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"title": "Scientists Precisely Edit DNA in Human Embryos to Fix a Disease Gene",
"headTitle": "Scientists Precisely Edit DNA in Human Embryos to Fix a Disease Gene | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Scientists have been tinkering with the DNA in humans and other living things for decades. But one thing has long been considered off-limits: Modifying human DNA in any way that could be passed down for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, an international team of scientists \u003ca href=\"http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23305\">reports\u003c/a> they have, for the first time, figured out a way to successfully edit the DNA in human embryos — without introducing the harmful mutations that were a problem in previous attempts elsewhere. The work was published online Wednesday in the journal \u003cem>Nature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pretty exciting piece of science,” says \u003ca href=\"https://daley.med.harvard.edu/\">George Daley\u003c/a>, dean of the Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research. “It’s a technical tour-de-force. It’s really remarkable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research is ultimately aimed at helping families plagued by genetic diseases. The new experiment used a powerful new gene-editing technique to correct a genetic defect behind a heart disorder that can cause seemingly healthy young people to suddenly die from heart failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914005\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 367px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1914005\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"367\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg 1773w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-768x575.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-1180x884.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-960x719.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-520x389.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoukhrat Mitalipov, principal investigator for the embryo editing study, directs the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health and Sciences University. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OHSU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The experiment corrected the defect in nearly two-thirds of several dozen embryos, without causing potentially dangerous mutations elsewhere in the DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the embryos were used to try to create a baby. But if future experiments confirm the techniques are safe and effective, the scientists say the same approach could be used to prevent a long list of inheritable diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Potentially, we’re talking about thousands of genes and thousands of patients,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.ohsu.edu/providers/paula-amato/42A6A8A8BA74496A98855052CA32BFAD\">Paula Amato\u003c/a>, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She was a member of the scientific team from the U.S., China and South Korea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other diseases that might ultimately benefit from such an approach include \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/huntingtonsdisease.html\">Huntington’s disease\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/cystic-fibrosis\">cystic fibrosis\u003c/a>, perhaps an inherited form of \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/alzheimersdisease.html\">Alzheimer’s disease\u003c/a> and cases of breast and ovarian cancer caused by mutations in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics/brca-fact-sheet\">BRCA genes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nonetheless, the work is setting off alarm bells among critics around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s extraordinarily disturbing,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/marcy-darnovsky\">Marcy Darnovsky\u003c/a>, who directs the Center for Genetics and Society, a genetics watchdog group in Berkeley, Calif. “It’s a flagrant disregard of calls for a broad societal consensus in decisions about a really momentous technology that could be used good, but in this case is being used in preparation for an extraordinarily risky application.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If irresponsible scientists are not stopped, the world may soon be presented with a fait accompli of the first [genetically modified] baby,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.hgalert.org/topics/hge/threat.htm\">David King\u003c/a>, who heads the U.K-based group Human Genetics Alert. “We call on governments and international organizations to wake up and pass an immediate global ban on creating cloned or GM babies, before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Anytime there’s a new technology there’s a potential for misuse. We have to acknowledge that.’\u003ccite>Paul Amato, Oregon Health & Science University professor\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Amato and others stress that their work is aimed at preventing terrible diseases, not creating genetically enhanced people. And they note that much more research is needed to confirm the technique is safe and effective before anyone tries to make a baby this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists hoping to continue the work in the U.S. face many regulatory obstacles. The National Institutes of Health will not fund any research involving human embryos (the new work was funded by Oregon Health & Science University). And the Food and Drug Administration is prohibited by Congress from considering any experiments that involve genetically modified human embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the researchers say they’re hopeful about continuing the work, perhaps in Britain. The United Kingdom has \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465180953/british-scientists-gain-approval-to-edit-dna-in-human-embryos\">permitted\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/02/03/383578221/u-k-lawmakers-allow-scientists-to-attempt-dna-transplants\">genetic experiments \u003c/a>involving human embryos forbidden in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If other countries would be interested, we would be happy to work with their regulatory bodies,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/embryonic-cell-gene-therapy-center/people.cfm\">Shoukhrat Mitalipov\u003c/a>, director of the Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One major concern is safety to a developing embryo — whether genetically modified human embryos would indeed produce healthy babies. But on a broader level, any changes made in the DNA of an embryo would be passed down for generations. That raises fears that any mistakes in the editing that inadvertently caused new diseases could become a permanent part of that family’s genetic blueprint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darnovsky and others also worry that modifying human DNA in an embryo could give rise to “designer babies.” That’s when parents pick and choose the traits of their children to try to make them smarter, taller, stronger or have other traits that make them seem superior. That’s not yet technically possible. But critics fear scientists are already moving in that direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scenario is that you would have fertility clinics advertising to people who wanted to engineer their future children so that they could be presented as ‘enhanced’ — as biologically better than everyone else,” Darnovsky says. “It’s not a world we want to build. It’s not a world we want to live in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unscrupulous researchers could also rush the technology into fertility clinics to try to start creating babies they can bill as genetically enhanced before the technology has even been proved safe, and before a societal consensus has been reached about what applications should be permitted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a strong statement that we can do genome editing,” says Harvard’s Daley. “The question that remains is: ‘Should we?’ We need a deeper public discourse around the ethical implications of this technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darnovsky and some scientists argue that many couples who carry genetic diseases already have safer alternatives to this sort of gene editing. Couples carrying genetic diseases can go through in vitro fertilization (\u003ca href=\"http://www.sart.org/SART_Success_Rates/\">IVF\u003c/a>) and have their embryos tested before being implanted in the woman’s womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will admit to experiencing a sense of puzzlement,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.altius.org/#organization\">Fyodor Urnov\u003c/a>, an associate director at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, a nonprofit research institute in Seattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question I have is: ‘Why did you folks bother, given that there is a safe, effective, approved and ethical way to attain exactly the goal you have set out to do without any of the significant logical and ethic hurdles of having to edit a human embryo?” Urnov says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amato and the other scientists on the international team say their approach could offer an alternative for couples for whom those standard options won’t work or are less desirable. But they agree the work should only move forward with careful regulatory oversight to prevent abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anytime there’s a new technology there’s a potential for misuse. We have to acknowledge that,” Amato says. “Personally I don’t feel that’s a reason not to pursue the research if you think there’s a potential benefit that outweighs that risk. And I think if you can prevent serious disease in future generations, that makes it worthwhile to pursue this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advance was first \u003ca href=\"https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608350/first-human-embryos-edited-in-us/\">reported\u003c/a> last week in \u003cem>Technology Review\u003c/em>, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the details were withheld and the researchers did not elaborate until the scientific paper had finished being vetted by other scientists for publication in \u003cem>Nature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their experiments, the scientists obtained sperm from a donor carrying a mutation for the heart disorder \u003ca href=\"http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/Cardiomyopathy/What-Is-Cardiomyopathy-in-Adults_UCM_444168_Article.jsp#.WYESnoTyvIU\">cardiomyopathy\u003c/a>. They then used that sperm to fertilize dozens of eggs obtained from healthy women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time as fertilization, the researchers injected a powerful, microscopic gene-editing tool known as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/tags/419142387/crispr\">CRISPR-Cas9\u003c/a>. The new technique makes it much easier than previous approaches to make very precise changes in DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several scientists likened the approach to doing surgery on fetuses when they are in the womb. But this takes that idea much further, and involves repairing damaged DNA at a molecular level in the womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nano-surgery,” says \u003ca href=\"http://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/\">George Church\u003c/a>, a prominent Harvard geneticist who also was not involved in the research. “You’re doing it with the finest possible scalpel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The editing tool very accurately cut into a mutated gene known known as MYBPC3, which causes cardiomyopathy. To the researchers’ surprise, the cut triggered the embryos to repair the defective gene on their own. This is a process that had previously been unknown, the scientists say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most exciting moment was when we realized the mechanism of repair,” Amato says. “It was fixing itself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers then let the embryos develop for several days so they could analyze them to see how well the experiments worked. In one part of the experiments involving 58 embryos, the approach corrected the mutation in more than 70 percent of the embryos, the researchers reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The gene defect was corrected with high efficiency,” Amato says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, a detailed genetic analysis of the embryos concluded that the gene editing had not caused safety problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is a significant advance,” Church says. “This is important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Chinese scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/04/23/401655818/critics-lash-out-at-chinese-scientists-who-edited-dna-in-human-embryos\">reported\u003c/a> trying to edit the DNA of embryos for the first time, also using CRISPR-Cas9. But that experiment involved embryos that could never develop normally. And while those researchers did succeed in editing the targeted defect, it also produced unintended defects elsewhere in the embryos’ DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists who conducted the new experiments say they think they avoided those problems by injecting CRISPR at the same time the eggs were being fertilized by sperm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was key,” Mitalipov says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.wisc.edu/profiles/racharo@wisc.edu\">Alta Charo\u003c/a>, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, dismissed concerns about the work leading to designer babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not the dawn of the era of the designer baby,” says Charo, who co-chaired a committee formed by the National Academies of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine to determine whether such experiments should be permissible. The committee \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/14/514580162/scientific-panel-says-editing-heritable-human-genes-could-be-ok-in-the-future\">concluded\u003c/a> earlier this year that gene-editing of human embryos could be allowed in rare cases when no other options are available — but only to treat diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not think that the constant drum beat about the fear of designer baby is warranted, Charo says. “What this is, is a possible step toward being able to edit the DNA in human embryos that’s reliable and precise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, scientists in Britain have won \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465180953/british-scientists-gain-approval-to-edit-dna-in-human-embryos\">approval \u003c/a>to use CRISPR to edit the DNA in healthy human embryos to learn more about normal human development. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/about-npr/494863809/npr-exclusive-report-stockholm-lab-first-to-try-to-edit-dna-of-healthy-human-emb\">team in Sweden\u003c/a> has started similar experiments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this needs to be tightly regulated,” says \u003ca href=\"http://ki.se/en/people/frelan\">Fredrik Lanner\u003c/a>, a geneticist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm who is conducting those experiments. “This is very exciting. But it also could be a double-edged sword. So I think we really have to be extra cautious with this technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Scientists+Precisely+Edit+DNA+In+Human+Embryos+To+Fix+A+Disease+Gene&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "In experimental embryos, scientists were able to repair the gene that causes a serious heart disorder. But more research is needed to confirm the method would produce healthy babies, they say.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Scientists have been tinkering with the DNA in humans and other living things for decades. But one thing has long been considered off-limits: Modifying human DNA in any way that could be passed down for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, an international team of scientists \u003ca href=\"http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23305\">reports\u003c/a> they have, for the first time, figured out a way to successfully edit the DNA in human embryos — without introducing the harmful mutations that were a problem in previous attempts elsewhere. The work was published online Wednesday in the journal \u003cem>Nature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pretty exciting piece of science,” says \u003ca href=\"https://daley.med.harvard.edu/\">George Daley\u003c/a>, dean of the Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the research. “It’s a technical tour-de-force. It’s really remarkable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The research is ultimately aimed at helping families plagued by genetic diseases. The new experiment used a powerful new gene-editing technique to correct a genetic defect behind a heart disorder that can cause seemingly healthy young people to suddenly die from heart failure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914005\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 367px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1914005\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"367\" height=\"275\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c.jpg 1773w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-768x575.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-1180x884.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-960x719.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-240x180.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-375x281.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/mitalia-1_custom-116b972b37d76040e2641204f925236a7b5baf7c-520x389.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 367px) 100vw, 367px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shoukhrat Mitalipov, principal investigator for the embryo editing study, directs the Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy at Oregon Health and Sciences University. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Kristyna Wentz-Graff/OHSU)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The experiment corrected the defect in nearly two-thirds of several dozen embryos, without causing potentially dangerous mutations elsewhere in the DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the embryos were used to try to create a baby. But if future experiments confirm the techniques are safe and effective, the scientists say the same approach could be used to prevent a long list of inheritable diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Potentially, we’re talking about thousands of genes and thousands of patients,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.ohsu.edu/providers/paula-amato/42A6A8A8BA74496A98855052CA32BFAD\">Paula Amato\u003c/a>, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. She was a member of the scientific team from the U.S., China and South Korea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other diseases that might ultimately benefit from such an approach include \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/huntingtonsdisease.html\">Huntington’s disease\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/cystic-fibrosis\">cystic fibrosis\u003c/a>, perhaps an inherited form of \u003ca href=\"https://medlineplus.gov/alzheimersdisease.html\">Alzheimer’s disease\u003c/a> and cases of breast and ovarian cancer caused by mutations in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/genetics/brca-fact-sheet\">BRCA genes\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nonetheless, the work is setting off alarm bells among critics around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s extraordinarily disturbing,” says \u003ca href=\"https://www.geneticsandsociety.org/article/marcy-darnovsky\">Marcy Darnovsky\u003c/a>, who directs the Center for Genetics and Society, a genetics watchdog group in Berkeley, Calif. “It’s a flagrant disregard of calls for a broad societal consensus in decisions about a really momentous technology that could be used good, but in this case is being used in preparation for an extraordinarily risky application.