom known as the destroying angel, or \u003cem>Amanita ocreata\u003c/em>, is starting to pop up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People who believe they or a family member may have ingested a toxic mushroom — or health care providers who have a patient showing signs of mushroom toxicity — can call the state’s toll-free poison control hotline 24/7, free of charge for advice: 1-800-222-1222.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Translation services are available in any language, and all personal information is kept confidential, said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a pediatrician and toxicologist with poison control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We can then determine whether you need to go into the emergency department or whether we, as poison experts, can help you treat the situation at home,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999828/california-combats-largest-mushroom-poisoning-outbreak-in-the-country",
"authors": [
"3205"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_40",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_4729",
"science_4277",
"science_309"
],
"featImg": "science_1999676",
"label": "source_science_1999828"
},
"science_1999700": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999700",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999700",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1766235643000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades",
"title": "Super Bloom of Death Caps Sparks Largest Outbreak of Mushroom Poisonings in Decades",
"publishDate": 1766235643,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Super Bloom of Death Caps Sparks Largest Outbreak of Mushroom Poisonings in Decades | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12070341/setas-venenosas-california\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the first rains of the year, two Decembers ago, Noe and his brothers went hiking in the hills of Santa Rosa and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066441/california-mushroom-poisoning-symptoms-death-cap-identification-toxic-foraging\"> found some mushrooms\u003c/a>. They fried them up that evening and kicked back a few beers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of sleeping, the men spent the night dizzy, vomiting, battling diarrhea. Cramps twisted Noe’s stomach like a wet rag. At the hospital the next day, doctors told him he needed a liver transplant, and fast. If they couldn’t find a donor within a week, he would die. He was 36.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got scared thinking I might not see my family again,” Noe said in Spanish. He and his clinicians asked KQED not to use his last name out of concern for his health and safety. “The mushrooms here look just like the ones we used to eat in Mexico, but they just weren’t the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fall, warm temperatures and early rains fueled what fungi experts are calling a “super bloom” of poisonous mushrooms known as death caps in California. Already, 24 people have been sickened, the largest outbreak of mushroom poisonings in at least three decades. Of those who fell ill so far, 18 were hospitalized for more than a week, two needed liver transplants, and one died, prompting state health officials to take the rare step of warning the public to stop all foraging for the rest of the rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cases often occur in communities that may be immigrant, may not speak English, and have experience foraging for mushrooms in another country,” said Craig Smollin, UCSF emergency physician and medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System, adding that patients from this outbreak are from Mexico, Guatemala, and China. “It’s very easy to confuse a poisonous mushroom for an edible mushroom. That’s a very easy mistake to make.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craig Smollin, professor of emergency medicine at UCSF Medical Center and medical director of the California Poison Control System’s San Francisco division, at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth La Berge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But local mushroom experts and enthusiasts complained the state’s blanket guidance to stop foraging was overly broad and could lead to mycophobia, an irrational fear of fungi. When\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6621a1.htm\"> 14 people got sick\u003c/a> during the last death cap super bloom in 2016, California health officials advised the public to “use caution” when foraging for wild mushrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They told people to “be careful” \u003ca href=\"https://www.fox8live.com/story/20076860/two-residents-in-elder-home-renew-mushroom-warnings/\">in 2012\u003c/a>, after a caretaker at a residential facility for the elderly in Loomis served soup made from mushrooms she picked in the backyard, accidentally killing \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/Health/mushrooms-kill-fourth-california-senior-us-cases-rise/story?id=17826740\">four seniors.\u003c/a>[aside postID=news_12066441 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/LEDE-Amanita-phalloides-Bay-Area-2016-1.jpg']“We really think that it’s a better idea to get educated about the miraculous, amazing beings these mushrooms are,” said Sita Davis, who leads foraging trips during the winter rainy season in Northern California, then spends the summer rainy season living and foraging in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Davis, mushroom foraging is a kind of spiritual practice, a way to commune with nature and revel in the generosity of the earth. She recommends learning about one mushroom at a time, slowly “building a relationship” with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One December afternoon, on a hiking trail in Oakland, she turned over logs covered in turkey tail mushrooms, clambered up side paths to stroke a cluster of oyster mushrooms, sniff the stem of an agaricus, and scrape the spongy underside of a bolete, all to demonstrate the basics of identifying mushrooms, including poisonous ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What tree is it growing under? How does it smell? What’s its texture? What color is it?” she asked. “All these wonderful questions to find out if a mushroom is one that you want to bring home with you or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the top of the hill, underneath a sprawling live oak tree, Davis pawed through a mound of leaves to uncover a mushroom with a slender white stem and drooping greenish-yellow cap. There was a whole cluster of them nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found some death caps,” she announced, aka, \u003cem>amanita phalloides\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Information hangs on the wall at the California Poison Control System offices at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth La Berge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They look very similar to Caesars, edible kinds of amanitas that grow in Mexico, where there is a deep cultural and culinary tradition of foraging for mushrooms, Davis said, especially among indigenous communities. One cluster of cases this fall was concentrated among Mixtec immigrants from southern Mexico now living in the Salinas Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They may be an expert in Mexico, but the knowledge doesn’t travel well because the species are different,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareamushrooms.org/\"> Bay Area Mycological Society\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, experts said, never ever eat a mushroom that you can’t identify with 100% certainty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That can be a deadly, deadly mistake,” Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999732\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sita Davis holds a mushroom during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A mistake health officials like Dr. Smollin don’t want on their hands, especially because mushroom poisoning is easily misdiagnosed — many ER doctors often confuse it with typical gastroenteritis, sending patients home prematurely and missing the chance to stem the progression of serious liver damage. Among those sickened this fall was a family of seven, including a toddler. Smollin stands by his blanket warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d rather have the mycology community up in arms at me for coming down too hard and saying that you shouldn’t forage than have a 19-month-old who’s listed for transplant,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his liver transplant, Noe said the same. He doesn’t eat wild mushrooms anymore, or any kind of mushroom, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the smell of them makes me dizzy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "California health officials warned people to stop foraging after 24 people were sickened. Two needed liver transplants and one died.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1769547153,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 23,
"wordCount": 1054
},
"headData": {
"title": "Super Bloom of Death Caps Sparks Largest Outbreak of Mushroom Poisonings in Decades | KQED",
"description": "California health officials warned people to stop foraging after 24 people were sickened. Two needed liver transplants and one died.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"translatedArticles": [
{
"path": "/science/1999700/super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades",
"lang": "en"
},
{
"path": "/news/12070341/setas-venenosas-california",
"lang": "es"
}
],
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Super Bloom of Death Caps Sparks Largest Outbreak of Mushroom Poisonings in Decades",
"datePublished": "2025-12-20T05:00:43-08:00",
"dateModified": "2026-01-27T12:52:33-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "News",
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/50997fc2-8332-48fc-8baa-b3b801195c10/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999700",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999700/super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12070341/setas-venenosas-california\">\u003cem>Leer en español\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the first rains of the year, two Decembers ago, Noe and his brothers went hiking in the hills of Santa Rosa and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066441/california-mushroom-poisoning-symptoms-death-cap-identification-toxic-foraging\"> found some mushrooms\u003c/a>. They fried them up that evening and kicked back a few beers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead of sleeping, the men spent the night dizzy, vomiting, battling diarrhea. Cramps twisted Noe’s stomach like a wet rag. At the hospital the next day, doctors told him he needed a liver transplant, and fast. If they couldn’t find a donor within a week, he would die. He was 36.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I got scared thinking I might not see my family again,” Noe said in Spanish. He and his clinicians asked KQED not to use his last name out of concern for his health and safety. “The mushrooms here look just like the ones we used to eat in Mexico, but they just weren’t the same.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This fall, warm temperatures and early rains fueled what fungi experts are calling a “super bloom” of poisonous mushrooms known as death caps in California. Already, 24 people have been sickened, the largest outbreak of mushroom poisonings in at least three decades. Of those who fell ill so far, 18 were hospitalized for more than a week, two needed liver transplants, and one died, prompting state health officials to take the rare step of warning the public to stop all foraging for the rest of the rainy season.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These cases often occur in communities that may be immigrant, may not speak English, and have experience foraging for mushrooms in another country,” said Craig Smollin, UCSF emergency physician and medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System, adding that patients from this outbreak are from Mexico, Guatemala, and China. “It’s very easy to confuse a poisonous mushroom for an edible mushroom. That’s a very easy mistake to make.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999537\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999537\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-10-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Craig Smollin, professor of emergency medicine at UCSF Medical Center and medical director of the California Poison Control System’s San Francisco division, at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth La Berge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But local mushroom experts and enthusiasts complained the state’s blanket guidance to stop foraging was overly broad and could lead to mycophobia, an irrational fear of fungi. When\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6621a1.htm\"> 14 people got sick\u003c/a> during the last death cap super bloom in 2016, California health officials advised the public to “use caution” when foraging for wild mushrooms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They told people to “be careful” \u003ca href=\"https://www.fox8live.com/story/20076860/two-residents-in-elder-home-renew-mushroom-warnings/\">in 2012\u003c/a>, after a caretaker at a residential facility for the elderly in Loomis served soup made from mushrooms she picked in the backyard, accidentally killing \u003ca href=\"https://abcnews.go.com/Health/mushrooms-kill-fourth-california-senior-us-cases-rise/story?id=17826740\">four seniors.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12066441",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/LEDE-Amanita-phalloides-Bay-Area-2016-1.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We really think that it’s a better idea to get educated about the miraculous, amazing beings these mushrooms are,” said Sita Davis, who leads foraging trips during the winter rainy season in Northern California, then spends the summer rainy season living and foraging in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Davis, mushroom foraging is a kind of spiritual practice, a way to commune with nature and revel in the generosity of the earth. She recommends learning about one mushroom at a time, slowly “building a relationship” with it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One December afternoon, on a hiking trail in Oakland, she turned over logs covered in turkey tail mushrooms, clambered up side paths to stroke a cluster of oyster mushrooms, sniff the stem of an agaricus, and scrape the spongy underside of a bolete, all to demonstrate the basics of identifying mushrooms, including poisonous ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What tree is it growing under? How does it smell? What’s its texture? What color is it?” she asked. “All these wonderful questions to find out if a mushroom is one that you want to bring home with you or not.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the top of the hill, underneath a sprawling live oak tree, Davis pawed through a mound of leaves to uncover a mushroom with a slender white stem and drooping greenish-yellow cap. There was a whole cluster of them nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We found some death caps,” she announced, aka, \u003cem>amanita phalloides\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251209-DEATHCAPMUSHROOMS-12-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Information hangs on the wall at the California Poison Control System offices at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in San Francisco on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth La Berge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>They look very similar to Caesars, edible kinds of amanitas that grow in Mexico, where there is a deep cultural and culinary tradition of foraging for mushrooms, Davis said, especially among indigenous communities. One cluster of cases this fall was concentrated among Mixtec immigrants from southern Mexico now living in the Salinas Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They may be an expert in Mexico, but the knowledge doesn’t travel well because the species are different,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the\u003ca href=\"https://www.bayareamushrooms.org/\"> Bay Area Mycological Society\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bottom line, experts said, never ever eat a mushroom that you can’t identify with 100% certainty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That can be a deadly, deadly mistake,” Davis said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999732\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999732\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/251211-DeathCapMushrooms-04-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sita Davis holds a mushroom during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A mistake health officials like Dr. Smollin don’t want on their hands, especially because mushroom poisoning is easily misdiagnosed — many ER doctors often confuse it with typical gastroenteritis, sending patients home prematurely and missing the chance to stem the progression of serious liver damage. Among those sickened this fall was a family of seven, including a toddler. Smollin stands by his blanket warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’d rather have the mycology community up in arms at me for coming down too hard and saying that you shouldn’t forage than have a 19-month-old who’s listed for transplant,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After his liver transplant, Noe said the same. He doesn’t eat wild mushrooms anymore, or any kind of mushroom, really.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just the smell of them makes me dizzy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999700/super-bloom-of-death-caps-sparks-largest-outbreak-of-mushroom-poisonings-in-decades",
"authors": [
"3205"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_40"
],
"tags": [
"science_856",
"science_5178",
"science_4417",
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_4729",
"science_4277"
],
"featImg": "science_1999677",
"label": "source_science_1999700"
},
"science_1999631": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999631",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999631",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1765835041000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "navy-apologizes-for-11-month-delay-in-reporting-radioactive-material-at-hunters-point",
"title": "Navy Apologizes for 11-Month Delay in Reporting Radioactive Material at Hunters Point",