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If irresponsible scientists are not stopped, the world may soon be presented with a fait accompli of the first [genetically modified] baby,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.hgalert.org/topics/hge/threat.htm\">David King\u003c/a>, who heads the U.K-based group Human Genetics Alert. “We call on governments and international organizations to wake up and pass an immediate global ban on creating cloned or GM babies, before it is too late.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Anytime there’s a new technology there’s a potential for misuse. We have to acknowledge that.’\u003ccite>Paul Amato, Oregon Health & Science University professor\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Amato and others stress that their work is aimed at preventing terrible diseases, not creating genetically enhanced people. And they note that much more research is needed to confirm the technique is safe and effective before anyone tries to make a baby this way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But scientists hoping to continue the work in the U.S. face many regulatory obstacles. The National Institutes of Health will not fund any research involving human embryos (the new work was funded by Oregon Health & Science University). And the Food and Drug Administration is prohibited by Congress from considering any experiments that involve genetically modified human embryos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, the researchers say they’re hopeful about continuing the work, perhaps in Britain. The United Kingdom has \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465180953/british-scientists-gain-approval-to-edit-dna-in-human-embryos\">permitted\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/02/03/383578221/u-k-lawmakers-allow-scientists-to-attempt-dna-transplants\">genetic experiments \u003c/a>involving human embryos forbidden in the United States.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If other countries would be interested, we would be happy to work with their regulatory bodies,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/centers-institutes/embryonic-cell-gene-therapy-center/people.cfm\">Shoukhrat Mitalipov\u003c/a>, director of the Oregon Health & Science University’s Center for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One major concern is safety to a developing embryo — whether genetically modified human embryos would indeed produce healthy babies. But on a broader level, any changes made in the DNA of an embryo would be passed down for generations. That raises fears that any mistakes in the editing that inadvertently caused new diseases could become a permanent part of that family’s genetic blueprint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darnovsky and others also worry that modifying human DNA in an embryo could give rise to “designer babies.” That’s when parents pick and choose the traits of their children to try to make them smarter, taller, stronger or have other traits that make them seem superior. That’s not yet technically possible. But critics fear scientists are already moving in that direction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The scenario is that you would have fertility clinics advertising to people who wanted to engineer their future children so that they could be presented as ‘enhanced’ — as biologically better than everyone else,” Darnovsky says. “It’s not a world we want to build. It’s not a world we want to live in.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unscrupulous researchers could also rush the technology into fertility clinics to try to start creating babies they can bill as genetically enhanced before the technology has even been proved safe, and before a societal consensus has been reached about what applications should be permitted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a strong statement that we can do genome editing,” says Harvard’s Daley. “The question that remains is: ‘Should we?’ We need a deeper public discourse around the ethical implications of this technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Darnovsky and some scientists argue that many couples who carry genetic diseases already have safer alternatives to this sort of gene editing. Couples carrying genetic diseases can go through in vitro fertilization (\u003ca href=\"http://www.sart.org/SART_Success_Rates/\">IVF\u003c/a>) and have their embryos tested before being implanted in the woman’s womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I will admit to experiencing a sense of puzzlement,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.altius.org/#organization\">Fyodor Urnov\u003c/a>, an associate director at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences, a nonprofit research institute in Seattle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question I have is: ‘Why did you folks bother, given that there is a safe, effective, approved and ethical way to attain exactly the goal you have set out to do without any of the significant logical and ethic hurdles of having to edit a human embryo?” Urnov says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Amato and the other scientists on the international team say their approach could offer an alternative for couples for whom those standard options won’t work or are less desirable. But they agree the work should only move forward with careful regulatory oversight to prevent abuse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Anytime there’s a new technology there’s a potential for misuse. We have to acknowledge that,” Amato says. “Personally I don’t feel that’s a reason not to pursue the research if you think there’s a potential benefit that outweighs that risk. And I think if you can prevent serious disease in future generations, that makes it worthwhile to pursue this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The advance was first \u003ca href=\"https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608350/first-human-embryos-edited-in-us/\">reported\u003c/a> last week in \u003cem>Technology Review\u003c/em>, a magazine published by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But the details were withheld and the researchers did not elaborate until the scientific paper had finished being vetted by other scientists for publication in \u003cem>Nature.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their experiments, the scientists obtained sperm from a donor carrying a mutation for the heart disorder \u003ca href=\"http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/More/Cardiomyopathy/What-Is-Cardiomyopathy-in-Adults_UCM_444168_Article.jsp#.WYESnoTyvIU\">cardiomyopathy\u003c/a>. They then used that sperm to fertilize dozens of eggs obtained from healthy women.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time as fertilization, the researchers injected a powerful, microscopic gene-editing tool known as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/tags/419142387/crispr\">CRISPR-Cas9\u003c/a>. The new technique makes it much easier than previous approaches to make very precise changes in DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several scientists likened the approach to doing surgery on fetuses when they are in the womb. But this takes that idea much further, and involves repairing damaged DNA at a molecular level in the womb.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is nano-surgery,” says \u003ca href=\"http://arep.med.harvard.edu/gmc/\">George Church\u003c/a>, a prominent Harvard geneticist who also was not involved in the research. “You’re doing it with the finest possible scalpel.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The editing tool very accurately cut into a mutated gene known known as MYBPC3, which causes cardiomyopathy. To the researchers’ surprise, the cut triggered the embryos to repair the defective gene on their own. This is a process that had previously been unknown, the scientists say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The most exciting moment was when we realized the mechanism of repair,” Amato says. “It was fixing itself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers then let the embryos develop for several days so they could analyze them to see how well the experiments worked. In one part of the experiments involving 58 embryos, the approach corrected the mutation in more than 70 percent of the embryos, the researchers reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The gene defect was corrected with high efficiency,” Amato says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition, a detailed genetic analysis of the embryos concluded that the gene editing had not caused safety problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this is a significant advance,” Church says. “This is important.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2015, Chinese scientists \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/04/23/401655818/critics-lash-out-at-chinese-scientists-who-edited-dna-in-human-embryos\">reported\u003c/a> trying to edit the DNA of embryos for the first time, also using CRISPR-Cas9. But that experiment involved embryos that could never develop normally. And while those researchers did succeed in editing the targeted defect, it also produced unintended defects elsewhere in the embryos’ DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The scientists who conducted the new experiments say they think they avoided those problems by injecting CRISPR at the same time the eggs were being fertilized by sperm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That was key,” Mitalipov says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://law.wisc.edu/profiles/racharo@wisc.edu\">Alta Charo\u003c/a>, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, dismissed concerns about the work leading to designer babies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is not the dawn of the era of the designer baby,” says Charo, who co-chaired a committee formed by the National Academies of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine to determine whether such experiments should be permissible. The committee \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/02/14/514580162/scientific-panel-says-editing-heritable-human-genes-could-be-ok-in-the-future\">concluded\u003c/a> earlier this year that gene-editing of human embryos could be allowed in rare cases when no other options are available — but only to treat diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do not think that the constant drum beat about the fear of designer baby is warranted, Charo says. “What this is, is a possible step toward being able to edit the DNA in human embryos that’s reliable and precise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, scientists in Britain have won \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2016/02/01/465180953/british-scientists-gain-approval-to-edit-dna-in-human-embryos\">approval \u003c/a>to use CRISPR to edit the DNA in healthy human embryos to learn more about normal human development. A \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/about-npr/494863809/npr-exclusive-report-stockholm-lab-first-to-try-to-edit-dna-of-healthy-human-emb\">team in Sweden\u003c/a> has started similar experiments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think this needs to be tightly regulated,” says \u003ca href=\"http://ki.se/en/people/frelan\">Fredrik Lanner\u003c/a>, a geneticist at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm who is conducting those experiments. “This is very exciting. But it also could be a double-edged sword. So I think we really have to be extra cautious with this technology.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Scientists+Precisely+Edit+DNA+In+Human+Embryos+To+Fix+A+Disease+Gene&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Northern California has many attractions, but the fact that it’s prime tick habitat isn’t one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the angst surrounding outdoor activities is that tick hotspots are unevenly distributed on a patchy landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Medicine has the tendency to want a vaccine or a clear antibiotic silver bullet, and I don’t think the Lyme system gives us that luxury.’\u003ccite>Nate Nieto, University of Northern Arizona\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>One moment you’re strolling through redwood forests, the next through oak forests, and a couple of hours later you may come across scenic chaparral. While on this iconic hike, you probably don’t realize that you’ve moved through both high- and low-risk Lyme disease areas. The question is, do you know where you are most at risk?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer is in the oak forest where layers of rich leaf litter are a kind of Club Med for ticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s Always Tick Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tick season” exists year-round in northern California. The highest risk is in the spring and early summer due to an abundance of juvenile ticks, known as nymphs (the most virulent life-stage). However, peak diagnosis time extends into July, because it can take a few weeks to realize that you have the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer is also particularly dangerous for Lyme disease because that’s when people spend the most time outside, and many of the most beautiful hiking areas tend to be tick-ridden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870758\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1870758\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It’s always tick season in Northern California. Peak season is spring and early summer. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Lyme Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people associate Lyme disease with the Northeastern U.S. and the upper Midwest, and for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps.html\">good reason\u003c/a>; the vast majority of cases are reported there, due mostly to the fact that the landscape is blanketed with prime tick habitat. On the west coast, the risk is real, but it’s different.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003cstrong>How to prevent a tick bite in the first place.\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dress the part\u003c/strong>: Ticks tend to like to climb upwards, so wear full-length pants, tucked into your socks, and a full length shirt, tucked into your pants\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Pesticide options\u003c/strong>: Chemical tick-repellents or acaricides can be very effective at low dosages. Be sure to read manufacturer’s instructions carefully.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Clean your body and clothes\u003c/strong>: Take a shower once you get home from a hike and throw your clothes in a hot dryer for a 1-hour cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Check your pets and yourself\u003c/strong>: Perform a thorough tick check when you get home. Ticks can travel into your house on dogs and cats.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“There are definitely patches in California where the risk is just as high as the East –it’s just not the same spatial extent,” says Dan Salkeld, research scientist at Colorado State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overall abundance of Lyme ticks is relatively low on the West Coast; however, the risk is spread unevenly. Hikers can move from high-risk area to a low-risk area and never know it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, “You can be in one valley and rates of Lyme can be as high as in upstate New York, Connecticut or Rhode Island,” says Nate Nieto, a microbiologist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. “Then you go over one ridge, the habitat changes completely –and there’s nothing,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of what puts Californians at risk is a lack of awareness — among the public and even among doctors. Much of the research and public health information is based on east coast ecology and may not apply to the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many Californian physicians, Lyme disease is just not on the radar, even though according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayarealyme.org/\">Bay Area Lyme Foundation\u003c/a>, Lyme-infected ticks have been located in 42 of California’s 58 counties (highest incidence were in Trinity, Humbolt and Mendocino as of 2014). About 100 cases of Lyme disease are reported in California each year, but according to Supervising Public Health Biologist Kerry Padgett of the state Department of Public Health, the disease is likely more widespread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is an under-diagnosis and under-reporting of Lyme disease in California,” says Padgett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Ticks Make Us Sick\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyme disease is caused by a microscopic spiral-shaped bacteria called \u003cem>borrelia burgdorferi\u003c/em>. On the west coast, these Lyme disease-causing bacteria live inside the guts of the western blacklegged tick and can travel into the blood streams of bitten animals.Ticks generally live for two or three years. They are born Lyme-free, and will contract or transmit Lyme during feeding, once during each of their three life stages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1870913\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-240x172.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-375x268.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-520x372.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up.jpg 898w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue-bellied lizards are our friends. Their blood actually cures infected ticks of Lyme disease. The “grapes” in this lizard’s ear are all feeding ticks. \u003ccite>(Ervic Aquino)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When a Lyme-infected tick bites, it typically takes 36-48 hours for the bacteria to make the journey from the tick’s gut to their mouth and into the blood of their host. The process can take as little as 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only 15-20 percent of backlegged ticks contain Lyme disease during their nymph stage, and that number is much lower, 1-2 percent, in adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Forest Full of Frenemies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To determine disease risk of a particular place, researchers look to some of the tick’s favorite foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most common reservoir of Lyme disease — the species that initially infects ticks — is the western gray squirrel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So avoid gray squirrel habitat and you’re safe? Not so fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter the blue-bellied lizard (also known as the western fence lizard), which is naturally immune to Lyme disease, and has special proteins in its blood that will cleanse infected ticks of the pathogen.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>What to do if you find a tick on you:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870759\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1870759 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-1020x656.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-1180x759.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-960x618.