"publishDate": 1765835041,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Navy Apologizes for 11-Month Delay in Reporting Radioactive Material at Hunters Point | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. Navy apologized to city leaders during a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing on Monday for waiting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999023/navy-took-11-months-to-alert-sf-to-airborne-plutonium-at-hunters-point-shipyard-site\">11 months\u003c/a> before disclosing to residents that the agency had detected airborne radioactive material at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy alerted San Francisco health officials in October that it had discovered elevated levels of plutonium-239 in November of last year. The material is highly radioactive and used to create nuclear weapons. Breathing in tiny particles of the substance is dangerous over time and can cause health issues like lung cancer. Community groups and at least one San Francisco supervisor called the 11-month delay “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy found the sample in an area known as Parcel C, adjacent to a hill covered in condo buildings where hundreds of families live, and nearby a public park with a view of the shipyard. The Navy had previously cleared that area for redevelopment two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the Navy told the supervisors that the sample posed “no health risk” to the public and said it was a hundredth of the radiation a person might receive during an X-ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danielle Janda, base closure manager for the Navy at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, said the agency needed extra time to retest the sample and conduct a third-party audit of the laboratory where the test was conducted. She called the sample with a low level of plutonium an “outlier,” and said the Navy plans to improve communication by working with agencies and attending more local meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this instance, we valued accuracy over timeliness,” Janda said. “It’s obvious that we lost trust in the community and are going to work with the community to get that trust back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Megliola, director of the U.S. Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure Program, acknowledged the delay created “concern and frustration” among regulators and the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979637\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in the Bayview sit behind the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I take responsibility for this,” Megliola said. “We recognize this approach did not meet the community’s expectations for timely communication, and the long gap undermined trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shamman Walton, District 10 supervisor, said he appreciates the apology, but said this is “not the first time the Navy has lost the public’s trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do appreciate you for coming, for owning up to the mistake, but again, apologies and admissions do not protect our community,” Walton said. “This should not happen, and we want to make sure that this does not happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan Philip, health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said federal rules require the Navy to notify state and local agencies and the public when a situation may pose a threat to the public. Even though the Navy found the sample posed no immediate public health issues, she said, her “greater concern, of course, is the delay in notifying the regulators, who are the ones who are to make that determination about safety.”[aside postID=science_1999023 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/004_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qed-1020x680.jpg']Michael Montgomery, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division, said the Navy should have come to the agency earlier because its staff could have helped with testing and communicating with the public. He said the Navy is supposed to present these sorts of findings within two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, the lack of transparency created a much bigger concern than it would have if we’d have been engaged early on and been able to do the risk communication,” Montgomery said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within 45 days, Montgomery said his agency will conduct an independent review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Supervisor Walton asked whether there were consequences for the Navy’s delayed reporting, Montgomery said there are generally penalties that could apply. Still, he can’t discuss them in this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 resident Falaofuta Satele told Navy officials during the hearing that she “doesn’t trust” them and feels like officials are trying to “cover up” their findings by not providing direct answers to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not frustrated, we’re alert,” Satele said. “We are not stupid, and please have some courtesy when you say transparent, please disclose with integrity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979624\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard from the Lennar at the Shipyard housing development on Feb. 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Joyce Armstrong, vice chair of the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee, said it doesn’t matter how low the sample reading was; the community is dissatisfied with how the Navy handled the findings. She called for an independent investigation and said the Navy’s lack of transparency is a “pattern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It appears to us that this is a cover-up,” Armstrong said. “I don’t care how low [the levels are], we still want to know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 866-acre Hunters Point site was home to a shipyard from 1945 to 1974 and the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1948 to 1960. By decontaminating ships after atomic bomb tests and other activities, the Navy contaminated shipyard soil and groundwater — as well as surface water and sediment in the San Francisco Bay — with radioactive chemicals, heavy metals and petroleum fuels. The base was declared one of the nation’s most contaminated sites in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2022, the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury issued a report\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980324/sf-supervisors-unhappy-with-citys-lack-of-action-to-protect-bayview-hunters-point-residents-from-toxic-sea-level-rise\"> alerting the public that groundwater rise\u003c/a> — a result of sea levels rising in response to global emissions melting ice caps and expanding oceans — could have significant effects on the site in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new finding raises fresh questions about the city’s plans to build thousands of homes amid an exceedingly complex and ongoing cleanup effort. When finished, the 693-acre Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard project — which the Superfund site is part of — could have more than 10,000 housing units. The development would include two new waterfront neighborhoods with housing and retail, along with over 340 acres of parks and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "The U.S. Navy apologized to city leaders on Monday for waiting almost a year before disclosing that the agency found radioactive plutonium at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. ",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1765839745,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 23,
"wordCount": 1071
},
"headData": {
"title": "Navy Apologizes for 11-Month Delay in Reporting Radioactive Material at Hunters Point | KQED",
"description": "The U.S. Navy apologized to city leaders on Monday for waiting almost a year before disclosing that the agency found radioactive plutonium at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco. ",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Navy Apologizes for 11-Month Delay in Reporting Radioactive Material at Hunters Point",
"datePublished": "2025-12-15T13:44:01-08:00",
"dateModified": "2025-12-15T15:02:25-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 35,
"slug": "environment",
"name": "Environment"
},
"source": "News",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999631",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999631/navy-apologizes-for-11-month-delay-in-reporting-radioactive-material-at-hunters-point",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. Navy apologized to city leaders during a San Francisco Board of Supervisors hearing on Monday for waiting \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999023/navy-took-11-months-to-alert-sf-to-airborne-plutonium-at-hunters-point-shipyard-site\">11 months\u003c/a> before disclosing to residents that the agency had detected airborne radioactive material at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy alerted San Francisco health officials in October that it had discovered elevated levels of plutonium-239 in November of last year. The material is highly radioactive and used to create nuclear weapons. Breathing in tiny particles of the substance is dangerous over time and can cause health issues like lung cancer. Community groups and at least one San Francisco supervisor called the 11-month delay “unacceptable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Navy found the sample in an area known as Parcel C, adjacent to a hill covered in condo buildings where hundreds of families live, and nearby a public park with a view of the shipyard. The Navy had previously cleared that area for redevelopment two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials with the Navy told the supervisors that the sample posed “no health risk” to the public and said it was a hundredth of the radiation a person might receive during an X-ray.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Danielle Janda, base closure manager for the Navy at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, said the agency needed extra time to retest the sample and conduct a third-party audit of the laboratory where the test was conducted. She called the sample with a low level of plutonium an “outlier,” and said the Navy plans to improve communication by working with agencies and attending more local meetings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In this instance, we valued accuracy over timeliness,” Janda said. “It’s obvious that we lost trust in the community and are going to work with the community to get that trust back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Megliola, director of the U.S. Navy’s Base Realignment and Closure Program, acknowledged the delay created “concern and frustration” among regulators and the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979637\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979637\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/06/RS54632_019_KQED_BaykeeperBayviewHuntersPoint_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Apartment buildings in the Bayview sit behind the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I take responsibility for this,” Megliola said. “We recognize this approach did not meet the community’s expectations for timely communication, and the long gap undermined trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shamman Walton, District 10 supervisor, said he appreciates the apology, but said this is “not the first time the Navy has lost the public’s trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do appreciate you for coming, for owning up to the mistake, but again, apologies and admissions do not protect our community,” Walton said. “This should not happen, and we want to make sure that this does not happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Susan Philip, health officer for the San Francisco Department of Public Health, said federal rules require the Navy to notify state and local agencies and the public when a situation may pose a threat to the public. Even though the Navy found the sample posed no immediate public health issues, she said, her “greater concern, of course, is the delay in notifying the regulators, who are the ones who are to make that determination about safety.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "science_1999023",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2024/09/004_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022_qed-1020x680.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Michael Montgomery, director of the EPA’s Superfund and Emergency Management Division, said the Navy should have come to the agency earlier because its staff could have helped with testing and communicating with the public. He said the Navy is supposed to present these sorts of findings within two weeks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Unfortunately, the lack of transparency created a much bigger concern than it would have if we’d have been engaged early on and been able to do the risk communication,” Montgomery said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within 45 days, Montgomery said his agency will conduct an independent review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Supervisor Walton asked whether there were consequences for the Navy’s delayed reporting, Montgomery said there are generally penalties that could apply. Still, he can’t discuss them in this case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>District 10 resident Falaofuta Satele told Navy officials during the hearing that she “doesn’t trust” them and feels like officials are trying to “cover up” their findings by not providing direct answers to the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not frustrated, we’re alert,” Satele said. “We are not stupid, and please have some courtesy when you say transparent, please disclose with integrity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1979624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1979624\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/06/RS53937_003_KQED_BayviewBloodTesting_02252022-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A view of the former Hunters Point Naval Shipyard from the Lennar at the Shipyard housing development on Feb. 25, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Joyce Armstrong, vice chair of the Hunters Point Shipyard Citizens Advisory Committee, said it doesn’t matter how low the sample reading was; the community is dissatisfied with how the Navy handled the findings. She called for an independent investigation and said the Navy’s lack of transparency is a “pattern.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It appears to us that this is a cover-up,” Armstrong said. “I don’t care how low [the levels are], we still want to know.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 866-acre Hunters Point site was home to a shipyard from 1945 to 1974 and the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory from 1948 to 1960. By decontaminating ships after atomic bomb tests and other activities, the Navy contaminated shipyard soil and groundwater — as well as surface water and sediment in the San Francisco Bay — with radioactive chemicals, heavy metals and petroleum fuels. The base was declared one of the nation’s most contaminated sites in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in 2022, the San Francisco Civil Grand Jury issued a report\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1980324/sf-supervisors-unhappy-with-citys-lack-of-action-to-protect-bayview-hunters-point-residents-from-toxic-sea-level-rise\"> alerting the public that groundwater rise\u003c/a> — a result of sea levels rising in response to global emissions melting ice caps and expanding oceans — could have significant effects on the site in the coming decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new finding raises fresh questions about the city’s plans to build thousands of homes amid an exceedingly complex and ongoing cleanup effort. When finished, the 693-acre Candlestick Point-Hunters Point Shipyard project — which the Superfund site is part of — could have more than 10,000 housing units. The development would include two new waterfront neighborhoods with housing and retail, along with over 340 acres of parks and open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999631/navy-apologizes-for-11-month-delay-in-reporting-radioactive-material-at-hunters-point",
"authors": [
"11746"
],
"categories": [
"science_35",
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_40"
],
"tags": [
"science_856",
"science_192",
"science_4414",
"science_4277",
"science_5183",
"science_381"
],
"featImg": "science_1979684",
"label": "source_science_1999631"
},
"science_1999553": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999553",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999553",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1765461605000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no",
"title": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No",
"publishDate": 1765461605,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>Every day, clinical social worker Ilana Marcucci-Morris talks to her patients about the most private, most vulnerable details of their lives, and she’s not interested in having AI software listen in or sharing any of her responsibilities with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999388/california-warns-families-to-watch-out-for-teens-as-character-ai-shuts-off-chatbot-access\"> a chatbot\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-attested millennial and lover of gadgets, Marcucci-Morris knows artificial intelligence is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to therapy, she wants it to be optional and assistive, a tool that will augment human connection, not diminish it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She figured that would be a simple assurance her union could win when they sat down\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente-mental-health\"> at the bargaining table\u003c/a> last summer to hash out their next contract with Kaiser Permanente. The therapists with the \u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\">National Union of Healthcare Workers\u003c/a> submitted their proposed contract language — that AI would be used to “assist” mental health clinicians, but not “replace” them — never expecting it to be controversial. After all, Kaiser signed a contract with their sister union in Southern California just months earlier that contained the same language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this time, Kaiser refused, sending back a counterproposal in the fall with that paragraph deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have asked them point-blank about language to prevent replacing therapists with artificial intelligence, and they have been very clear that they want the ‘flexibility’ to increase AI and reduce their need for us,” Marcucci-Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local contract debate taps into an existential question plaguing American workers across professions: When is AI coming for my job? As health systems embrace the technology to save money and time, and consumers increasingly consult AI chatbots for mental health support, the theoretical question has suddenly turned concrete for Kaiser therapists and they are testing their union power to see if and how they can influence the inevitable transformation of their vocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Kaiser clinician during the previous December 2018 strike. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“AI is not inherently good or bad. It holds promise, but it isn’t without serious risks,” said Maya Sandalow, associate director for health programs at the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/\">Bipartisan Policy Center\u003c/a>. “When we talk about this, we need to be asking, ‘how might this solution improve upon the status quo?’ The status quo is that we are in a mental health crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide prevalence of depression and anxiety\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide\"> spiked 25%\u003c/a> in 2022, and today\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/youth-experience-survey/\"> nearly two-thirds of American youth\u003c/a> regularly experience mental health distress, though fewer than half of them seek professional help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field contends with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.[aside postID=news_12063401 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg']Kaiser has been battling these industry dynamics for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> more than a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> cited the company multiple times\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/kaiser-permanente-california-behavioral-health-settlement/\"> fined it twice\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrators are actively exploring how AI tools could help expand access to therapists, for example, by helping them spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser declined several requests for an interview, but said in a statement that AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care. Rather, they hold “significant potential to benefit health care by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser contracts with mental health workers typically span two to four years. The company did not respond to specific questions about how AI could lead to job losses during that timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers told the union during negotiations that they do not “intend” to lay off therapists because of the technology, but when pressed to put that in writing in the contract, several union representatives, including Marcucci-Morris, said Kaiser told them, “We can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility,” and “We want to leave our options open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Kaiser uses AI now in mental health care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Kaiser is already deploying AI note-taking technology in mental health care. Piloted first in medical exam rooms, these digital scribes record interactions between doctors and patients, then generate summaries for the patient’s medical record. Many mental health clinicians are optimistic about this innovation, as they typically spend two and a half hours a day, often in the evenings, writing clinical notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called pajama time,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\">Jodi Halpern\u003c/a>, a psychiatrist and professor of bioethics at UC Berkeley. Her research shows that paperwork is the biggest cause of burnout among clinicians. “So the idea that we could replace that so that human care could grow, I love that idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technology is controversial among Kaiser clinicians, though. Some appreciate digital scribe software as a time saver that also allows them to be more present with their clients, making eye contact rather than typing. But many are wary of potential privacy breaches, the ethical implications of using therapy transcripts to train AI models, and whether patients might censor themselves when they’re being recorded. Marcucci-Morris has declined to use it for these reasons, anticipating that only one out of 10 of her patients would consent to it if she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the same as talking to your physician about a rash or your vitamin D deficiency,” she said. “I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or details of the terrible things that have happened to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the unknowns, therapists have asked Kaiser management for a contract clause that stipulates the use of digital scribes will remain optional, or at least “not mandatory,” but Kaiser declined the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is also concerned about Kaiser’s recent introduction of electronic mental health triaging, an optional tool where patients are routed into care based on how they answer questions about anxiety and depression in an online questionnaire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brittany Beard, a licensed clinical therapist at Kaiser Permanente, poses for a portrait at her home in Vallejo on Nov. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some patients won’t like this, but some will prefer it, said Merage Ghane, a clinical psychologist and director of responsible AI at the\u003ca href=\"https://www.chai.org/\"> Coalition for Health AI\u003c/a>. “There are people who really don’t like talking to a real person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallejo-based therapist Brittany Beard used to do this triage work herself, talking to clients for 15 to 20 minutes on the phone, but after Kaiser outsourced many of those calls to an outside company and developed the e-visit, she was reassigned to a new department. Though still employed at Kaiser, she already feels replaced by an app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They sell it as accessing care faster, but I’ve seen the opposite,” Beard said. Now, when some of her patients meet her for their first appointment, “They’re frustrated. It was like they were battling just to get to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is AI coming for your therapist?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>How much AI infiltrates mental health care will be determined, in part, by the consumer. Experts have identified a “\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/ai-in-health-care-administration-a-conversation-with-experts/\">trust gap\u003c/a>” between health administrators’ eagerness to roll out AI tools and patient concerns; to bridge the divide, they recommend transparency and involving patients in implementation. Qualitative studies show that patients are optimistic about the technology’s potential to improve diagnosis and treatment, but they remain skeptical of “robots” or “machines” taking over from humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prevailing sentiment really was that AI is at its best when it’s a tool that doctors can use to do their jobs better. Once that moved into the realm of replacing human interaction and experience, that was not a good thing,” said Michele Cordoba, a researcher at \u003ca href=\"https://cultureiq.group/\">Culture IQ\u003c/a>, which produced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/patients-say-yes-artificial-intelligence-doctors-stay-charge/\">report\u003c/a> for the California Health Care Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the use of commercial AI chatbots for mental health has soared.\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpri0000292\"> One study\u003c/a> surveyed AI users who have mental health conditions and found nearly half turn to their chatbot for psychological support, and of those, 63% said the advice was helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mental health professionals have questioned the efficacy of such advice, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063401/openai-faces-legal-storm-over-claims-its-ai-drove-users-to-suicide-delusions\">several families have sued\u003c/a> AI companies, alleging their chatbots encouraged suicidal and self-harming behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, clinical psychologists are developing evidence-based chatbots, like\u003ca href=\"https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03/first-therapy-chatbot-trial-yields-mental-health-benefits\"> TheraBot\u003c/a>, to deliver tested therapeutic guidance. The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged the broad demand for such apps at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/november-6-2025-digital-health-advisory-committee-meeting-announcement-11062025#event-information\">November meeting\u003c/a> and is exploring what kind of authority it might have to regulate them, including requiring human mental health professionals to oversee them.[aside postID=news_12066395 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/San-Francisco-General-Hospital-Getty.jpg']Kaiser therapists want to know what all these trends mean for their own job security in the immediate and long term. When one of them asked a panel of AI experts to expound on this during a statewide training webinar in October, the 200 therapists in attendance heard a wide range of answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage you all not to fear for your profession,” said Nicholas Jacobson, a psychologist at Dartmouth and co-creator of TheraBot. “I think there is no possibility in your lifetime that you all will feel replaced by AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Berkeley’s Halpern was much more circumspect, especially in light of chatbots’ popularity among youth. \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\">A third of teen AI users\u003c/a> said they preferred to have serious conversations with their chatbot rather than a human. “I am not sure we won’t see a tremendous loss of human interactions,” Halpern said. “I’m very worried about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, patients should have choices, psychologist Ghane told KQED. If they live in rural areas and can’t access a therapist, or they have a neurodevelopmental condition where human communication is more aversive than facilitative, she said it’s important they have AI options. In that version of the future, therapists are right to ask if they will be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The answer is they can be,” Ghane said. “We can all be replaced at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "A union battle between mental health workers and Kaiser exposes the current reality and future potential of AI’s role in therapy sessions.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1768347241,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 33,
"wordCount": 1829
},
"headData": {
"title": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No | KQED",
"description": "A union battle between mental health workers and Kaiser exposes the current reality and future potential of AI’s role in therapy sessions.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Will AI Replace Your Therapist? Kaiser Won’t Say No",
"datePublished": "2025-12-11T06:00:05-08:00",
"dateModified": "2026-01-13T15:34:01-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "News",
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/7f508555-a533-4d86-854a-b3cd011b4bf3/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999553",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Every day, clinical social worker Ilana Marcucci-Morris talks to her patients about the most private, most vulnerable details of their lives, and she’s not interested in having AI software listen in or sharing any of her responsibilities with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999388/california-warns-families-to-watch-out-for-teens-as-character-ai-shuts-off-chatbot-access\"> a chatbot\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A self-attested millennial and lover of gadgets, Marcucci-Morris knows artificial intelligence is here to stay in health care, but when it comes to therapy, she wants it to be optional and assistive, a tool that will augment human connection, not diminish it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She figured that would be a simple assurance her union could win when they sat down\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/kaiser-permanente-mental-health\"> at the bargaining table\u003c/a> last summer to hash out their next contract with Kaiser Permanente. The therapists with the \u003ca href=\"https://home.nuhw.org/\">National Union of Healthcare Workers\u003c/a> submitted their proposed contract language — that AI would be used to “assist” mental health clinicians, but not “replace” them — never expecting it to be controversial. After all, Kaiser signed a contract with their sister union in Southern California just months earlier that contained the same language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this time, Kaiser refused, sending back a counterproposal in the fall with that paragraph deleted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>“\u003c/strong>We have asked them point-blank about language to prevent replacing therapists with artificial intelligence, and they have been very clear that they want the ‘flexibility’ to increase AI and reduce their need for us,” Marcucci-Morris said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The local contract debate taps into an existential question plaguing American workers across professions: When is AI coming for my job? As health systems embrace the technology to save money and time, and consumers increasingly consult AI chatbots for mental health support, the theoretical question has suddenly turned concrete for Kaiser therapists and they are testing their union power to see if and how they can influence the inevitable transformation of their vocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999559\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999559\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/HealthCareWorkerKQED-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Kaiser clinician during the previous December 2018 strike. \u003ccite>(April Dembosky/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“AI is not inherently good or bad. It holds promise, but it isn’t without serious risks,” said Maya Sandalow, associate director for health programs at the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/\">Bipartisan Policy Center\u003c/a>. “When we talk about this, we need to be asking, ‘how might this solution improve upon the status quo?’ The status quo is that we are in a mental health crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Worldwide prevalence of depression and anxiety\u003ca href=\"https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide\"> spiked 25%\u003c/a> in 2022, and today\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/youth-experience-survey/\"> nearly two-thirds of American youth\u003c/a> regularly experience mental health distress, though fewer than half of them seek professional help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding a therapist, especially one who accepts insurance,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/series/state-of-mind\"> has become notoriously difficult\u003c/a> as the field contends with workforce shortages and low reimbursement rates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12063401",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/OpenAiLawsuitsGetty.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kaiser has been battling these industry dynamics for\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/stateofhealth/21358/kaiser-agrees-to-pay-4-million-fine-over-mental-health-care-drops-lawsuit\"> more than a decade\u003c/a>. California regulators have\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11791527/kaiser-therapists-strike-again-over-long-wait-times\"> cited the company multiple times\u003c/a> and\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2023/10/kaiser-permanente-california-behavioral-health-settlement/\"> fined it twice\u003c/a> for making patients wait\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11891049/california-bill-would-reduce-wait-times-for-mental-health-appointments\"> too long\u003c/a> for mental health appointments, ordering Kaiser to address understaffing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrators are actively exploring how AI tools could help expand access to therapists, for example, by helping them spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser declined several requests for an interview, but said in a statement that AI tools don’t make medical decisions or replace human care. Rather, they hold “significant potential to benefit health care by supporting better diagnostics, enhancing patient-clinician relationships, optimizing clinicians’ time, and ensuring fairness in care experiences and health outcomes by addressing individual needs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kaiser contracts with mental health workers typically span two to four years. The company did not respond to specific questions about how AI could lead to job losses during that timeframe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Managers told the union during negotiations that they do not “intend” to lay off therapists because of the technology, but when pressed to put that in writing in the contract, several union representatives, including Marcucci-Morris, said Kaiser told them, “We can’t predict the future. We need to maintain flexibility,” and “We want to leave our options open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How Kaiser uses AI now in mental health care\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Kaiser is already deploying AI note-taking technology in mental health care. Piloted first in medical exam rooms, these digital scribes record interactions between doctors and patients, then generate summaries for the patient’s medical record. Many mental health clinicians are optimistic about this innovation, as they typically spend two and a half hours a day, often in the evenings, writing clinical notes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s called pajama time,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1999280/ai-safety-expert-warns-parents-to-watch-kids-in-wake-of-chatbot-ban\">Jodi Halpern\u003c/a>, a psychiatrist and professor of bioethics at UC Berkeley. Her research shows that paperwork is the biggest cause of burnout among clinicians. “So the idea that we could replace that so that human care could grow, I love that idea.