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-240x154.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-375x241.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-520x335.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adult (left) and nymph (right) western blacklegged ticks. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Lyme Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If you find a tick on your body, don’t panic! Remove the tick and keep track of what happens.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Is the tick feeding? That is, is the tick embedded in the skin?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If the tick is embedded, slowly and steadily, with even pressure, remove the entire tick by pulling it straight out with a pair of tweezers. Do not jerk or twist the tick. Remove any mouthparts that break off during removal. Then, if possible, save the tick in a jar or plastic bag. DO NOT try to kill the tick with oil or matches while it’s feeding. (If you do, it will release the contents of its gut into you.)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Clean the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and warm water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How long did it feed? If it’s less than 36 hours, there’s a high probability that you are safe.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pay attention to your symptoms. If in 6-to-12 days, you have any kind of fever, go and see a doctor.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A bulls-eye rash around the tick bite is a sure-fire way to know if you’ve contracted Lyme, but this symptom only shows up in 50-70 percent of cases. Other symptoms include headache, fatigue, and skin rash.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>So, a tick could feed on a squirrel and contract Lyme, which could then be neutralized when it bites a lizard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you go into dense black oak woodland, which is prime habitat for ticks and squirrels, we find a higher proportion of infected ticks,” explains Salkeld. “However, if you move into a broken clearing with more light, you’re going to find more lizards, and the prevalence of Lyme goes down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyme disease involves many different species and is ecologically complex, which makes it a notoriously difficult problem to solve for researchers and public health officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Medicine has the tendency to want a vaccine or a clear antibiotic silver bullet, and I don’t think the Lyme system gives us that luxury,” says Nieto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lyme disease is something that we call, in the science world, a complex system, meaning that there’s a bunch going on here,” he continues. “ there’s a bunch of hosts, there’s a bunch of vectors, and there’s a bunch of pathogens, and that makes things difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mapping a Pathogen\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s diverse landscape and the complex interplay among species makes predicting Lyme tricky. However, the greatest risk posed to Californians might be a lack of awareness. Doctors here are less likely to suspect Lyme when patients come in with characteristic symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have talked to physicians who say that they are not aware of Lyme disease in California,” says Salkeld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations, such as the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, along with researchers like Nieto and Salkeld, are working to change the narrative and build the necessary evidence to make doctors aware of the scale of the problem. The foundation has a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayarealyme.org/blog/bay-area-lyme-foundation-offers-free-tick-testing-nationwide/\">program\u003c/a> offering free tick testing nationwide, which aims to map tick-borne diseases across the country by encouraging concerned citizens to send in samples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re working on gathering real empirical data to show that Lyme is in the ecosystems of the West Coast,” says Nieto, “We’re getting clinical samples, ecological [tick] samples, and wildlife host samples…so we can change the educational paradigm within the medical schools and say, ‘It’s not just the Northeast and upper Midwest’—it’s in California too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think Californians should be aware of ticks, and the risks of tick-borne diseases, but the fear of disease should not keep them from enjoying the great outdoors,” adds Padgett. “I really do feel it’s possible to stay tick-safe while recreating and spending time outside.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Northern California has many attractions, but the fact that it’s prime tick habitat isn’t one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the angst surrounding outdoor activities is that tick hotspots are unevenly distributed on a patchy landscape.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">‘Medicine has the tendency to want a vaccine or a clear antibiotic silver bullet, and I don’t think the Lyme system gives us that luxury.’\u003ccite>Nate Nieto, University of Northern Arizona\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>One moment you’re strolling through redwood forests, the next through oak forests, and a couple of hours later you may come across scenic chaparral. While on this iconic hike, you probably don’t realize that you’ve moved through both high- and low-risk Lyme disease areas. The question is, do you know where you are most at risk?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The answer is in the oak forest where layers of rich leaf litter are a kind of Club Med for ticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>It’s Always Tick Season\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tick season” exists year-round in northern California. The highest risk is in the spring and early summer due to an abundance of juvenile ticks, known as nymphs (the most virulent life-stage). However, peak diagnosis time extends into July, because it can take a few weeks to realize that you have the disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Summer is also particularly dangerous for Lyme disease because that’s when people spend the most time outside, and many of the most beautiful hiking areas tend to be tick-ridden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870758\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1870758\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-on-Leaf_Shutterstock_99641744_-e1500680859219-520x347.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">It’s always tick season in Northern California. Peak season is spring and early summer. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Lyme Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Most people associate Lyme disease with the Northeastern U.S. and the upper Midwest, and for \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/maps.html\">good reason\u003c/a>; the vast majority of cases are reported there, due mostly to the fact that the landscape is blanketed with prime tick habitat. On the west coast, the risk is real, but it’s different.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\u003cstrong>How to prevent a tick bite in the first place.\u003c/strong>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Dress the part\u003c/strong>: Ticks tend to like to climb upwards, so wear full-length pants, tucked into your socks, and a full length shirt, tucked into your pants\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Pesticide options\u003c/strong>: Chemical tick-repellents or acaricides can be very effective at low dosages. Be sure to read manufacturer’s instructions carefully.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Clean your body and clothes\u003c/strong>: Take a shower once you get home from a hike and throw your clothes in a hot dryer for a 1-hour cycle.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Check your pets and yourself\u003c/strong>: Perform a thorough tick check when you get home. Ticks can travel into your house on dogs and cats.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“There are definitely patches in California where the risk is just as high as the East –it’s just not the same spatial extent,” says Dan Salkeld, research scientist at Colorado State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The overall abundance of Lyme ticks is relatively low on the West Coast; however, the risk is spread unevenly. Hikers can move from high-risk area to a low-risk area and never know it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In California, “You can be in one valley and rates of Lyme can be as high as in upstate New York, Connecticut or Rhode Island,” says Nate Nieto, a microbiologist at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. “Then you go over one ridge, the habitat changes completely –and there’s nothing,”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of what puts Californians at risk is a lack of awareness — among the public and even among doctors. Much of the research and public health information is based on east coast ecology and may not apply to the West.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many Californian physicians, Lyme disease is just not on the radar, even though according to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayarealyme.org/\">Bay Area Lyme Foundation\u003c/a>, Lyme-infected ticks have been located in 42 of California’s 58 counties (highest incidence were in Trinity, Humbolt and Mendocino as of 2014). About 100 cases of Lyme disease are reported in California each year, but according to Supervising Public Health Biologist Kerry Padgett of the state Department of Public Health, the disease is likely more widespread.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is an under-diagnosis and under-reporting of Lyme disease in California,” says Padgett.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Ticks Make Us Sick\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyme disease is caused by a microscopic spiral-shaped bacteria called \u003cem>borrelia burgdorferi\u003c/em>. On the west coast, these Lyme disease-causing bacteria live inside the guts of the western blacklegged tick and can travel into the blood streams of bitten animals.Ticks generally live for two or three years. They are born Lyme-free, and will contract or transmit Lyme during feeding, once during each of their three life stages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1870913\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-800x572.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-800x572.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-160x114.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-768x549.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-240x172.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-375x268.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up-520x372.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/lizard-with-ticks-closer-up.jpg 898w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Blue-bellied lizards are our friends. Their blood actually cures infected ticks of Lyme disease. The “grapes” in this lizard’s ear are all feeding ticks. \u003ccite>(Ervic Aquino)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>When a Lyme-infected tick bites, it typically takes 36-48 hours for the bacteria to make the journey from the tick’s gut to their mouth and into the blood of their host. The process can take as little as 24 hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Only 15-20 percent of backlegged ticks contain Lyme disease during their nymph stage, and that number is much lower, 1-2 percent, in adults.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Forest Full of Frenemies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To determine disease risk of a particular place, researchers look to some of the tick’s favorite foods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The most common reservoir of Lyme disease — the species that initially infects ticks — is the western gray squirrel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So avoid gray squirrel habitat and you’re safe? Not so fast.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enter the blue-bellied lizard (also known as the western fence lizard), which is naturally immune to Lyme disease, and has special proteins in its blood that will cleanse infected ticks of the pathogen.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"alignright\">\n\u003ch3>What to do if you find a tick on you:\u003c/h3>\n\u003cfigure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1870759\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1870759 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-800x515.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"515\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-800x515.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-160x103.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-768x494.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-1020x656.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-1180x759.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-960x618.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-240x154.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-375x241.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1-520x335.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/Tick-sizes_Nate_larger-1.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adult (left) and nymph (right) western blacklegged ticks. \u003ccite>(Bay Area Lyme Foundation)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>If you find a tick on your body, don’t panic! Remove the tick and keep track of what happens.\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Is the tick feeding? That is, is the tick embedded in the skin?\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>If the tick is embedded, slowly and steadily, with even pressure, remove the entire tick by pulling it straight out with a pair of tweezers. Do not jerk or twist the tick. Remove any mouthparts that break off during removal. Then, if possible, save the tick in a jar or plastic bag. DO NOT try to kill the tick with oil or matches while it’s feeding. (If you do, it will release the contents of its gut into you.)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Clean the bite area with rubbing alcohol or soap and warm water.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>How long did it feed? If it’s less than 36 hours, there’s a high probability that you are safe.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>Pay attention to your symptoms. If in 6-to-12 days, you have any kind of fever, go and see a doctor.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>A bulls-eye rash around the tick bite is a sure-fire way to know if you’ve contracted Lyme, but this symptom only shows up in 50-70 percent of cases. Other symptoms include headache, fatigue, and skin rash.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>So, a tick could feed on a squirrel and contract Lyme, which could then be neutralized when it bites a lizard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you go into dense black oak woodland, which is prime habitat for ticks and squirrels, we find a higher proportion of infected ticks,” explains Salkeld. “However, if you move into a broken clearing with more light, you’re going to find more lizards, and the prevalence of Lyme goes down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lyme disease involves many different species and is ecologically complex, which makes it a notoriously difficult problem to solve for researchers and public health officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Medicine has the tendency to want a vaccine or a clear antibiotic silver bullet, and I don’t think the Lyme system gives us that luxury,” says Nieto.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Lyme disease is something that we call, in the science world, a complex system, meaning that there’s a bunch going on here,” he continues. “ there’s a bunch of hosts, there’s a bunch of vectors, and there’s a bunch of pathogens, and that makes things difficult.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mapping a Pathogen\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s diverse landscape and the complex interplay among species makes predicting Lyme tricky. However, the greatest risk posed to Californians might be a lack of awareness. Doctors here are less likely to suspect Lyme when patients come in with characteristic symptoms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have talked to physicians who say that they are not aware of Lyme disease in California,” says Salkeld.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Organizations, such as the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, along with researchers like Nieto and Salkeld, are working to change the narrative and build the necessary evidence to make doctors aware of the scale of the problem. The foundation has a \u003ca href=\"http://www.bayarealyme.org/blog/bay-area-lyme-foundation-offers-free-tick-testing-nationwide/\">program\u003c/a> offering free tick testing nationwide, which aims to map tick-borne diseases across the country by encouraging concerned citizens to send in samples.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re working on gathering real empirical data to show that Lyme is in the ecosystems of the West Coast,” says Nieto, “We’re getting clinical samples, ecological [tick] samples, and wildlife host samples…so we can change the educational paradigm within the medical schools and say, ‘It’s not just the Northeast and upper Midwest’—it’s in California too.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think Californians should be aware of ticks, and the risks of tick-borne diseases, but the fear of disease should not keep them from enjoying the great outdoors,” adds Padgett. “I really do feel it’s possible to stay tick-safe while recreating and spending time outside.