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999568\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/029_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The technology is controversial among Kaiser clinicians, though. Some appreciate digital scribe software as a time saver that also allows them to be more present with their clients, making eye contact rather than typing. But many are wary of potential privacy breaches, the ethical implications of using therapy transcripts to train AI models, and whether patients might censor themselves when they’re being recorded. Marcucci-Morris has declined to use it for these reasons, anticipating that only one out of 10 of her patients would consent to it if she asked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not the same as talking to your physician about a rash or your vitamin D deficiency,” she said. “I wouldn’t want a recording of my disagreements with a family member or details of the terrible things that have happened to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In light of the unknowns, therapists have asked Kaiser management for a contract clause that stipulates the use of digital scribes will remain optional, or at least “not mandatory,” but Kaiser declined the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union is also concerned about Kaiser’s recent introduction of electronic mental health triaging, an optional tool where patients are routed into care based on how they answer questions about anxiety and depression in an online questionnaire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999406\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999406\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/11/20251124_AIKAISER_GC-4-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brittany Beard, a licensed clinical therapist at Kaiser Permanente, poses for a portrait at her home in Vallejo on Nov. 24, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some patients won’t like this, but some will prefer it, said Merage Ghane, a clinical psychologist and director of responsible AI at the\u003ca href=\"https://www.chai.org/\"> Coalition for Health AI\u003c/a>. “There are people who really don’t like talking to a real person,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Vallejo-based therapist Brittany Beard used to do this triage work herself, talking to clients for 15 to 20 minutes on the phone, but after Kaiser outsourced many of those calls to an outside company and developed the e-visit, she was reassigned to a new department. Though still employed at Kaiser, she already feels replaced by an app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They sell it as accessing care faster, but I’ve seen the opposite,” Beard said. Now, when some of her patients meet her for their first appointment, “They’re frustrated. It was like they were battling just to get to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Is AI coming for your therapist?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>How much AI infiltrates mental health care will be determined, in part, by the consumer. Experts have identified a “\u003ca href=\"https://bipartisanpolicy.org/article/ai-in-health-care-administration-a-conversation-with-experts/\">trust gap\u003c/a>” between health administrators’ eagerness to roll out AI tools and patient concerns; to bridge the divide, they recommend transparency and involving patients in implementation. Qualitative studies show that patients are optimistic about the technology’s potential to improve diagnosis and treatment, but they remain skeptical of “robots” or “machines” taking over from humans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prevailing sentiment really was that AI is at its best when it’s a tool that doctors can use to do their jobs better. Once that moved into the realm of replacing human interaction and experience, that was not a good thing,” said Michele Cordoba, a researcher at \u003ca href=\"https://cultureiq.group/\">Culture IQ\u003c/a>, which produced a \u003ca href=\"https://www.chcf.org/resource/patients-say-yes-artificial-intelligence-doctors-stay-charge/\">report\u003c/a> for the California Health Care Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/038_KQED_KaiserStrikeOakland_08192022_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kaiser mental health care workers and supporters march from Oakland Kaiser Medical Center to Kaiser’s corporate headquarters on Friday, Aug. 19, 2022, the fifth day of an open-ended strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the use of commercial AI chatbots for mental health has soared.\u003ca href=\"https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fpri0000292\"> One study\u003c/a> surveyed AI users who have mental health conditions and found nearly half turn to their chatbot for psychological support, and of those, 63% said the advice was helpful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But mental health professionals have questioned the efficacy of such advice, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12063401/openai-faces-legal-storm-over-claims-its-ai-drove-users-to-suicide-delusions\">several families have sued\u003c/a> AI companies, alleging their chatbots encouraged suicidal and self-harming behavior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, clinical psychologists are developing evidence-based chatbots, like\u003ca href=\"https://home.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/03/first-therapy-chatbot-trial-yields-mental-health-benefits\"> TheraBot\u003c/a>, to deliver tested therapeutic guidance. The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged the broad demand for such apps at a \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/advisory-committees/advisory-committee-calendar/november-6-2025-digital-health-advisory-committee-meeting-announcement-11062025#event-information\">November meeting\u003c/a> and is exploring what kind of authority it might have to regulate them, including requiring human mental health professionals to oversee them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12066395",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/San-Francisco-General-Hospital-Getty.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kaiser therapists want to know what all these trends mean for their own job security in the immediate and long term. When one of them asked a panel of AI experts to expound on this during a statewide training webinar in October, the 200 therapists in attendance heard a wide range of answers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage you all not to fear for your profession,” said Nicholas Jacobson, a psychologist at Dartmouth and co-creator of TheraBot. “I think there is no possibility in your lifetime that you all will feel replaced by AI.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But UC Berkeley’s Halpern was much more circumspect, especially in light of chatbots’ popularity among youth. \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonsensemedia.org/research/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\">A third of teen AI users\u003c/a> said they preferred to have serious conversations with their chatbot rather than a human. “I am not sure we won’t see a tremendous loss of human interactions,” Halpern said. “I’m very worried about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, patients should have choices, psychologist Ghane told KQED. If they live in rural areas and can’t access a therapist, or they have a neurodevelopmental condition where human communication is more aversive than facilitative, she said it’s important they have AI options. In that version of the future, therapists are right to ask if they will be replaced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The answer is they can be,” Ghane said. “We can all be replaced at some point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999553/will-ai-replace-your-therapist-kaiser-wont-say-no",
"authors": [
"3205"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_3890",
"science_40",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_3663",
"science_856",
"science_5178",
"science_4417",
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_249",
"science_4277"
],
"featImg": "science_1999408",
"label": "source_science_1999553"
},
"science_1999540": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999540",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999540",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1765393217000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "stanford-study-offers-clue-to-rare-myocarditis-after-covid-vaccination",
"title": "Stanford Study Offers Clue to Rare Myocarditis After COVID Vaccination",
"publishDate": 1765393217,
"format": "standard",
"headTitle": "Stanford Study Offers Clue to Rare Myocarditis After COVID Vaccination | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford\u003c/a> scientists may be closing in on an explanation for a rare cardiac side effect experienced by a small number of people a few days after they received a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/covid-19\">COVID-19\u003c/a> shot. Fewer than 30 people in every million who are vaccinated experience brief chest pain and shortness of breath. The myocarditis primarily affects teenage boys and young men and has puzzled clinicians since the rollout of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To investigate what might be happening inside the body after the shot, the researchers used human plasma, lab-grown heart tissue, modeling, and mice. In every lab model, the same thing happened: right after a shot — especially the second one — immune cells sent out a burst of two signaling proteins. Normally, they help the body fight viruses, but at unusually high levels, these cytokines, CXCL10 and interferon-gamma, seemed to put stress on heart cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study outlining this possible mechanism were published on Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we block these two with the antibodies, the cardiac damage goes down,” said Dr. Joseph Wu, senior author of the study and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. “So we’re pretty confident that these two cytokines are probably two key players in terms of causing COVID myocarditis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors stress that these findings are lab results. The next step will be to run human clinical trials. They also said the results should not lead individuals to avoid Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 shots. Myocarditis after an mRNA shot is extremely uncommon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cardiac risks are much more common and far more severe after a COVID-19 infection, which can inflame not only the heart but also the lungs and other organs.[aside postID=news_12060358 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/GettyImages-1414098149-1020x643.jpg']The vaccine schedule may also be a factor. Some data suggest the risk of myocarditis is higher when the second dose follows within weeks of the first. That raises the possibility that spacing out doses — as Canada did early in the pandemic — may blunt the immune spikes that stress the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possible reason the condition affects young men more often is that estrogen may provide some protection. In mice, the researchers found that estrogen eased the inflammatory damage triggered by the cytokine surge. That led them to test genistein, a plant-based phytoestrogen found in soy, which similarly reduced inflammation in lab models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we see here [in the Stanford study] is when we give this drug [genistein], we decrease the cardiac inflammation or the myocarditis,” said Dr. Amir Munir, a UCSF cardiologist not involved in the research. “However, we still keep the protective properties of the vaccine to protect against COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding why myocarditis occurs is a first step toward designing safer mRNA vaccines. It may also lead to medication for myocarditis that arises outside of vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no FDA-approved treatments for myocarditis,” Munir said. “Having models like this, where we can understand the mechanisms that drive myocarditis, allow us to think how we can specifically target inflammation to treat patients with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "Researchers identified two immune signals that may help explain why a small percentage of young males develop chest pain or shortness of breath after mRNA COVID-19 shots.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1765557028,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 12,
"wordCount": 537
},
"headData": {
"title": "Stanford Study Offers Clue to Rare Myocarditis After COVID Vaccination | KQED",
"description": "Researchers identified two immune signals that may help explain why a small percentage of young males develop chest pain or shortness of breath after mRNA COVID-19 shots.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "Stanford Study Offers Clue to Rare Myocarditis After COVID Vaccination",
"datePublished": "2025-12-10T11:00:17-08:00",
"dateModified": "2025-12-12T08:30:28-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "News",
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-4[…]f-aaef00f5a073/51d9f3ff-62fb-46eb-a903-b3b001271163/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999540",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999540/stanford-study-offers-clue-to-rare-myocarditis-after-covid-vaccination",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/stanford-university\">Stanford\u003c/a> scientists may be closing in on an explanation for a rare cardiac side effect experienced by a small number of people a few days after they received a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/covid-19\">COVID-19\u003c/a> shot. Fewer than 30 people in every million who are vaccinated experience brief chest pain and shortness of breath. The myocarditis primarily affects teenage boys and young men and has puzzled clinicians since the rollout of vaccines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To investigate what might be happening inside the body after the shot, the researchers used human plasma, lab-grown heart tissue, modeling, and mice. In every lab model, the same thing happened: right after a shot — especially the second one — immune cells sent out a burst of two signaling proteins. Normally, they help the body fight viruses, but at unusually high levels, these cytokines, CXCL10 and interferon-gamma, seemed to put stress on heart cells.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The results of the study outlining this possible mechanism were published on Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we block these two with the antibodies, the cardiac damage goes down,” said Dr. Joseph Wu, senior author of the study and director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute. “So we’re pretty confident that these two cytokines are probably two key players in terms of causing COVID myocarditis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The authors stress that these findings are lab results. The next step will be to run human clinical trials. They also said the results should not lead individuals to avoid Moderna or Pfizer COVID-19 shots. Myocarditis after an mRNA shot is extremely uncommon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cardiac risks are much more common and far more severe after a COVID-19 infection, which can inflame not only the heart but also the lungs and other organs.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "news_12060358",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/GettyImages-1414098149-1020x643.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The vaccine schedule may also be a factor. Some data suggest the risk of myocarditis is higher when the second dose follows within weeks of the first. That raises the possibility that spacing out doses — as Canada did early in the pandemic — may blunt the immune spikes that stress the heart.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One possible reason the condition affects young men more often is that estrogen may provide some protection. In mice, the researchers found that estrogen eased the inflammatory damage triggered by the cytokine surge. That led them to test genistein, a plant-based phytoestrogen found in soy, which similarly reduced inflammation in lab models.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we see here [in the Stanford study] is when we give this drug [genistein], we decrease the cardiac inflammation or the myocarditis,” said Dr. Amir Munir, a UCSF cardiologist not involved in the research. “However, we still keep the protective properties of the vaccine to protect against COVID.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Understanding why myocarditis occurs is a first step toward designing safer mRNA vaccines. It may also lead to medication for myocarditis that arises outside of vaccination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have no FDA-approved treatments for myocarditis,” Munir said. “Having models like this, where we can understand the mechanisms that drive myocarditis, allow us to think how we can specifically target inflammation to treat patients with it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999540/stanford-study-offers-clue-to-rare-myocarditis-after-covid-vaccination",
"authors": [
"11229"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_3890",
"science_40",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_856",
"science_5178",
"science_4368",
"science_4417",
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_4277",
"science_5187"
],
"featImg": "science_1999543",
"label": "source_science_1999540"
},
"science_1999522": {
"type": "posts",
"id": "science_1999522",
"meta": {
"index": "posts_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1999522",
"score": null,
"sort": [
1765292417000
]
},
"guestAuthors": [],
"slug": "a-maze-of-clinics-navigating-ketamines-rapid-rise",
"title": "A Maze of Clinics: Navigating Ketamine’s Rapid Rise",
"publishDate": 1765292417,
"format": "audio",
"headTitle": "A Maze of Clinics: Navigating Ketamine’s Rapid Rise | KQED",
"labelTerm": {},