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A South African girl born with the AIDS virus has kept her infection suppressed for more than eight years after stopping anti-HIV medicines — more evidence that early treatment can occasionally cause a long remission that, if it lasts, would be a form of cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her case was revealed Monday at an \u003ca href=\"http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/\">AIDS\u003c/a> conference in Paris, where researchers also gave encouraging results from tests of shots every month or two instead of daily pills to treat HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s very promising” to help people stay on treatment, the U.S.’s top AIDS scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the prospects for long-acting drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current treatments keep \u003ca href=\"http://medlineplus.gov/hivaids.html\">HIV\u003c/a> under control but must be taken lifelong. Only one person is thought to be cured — the so-called Berlin patient, a man who had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 from a donor with natural resistance to HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But transplants are risky and impractical to try to cure the millions already infected. So some researchers have been aiming for the next best thing — long-term remission, when the immune system can control HIV without drugs even if signs of the virus remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aggressive treatment soon after infection might enable that in some cases, and the South African girl is the third child who achieved a long remission after that approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was in a \u003ca href=\"http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02788175\">study\u003c/a> sponsored by the agency Fauci heads, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that previously found that early versus delayed treatment helped babies survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl, who researchers did not identify, started on HIV drugs when she was 2 months old and stopped 40 weeks later. Tests when she was 9 1/2 years old found signs of virus in a small number of immune system cells, but none capable of reproducing. The girl does not have a gene mutation that gives natural resistance to HIV infection, Fauci said, so her remission seems likely due to the early treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The previous cases:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>—A French teen who was born with HIV and is now around 20 has had her infection under control despite no HIV medicines since she was roughly 6 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>—A Mississippi baby born with HIV in 2010 suppressed her infection for 27 months after stopping treatment before it reappeared in her blood. She was able to get the virus under control again after treatment resumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least a dozen adults also have had remissions lasting for years after stopping HIV medicines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study underway now is testing whether treating HIV-infected newborns within two days of birth can control the virus later after treatment stops. It started in 2014 in South America, Haiti, Africa and the United States, and some of the earliest participants might be able to try stopping treatment later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Treatment might get easier if two large studies underway now confirm results reported Monday from a study testing a long-acting combo of two HIV drugs — Janssen’s rilpivirine and ViiV Healthcare’s cabotegravir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabotegravir is experimental; rilpivirine is sold now as Edurant and used in combination with other drugs for treating certain types of HIV patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After initial treatment to get their virus under control, about 300 study participants were given either daily combination therapy pills or a shot every four or eight weeks of the long-acting drug duo to maintain control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After nearly two years, 94 percent on eight-week shots, 87 percent on four-week shots and 84 percent on daily pills had their infections suppressed, with similar rates of side effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The results were good regardless of whether people came monthly or every two months for their treatment. This has important policy implications,” said Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a co-leader of the conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study was sponsored by the drugmakers. Results were published in the British medical journal \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31917-7/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr\">Lancet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two large studies aimed at winning approval to sell the treatment are testing the monthly shots. Janssen said in a statement that good results from eight-week shots warrant reconsidering the longer approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it works, “this will have a huge impact on how we manage that very important group of people who are not able to access and take drugs on a day-to-day basis,” such as those with mental health or drug abuse problems, said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A South African girl born with the AIDS virus has kept her infection suppressed for more than eight years after stopping anti-HIV medicines — more evidence that early treatment can occasionally cause a long remission that, if it lasts, would be a form of cure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her case was revealed Monday at an \u003ca href=\"http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov/\">AIDS\u003c/a> conference in Paris, where researchers also gave encouraging results from tests of shots every month or two instead of daily pills to treat HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s very promising” to help people stay on treatment, the U.S.’s top AIDS scientist, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said of the prospects for long-acting drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Current treatments keep \u003ca href=\"http://medlineplus.gov/hivaids.html\">HIV\u003c/a> under control but must be taken lifelong. Only one person is thought to be cured — the so-called Berlin patient, a man who had a bone marrow transplant in 2007 from a donor with natural resistance to HIV.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But transplants are risky and impractical to try to cure the millions already infected. So some researchers have been aiming for the next best thing — long-term remission, when the immune system can control HIV without drugs even if signs of the virus remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Aggressive treatment soon after infection might enable that in some cases, and the South African girl is the third child who achieved a long remission after that approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She was in a \u003ca href=\"http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02788175\">study\u003c/a> sponsored by the agency Fauci heads, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, that previously found that early versus delayed treatment helped babies survive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl, who researchers did not identify, started on HIV drugs when she was 2 months old and stopped 40 weeks later. Tests when she was 9 1/2 years old found signs of virus in a small number of immune system cells, but none capable of reproducing. The girl does not have a gene mutation that gives natural resistance to HIV infection, Fauci said, so her remission seems likely due to the early treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The previous cases:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>—A French teen who was born with HIV and is now around 20 has had her infection under control despite no HIV medicines since she was roughly 6 years old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>—A Mississippi baby born with HIV in 2010 suppressed her infection for 27 months after stopping treatment before it reappeared in her blood. She was able to get the virus under control again after treatment resumed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At least a dozen adults also have had remissions lasting for years after stopping HIV medicines.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A study underway now is testing whether treating HIV-infected newborns within two days of birth can control the virus later after treatment stops. It started in 2014 in South America, Haiti, Africa and the United States, and some of the earliest participants might be able to try stopping treatment later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Treatment might get easier if two large studies underway now confirm results reported Monday from a study testing a long-acting combo of two HIV drugs — Janssen’s rilpivirine and ViiV Healthcare’s cabotegravir.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cabotegravir is experimental; rilpivirine is sold now as Edurant and used in combination with other drugs for treating certain types of HIV patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After initial treatment to get their virus under control, about 300 study participants were given either daily combination therapy pills or a shot every four or eight weeks of the long-acting drug duo to maintain control.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After nearly two years, 94 percent on eight-week shots, 87 percent on four-week shots and 84 percent on daily pills had their infections suppressed, with similar rates of side effects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The results were good regardless of whether people came monthly or every two months for their treatment. This has important policy implications,” said Dr. Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a co-leader of the conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The study was sponsored by the drugmakers. Results were published in the British medical journal \u003ca href=\"http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31917-7/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr\">Lancet.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two large studies aimed at winning approval to sell the treatment are testing the monthly shots. Janssen said in a statement that good results from eight-week shots warrant reconsidering the longer approach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If it works, “this will have a huge impact on how we manage that very important group of people who are not able to access and take drugs on a day-to-day basis,” such as those with mental health or drug abuse problems, said Dr. Steven Deeks, an AIDS specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Governor Signs Law Allowing Californians to Choose to Liquefy Their Remains",
"title": "Governor Signs Law Allowing Californians to Choose to Liquefy Their Remains",
"headTitle": "KQED Future of You | KQED Science",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cb>Update, October 16, 2017:\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Gov. Jerry Brown last night signed into law the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB967\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bill\u003c/a> that legalizes a method of disposing of human remains commonly called 'water cremation.' \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The method doesn't actually use water, but uses a chemical that speeds up decomposition of bodies and leaves behind only sterile water, bones, and medical implants or devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The new law establishes procedures for licensing and regulating mortuaries or other companies that aim to adopt the method, to be overseen by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the state Department of Consumer Affairs. \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters say water cremation offers a green alternative to traditional cremation or burial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Story, July 24, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not equate death with climate change, but disposing of human remains leaves a fairly hefty \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">carbon footprint\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Supporters of a California bill allowing dead bodies to be dissolved in a hot chemical bath are hoping to overcome the 'ick factor.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Cremation is really what people hold up as the environmentally friendly option,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.caitlindoughty.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caitlin Doughty\u003c/a>, a mortician in Los Angeles. “It’s better than the whole rigmarole of formaldehyde and chemicals and big caskets that go into the more traditional funeral industry, but it still releases mercury into the air, and it uses a whole ton of natural gas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Doughty says, cemeteries monopolize land, an increasingly precious resource as the population grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hence the growing popularity of a green alternative, known as water cremation, bio-cremation or flameless cremation. Basically, the body is dissolved in a hot chemical bath, leaving a sterile solution that can be flushed down the drain. The carbon footprint of this process is just a quarter of traditional fire cremation because it uses so much less energy; and only a sixth of a burial because it doesn't require the materials for concrete headstones, mahogany caskets or the chemicals used in embalming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers are considering a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB967\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bill\u003c/a> that would legalize water cremation. In the last decade, two previous efforts have failed, although the process has been approved in 14 other states, including neighboring Nevada. This year, a third attempt is gaining momentum in California, progressing further in the Legislature than the previous bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Not an Acid Bath\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s only one place in California where bodies are currently dissolved — legally, at least. That would be a chilly lab at UCLA, where cadavers that have outlived their usefulness at the medical school end up. The room smells a little like shellfish, which I think might be the smell of melted flesh. But the guy in charge, Dean Fisher, laughs at that notion.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'This just leaves us questioning. Why did part of grandma go to the waste treatment plant?'\u003ccite>Ned Dolejsi, Catholic Church spokesman\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Fisher, the head of the university's \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/donatedbody/default.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donated Body Program,\u003c/a> explains that I'm sniffing potassium hydroxide\u003cb>,\u003c/b> a base, and the chemical of choice for liquefying bodies, because it catalyzes the hydrogen in water to more rapidly attack the chemical bonds between molecules in the body. (The process is technically called\u003cem> alkaline hydrolysis.)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, it's not an acid at all,\" said Fisher. \"Some people say this is an acid bath, and they're wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potassium hydroxide is found in the Earth's crust — and in many household cleaning products. It's the same chemical that breaks down or composts organic matter in dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, like, if you were to bury a body in soil, all we're doing is we're speeding that up,\" says Fisher. \"We're adding heat to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_428986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-428986 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-800x599.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-768x575.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-1180x883.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-960x719.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-520x389.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine.jpg 1893w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCLA's Dean Fisher opens an alkaline hydrolysis machine that can dissolve bodies. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Whirlpool for the Dead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That heat is applied inside a shiny stainless-steel chamber, about the size of a large van. The front of the machine has a circular hatch, modeled after a submarine door. The hatch leads to a dark tunnel where cadavers are heated to 302 degrees and then bathed in 270 gallons of liquid for three to four hours. That's about twice as long as the time required for a fire cremation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost varies widely in the U.S., depending on location, but typically, funeral homes charge $150-$500 more for a water cremation than for one done with flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's usually left at the end of the process is a tray scattered with clean white bones, and maybe some items of medical hardware. Fisher shows me an example when he opens the door, revealing the remains of a dissolved male body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a pacemaker in there,\" says Fisher. \"There’s a couple of prosthetics. It looks like he’s had a hip replacement, and it looks like he’s had a knee replacement, also.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the metal in these parts can be recycled, and everything left over is sterile. Nothing organic survives during a water cremation. No bacteria — not even a strand of DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bones will be pulverized into a white powder that can be placed in an urn, just like the ashes in a traditional cremation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_429008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-429008\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pulverized bones from a water cremation ready to be placed inside an urn. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From a cupboard nearby, Fisher holds up a tooth with a mercury filling. The silver molar demonstrates part of why water is more eco-friendly than flame. When you burn a body, the toxic mercury in dental fillings vaporizes and escapes into the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ick Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But water cremation proved a tough sell the last two times legalization was tried in California. There's an inherent ick factor: You’re reducing loved ones to a chemical broth that swirls down the drain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This just leaves us questioning,\" said Ned Dolejsi, the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cacatholic.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Catholic Conference\u003c/a>. \"Why did part of grandma go to the waste treatment plant?”\u003cb> \u003c/b>He says water cremation isn't inherently wrong, but it also doesn’t treat life — or death — with dignity and respect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed bill sailed through the Assembly in June. Now it's before the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the bill is made law, water cremation will be available in California starting in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been edited.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cb>Update, October 16, 2017:\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Gov. Jerry Brown last night signed into law the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB967\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bill\u003c/a> that legalizes a method of disposing of human remains commonly called 'water cremation.' \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The method doesn't actually use water, but uses a chemical that speeds up decomposition of bodies and leaves behind only sterile water, bones, and medical implants or devices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">The new law establishes procedures for licensing and regulating mortuaries or other companies that aim to adopt the method, to be overseen by the Cemetery and Funeral Bureau within the state Department of Consumer Affairs. \u003c/span>\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporters say water cremation offers a green alternative to traditional cremation or burial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Story, July 24, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You may not equate death with climate change, but disposing of human remains leaves a fairly hefty \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/carbon-footprint-calculator/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">carbon footprint\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">Supporters of a California bill allowing dead bodies to be dissolved in a hot chemical bath are hoping to overcome the 'ick factor.'\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Cremation is really what people hold up as the environmentally friendly option,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.caitlindoughty.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caitlin Doughty\u003c/a>, a mortician in Los Angeles. “It’s better than the whole rigmarole of formaldehyde and chemicals and big caskets that go into the more traditional funeral industry, but it still releases mercury into the air, and it uses a whole ton of natural gas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, Doughty says, cemeteries monopolize land, an increasingly precious resource as the population grows.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hence the growing popularity of a green alternative, known as water cremation, bio-cremation or flameless cremation. Basically, the body is dissolved in a hot chemical bath, leaving a sterile solution that can be flushed down the drain. The carbon footprint of this process is just a quarter of traditional fire cremation because it uses so much less energy; and only a sixth of a burial because it doesn't require the materials for concrete headstones, mahogany caskets or the chemicals used in embalming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers are considering a \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB967\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bill\u003c/a> that would legalize water cremation. In the last decade, two previous efforts have failed, although the process has been approved in 14 other states, including neighboring Nevada. This year, a third attempt is gaining momentum in California, progressing further in the Legislature than the previous bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Not an Acid Bath\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s only one place in California where bodies are currently dissolved — legally, at least. That would be a chilly lab at UCLA, where cadavers that have outlived their usefulness at the medical school end up. The room smells a little like shellfish, which I think might be the smell of melted flesh. But the guy in charge, Dean Fisher, laughs at that notion.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'This just leaves us questioning. Why did part of grandma go to the waste treatment plant?'\u003ccite>Ned Dolejsi, Catholic Church spokesman\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Fisher, the head of the university's \u003ca href=\"https://www.uclahealth.org/donatedbody/default.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donated Body Program,\u003c/a> explains that I'm sniffing potassium hydroxide\u003cb>,\u003c/b> a base, and the chemical of choice for liquefying bodies, because it catalyzes the hydrogen in water to more rapidly attack the chemical bonds between molecules in the body. (The process is technically called\u003cem> alkaline hydrolysis.)\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, it's not an acid at all,\" said Fisher. \"Some people say this is an acid bath, and they're wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Potassium hydroxide is found in the Earth's crust — and in many household cleaning products. It's the same chemical that breaks down or composts organic matter in dirt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So, like, if you were to bury a body in soil, all we're doing is we're speeding that up,\" says Fisher. \"We're adding heat to that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_428986\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-428986 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-800x599.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-768x575.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-1020x764.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-1180x883.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-960x719.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine-520x389.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/Fisher-machine.jpg 1893w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">UCLA's Dean Fisher opens an alkaline hydrolysis machine that can dissolve bodies. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Whirlpool for the Dead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That heat is applied inside a shiny stainless-steel chamber, about the size of a large van. The front of the machine has a circular hatch, modeled after a submarine door. The hatch leads to a dark tunnel where cadavers are heated to 302 degrees and then bathed in 270 gallons of liquid for three to four hours. That's about twice as long as the time required for a fire cremation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost varies widely in the U.S., depending on location, but typically, funeral homes charge $150-$500 more for a water cremation than for one done with flames.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What's usually left at the end of the process is a tray scattered with clean white bones, and maybe some items of medical hardware. Fisher shows me an example when he opens the door, revealing the remains of a dissolved male body.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s a pacemaker in there,\" says Fisher. \"There’s a couple of prosthetics. It looks like he’s had a hip replacement, and it looks like he’s had a knee replacement, also.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the metal in these parts can be recycled, and everything left over is sterile. Nothing organic survives during a water cremation. No bacteria — not even a strand of DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bones will be pulverized into a white powder that can be placed in an urn, just like the ashes in a traditional cremation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_429008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-429008\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/07/IMG_33511-520x390.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The pulverized bones from a water cremation ready to be placed inside an urn. \u003ccite>(Lesley McClurg/ KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>From a cupboard nearby, Fisher holds up a tooth with a mercury filling. The silver molar demonstrates part of why water is more eco-friendly than flame. When you burn a body, the toxic mercury in dental fillings vaporizes and escapes into the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ick Factor\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But water cremation proved a tough sell the last two times legalization was tried in California. There's an inherent ick factor: You’re reducing loved ones to a chemical broth that swirls down the drain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This just leaves us questioning,\" said Ned Dolejsi, the executive director of the \u003ca href=\"http://www.cacatholic.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">California Catholic Conference\u003c/a>. \"Why did part of grandma go to the waste treatment plant?”\u003cb> \u003c/b>He says water cremation isn't inherently wrong, but it also doesn’t treat life — or death — with dignity and respect.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed bill sailed through the Assembly in June. Now it's before the Senate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the bill is made law, water cremation will be available in California starting in 2020.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post has been edited.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "California Finally Begins Regulating Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in Drinking Water",
"headTitle": "California Finally Begins Regulating Cancer-Causing Chemical Found in Drinking Water | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cb>Update, July 18, 2017:\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">More than 25 years after the state determined that 1,2,3-TCP causes cancer, the State Water Resources Control Board voted to approve a standard for the chemical in drinking water. They set the limit at 5 parts per trillion, a level supported by clean water and pesticide reform advocates. \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">The state will now start water systems to test all of their wells every month starting in January. \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Board chair Felicia Marcus called the vote, “a very important day for public health.” \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“It’s a very serious public health threat,” agreed board Vice-Chair Steven Moore. “California officially determined that this is a carcinogen. And when you look at the science and the experiments and all that was done to show it, it is disquieting how serious and insidious this chemical is.” \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, June 20, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The state water board has proposed a standard for 1,2,3-TCP and held a \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/123-tcp/phtcp.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hearing\u003c/a> to receive public comment. The state is proposing that the maximum contamination for 1,2,3-TCP in drinking water be set at 5 parts per trillion. The nonprofit \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Water Center\u003c/a>, which advocates for safe, clean drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, testified in support of the proposed standard.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>State water officials have not yet formally implemented the standard, but they have issued an \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/123-tcp/123tcp_map_5ppt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">updated map\u003c/a> showing contaminated wells.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Fresno City Council \u003ca href=\"http://kvpr.org/post/fresno-takes-first-step-toward-ridding-water-toxic-123-tcp#stream/0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">has authorized\u003c/a> a study to find out how to remove 12,3-TCP from the city’s water supply. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, January 2, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In January, The State Water Resources Control Board is expected to roll out the draft of a first-ever enforceable standard for 1,2,3-TCP in California drinking water.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In December, the city of Clovis, in Fresno County, \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article122257349.html\">won a $22 million court judgment\u003c/a> against Shell Oil Co., for TCP contamination in wells. More than 40 other cases remain open.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Story, March 7, 2016:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have to admit, after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, I’m a little freaked out about what’s in my tap water. So when I opened my water bill from the city of Fresno recently, I decided to actually read the “consumer confidence report” for drinking water. And I found this footnote in tiny print:\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"aligncenter\">\n\u003ch2>Consumer Confidence Report Footnote\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>123 Trichloropropane has been detected in 29 wells in Fresno…. Some people who use water containing it over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer, based on studies in laboratory animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Wait…what? I have two little kids, and my family drinks the tap water. And it might cause cancer? I decided to fork out $200 to get mine tested. And to start digging into how 1,2,3-TCP got into the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out, it’s not just Fresno. According to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/123TCP.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>, 1,2,3-TCP has been found in about a hundred public water systems across California, mostly in the Central Valley but also in counties like Santa Cruz, Monterey, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many Californians don’t know whether this stuff is in their water, because neither the state nor the federal EPA regulates 1,2,3-TCP in drinking water. So that means public utilities don’t have to test for it, filter it out, or advise their customers if it’s in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>123-TCP IN ACTIVE COMMUNITY WELLS\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch4>Water systems where significant levels of contaminant 123-TCP have been detected.\u003c/h4>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_561928\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-561928 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic.jpg\" alt=\"TCP_FinalGraphic\" width=\"700\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic-400x446.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SOURCE: CALIFORNIA STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD, MAP: Teodros Hailye, KQED Science\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s even though the state determined it was a carcinogen back in 1992. And the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) set a very low \u003ca href=\"http://oehha.ca.gov/water/phg/pdf/082009TCP_phg.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public health goal \u003c/a>for 1,2,3-TCP in 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no absolutely no question that is a genotoxic carcinogen,” says Robert Howd, a toxicologist who led the scientific review for OEHHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been no studies of 1,2,3-TCP’s effect on humans, but animal studies showed multiple tumors at multiple sites in both rats and mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The data are very clear,” Howd says. “Virtually nobody is disputing that. There’s just no controversy about this being a DNA reactive carcinogen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howd’s team set the public health goal at .7 parts per trillion (.0007 parts per billion) The only carcinogen with a lower state public health goal for drinking water is dioxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left\">\u003cstrong>How Did It Get Into the Water? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left\">“This whole story begins in the 1930s, the dawn of the age of chemical agriculture” says San Francisco attorney \u003ca href=\"http://rbwaterlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Daily-Journal-Article_8.20.12.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Todd Robins\u003c/a>. He represents about 30 communities around the state who are suing over 1,2,3-TCP contamination, and he’s spent the last decade trying to track how it leached into groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“Shell saw a huge opportunity to take a hazardous waste stream from their chemical plants…and start putting it in barrels, and selling it to farmers.”\u003ccite>San Francisco attorney Todd Robins\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Somebody at the Pineapple Research Institute in Honolulu got ahold of this sample of what was essentially hazardous waste from a chemical production process at Shell,” he says, “and he used it in some experiments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experiments, Robins says, were to figure out how to control nematodes, tiny microscopic worms in the soil that attack a plant’s roots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shell saw a huge opportunity to take a hazardous waste stream from their chemical plants … and start putting it in barrels, and selling it to farmers,” says Robins. “Then Dow soon followed suit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The companies sold the product to farmers as a fumigant, which is injected into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robins has compiled a huge stack of documents that show neither Dow Chemical nor Shell \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/000464-00240-19741121.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">listed 1,2,3-TCP\u003c/a> on their \u003ca href=\"http://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/000201-00253-19690414.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">product labels\u003c/a>, even though it was one of several ingredients. One of Dow’s own scientists \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_memo.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">admitted\u003c/a> that the compound had served no function killing nematodes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robins shows me a 1974 memo where Dow describes some of the fumigant components as “garbage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_562003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4272px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-562003\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez.jpg\" alt=\"Ralph Gutierrez says Shell and Dow should pay to clean 1,2,3-TCP out of Woodville's water.\" width=\"4272\" height=\"2848\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez.jpg 4272w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4272px) 100vw, 4272px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ralph Gutierrez says Shell and Dow should pay to clean 1,2,3-TCP out of Woodville’s water. \u003ccite>(Sasha Khokha)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Some of the most startling information is how clearly the companies understood from a scientific perspective the amount of garbage they were putting into these products,” says Robins, “and knowingly having farmers essentially dispose of their hazardous waste for them on farm fields throughout our state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a few cases, Dow and Shell have paid to clean up groundwater with 1,2,3-TCP. But in the more than 3 dozen cases filed against the companies over the contamination, they’ve never admitted any wrongdoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Dow and Shell declined my request for a taped interview. They sent me emails saying they couldn’t comment on active litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dow spokesman Randy Fishback wrote that fumigants with 1,2,3-TCP were part of what he called “historical, highly beneficial agricultural products” that “controlled agricultural pests that otherwise would have caused millions of dollars in annual crop losses.” He added those products have been off the market for several decades, and that “TCP is also associated with certain industrial processes in which Dow had no involvement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tiny Communities Can’t Afford Cleanup\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_562005\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 4272px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-562005\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Woodville is a small farming community in Tulare County, where the 1,2,3-TCP in the drinking water is ten times the state's public health goal. \" width=\"4272\" height=\"2848\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1.jpg 4272w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4272px) 100vw, 4272px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodville is a small farming community in Tulare County, where the 1,2,3-TCP in the drinking water is ten times the state’s public health goal. \u003ccite>(Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of the communities suing Dow and Shell have only a few hundred households, like Woodville in rural Tulare County. Ralph Gutierrez runs the water system here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m the meter reader, I’m the sewer line cleaner, I do the budget,” says Gutierrez, grinning in his cowboy boots and Dodger hat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He unlocks the gate to show me one of the town’s two drinking water wells, surrounded by orchards and cow pastures. These wells serve a total of 467 households, and 1,2,3-TCP has been detected in the water at 7 parts per trillion, ten times the public health goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dow and Shell are the ones that put this into the system,” Gutierrez says. “Obviously, they have money to attack their problems, but when you come to communities like this, they’re all farmworkers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez says there’s no way he can raise water rates high enough to pay for expensive carbon filtration to keep the carcinogen from reaching people’s taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t want my kids drinking it,” he says. “Would Dow Chemical or Shell like their people to be drinking this water? I don’t think so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Results From My Tap\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out the sample from my kitchen tap comes in at 2.2 parts per trillion. That’s three times the state public health goal for 1,2,3-TCP.