"content": "\u003cp>When Aliyah Economos lifted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906838/what-science-says-about-ketamines-risks-and-benefits\">ketamine\u003c/a> nasal spray to her nose and settled into her therapist’s plush grey couch, a candle flickered nearby. Images flooded her mind — Medusa, dragons and fire. Emotions swirled: rage tangled with arousal, failure mixed with shame. Over many sessions, those fragments sharpened into long-buried memories of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, I had a lot of denial,” said Economos, now 51. “There were many, many moments where it was overwhelming and I’d shut back down for weeks sometimes. I did not have the capacity to feel the depth and the pain of what my body was holding back without ketamine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of a growing wave of patients turning to ketamine when nothing else helps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the drug has lived in two very different worlds. In hospitals, it’s a reliable, inexpensive anesthetic — fast-acting, safe enough for children. In clubs, it’s a hallucinogen that can send users into a dissociative haze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, psychiatrists have prescribed it for treatment-resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which can take weeks to work, ketamine can provide relief in hours — even snapping people out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02973-1?\">suicidal spirals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a potentially life-saving drug for many people,” said Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. “The best evidence by far is for people with major depressive disorder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market for ketamine really took off after 2019, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved esketamine, a chemically related compound, for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Clinicians also prescribe ketamine off-label for everything from anxiety to chronic pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998716\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Integrative Health, where ketamine-assisted therapy is provided, in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As demand has grown, so has concern about uneven oversight: the \u003ca href=\"https://askp.org/directory/?\">number of ketamine clinics\u003c/a> nationwide jumped from 60 in 2015 to 1,500 today, according to a 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.psy-ins.com/psychedelic-medicine-2024-report\">industry report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, clients might land in a spa-like East Bay center, a soft-lit therapy office in San Francisco, or a strip-mall infusion suite down the Peninsula. But behind those doors, protocols differ widely — from dosing and monitoring to whether any psychological support is offered — leaving patients with a patchwork of practices and protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more and more of these clinics that are popping up that are touting ketamine as a treatment for depression, PTSD, OCD and more without it actually being currently in practice guidelines,” said Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford Medicine. “There’s a lot of hope. However, just because there is a study of a small handful of people, we still don’t know how effective that medication is in the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The crash before the breakthrough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Economos carries herself as though nothing could come undone. She dresses in relaxed, flowing clothes, gold rings stacked just so, her long brown hair falling in loose waves. Yet, for most of her life, she felt flat on the inside — cycling through antidepressants for 15 years. Then, about six years ago, she crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My body really just shut down entirely on me,” she recalled. “Like I’d just run a marathon and yet I hadn’t. I couldn’t get out of bed. Light was painful. I fainted all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999530\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999530\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, clinical psychologist, speaks to Aliyah Economos, right, at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother of three threw herself at every possible fix: cardiologists, neurologists and rheumatologists. MRIs and blood work came back normal. She tried a trauma specialist, naturopaths and elimination diets. Hormone regimens. At one point, she said, she was swallowing as many as 38 pills a day — antibiotics, supplements and thyroid meds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she tried ketamine-assisted therapy at a tranquil clinic in Berkeley. Clients sipped tea in the waiting room, yoga mats lined the corner and treatments could be paired with acupuncture, sound therapy or craniosacral work. Each three-hour session is $1,100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each appointment, more memories started to unlock, and slowly over nearly three years, Economos said her health began to improve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ketamine has this remarkable ability to help people tolerate emotional pain that they previously couldn’t,” said Genesee Herzberg, the psychologist guiding Economos’ therapy. “It’s almost like the emotions and memories that were previously dissociated because they were too much become more accessible because of the kind of softening that ketamine does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a dissociative anesthetic, ketamine disrupts normal communication patterns in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems shortly after giving a dose of ketamine, there’s an increase in the brain’s ability to form new connections that could be sustained,” Sanacora said. “And we think that is likely to be one of the primary mechanisms. I’m sure there’s many different things that contribute to it, but we think that’s the main thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>It was supposed to be ‘the answer’ but went sideways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Siegel was grappling with a divorce, her brother’s suicide and a fractured relationship with her father that worsened before he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her familiar self-doubt had calcified into a constant self-critic, reminding her she’d failed and was running out of time. By then, her antidepressant had been augmented with an antipsychotic to boost its effect, but the medications had stopped working and were fueling stress-eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was paralyzed in my own body,” Siegel said. “I lost faith in antidepressants — like they weren’t strong enough anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998718\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1998718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, a clinical psychologist at Sage Integrative Health, poses for a portrait at the clinic in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Encouraged by a psychiatrist who said esketamine “would be the answer,” the 57-year-old signed up for 10 sessions at an Oakland clinic, which were covered by her insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she soon learned sessions can go sideways without the right support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She entered a sparse treatment room: a recliner, a box of tissues, a nearly empty jar of Jolly Ranchers. A technician drifted in and out to cuff Siegel’s arm and log her blood pressure. When the session began, the esketamine nasal spray dripped down her throat, numbing her mouth and tipping her into panic. The psychiatrist offered little reassurance, even as Siegel began to sob.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was feeling really helpless, really scared — like he just didn’t care at all,” she said. “I felt like he was just there to make sure I didn’t die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drug cracked something open. She touched the grief she’d been white-knuckling, and that access, however rough, motivated her to return. But the second session was no better; the psychiatrist kept his distance as she wept, and she canceled the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel switched to a Berkeley psychologist who offers ketamine-assisted therapy. Because off-label care isn’t covered, she paid about $5,000 for a package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was the same kind of grief, tears and helplessness, but the therapist had her hand on my arm the whole time,” Siegel said. “She was really connected. It was exactly what I had been looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon she noticed real shifts: her days began trending “good to great,” and her self-criticism finally relented. Treatment, as Siegel learned, can differ dramatically from one room to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patients can even skip clinics altogether by logging on to telehealth sites, where providers ship ketamine lozenges for about $75 a dose. Operators like Michael Petegorsky, former chief strategy officer at Mindbloom, a ketamine telehealth platform, insist that clients undergo psychiatric evaluations, begin with small doses, have a peer present during sessions and follow other protocols to ensure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not drive-by medicine or ketamine through the mail,” he said, arguing the model is more structured than critics assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://plusapn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-Future-of-Mental-Health-Ketamine-Therapy-Report-by-APN.pdf\">survey\u003c/a> found that more than half of people who tried ketamine at home said they took more than the recommended dose, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/fda-warns-patients-and-health-care-providers-about-potential-risks-associated-compounded-ketamine\">FDA warned\u003c/a> in 2023 against compounded ketamine products, which are commonly used in mail-order services, because they may not be safe or effective.[aside postID=science_1998793 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/09/250924-CANCERMOMS00123_TV-KQED.jpg']“Some of my patients have developed a dependence because they were able to access ketamine so easily,” Das said. She’s also seen trauma survivors rattled by the drug’s dissociative pull. “Suddenly, you’re not in control of your body, and that can be profoundly destabilizing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While research suggests ketamine doesn’t create the kind of physical dependence seen with opioids or alcohol, the long-term risks are still unknown. Heavy use has been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9888585/?\">bladder damage and cognitive issues\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dangers also grabbed national attention two years ago when Matthew Perry, the longtime star of \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, died from the acute effects of ketamine. He had been receiving medically supervised infusions, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner found the levels in his body when he died could not have been from his most recent treatment about a week earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Economos has avoided those pitfalls, thus far. Under her psychologist’s guidance, she takes a relatively low dose and she says she’s not worried about addiction. Ketamine, she said, “gave me a gentle opportunity to meet myself in those really awful experiences without my mind having to turn it back off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She no longer relies on antidepressants, her body doesn’t hurt and her energy has returned. But her path took resources most people don’t have — tens of thousands of dollars and a skilled therapist to guide her through months of hard emotional work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ketamine can be a lifeline when standard treatments fail, but it can also be a costly gamble in a marketplace with little oversight and uncertain health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
"blocks": [],
"excerpt": "California clinics' doors are flying open, patients are lining up and ketamine is being prescribed off-label for everything from depression to chronic pain. What’s missing are clear rules to guide its use.",
"status": "publish",
"parent": 0,
"modified": 1765400988,
"stats": {
"hasAudio": false,
"hasVideo": false,
"hasChartOrMap": false,
"iframeSrcs": [],
"hasGoogleForm": false,
"hasGallery": false,
"hasHearkenModule": false,
"hasPolis": false,
"paragraphCount": 39,
"wordCount": 1744
},
"headData": {
"title": "A Maze of Clinics: Navigating Ketamine’s Rapid Rise | KQED",
"description": "California clinics' doors are flying open, patients are lining up and ketamine is being prescribed off-label for everything from depression to chronic pain. What’s missing are clear rules to guide its use.",
"ogTitle": "",
"ogDescription": "",
"ogImgId": "",
"twTitle": "",
"twDescription": "",
"twImgId": "",
"schema": {
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "Article",
"headline": "A Maze of Clinics: Navigating Ketamine’s Rapid Rise",
"datePublished": "2025-12-09T07:00:17-08:00",
"dateModified": "2025-12-10T13:09:48-08:00",
"image": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
}
},
"primaryCategory": {
"termId": 39,
"slug": "health",
"name": "Health"
},
"source": "News",
"audioUrl": "https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/0af137ef-751e-4b19-a055-aaef00d2d578/ffca7e9f-6831-41c5-bcaf-aaef00f5a073/b919f467-c3b4-48f8-8cbf-b3ae012103bb/audio.mp3",
"sticky": false,
"nprStoryId": "kqed-1999522",
"templateType": "standard",
"featuredImageType": "standard",
"excludeFromSiteSearch": "Include",
"articleAge": "0",
"path": "/science/1999522/a-maze-of-clinics-navigating-ketamines-rapid-rise",
"audioTrackLength": null,
"parsedContent": [
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Aliyah Economos lifted a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906838/what-science-says-about-ketamines-risks-and-benefits\">ketamine\u003c/a> nasal spray to her nose and settled into her therapist’s plush grey couch, a candle flickered nearby. Images flooded her mind — Medusa, dragons and fire. Emotions swirled: rage tangled with arousal, failure mixed with shame. Over many sessions, those fragments sharpened into long-buried memories of sexual abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At first, I had a lot of denial,” said Economos, now 51. “There were many, many moments where it was overwhelming and I’d shut back down for weeks sometimes. I did not have the capacity to feel the depth and the pain of what my body was holding back without ketamine.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s part of a growing wave of patients turning to ketamine when nothing else helps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the drug has lived in two very different worlds. In hospitals, it’s a reliable, inexpensive anesthetic — fast-acting, safe enough for children. In clubs, it’s a hallucinogen that can send users into a dissociative haze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "fullwidth"
},
"numeric": [
"fullwidth"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, psychiatrists have prescribed it for treatment-resistant depression. Unlike traditional antidepressants, which can take weeks to work, ketamine can provide relief in hours — even snapping people out of \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-024-02973-1?\">suicidal spirals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It really is a potentially life-saving drug for many people,” said Gerard Sanacora, a professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. “The best evidence by far is for people with major depressive disorder.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The market for ketamine really took off after 2019, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved esketamine, a chemically related compound, for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Clinicians also prescribe ketamine off-label for everything from anxiety to chronic pain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998716\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1998716\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sage Integrative Health, where ketamine-assisted therapy is provided, in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As demand has grown, so has concern about uneven oversight: the \u003ca href=\"https://askp.org/directory/?\">number of ketamine clinics\u003c/a> nationwide jumped from 60 in 2015 to 1,500 today, according to a 2024 \u003ca href=\"https://www.psy-ins.com/psychedelic-medicine-2024-report\">industry report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, clients might land in a spa-like East Bay center, a soft-lit therapy office in San Francisco, or a strip-mall infusion suite down the Peninsula. But behind those doors, protocols differ widely — from dosing and monitoring to whether any psychological support is offered — leaving patients with a patchwork of practices and protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s more and more of these clinics that are popping up that are touting ketamine as a treatment for depression, PTSD, OCD and more without it actually being currently in practice guidelines,” said Smita Das, an addiction psychiatrist at Stanford Medicine. “There’s a lot of hope. However, just because there is a study of a small handful of people, we still don’t know how effective that medication is in the long term.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The crash before the breakthrough\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Economos carries herself as though nothing could come undone. She dresses in relaxed, flowing clothes, gold rings stacked just so, her long brown hair falling in loose waves. Yet, for most of her life, she felt flat on the inside — cycling through antidepressants for 15 years. Then, about six years ago, she crashed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My body really just shut down entirely on me,” she recalled. “Like I’d just run a marathon and yet I hadn’t. I couldn’t get out of bed. Light was painful. I fainted all the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1999530\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1999530\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/12/20251001_Ketamine_GC-5_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, clinical psychologist, speaks to Aliyah Economos, right, at Sage Integrative Health in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The mother of three threw herself at every possible fix: cardiologists, neurologists and rheumatologists. MRIs and blood work came back normal. She tried a trauma specialist, naturopaths and elimination diets. Hormone regimens. At one point, she said, she was swallowing as many as 38 pills a day — antibiotics, supplements and thyroid meds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then she tried ketamine-assisted therapy at a tranquil clinic in Berkeley. Clients sipped tea in the waiting room, yoga mats lined the corner and treatments could be paired with acupuncture, sound therapy or craniosacral work. Each three-hour session is $1,100.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With each appointment, more memories started to unlock, and slowly over nearly three years, Economos said her health began to improve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Ketamine has this remarkable ability to help people tolerate emotional pain that they previously couldn’t,” said Genesee Herzberg, the psychologist guiding Economos’ therapy. “It’s almost like the emotions and memories that were previously dissociated because they were too much become more accessible because of the kind of softening that ketamine does.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a dissociative anesthetic, ketamine disrupts normal communication patterns in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It seems shortly after giving a dose of ketamine, there’s an increase in the brain’s ability to form new connections that could be sustained,” Sanacora said. “And we think that is likely to be one of the primary mechanisms. I’m sure there’s many different things that contribute to it, but we think that’s the main thing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>It was supposed to be ‘the answer’ but went sideways\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Siegel was grappling with a divorce, her brother’s suicide and a fractured relationship with her father that worsened before he died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her familiar self-doubt had calcified into a constant self-critic, reminding her she’d failed and was running out of time. By then, her antidepressant had been augmented with an antipsychotic to boost its effect, but the medications had stopped working and were fueling stress-eating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was paralyzed in my own body,” Siegel said. “I lost faith in antidepressants — like they weren’t strong enough anymore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1998718\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1998718 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/10/20251001_KETAMINE_GC-6-KQED-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Genesee Herzberg, a clinical psychologist at Sage Integrative Health, poses for a portrait at the clinic in Berkeley on Oct. 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Encouraged by a psychiatrist who said esketamine “would be the answer,” the 57-year-old signed up for 10 sessions at an Oakland clinic, which were covered by her insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, she soon learned sessions can go sideways without the right support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She entered a sparse treatment room: a recliner, a box of tissues, a nearly empty jar of Jolly Ranchers. A technician drifted in and out to cuff Siegel’s arm and log her blood pressure. When the session began, the esketamine nasal spray dripped down her throat, numbing her mouth and tipping her into panic. The psychiatrist offered little reassurance, even as Siegel began to sob.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was feeling really helpless, really scared — like he just didn’t care at all,” she said. “I felt like he was just there to make sure I didn’t die.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the drug cracked something open. She touched the grief she’d been white-knuckling, and that access, however rough, motivated her to return. But the second session was no better; the psychiatrist kept his distance as she wept, and she canceled the rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Siegel switched to a Berkeley psychologist who offers ketamine-assisted therapy. Because off-label care isn’t covered, she paid about $5,000 for a package.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was the same kind of grief, tears and helplessness, but the therapist had her hand on my arm the whole time,” Siegel said. “She was really connected. It was exactly what I had been looking for.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Soon she noticed real shifts: her days began trending “good to great,” and her self-criticism finally relented. Treatment, as Siegel learned, can differ dramatically from one room to the next.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The risks\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Patients can even skip clinics altogether by logging on to telehealth sites, where providers ship ketamine lozenges for about $75 a dose. Operators like Michael Petegorsky, former chief strategy officer at Mindbloom, a ketamine telehealth platform, insist that clients undergo psychiatric evaluations, begin with small doses, have a peer present during sessions and follow other protocols to ensure it’s safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not drive-by medicine or ketamine through the mail,” he said, arguing the model is more structured than critics assume.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, a 2023 \u003ca href=\"https://plusapn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2023-Future-of-Mental-Health-Ketamine-Therapy-Report-by-APN.pdf\">survey\u003c/a> found that more than half of people who tried ketamine at home said they took more than the recommended dose, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/fda-warns-patients-and-health-care-providers-about-potential-risks-associated-compounded-ketamine\">FDA warned\u003c/a> in 2023 against compounded ketamine products, which are commonly used in mail-order services, because they may not be safe or effective.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "aside",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"postid": "science_1998793",
"hero": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/09/250924-CANCERMOMS00123_TV-KQED.jpg",
"label": ""
},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Some of my patients have developed a dependence because they were able to access ketamine so easily,” Das said. She’s also seen trauma survivors rattled by the drug’s dissociative pull. “Suddenly, you’re not in control of your body, and that can be profoundly destabilizing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While research suggests ketamine doesn’t create the kind of physical dependence seen with opioids or alcohol, the long-term risks are still unknown. Heavy use has been linked to \u003ca href=\"https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9888585/?\">bladder damage and cognitive issues\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The dangers also grabbed national attention two years ago when Matthew Perry, the longtime star of \u003cem>Friends\u003c/em>, died from the acute effects of ketamine. He had been receiving medically supervised infusions, but the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner found the levels in his body when he died could not have been from his most recent treatment about a week earlier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Economos has avoided those pitfalls, thus far. Under her psychologist’s guidance, she takes a relatively low dose and she says she’s not worried about addiction. Ketamine, she said, “gave me a gentle opportunity to meet myself in those really awful experiences without my mind having to turn it back off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She no longer relies on antidepressants, her body doesn’t hurt and her energy has returned. But her path took resources most people don’t have — tens of thousands of dollars and a skilled therapist to guide her through months of hard emotional work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ketamine can be a lifeline when standard treatments fail, but it can also be a costly gamble in a marketplace with little oversight and uncertain health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
},
{
"type": "component",
"content": "",
"name": "ad",
"attributes": {
"named": {
"label": "floatright"
},
"numeric": [
"floatright"
]
}
},
{
"type": "contentString",
"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
"attributes": {
"named": {},
"numeric": []
}
}
],
"link": "/science/1999522/a-maze-of-clinics-navigating-ketamines-rapid-rise",
"authors": [
"11229"
],
"categories": [
"science_39",
"science_4550",
"science_40",
"science_4450"
],
"tags": [
"science_5178",
"science_3541",
"science_4417",
"science_4414",
"science_5181",
"science_249",
"science_3072",
"science_4277"
],
"featImg": "science_1998717",
"label": "source_science_1999522"
}
},
"programsReducer": {
"all-things-considered": {
"id": "all-things-considered",
"title": "All Things Considered",
"info": "Every weekday, \u003cem>All Things Considered\u003c/em> hosts Robert Siegel, Audie Cornish, Ari Shapiro, and Kelly McEvers present the program's trademark mix of news, interviews, commentaries, reviews, and offbeat features. Michel Martin hosts on the weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 1pm-2pm, 4:30pm-6:30pm\u003cbr />SAT-SUN 5pm-6pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/All-Things-Considered-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/all-things-considered/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/all-things-considered"
},
"american-suburb-podcast": {
"id": "american-suburb-podcast",
"title": "American Suburb: The Podcast",
"tagline": "The flip side of gentrification, told through one town",
"info": "Gentrification is changing cities across America, forcing people from neighborhoods they have long called home. Call them the displaced. Now those priced out of the Bay Area are looking for a better life in an unlikely place. American Suburb follows this migration to one California town along the Delta, 45 miles from San Francisco. But is this once sleepy suburb ready for them?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/American-Suburb-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 19
},
"link": "/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/RBrW",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=1287748328",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/American-Suburb-p1086805/",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/american-suburb-podcast/feed/podcast",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMzMDExODgxNjA5"
}
},
"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "\"KQED Bay Curious",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
"link": "/podcasts/baycurious",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvbmV3cy9jYXRlZ29yeS9iYXktY3VyaW91cy1wb2RjYXN0L2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdA",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"
}
},
"bbc-world-service": {
"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-the-california-report/id79681292",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1MDAyODE4NTgz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432285393/the-california-report",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-the-california-report-podcast-8838",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcram/feed/podcast"
}
},
"californiareportmagazine": {
"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Magazine-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The California Report Magazine",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 10
},
"link": "/californiareportmagazine",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-california-report-magazine/id1314750545",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/564733126/the-california-report-magazine",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-california-report-magazine",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/tcrmag/feed/podcast"
}
},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
"id": "closealltabs",
"title": "Close All Tabs",
"tagline": "Your irreverent guide to the trends redefining our world",
"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CAT_2_Tile-scaled.jpg",
"imageAlt": "\"KQED Close All Tabs",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
"link": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/close-all-tabs/id214663465",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC6993880386",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/92d9d4ac-67a3-4eed-b10a-fb45d45b1ef2/close-all-tabs",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/6LAJFHnGK1pYXYzv6SIol6?si=deb0cae19813417c"
}
},
"code-switch-life-kit": {
"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
"airtime": "SUN 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"
}
},
"commonwealth-club": {
"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.commonwealthclub.org/podcasts",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Commonwealth-Club-of-California-p1060/"
}
},
"forum": {
"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/forum",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kqeds-forum/id73329719",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432307980/forum",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqedfm-kqeds-forum-podcast",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9557381633"
}
},
"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/freakonomicsradio"
}
},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "fresh-air",
"title": "Fresh Air",
"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Fresh-Air-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/4s8b",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Fresh-Air-p17/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/381444908/podcast.xml"
}
},
"here-and-now": {
"id": "here-and-now",
"title": "Here & Now",
"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
"airtime": "MON-THU 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Here-And-Now-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/here-and-now",
"subsdcribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?mt=2&id=426698661",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Here--Now-p211/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/hiddenbrain.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain",
"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hidden-brain/id1028908750?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Science-Podcasts/Hidden-Brain-p787503/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510308/podcast.xml"
}
},
"how-i-built-this": {
"id": "how-i-built-this",
"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/3zxy",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Arts--Culture-Podcasts/How-I-Built-This-p910896/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510313/podcast.xml"
}
},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
"imageAlt": "KQED Hyphenación",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hyphenaci%C3%B3n/id1191591838",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
"youtube": "https://www.youtube.com/c/kqedarts",
"amazon": "https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/6c3dd23c-93fb-4aab-97ba-1725fa6315f1/hyphenaci%C3%B3n",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC2275451163"
}
},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/790253322/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1492194549",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/series/jerrybrown/feed/podcast/",
"tuneIn": "http://tun.in/pjGcK",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-political-mind-of-jerry-brown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/54C1dmuyFyKMFttY6X2j6r?si=K8SgRCoISNK6ZbjpXrX5-w",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvbmV3cy9zZXJpZXMvamVycnlicm93bi9mZWVkL3BvZGNhc3Qv"
}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/xtTd",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Latino-USA-p621/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201853034&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/APM-Marketplace-p88/",
"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mindshift-podcast/id1078765985",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/onourwatch",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0OLWoyizopu6tY1XiuX70x",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-Our-Watch-p1436229/",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
}
},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id73801135",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
}
},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/M4f5",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business--Economics-Podcasts/Planet-Money-p164680/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Political Breakdown",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/political-breakdown/id1327641087",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5Nzk2MzI2MTEx",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/572155894/political-breakdown",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/political-breakdown",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/07RVyIjIdk2WDuVehvBMoN",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/tag/political-breakdown/feed/podcast"
}
},
"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/possible/id1677184070",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
}
},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pri.org/programs/the-world",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "PRI"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pri-the-world",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pris-the-world-latest-edition/id278196007?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/PRIs-The-World-p24/",
"rss": "http://feeds.feedburner.com/pri/theworld"
}
},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
"airtime": "SUN 12am-1am, SAT 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/radiolab1400.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolab/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/radiolab",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/radiolab/id152249110?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/RadioLab-p68032/",
"rss": "https://feeds.wnyc.org/radiolab"
}
},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/reveal/id886009669",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Reveal-p679597/",
"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
}
},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Rightnowish-Podcast-Tile-500x500-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Rightnowish with Pendarvis Harshaw",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/721590300/rightnowish",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/programs/rightnowish/feed/podcast",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rightnowish/id1482187648",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/rightnowish",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkMxMjU5MTY3NDc4",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/7kEJuafTzTVan7B78ttz1I"
}
},
"science-friday": {
"id": "science-friday",
"title": "Science Friday",
"info": "Science Friday is a weekly science talk show, broadcast live over public radio stations nationwide. Each week, the show focuses on science topics that are in the news and tries to bring an educated, balanced discussion to bear on the scientific issues at hand. Panels of expert guests join host Ira Flatow, a veteran science journalist, to discuss science and to take questions from listeners during the call-in portion of the program.",
"airtime": "FRI 11am-1pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Science-Friday-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/science-friday",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/science-friday",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=73329284&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Science-Friday-p394/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/science-friday"
}
},
"snap-judgment": {
"id": "snap-judgment",
"title": "Snap Judgment",
"tagline": "Real stories with killer beats",
"info": "The Snap Judgment radio show and podcast mixes real stories with killer beats to produce cinematic, dramatic radio. Snap's musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling... with a BEAT!! Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 450 public radio stations and is brought to the airwaves by KQED & PRX.",
"airtime": "SAT 1pm-2pm, 9pm-10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Snap-Judgment-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 4
},
"link": "https://snapjudgment.org",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/snap-judgment/id283657561",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/449018144/snap-judgment",
"stitcher": "https://www.pandora.com/podcast/snap-judgment/PC:241?source=stitcher-sunset",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3Cct7ZWmxHNAtLgBTqjC5v",
"rss": "https://snap.feed.snapjudgment.org/"
}
},
"soldout": {
"id": "soldout",
"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
"info": "Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Sold-Out-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Sold Out: Rethinking Housing in America",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/soldout",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 13
},