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“It’s been a high priority for us to develop regulations.”\u003ccite>Cindy Forbes, State Water Resources Control Board \u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>OEHHA sets its goal to try to reduce the lifetime cancer risk to less than one in 1 million. So my risk is three in 1 million, over a lifetime drinking my tap water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, my overall risk of getting cancer from any source is much higher; it’s more like one in three. Truth is, I should probably be more worried about secondhand smoke, or Fresno’s notoriously dirty air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I’m not taking any chances with my kids. I’ve installed an undersink filter that says it takes out Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). But there’s no guarantee it takes out 1,2,3-TCP, because without a government standard, it’s not rated for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>State Regulation On Its Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some water systems in the Central Valley have levels of 1,2,3-TCP that push the potential cancer risk to roughly one in 6,000. And a grassroots group called \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/cwc_kicks_off_2016_123tcp_campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Water Center\u003c/a> is pressuring the state to set a maximum contaminant level for the compound. That’s an enforceable standard, unlike the public health goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 25 years after California declared 1,2,3-TCP to be a carcinogen, drinking water regulators are planning to set that level by next spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a high priority for us to develop regulations, but we have had so many other regulations with limited resources to work on, that we haven’t been able to get it over the finish line,” says Cindy Forbes, deputy director for the water board’s drinking water program. “There are a lot of pieces to setting a new maximum contaminant level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like conducting their own peer-reviewed science, taking public comment, and evaluating the cost of detection and cleanup — not just the health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s our number one priority,” says Forbes. “It’s my priority, it’s the board’s priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sasha Khokha has since moved from Fresno to the Bay Area, where she hosts KQED’s weekly edition of \u003ca href=\"http://audio.californiareport.org/\">The California Report\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cspan class=\"s1\">\u003cb>Update, July 18, 2017:\u003c/b>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">More than 25 years after the state determined that 1,2,3-TCP causes cancer, the State Water Resources Control Board voted to approve a standard for the chemical in drinking water. They set the limit at 5 parts per trillion, a level supported by clean water and pesticide reform advocates. \u003c/span>\u003cspan class=\"s2\">The state will now start water systems to test all of their wells every month starting in January. \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">Board chair Felicia Marcus called the vote, “a very important day for public health.” \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"p1\">\u003cem>\u003cspan class=\"s1\">“It’s a very serious public health threat,” agreed board Vice-Chair Steven Moore. “California officially determined that this is a carcinogen. And when you look at the science and the experiments and all that was done to show it, it is disquieting how serious and insidious this chemical is.” \u003c/span>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, June 20, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The state water board has proposed a standard for 1,2,3-TCP and held a \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/123-tcp/phtcp.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">hearing\u003c/a> to receive public comment. The state is proposing that the maximum contamination for 1,2,3-TCP in drinking water be set at 5 parts per trillion. The nonprofit \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Water Center\u003c/a>, which advocates for safe, clean drinking water in the San Joaquin Valley, testified in support of the proposed standard.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>State water officials have not yet formally implemented the standard, but they have issued an \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/documents/123-tcp/123tcp_map_5ppt.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">updated map\u003c/a> showing contaminated wells.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>The Fresno City Council \u003ca href=\"http://kvpr.org/post/fresno-takes-first-step-toward-ridding-water-toxic-123-tcp#stream/0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">has authorized\u003c/a> a study to find out how to remove 12,3-TCP from the city’s water supply. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, January 2, 2017:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In January, The State Water Resources Control Board is expected to roll out the draft of a first-ever enforceable standard for 1,2,3-TCP in California drinking water.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>In December, the city of Clovis, in Fresno County, \u003ca href=\"http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article122257349.html\">won a $22 million court judgment\u003c/a> against Shell Oil Co., for TCP contamination in wells. More than 40 other cases remain open.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original Story, March 7, 2016:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I have to admit, after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, I’m a little freaked out about what’s in my tap water. So when I opened my water bill from the city of Fresno recently, I decided to actually read the “consumer confidence report” for drinking water. And I found this footnote in tiny print:\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"aligncenter\">\n\u003ch2>Consumer Confidence Report Footnote\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>123 Trichloropropane has been detected in 29 wells in Fresno…. Some people who use water containing it over many years may have an increased risk of getting cancer, based on studies in laboratory animals.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Wait…what? I have two little kids, and my family drinks the tap water. And it might cause cancer? I decided to fork out $200 to get mine tested. And to start digging into how 1,2,3-TCP got into the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out, it’s not just Fresno. According to the \u003ca href=\"http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/123TCP.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">State Water Resources Control Board\u003c/a>, 1,2,3-TCP has been found in about a hundred public water systems across California, mostly in the Central Valley but also in counties like Santa Cruz, Monterey, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many Californians don’t know whether this stuff is in their water, because neither the state nor the federal EPA regulates 1,2,3-TCP in drinking water. So that means public utilities don’t have to test for it, filter it out, or advise their customers if it’s in the water.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>123-TCP IN ACTIVE COMMUNITY WELLS\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch4>Water systems where significant levels of contaminant 123-TCP have been detected.\u003c/h4>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_561928\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-561928 size-full\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic.jpg\" alt=\"TCP_FinalGraphic\" width=\"700\" height=\"780\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_FinalGraphic-400x446.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">SOURCE: CALIFORNIA STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD, MAP: Teodros Hailye, KQED Science\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s even though the state determined it was a carcinogen back in 1992. And the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) set a very low \u003ca href=\"http://oehha.ca.gov/water/phg/pdf/082009TCP_phg.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public health goal \u003c/a>for 1,2,3-TCP in 2009.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is no absolutely no question that is a genotoxic carcinogen,” says Robert Howd, a toxicologist who led the scientific review for OEHHA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been no studies of 1,2,3-TCP’s effect on humans, but animal studies showed multiple tumors at multiple sites in both rats and mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The data are very clear,” Howd says. “Virtually nobody is disputing that. There’s just no controversy about this being a DNA reactive carcinogen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Howd’s team set the public health goal at .7 parts per trillion (.0007 parts per billion) The only carcinogen with a lower state public health goal for drinking water is dioxin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left\">\u003cstrong>How Did It Get Into the Water? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: left\">“This whole story begins in the 1930s, the dawn of the age of chemical agriculture” says San Francisco attorney \u003ca href=\"http://rbwaterlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Daily-Journal-Article_8.20.12.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Todd Robins\u003c/a>. He represents about 30 communities around the state who are suing over 1,2,3-TCP contamination, and he’s spent the last decade trying to track how it leached into groundwater.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“Shell saw a huge opportunity to take a hazardous waste stream from their chemical plants…and start putting it in barrels, and selling it to farmers.”\u003ccite>San Francisco attorney Todd Robins\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>“Somebody at the Pineapple Research Institute in Honolulu got ahold of this sample of what was essentially hazardous waste from a chemical production process at Shell,” he says, “and he used it in some experiments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experiments, Robins says, were to figure out how to control nematodes, tiny microscopic worms in the soil that attack a plant’s roots.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shell saw a huge opportunity to take a hazardous waste stream from their chemical plants … and start putting it in barrels, and selling it to farmers,” says Robins. “Then Dow soon followed suit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The companies sold the product to farmers as a fumigant, which is injected into the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robins has compiled a huge stack of documents that show neither Dow Chemical nor Shell \u003ca href=\"https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/000464-00240-19741121.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">listed 1,2,3-TCP\u003c/a> on their \u003ca href=\"http://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/ppls/000201-00253-19690414.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">product labels\u003c/a>, even though it was one of several ingredients. One of Dow’s own scientists \u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/TCP_memo.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">admitted\u003c/a> that the compound had served no function killing nematodes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robins shows me a 1974 memo where Dow describes some of the fumigant components as “garbage.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_562003\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 4272px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-562003\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez.jpg\" alt=\"Ralph Gutierrez says Shell and Dow should pay to clean 1,2,3-TCP out of Woodville's water.\" width=\"4272\" height=\"2848\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez.jpg 4272w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/ralph-gutierrez-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4272px) 100vw, 4272px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ralph Gutierrez says Shell and Dow should pay to clean 1,2,3-TCP out of Woodville’s water. \u003ccite>(Sasha Khokha)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Some of the most startling information is how clearly the companies understood from a scientific perspective the amount of garbage they were putting into these products,” says Robins, “and knowingly having farmers essentially dispose of their hazardous waste for them on farm fields throughout our state.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a few cases, Dow and Shell have paid to clean up groundwater with 1,2,3-TCP. But in the more than 3 dozen cases filed against the companies over the contamination, they’ve never admitted any wrongdoing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both Dow and Shell declined my request for a taped interview. They sent me emails saying they couldn’t comment on active litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dow spokesman Randy Fishback wrote that fumigants with 1,2,3-TCP were part of what he called “historical, highly beneficial agricultural products” that “controlled agricultural pests that otherwise would have caused millions of dollars in annual crop losses.” He added those products have been off the market for several decades, and that “TCP is also associated with certain industrial processes in which Dow had no involvement.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tiny Communities Can’t Afford Cleanup\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_562005\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 4272px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-562005\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Woodville is a small farming community in Tulare County, where the 1,2,3-TCP in the drinking water is ten times the state's public health goal. \" width=\"4272\" height=\"2848\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1.jpg 4272w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-400x267.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1440x960.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/woodville-3-1-960x640.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 4272px) 100vw, 4272px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Woodville is a small farming community in Tulare County, where the 1,2,3-TCP in the drinking water is ten times the state’s public health goal. \u003ccite>(Sasha Khokha/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some of the communities suing Dow and Shell have only a few hundred households, like Woodville in rural Tulare County. Ralph Gutierrez runs the water system here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m the meter reader, I’m the sewer line cleaner, I do the budget,” says Gutierrez, grinning in his cowboy boots and Dodger hat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He unlocks the gate to show me one of the town’s two drinking water wells, surrounded by orchards and cow pastures. These wells serve a total of 467 households, and 1,2,3-TCP has been detected in the water at 7 parts per trillion, ten times the public health goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Dow and Shell are the ones that put this into the system,” Gutierrez says. “Obviously, they have money to attack their problems, but when you come to communities like this, they’re all farmworkers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez says there’s no way he can raise water rates high enough to pay for expensive carbon filtration to keep the carcinogen from reaching people’s taps.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wouldn’t want my kids drinking it,” he says. “Would Dow Chemical or Shell like their people to be drinking this water? I don’t think so.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Results From My Tap\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Turns out the sample from my kitchen tap comes in at 2.2 parts per trillion. That’s three times the state public health goal for 1,2,3-TCP.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">“It’s been a high priority for us to develop regulations.”\u003ccite>Cindy Forbes, State Water Resources Control Board \u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>OEHHA sets its goal to try to reduce the lifetime cancer risk to less than one in 1 million. So my risk is three in 1 million, over a lifetime drinking my tap water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Of course, my overall risk of getting cancer from any source is much higher; it’s more like one in three. Truth is, I should probably be more worried about secondhand smoke, or Fresno’s notoriously dirty air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I’m not taking any chances with my kids. I’ve installed an undersink filter that says it takes out Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). But there’s no guarantee it takes out 1,2,3-TCP, because without a government standard, it’s not rated for that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>State Regulation On Its Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some water systems in the Central Valley have levels of 1,2,3-TCP that push the potential cancer risk to roughly one in 6,000. And a grassroots group called \u003ca href=\"http://www.communitywatercenter.org/cwc_kicks_off_2016_123tcp_campaign\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Community Water Center\u003c/a> is pressuring the state to set a maximum contaminant level for the compound. That’s an enforceable standard, unlike the public health goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly 25 years after California declared 1,2,3-TCP to be a carcinogen, drinking water regulators are planning to set that level by next spring.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s been a high priority for us to develop regulations, but we have had so many other regulations with limited resources to work on, that we haven’t been able to get it over the finish line,” says Cindy Forbes, deputy director for the water board’s drinking water program. “There are a lot of pieces to setting a new maximum contaminant level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like conducting their own peer-reviewed science, taking public comment, and evaluating the cost of detection and cleanup — not just the health risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s our number one priority,” says Forbes. “It’s my priority, it’s the board’s priority.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sasha Khokha has since moved from Fresno to the Bay Area, where she hosts KQED’s weekly edition of \u003ca href=\"http://audio.californiareport.org/\">The California Report\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"//content.jwplatform.com/players/Dg4gz7oc-jEuQjxp9.html\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forget iTunes or your old zipper case of DVDs. How about storing movies in a Petri dish of E. coli?