"link": "/podcasts/soldout",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/911586047/s-o-l-d-o-u-t-a-new-future-for-housing",
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/introducing-sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america/id1531354937",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/soldout",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/38dTBSk2ISFoPiyYNoKn1X",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/sold-out-rethinking-housing-in-america",
"tunein": "https://tunein.com/radio/SOLD-OUT-Rethinking-Housing-in-America-p1365871/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vc29sZG91dA"
}
},
"spooked": {
"id": "spooked",
"title": "Spooked",
"tagline": "True-life supernatural stories",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Spooked-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 7
},
"link": "https://spookedpodcast.org/",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spooked/id1279361017",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/549547848/snap-judgment-presents-spooked",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/76571Rfl3m7PLJQZKQIGCT",
"rss": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/TBotaapn"
}
},
"tech-nation": {
"id": "tech-nation",
"title": "Tech Nation Radio Podcast",
"info": "Tech Nation is a weekly public radio program, hosted by Dr. Moira Gunn. Founded in 1993, it has grown from a simple interview show to a multi-faceted production, featuring conversations with noted technology and science leaders, and a weekly science and technology-related commentary.",
"airtime": "FRI 10pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Tech-Nation-Radio-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://technation.podomatic.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "science",
"source": "Tech Nation Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tech-nation",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://technation.podomatic.com/rss2.xml"
}
},
"ted-radio-hour": {
"id": "ted-radio-hour",
"title": "TED Radio Hour",
"info": "The TED Radio Hour is a journey through fascinating ideas, astonishing inventions, fresh approaches to old problems, and new ways to think and create.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm, SAT 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/tedRadioHour.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2018-06-22",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/ted-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/8vsS",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=523121474&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/TED-Radio-Hour-p418021/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510298/podcast.xml"
}
},
"thebay": {
"id": "thebay",
"title": "The Bay",
"tagline": "Local news to keep you rooted",
"info": "Host Devin Katayama walks you through the biggest story of the day with reporters and newsmakers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Bay-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Bay",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/thebay",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 2
},
"link": "/podcasts/thebay",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bay/id1350043452",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM4MjU5Nzg2MzI3",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/586725995/the-bay",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-bay",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/4BIKBKIujizLHlIlBNaAqQ",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC8259786327"
}
},
"thelatest": {
"id": "thelatest",
"title": "The Latest",
"tagline": "Trusted local news in real time",
"info": "",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/The-Latest-2025-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Latest",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/thelatest",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 6
},
"link": "/thelatest",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-latest-from-kqed/id1197721799",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/1257949365/the-latest-from-k-q-e-d",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/5KIIXMgM9GTi5AepwOYvIZ?si=bd3053fec7244dba",
"rss": "https://feeds.megaphone.fm/KQINC9137121918"
}
},
"theleap": {
"id": "theleap",
"title": "The Leap",
"tagline": "What if you closed your eyes, and jumped?",
"info": "Stories about people making dramatic, risky changes, told by award-winning public radio reporter Judy Campbell.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Leap-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED The Leap",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/theleap",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 17
},
"link": "/podcasts/theleap",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-leap/id1046668171",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM0NTcwODQ2MjY2",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/447248267/the-leap",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/the-leap",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/3sSlVHHzU0ytLwuGs1SD1U",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/programs/the-leap/feed/podcast"
}
},
"the-moth-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-moth-radio-hour",
"title": "The Moth Radio Hour",
"info": "Since its launch in 1997, The Moth has presented thousands of true stories, told live and without notes, to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. Moth storytellers stand alone, under a spotlight, with only a microphone and a roomful of strangers. The storyteller and the audience embark on a high-wire act of shared experience which is both terrifying and exhilarating. Since 2008, The Moth podcast has featured many of our favorite stories told live on Moth stages around the country. For information on all of our programs and live events, visit themoth.org.",
"airtime": "SAT 8pm-9pm and SUN 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/theMoth.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://themoth.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "prx"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-moth-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-moth-podcast/id275699983?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/The-Moth-p273888/",
"rss": "http://feeds.themoth.org/themothpodcast"
}
},
"the-new-yorker-radio-hour": {
"id": "the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"title": "The New Yorker Radio Hour",
"info": "The New Yorker Radio Hour is a weekly program presented by the magazine's editor, David Remnick, and produced by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker. Each episode features a diverse mix of interviews, profiles, storytelling, and an occasional burst of humor inspired by the magazine, and shaped by its writers, artists, and editors. This isn't a radio version of a magazine, but something all its own, reflecting the rich possibilities of audio storytelling and conversation. Theme music for the show was composed and performed by Merrill Garbus of tUnE-YArDs.",
"airtime": "SAT 10am-11am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-New-Yorker-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/tnyradiohour",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-new-yorker-radio-hour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1050430296",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/New-Yorker-Radio-Hour-p803804/",
"rss": "https://feeds.feedburner.com/newyorkerradiohour"
}
},
"the-sam-sanders-show": {
"id": "the-sam-sanders-show",
"title": "The Sam Sanders Show",
"info": "One of public radio's most dynamic voices, Sam Sanders helped launch The NPR Politics Podcast and hosted NPR's hit show It's Been A Minute. Now, the award-winning host returns with something brand new, The Sam Sanders Show. Every week, Sam Sanders and friends dig into the culture that shapes our lives: what's driving the biggest trends, how artists really think, and even the memes you can't stop scrolling past. Sam is beloved for his way of unpacking the world and bringing you up close to fresh currents and engaging conversations. The Sam Sanders Show is smart, funny and always a good time.",
"airtime": "FRI 12-1pm AND SAT 11am-12pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/The-Sam-Sanders-Show-Podcast-Tile-400x400-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"meta": {
"site": "arts",
"source": "KCRW"
},
"link": "https://www.kcrw.com/shows/the-sam-sanders-show/latest",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feed.cdnstream1.com/zjb/feed/download/ac/28/59/ac28594c-e1d0-4231-8728-61865cdc80e8.xml"
}
},
"the-splendid-table": {
"id": "the-splendid-table",
"title": "The Splendid Table",
"info": "\u003cem>The Splendid Table\u003c/em> hosts our nation's conversations about cooking, sustainability and food culture.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Splendid-Table-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.splendidtable.org/",
"airtime": "SUN 10-11 pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/the-splendid-table"
},
"this-american-life": {
"id": "this-american-life",
"title": "This American Life",
"info": "This American Life is a weekly public radio show, heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Another 2.5 million people download the weekly podcast. It is hosted by Ira Glass, produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media, delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange, and has won all of the major broadcasting awards.",
"airtime": "SAT 12pm-1pm, 7pm-8pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/thisAmericanLife.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "wbez"
},
"link": "/radio/program/this-american-life",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=201671138&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"rss": "https://www.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/rss.xml"
}
},
"tinydeskradio": {
"id": "tinydeskradio",
"title": "Tiny Desk Radio",
"info": "We're bringing the best of Tiny Desk to the airwaves, only on public radio.",
"airtime": "SUN 8pm and SAT 9pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/300x300-For-Member-Station-Logo-Tiny-Desk-Radio-@2x.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/series/g-s1-52030/tiny-desk-radio",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/tinydeskradio",
"subscribe": {
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/g-s1-52030/rss.xml"
}
},
"wait-wait-dont-tell-me": {
"id": "wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"title": "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!",
"info": "Peter Sagal and Bill Kurtis host the weekly NPR News quiz show alongside some of the best and brightest news and entertainment personalities.",
"airtime": "SUN 10am-11am, SAT 11am-12pm, SAT 6pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Wait-Wait-Podcast-Tile-300x300-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/wait-wait-dont-tell-me",
"subscribe": {
"npr": "https://rpb3r.app.goo.gl/Xogv",
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=121493804&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/Wait-Wait-Dont-Tell-Me-p46/",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/344098539/podcast.xml"
}
},
"weekend-edition-saturday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-saturday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Saturday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Saturday wraps up the week's news and offers a mix of analysis and features on a wide range of topics, including arts, sports, entertainment, and human interest stories. The two-hour program is hosted by NPR's Peabody Award-winning Scott Simon.",
"airtime": "SAT 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-saturday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-saturday"
},
"weekend-edition-sunday": {
"id": "weekend-edition-sunday",
"title": "Weekend Edition Sunday",
"info": "Weekend Edition Sunday features interviews with newsmakers, artists, scientists, politicians, musicians, writers, theologians and historians. The program has covered news events from Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from a South African prison to the capture of Saddam Hussein.",
"airtime": "SUN 5am-10am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Weekend-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/weekend-edition-sunday/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/weekend-edition-sunday"
}
},
"racesReducer": {},
"racesGenElectionReducer": {},
"radioSchedulesReducer": {},
"listsReducer": {
"posts/science?category=health": {
"isFetching": false,
"latestQuery": {
"from": 0,
"postsToRender": 9
},
"tag": null,
"vitalsOnly": true,
"totalRequested": 9,
"isLoading": false,
"isLoadingMore": true,
"total": {
"value": 1292,
"relation": "eq"
},
"items": [
"science_2000462",
"science_2000206",
"science_2000002",
"science_1999828",
"science_1999700",
"science_1999631",
"science_1999553",
"science_1999540",
"science_1999522"
]
}
},
"recallGuideReducer": {
"intros": {},
"policy": {},
"candidates": {}
},
"savedArticleReducer": {
"articles": [],
"status": {}
},
"pfsSessionReducer": {},
"subscriptionsReducer": {},
"termsReducer": {
"about": {
"name": "About",
"type": "terms",
"id": "about",
"slug": "about",
"link": "/about",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"arts": {
"name": "Arts & Culture",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"description": "KQED Arts provides daily in-depth coverage of the Bay Area's music, art, film, performing arts, literature and arts news, as well as cultural commentary and criticism.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "arts",
"slug": "arts",
"link": "/arts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"artschool": {
"name": "Art School",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "artschool",
"slug": "artschool",
"link": "/artschool",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareabites": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareabites",
"slug": "bayareabites",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"bayareahiphop": {
"name": "Bay Area Hiphop",
"type": "terms",
"id": "bayareahiphop",
"slug": "bayareahiphop",
"link": "/bayareahiphop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"campaign21": {
"name": "Campaign 21",
"type": "terms",
"id": "campaign21",
"slug": "campaign21",
"link": "/campaign21",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"checkplease": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "checkplease",
"slug": "checkplease",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"education": {
"name": "Education",
"grouping": [
"education"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "education",
"slug": "education",
"link": "/education",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"elections": {
"name": "Elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "elections",
"slug": "elections",
"link": "/elections",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"events": {
"name": "Events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "events",
"slug": "events",
"link": "/events",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"event": {
"name": "Event",
"alias": "events",
"type": "terms",
"id": "event",
"slug": "event",
"link": "/event",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"filmschoolshorts": {
"name": "Film School Shorts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "filmschoolshorts",
"slug": "filmschoolshorts",
"link": "/filmschoolshorts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"food": {
"name": "KQED food",
"grouping": [
"food",
"bayareabites",
"checkplease"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "food",
"slug": "food",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"forum": {
"name": "Forum",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/forum?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "forum",
"slug": "forum",
"link": "/forum",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"futureofyou": {
"name": "Future of You",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "futureofyou",
"slug": "futureofyou",
"link": "/futureofyou",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"jpepinheart": {
"name": "KQED food",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/food,bayareabites,checkplease",
"parent": "food",
"type": "terms",
"id": "jpepinheart",
"slug": "jpepinheart",
"link": "/food",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"liveblog": {
"name": "Live Blog",
"type": "terms",
"id": "liveblog",
"slug": "liveblog",
"link": "/liveblog",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"livetv": {
"name": "Live TV",
"parent": "tv",
"type": "terms",
"id": "livetv",
"slug": "livetv",
"link": "/livetv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"lowdown": {
"name": "The Lowdown",
"relatedContentQuery": "posts/lowdown?",
"parent": "news",
"type": "terms",
"id": "lowdown",
"slug": "lowdown",
"link": "/lowdown",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"mindshift": {
"name": "Mindshift",
"parent": "news",
"description": "MindShift explores the future of education by highlighting the innovative – and sometimes counterintuitive – ways educators and parents are helping all children succeed.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "mindshift",
"slug": "mindshift",
"link": "/mindshift",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"news": {
"name": "News",
"grouping": [
"news",
"forum"
],
"type": "terms",
"id": "news",
"slug": "news",
"link": "/news",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"perspectives": {
"name": "Perspectives",
"parent": "radio",
"type": "terms",
"id": "perspectives",
"slug": "perspectives",
"link": "/perspectives",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"podcasts": {
"name": "Podcasts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "podcasts",
"slug": "podcasts",
"link": "/podcasts",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pop": {
"name": "Pop",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pop",
"slug": "pop",
"link": "/pop",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"pressroom": {
"name": "Pressroom",
"type": "terms",
"id": "pressroom",
"slug": "pressroom",
"link": "/pressroom",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"quest": {
"name": "Quest",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "quest",
"slug": "quest",
"link": "/quest",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"radio": {
"name": "Radio",
"grouping": [
"forum",
"perspectives"
],
"description": "Listen to KQED Public Radio – home of Forum and The California Report – on 88.5 FM in San Francisco, 89.3 FM in Sacramento, 88.3 FM in Santa Rosa and 88.1 FM in Martinez.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "radio",
"slug": "radio",
"link": "/radio",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"root": {
"name": "KQED",
"image": "https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"imageWidth": 1200,
"imageHeight": 630,
"headData": {
"title": "KQED | News, Radio, Podcasts, TV | Public Media for Northern California",
"description": "KQED provides public radio, television, and independent reporting on issues that matter to the Bay Area. We’re the NPR and PBS member station for Northern California."
},
"type": "terms",
"id": "root",
"slug": "root",
"link": "/root",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"science": {
"name": "Science",
"grouping": [
"science",
"futureofyou"
],
"description": "KQED Science brings you award-winning science and environment coverage from the Bay Area and beyond.",
"type": "terms",
"id": "science",
"slug": "science",
"link": "/science",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"stateofhealth": {
"name": "State of Health",
"parent": "science",
"type": "terms",
"id": "stateofhealth",
"slug": "stateofhealth",
"link": "/stateofhealth",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"support": {
"name": "Support",
"type": "terms",
"id": "support",
"slug": "support",
"link": "/support",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"thedolist": {
"name": "The Do List",
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "thedolist",
"slug": "thedolist",
"link": "/thedolist",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"trulyca": {
"name": "Truly CA",
"grouping": [
"arts",
"pop",
"trulyca"
],
"parent": "arts",
"type": "terms",
"id": "trulyca",
"slug": "trulyca",
"link": "/trulyca",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"tv": {
"name": "TV",
"type": "terms",
"id": "tv",
"slug": "tv",
"link": "/tv",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"voterguide": {
"name": "Voter Guide",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "voterguide",
"slug": "voterguide",
"link": "/voterguide",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"guiaelectoral": {
"name": "Guia Electoral",
"parent": "elections",
"alias": "elections",
"type": "terms",
"id": "guiaelectoral",
"slug": "guiaelectoral",
"link": "/guiaelectoral",
"taxonomy": "site"
},
"science_39": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_39",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "39",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Health Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null,
"imageData": {
"ogImageSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png",
"width": 1200,
"height": 630
},
"twImageSize": {
"file": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"
},
"twitterCard": "summary_large_image"
}
},
"ttid": 41,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/health"
},
"source_science_2000462": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_2000462",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "Health",
"link": "https://www.kqed.org/science/category/health",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_2000206": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_2000206",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999828": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999828",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999700": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999700",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999631": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999631",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999553": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999553",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999540": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999540",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"source_science_1999522": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "source_science_1999522",
"meta": {
"override": true
},
"name": "News",
"isLoading": false
},
"science_4450": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4450",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4450",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Science",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Science Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4450,
"slug": "science",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/science"
},
"science_4417": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4417",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4417",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "featured-news",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "featured-news Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4417,
"slug": "featured-news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/featured-news"
},
"science_4414": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4414",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4414",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "featured-science",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "featured-science Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4414,
"slug": "featured-science",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/featured-science"
},
"science_507": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_507",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "507",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "food",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "food Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 513,
"slug": "food-2",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/food-2"
},
"science_5181": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5181",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5181",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "health Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5181,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/health"
},
"science_4277": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4277",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4277",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Public health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Public health Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4277,
"slug": "public-health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/public-health"
},
"science_5217": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5217",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5217",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5217,
"slug": "california",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/interest/california"
},
"science_5226": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5226",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5226",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Health Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5226,
"slug": "health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/interest/health"
},
"science_5216": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5216",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5216",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Science",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Science Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5216,
"slug": "science",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/interest/science"
},
"science_2874": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_2874",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2874",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Animals",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Animals Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2874,
"slug": "animals",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/animals"
},
"science_40": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_40",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "40",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "News",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "News Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 42,
"slug": "news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/news"
},
"science_2873": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_2873",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2873",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Oceans",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Oceans Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2873,
"slug": "oceans",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/oceans"
},
"science_1120": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_1120",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1120",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "animals",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "animals Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1128,
"slug": "animals",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/animals"
},
"science_2549": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_2549",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2549",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "marine animals",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "marine animals Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2561,
"slug": "marine-animals",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/marine-animals"
},
"science_2409": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_2409",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2409",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "marine biology",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "marine biology Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2421,
"slug": "marine-biology",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/marine-biology"
},
"science_2688": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_2688",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "2688",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "marine life",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "marine life Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 2700,
"slug": "marine-life",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/marine-life"
},
"science_1396": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_1396",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "1396",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "marine mammals",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "marine mammals Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 1405,
"slug": "marine-mammals",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/marine-mammals"
},
"science_5163": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5163",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5163",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "San Mateo",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "San Mateo Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5163,
"slug": "san-mateo",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/san-mateo"
},
"science_309": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_309",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "309",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "science",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "science Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 314,
"slug": "science",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/science"
},
"science_5212": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5212",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5212",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "News",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "News Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5212,
"slug": "news",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/interest/news"
},
"science_5178": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5178",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5178",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "California",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "California Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5178,
"slug": "california",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/california"
},
"science_4550": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4550",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4550",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Local",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Local Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4550,
"slug": "local",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/local"
},
"science_4729": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4729",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4729",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "outdoors",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "outdoors Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4729,
"slug": "outdoors",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/outdoors"
},
"science_856": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_856",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "856",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "bay area",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "bay area Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 862,
"slug": "bay-area",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/bay-area"
},
"science_35": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_35",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "35",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Environment",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Environment Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 37,
"slug": "environment",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/environment"
},
"science_192": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_192",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "192",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "environment",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "environment Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 196,
"slug": "environment-2",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/environment-2"
},
"science_5183": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5183",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5183",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "San Francisco",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "San Francisco Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5183,
"slug": "san-francisco",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/san-francisco"
},
"science_381": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_381",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "381",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "toxics",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "toxics Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 387,
"slug": "toxics",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/toxics"
},
"science_3890": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_3890",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "3890",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Medical Science",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "category",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Medical Science Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3890,
"slug": "medical-science",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/category/medical-science"
},
"science_3663": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_3663",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "3663",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "artificial intelligence",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "artificial intelligence Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3663,
"slug": "artificial-intelligence",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/artificial-intelligence"
},
"science_249": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_249",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "249",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "mental health",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "mental health Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 253,
"slug": "mental-health",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/mental-health"
},
"science_4368": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_4368",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "4368",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "COVID-19",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "COVID-19 Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 4368,
"slug": "covid-19",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/covid-19"
},
"science_5187": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5187",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5187",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "Stanford University",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "Stanford University Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5187,
"slug": "stanford-university",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/stanford-university"
},
"science_5210": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_5210",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "5210",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "South Bay",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "interest",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "South Bay Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 5210,
"slug": "south-bay",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/interest/south-bay"
},
"science_3541": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_3541",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "3541",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "drugs",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "drugs Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3541,
"slug": "drugs",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/drugs"
},
"science_3072": {
"type": "terms",
"id": "science_3072",
"meta": {
"index": "terms_1716263798",
"site": "science",
"id": "3072",
"found": true
},
"relationships": {},
"featImg": null,
"name": "opioid addiction",
"description": null,
"taxonomy": "tag",
"headData": {
"twImgId": null,
"twTitle": null,
"ogTitle": null,
"ogImgId": null,
"twDescription": null,
"description": null,
"title": "opioid addiction Archives | KQED Science",
"ogDescription": null
},
"ttid": 3072,
"slug": "opioid-addiction",
"isLoading": false,
"link": "/science/tag/opioid-addiction"
}
},
"userAgentReducer": {
"userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; ClaudeBot/1.0; +claudebot@anthropic.com)",
"isBot": true
},
"userPermissionsReducer": {
"wpLoggedIn": false
},
"localStorageReducer": {},
"browserHistoryReducer": [],
"eventsReducer": {},
"fssReducer": {},
"tvDailyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvWeeklyScheduleReducer": {},
"tvPrimetimeScheduleReducer": {},
"tvMonthlyScheduleReducer": {},
"userAccountReducer": {
"user": {
"email": null,
"emailStatus": "EMAIL_UNVALIDATED",
"loggedStatus": "LOGGED_OUT",
"loggingChecked": false,
"articles": [],
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"phoneNumber": null,
"fetchingMembership": false,
"membershipError": false,
"memberships": [
{
"id": null,
"startDate": null,
"firstName": null,
"lastName": null,
"familyNumber": null,
"memberNumber": null,
"memberSince": null,
"expirationDate": null,
"pfsEligible": false,
"isSustaining": false,
"membershipLevel": "Prospect",
"membershipStatus": "Non Member",
"lastGiftDate": null,
"renewalDate": null,
"lastDonationAmount": null
}
]
},
"authModal": {
"isOpen": false,
"view": "LANDING_VIEW"
},
"error": null
},
"youthMediaReducer": {},
"checkPleaseReducer": {
"filterData": {
"region": {
"key": "Restaurant Region",
"filters": [
"Any Region"
]
},
"cuisine": {
"key": "Restaurant Cuisine",
"filters": [
"Any Cuisine"
]
}
},
"restaurantDataById": {},
"restaurantIdsSorted": [],
"error": null
},
"location": {
"pathname": "/science/category/health",
"previousPathname": "/"
}
}