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have stored a short video in the DNA of bacteria and then retrieved it. It’s the first time a video has been recorded into living cells, and the development could have environmental applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DNA is a great place to store information. Biology uses it quite effectively,” said Seth Shipman, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and first author of the study. “It’s compact, and it’s incredibly stable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shipman and his colleagues encoded Eadweard Muybridge’s “Sallie Gardner at a Gallop,” otherwise known as “The Horse in Motion,” one of the earliest series of moving images ever created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study\u003c/a> was published in \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get the DNA stored into the bacterial genome, researchers used the CRISPR-Cas system, a powerful gene-editing tool. The researchers chopped up each frame into single-colored pixels. They then created DNA codes that corresponded to each color and strung several codes together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each bacterium took in snippets of the video and stored it in their DNA. Taken together, the researchers were able to put the pieces back and play the video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this work, Shipman said they eventually want to create “molecular recorders,” which are living cells that could sense things in the environment, like toxins or heavy metals, and record and store that information within their DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2017/07/12/crispr-bacteria-video-harvard-wyss/\" target=\"_blank\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by STAT, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe width=\"600\" height=\"338\" src=\"//content.jwplatform.com/players/Dg4gz7oc-jEuQjxp9.html\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Forget iTunes or your old zipper case of DVDs. How about storing movies in a Petri dish of E. coli?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have stored a short video in the DNA of bacteria and then retrieved it. It’s the first time a video has been recorded into living cells, and the development could have environmental applications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“DNA is a great place to store information. Biology uses it quite effectively,” said Seth Shipman, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and first author of the study. “It’s compact, and it’s incredibly stable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shipman and his colleagues encoded Eadweard Muybridge’s “Sallie Gardner at a Gallop,” otherwise known as “The Horse in Motion,” one of the earliest series of moving images ever created.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their \u003ca href=\"https://www.nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/nature23017\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study\u003c/a> was published in \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To get the DNA stored into the bacterial genome, researchers used the CRISPR-Cas system, a powerful gene-editing tool. The researchers chopped up each frame into single-colored pixels. They then created DNA codes that corresponded to each color and strung several codes together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each bacterium took in snippets of the video and stored it in their DNA. Taken together, the researchers were able to put the pieces back and play the video.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With this work, Shipman said they eventually want to create “molecular recorders,” which are living cells that could sense things in the environment, like toxins or heavy metals, and record and store that information within their DNA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This \u003ca href=\"https://www.statnews.com/2017/07/12/crispr-bacteria-video-harvard-wyss/\" target=\"_blank\">story\u003c/a> was originally published by STAT, an online publication of Boston Globe Media that covers health, medicine, and scientific discovery.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Blood From Young People May Be a Secret to Fighting Aging",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Originally published April 10, 2017\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent trend in anti-aging research sounds straight out of an episode of \"The Twilight Zone\"—or, if you’re younger than 40, the \"Twilight\" series. Scientists are infusing blood from young people into elderly individuals to improve health and delay the afflictions of aging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It may sound creepy, but the potential health benefits of the practice are grounded in more than a decade of research. According to numerous animal studies from Stanford, UC Berkeley and Harvard, young blood can \u003ca href=\"http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6184/649\">rejuvenate aging muscles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(13)00456-X?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS009286741300456X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue\">improve organ function\u003c/a>, help \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7362/full/nature10357.html\">generate new brain cells\u003c/a>, and even \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n6/full/nm.3569.html\">improve cognition\u003c/a>. So far, these benefits have only been seen in mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'We’re trying to avoid creating expectations of a Eureka moment that we’ll have people who have severe Alzheimer’s disease acting as though they’re adolescents again.' \u003ccite>Joe McCracken, Alkahest\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Now, two Northern California startups, \u003ca href=\"http://www.alkahest.com/\">Alkahest\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ambrosiaplasma.com/\">Ambrosia LLC\u003c/a>, are conducting the first studies that attempt to recreate these anti-aging effects in humans. The two companies are running separate clinical trials to infuse plasma from people under the age of 25 into older adults, in an attempt to reverse some of the negative effects of aging and treat age-related diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists think certain proteins in the blood either increase or decrease with aging and are behind age-related diseases such as dementia, diabetes and heart disease. Infusions of young blood may replenish helpful proteins that are lost over the years or block the production of damaging ones that typically increase with age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Alkahest and Ambrosia were inspired by the same studies, their goals and approaches to research are very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Academic\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford professor Tony Wyss-Coray co-founded San Carlos-based Alkahest in 2014, based on his \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n6/abs/nm.3569.html\">findings\u003c/a> that transfusions of young blood into old mice improve learning and memory and promote the growth of new connections between cells in the hippocampus. That’s a key memory center located in the middle of the brain. Alkahest is now working to translate these benefits to patients with Alzheimer’s disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_368258\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-368258\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"STANFORD. CA., MAY 2, 2014--Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray, Professor of Neurology at Stanford School of Medicine in lab on Friday, May 2, 2014. ( Norbert von der Groeben/Stanford School of Medicine )\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tony Wyss-Coray's clinical trial tested whether infusions of young blood are safe for patients with Alzheimer's disease; future trials may test whether the treatment would be beneficial. \u003ccite>(Norbert von der Groeben/Stanford School of Medicine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2014, Alkahest sponsored an FDA-approved \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02256306\">clinical trial\u003c/a> at Stanford to give Alzheimer’s patients between the ages of 50 and 90 four small, weekly transfusions of plasma. The plasma is obtained from the \u003ca href=\"https://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/research/\">Stanford Blood Center\u003c/a>, which has a dedicated research arm that accepts blood donations specifically for Stanford clinical trials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe McCracken, vice president of business development at Alkahest, says that for now, the study is focused on safety and feasibility rather than the efficacy of the treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to avoid creating expectations of a Eureka moment that we’ll have people who have severe Alzheimer’s disease acting as though they’re adolescents again,” he says. “The expectation we have is that we will demonstrate that administration of young plasma to elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease is safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients are also undergoing memory assessments, brain scans and blood tests to detect any potential changes in disease symptoms. The trial has completed testing on all 18 patients, and McCracken hopes to publish the results by the end of the year. If all goes well, Alkahest plans to conduct a second, larger study to test for efficacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s long-term goal is to identify the proteins in the blood that change with age, and then synthesize these factors into pharmaceutical drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Entrepreneur\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jesse Karmazin, CEO of Ambrosia, is taking an unconventional—and more controversial—approach to anti-aging research. Ambrosia, which has clinics in Monterey, California and Tampa, Florida, acts as a “pay-to-play” \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02803554\">clinical trial\u003c/a>, giving one large plasma transfusion to anyone over the age of 35 for a fee of $8,000. The plasma is purchased from local blood banks, which often have a surplus of the material because hospitals typically only require red blood cells for medical procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"Ge8xrkWvdt1iNqxT39StX0C8FxMNPAxq\"]Karmazin, who graduated from Stanford medical school, has gotten some heat for the price his participants are paying. He says his company has no investors, and without the fee the clinic and the study would be impossible. In contrast, Alkahest received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.grifols.com/en/web/international/view-news/-/new/grifols-to-make-a-major-equity-investment-in-alkahest\">$37.5 million investment in 2015 from Grifols\u003c/a>, a Spanish-based company that is the leading producer of blood- and plasma-based products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t think about it, but you—or your insurance company—ultimately pay for the clinical trial over 20 years after the drug has been approved,” Karmazin says. “Companies patent the drug, they pay up front tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars [for a clinical trial], and then they hope to make a billion dollars over the next 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karmazin also justifies the cost of his study by saying that what people choose to do with their money is their decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This amount of money for some people is nothing,” he says. “Not for me, I have $200,000 in loans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ambrosia is analyzing data from its first 60 participants to look for changes in biomarkers of aging in the blood taken one month after treatment. The company doesn’t have any conclusive results yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to say whether Ambrosia’s study, as designed, is capable of producing conclusive results. Karmazin is accepting people with a vast range of ages and with different diseases or reasons for wanting the injection. That means the amount of data he gathers on any one condition will likely be limited and may not be useful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Question of Ethics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither company would comment on the work of the other, although Wyss-Coray took some shots in an article in \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/young-blood-antiaging-trial-raises-questions\">\u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a> last year, saying that Karmazin was “basically abusing people’s trust and the public excitement around” the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bioethicist Karen Maschke from The Hastings Center, a research institute in New York, says the payment model of the Ambrosia trial “raises a lot of a red flags,” and that the design of the study sounds “very suspect.” She is particularly concerned that participants will think they are paying for a known therapy when in fact they are paying for an experimental and unproven procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Karmazin says that he is \"totally transparent that it is experimental.” Consent documents for the trial do describe the procedure as experimental and do not guarantee any improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been no serious adverse events from the transfusions reported by either company, and both researchers are optimistic the treatment will provide real benefits to patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dana Smith is a freelance writer focusing on health and science, with a special interest in the brain. Her work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Fast Company, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and others. In a previous life, she received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge. Find her on Twitter @smithdanag\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Remember that study where scientists put blood from young mice into old mice and it reversed aging? Research has begun on humans.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Originally published April 10, 2017\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent trend in anti-aging research sounds straight out of an episode of \"The Twilight Zone\"—or, if you’re younger than 40, the \"Twilight\" series. Scientists are infusing blood from young people into elderly individuals to improve health and delay the afflictions of aging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It may sound creepy, but the potential health benefits of the practice are grounded in more than a decade of research. According to numerous animal studies from Stanford, UC Berkeley and Harvard, young blood can \u003ca href=\"http://science.sciencemag.org/content/344/6184/649\">rejuvenate aging muscles\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(13)00456-X?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS009286741300456X%3Fshowall%3Dtrue\">improve organ function\u003c/a>, help \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v477/n7362/full/nature10357.html\">generate new brain cells\u003c/a>, and even \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n6/full/nm.3569.html\">improve cognition\u003c/a>. So far, these benefits have only been seen in mice.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'We’re trying to avoid creating expectations of a Eureka moment that we’ll have people who have severe Alzheimer’s disease acting as though they’re adolescents again.' \u003ccite>Joe McCracken, Alkahest\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Now, two Northern California startups, \u003ca href=\"http://www.alkahest.com/\">Alkahest\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.ambrosiaplasma.com/\">Ambrosia LLC\u003c/a>, are conducting the first studies that attempt to recreate these anti-aging effects in humans. The two companies are running separate clinical trials to infuse plasma from people under the age of 25 into older adults, in an attempt to reverse some of the negative effects of aging and treat age-related diseases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists think certain proteins in the blood either increase or decrease with aging and are behind age-related diseases such as dementia, diabetes and heart disease. Infusions of young blood may replenish helpful proteins that are lost over the years or block the production of damaging ones that typically increase with age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Alkahest and Ambrosia were inspired by the same studies, their goals and approaches to research are very different.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Academic\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford professor Tony Wyss-Coray co-founded San Carlos-based Alkahest in 2014, based on his \u003ca href=\"http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v20/n6/abs/nm.3569.html\">findings\u003c/a> that transfusions of young blood into old mice improve learning and memory and promote the growth of new connections between cells in the hippocampus. That’s a key memory center located in the middle of the brain. Alkahest is now working to translate these benefits to patients with Alzheimer’s disease.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_368258\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-368258\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"STANFORD. CA., MAY 2, 2014--Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray, Professor of Neurology at Stanford School of Medicine in lab on Friday, May 2, 2014. ( Norbert von der Groeben/Stanford School of Medicine )\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-1180x885.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-960x720.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/04/Wyss-Coray-2.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Tony Wyss-Coray's clinical trial tested whether infusions of young blood are safe for patients with Alzheimer's disease; future trials may test whether the treatment would be beneficial. \u003ccite>(Norbert von der Groeben/Stanford School of Medicine)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2014, Alkahest sponsored an FDA-approved \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02256306\">clinical trial\u003c/a> at Stanford to give Alzheimer’s patients between the ages of 50 and 90 four small, weekly transfusions of plasma. The plasma is obtained from the \u003ca href=\"https://bloodcenter.stanford.edu/research/\">Stanford Blood Center\u003c/a>, which has a dedicated research arm that accepts blood donations specifically for Stanford clinical trials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joe McCracken, vice president of business development at Alkahest, says that for now, the study is focused on safety and feasibility rather than the efficacy of the treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re trying to avoid creating expectations of a Eureka moment that we’ll have people who have severe Alzheimer’s disease acting as though they’re adolescents again,” he says. “The expectation we have is that we will demonstrate that administration of young plasma to elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease is safe.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The patients are also undergoing memory assessments, brain scans and blood tests to detect any potential changes in disease symptoms. The trial has completed testing on all 18 patients, and McCracken hopes to publish the results by the end of the year. If all goes well, Alkahest plans to conduct a second, larger study to test for efficacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company’s long-term goal is to identify the proteins in the blood that change with age, and then synthesize these factors into pharmaceutical drugs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Entrepreneur\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jesse Karmazin, CEO of Ambrosia, is taking an unconventional—and more controversial—approach to anti-aging research. Ambrosia, which has clinics in Monterey, California and Tampa, Florida, acts as a “pay-to-play” \u003ca href=\"https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02803554\">clinical trial\u003c/a>, giving one large plasma transfusion to anyone over the age of 35 for a fee of $8,000. The plasma is purchased from local blood banks, which often have a surplus of the material because hospitals typically only require red blood cells for medical procedures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Karmazin, who graduated from Stanford medical school, has gotten some heat for the price his participants are paying. He says his company has no investors, and without the fee the clinic and the study would be impossible. In contrast, Alkahest received a \u003ca href=\"http://www.grifols.com/en/web/international/view-news/-/new/grifols-to-make-a-major-equity-investment-in-alkahest\">$37.5 million investment in 2015 from Grifols\u003c/a>, a Spanish-based company that is the leading producer of blood- and plasma-based products.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You don’t think about it, but you—or your insurance company—ultimately pay for the clinical trial over 20 years after the drug has been approved,” Karmazin says. “Companies patent the drug, they pay up front tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars [for a clinical trial], and then they hope to make a billion dollars over the next 20 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Karmazin also justifies the cost of his study by saying that what people choose to do with their money is their decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This amount of money for some people is nothing,” he says. “Not for me, I have $200,000 in loans.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ambrosia is analyzing data from its first 60 participants to look for changes in biomarkers of aging in the blood taken one month after treatment. The company doesn’t have any conclusive results yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s difficult to say whether Ambrosia’s study, as designed, is capable of producing conclusive results. Karmazin is accepting people with a vast range of ages and with different diseases or reasons for wanting the injection. That means the amount of data he gathers on any one condition will likely be limited and may not be useful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Question of Ethics\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Neither company would comment on the work of the other, although Wyss-Coray took some shots in an article in \u003ca href=\"http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/08/young-blood-antiaging-trial-raises-questions\">\u003cem>Science\u003c/em>\u003c/a> last year, saying that Karmazin was “basically abusing people’s trust and the public excitement around” the research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bioethicist Karen Maschke from The Hastings Center, a research institute in New York, says the payment model of the Ambrosia trial “raises a lot of a red flags,” and that the design of the study sounds “very suspect.” She is particularly concerned that participants will think they are paying for a known therapy when in fact they are paying for an experimental and unproven procedure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Karmazin says that he is \"totally transparent that it is experimental.” Consent documents for the trial do describe the procedure as experimental and do not guarantee any improvements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There have been no serious adverse events from the transfusions reported by either company, and both researchers are optimistic the treatment will provide real benefits to patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dana Smith is a freelance writer focusing on health and science, with a special interest in the brain. Her work has been featured in The Atlantic, The Guardian, Fast Company, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, and others. In a previous life, she received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Cambridge. Find her on Twitter @smithdanag\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "You Know About This Summer's Spectacular Solar Eclipse, Right?",
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"content": "\u003cp>Save the date: August 21st. On that Monday, across the United States, millions of people will be granted a rare chance to see a total solar eclipse. The last time a total solar eclipse crossed the contiguous U.S., Jimmy Carter was president (1979). It has been nearly a century since an eclipse swept the country from coast to coast (1918).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not often that celestial events favor our own country in such a way,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/users/sshostak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Shostak\u003c/a>, senior astronomer at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SETI Institute\u003c/a>. “And this gives the opportunity to a lot of people to see something that really shouldn’t be missed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eclipse will first be visible by land at Lincoln Beach, Oregon. At 8:04 a.m. the moon will begin to edge in on the sun, taking a tiny chip out of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1745905\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 375px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1745905 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620-160x285.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620-240x428.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eclipses are possible thanks to a happy coincidence: The Sun is 400 times the diameter of the moon, while also being 400 times farther away from Earth. To us, both the moon and the Sun appear to be the same size allowing the moon to block light from the sun during solar eclipses.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the 70 million million million metric tons of rock that we know as our moon slide across the solar disc, darkness will descend, sweeping in from the west. The temperature will drop. Birds may cease singing, squirrels may give up their foraging. The stars will come out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers of past eclipses say life seems suspended in animation, as the shadow of the moon sweeps over them. Looking up they see a “hole in the sky” surrounded by flowing flames. Or, “a black sunflower with the most delicate of silver petals,” as Frank Close writes in \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/book/9780198795490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eclipse: Journeys to the Dark Side of the Moon\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These ‘petals’ are the sun’s corona. Curiously, this outer atmosphere of the sun is far, far hotter (up to 450 times hotter) than the surface of the sun. But why this is so is still a mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stage where the corona is visible to the naked eye is the moment of total eclipse, called “totality.” You will see the total eclipse only if you are inside the 50-mile wide band marked out on the map below, a path that will sweep across the country stretching from just west of Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. (Check out the \u003ca href=\"https://eclipsemega.movie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eclipse Megamovie Project\u003c/a>, a joint project of Google and UC Berkeley. Type a location into their \u003ca href=\"https://eclipsemega.movie/simulator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">simulator \u003c/a>to see what the eclipse will look like from there.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgZnha_S9BQ\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A word on safety: Don’t look directly at the sun. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first hour of the eclipse, the moon with be sliding over the disc of the sun taking, as Shostak says, “bigger and bigger cookie bites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if it is partially blocked, if you look into the sun it may be the last thing you’ll ever see. You can, however, watch with eclipse glasses, which are equipped with protective film. Or, cut a hole in a piece of paper or cardboard and project the eclipse onto a surface, such as the ground or a wall. Once the moon has completely blocked out the sun (during totality) it is okay to look up. In fact, don’t miss looking up! You can even take a peek through your binoculars or telescope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.kqed.org/.stream/mp3splice/radio/science/2017/06/Eclipse_170619.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shostak recommends Oregon as the most practical locale for Californians to view the eclipse, if they’re willing to travel. “You might think ‘Gosh! That’s a long trip for two minutes of celestial fireworks,'” says Shostak. “But I can assure you, seeing the moon get in front of the sun is something you will always remember.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more KQED eclipse coverage:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/07/26/americans-prepare-for-first-total-solar-eclipse-in-century/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Americans Prepare for First Coast-to-Coast Total Solar Eclipse in Century\u003c/a> (\u003cem>KQED Forum\u003c/em>)\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/07/24/dont-be-in-the-dark-answers-to-your-burning-questions-about-the-august-eclipse/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don’t Be in the Dark: Answers To Your Burning Questions About the August Eclipse\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/08/11/help-make-history-eclipse-projects-for-citizen-scientists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Help Make History: Eclipse Projects for Citizen Scientists\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Save the date: August 21st. On that Monday, across the United States, millions of people will be granted a rare chance to see a total solar eclipse. The last time a total solar eclipse crossed the contiguous U.S., Jimmy Carter was president (1979). It has been nearly a century since an eclipse swept the country from coast to coast (1918).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not often that celestial events favor our own country in such a way,” says \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/users/sshostak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seth Shostak\u003c/a>, senior astronomer at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.seti.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SETI Institute\u003c/a>. “And this gives the opportunity to a lot of people to see something that really shouldn’t be missed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The eclipse will first be visible by land at Lincoln Beach, Oregon. At 8:04 a.m. the moon will begin to edge in on the sun, taking a tiny chip out of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1745905\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 375px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1745905 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"375\" height=\"668\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620-160x285.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Eclipse_V04B_170620-240x428.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eclipses are possible thanks to a happy coincidence: The Sun is 400 times the diameter of the moon, while also being 400 times farther away from Earth. To us, both the moon and the Sun appear to be the same size allowing the moon to block light from the sun during solar eclipses.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the 70 million million million metric tons of rock that we know as our moon slide across the solar disc, darkness will descend, sweeping in from the west. The temperature will drop. Birds may cease singing, squirrels may give up their foraging. The stars will come out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Observers of past eclipses say life seems suspended in animation, as the shadow of the moon sweeps over them. Looking up they see a “hole in the sky” surrounded by flowing flames. Or, “a black sunflower with the most delicate of silver petals,” as Frank Close writes in \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.bluewillowbookshop.com/book/9780198795490\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eclipse: Journeys to the Dark Side of the Moon\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These ‘petals’ are the sun’s corona. Curiously, this outer atmosphere of the sun is far, far hotter (up to 450 times hotter) than the surface of the sun. But why this is so is still a mystery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The stage where the corona is visible to the naked eye is the moment of total eclipse, called “totality.” You will see the total eclipse only if you are inside the 50-mile wide band marked out on the map below, a path that will sweep across the country stretching from just west of Salem, Oregon to Charleston, South Carolina. (Check out the \u003ca href=\"https://eclipsemega.movie/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eclipse Megamovie Project\u003c/a>, a joint project of Google and UC Berkeley. Type a location into their \u003ca href=\"https://eclipsemega.movie/simulator\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">simulator \u003c/a>to see what the eclipse will look like from there.)\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/zgZnha_S9BQ'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/zgZnha_S9BQ'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>A word on safety: Don’t look directly at the sun. Ever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the first hour of the eclipse, the moon with be sliding over the disc of the sun taking, as Shostak says, “bigger and bigger cookie bites.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if it is partially blocked, if you look into the sun it may be the last thing you’ll ever see. You can, however, watch with eclipse glasses, which are equipped with protective film. Or, cut a hole in a piece of paper or cardboard and project the eclipse onto a surface, such as the ground or a wall. Once the moon has completely blocked out the sun (during totality) it is okay to look up. In fact, don’t miss looking up! You can even take a peek through your binoculars or telescope.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/www.kqed.org/.stream/mp3splice/radio/science/2017/06/Eclipse_170619.mp3\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shostak recommends Oregon as the most practical locale for Californians to view the eclipse, if they’re willing to travel. “You might think ‘Gosh! That’s a long trip for two minutes of celestial fireworks,'” says Shostak. “But I can assure you, seeing the moon get in front of the sun is something you will always remember.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Read more KQED eclipse coverage:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/07/26/americans-prepare-for-first-total-solar-eclipse-in-century/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Americans Prepare for First Coast-to-Coast Total Solar Eclipse in Century\u003c/a> (\u003cem>KQED Forum\u003c/em>)\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/07/24/dont-be-in-the-dark-answers-to-your-burning-questions-about-the-august-eclipse/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Don’t Be in the Dark: Answers To Your Burning Questions About the August Eclipse\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2017/08/11/help-make-history-eclipse-projects-for-citizen-scientists/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Help Make History: Eclipse Projects for Citizen Scientists\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "When Scientists Failed Them, Parents Unlocked Genetics of Kids’ Disease",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://embed.ted.com/talks/sharon_terry_science_didn_t_understand_my_kids_rare_disease_until_i_decided_to_study_it\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Update June 20, 2017:\u003c/em> The video of Sharon Terry's talk at TEDMED has been released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the mid-1990s, Sharon Terry learned that her two young children had a rare genetic disease called \u003ca href=\"https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pseudoxanthoma-elasticum\">pseudoxanthoma elasticum\u003c/a>, also known as Grönblad–Strandberg syndrome and more commonly called PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PXE is a slow progressive disease that hardens connective tissue, causing loose, wrinkly skin in the neck, under the arms, around the groin and behind the knees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a moment of just complete devastation that my two beautiful, perfect, wonderful children had a disease that I didn’t understand,” Terry says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Disillusioned by Experts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news was that the Boston family had time. Terry’s five- and seven-year-old might look elderly by the time they were 20, but they had several years before the disease triggered severe aging, obscured their vision or impaired their blood vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'We're going to get you to come to us, and play by our rules. And our rule is, ‘You have to share with other scientists.’ \u003ccite>Sharon Terry\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The bad news was that doctors and researchers knew very little about PXE, and the little they did wasn't being shared across labs. Terry watched, furious, as one group of researchers extracted vials of blood from her children’s arms, only to have a different team of scientists poke and prod her kids for a new set of samples a few days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw, over and over, intense competition,” says Terry. “We had to figure out how to get these scientists to play with each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[audio src=\"hhttp://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/science/2016/12/WEBGeneticSupermom161219.mp3\" title=\"Listen to the radio story\" program=\"Future of You\" image=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/05/SciencePlayer_BG.jpeg\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Take the Bull By the Horns'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family took an unconventional approach to orchestrating their children’s care, especially given that neither parent had a background in science. Terry has a master’s degree in religious studies. She was a college chaplain before she became a full-time mom. Her husband is a construction manager with a concentration in drafting from a trade school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_302165\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 433px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-302165\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-800x540.jpg\" alt=\"Sister and brother Elizabeth and Ian Terry in 2005.\" width=\"433\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-800x540.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-160x108.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-768x518.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-240x162.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-375x253.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-520x351.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sister and brother Elizabeth and Ian Terry in 2005. \u003ccite>(Sharon Terry)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"We decided that we had to take the bull by the horns and, first, learn what we could about the disease,\" Terry says. \"We quickly learned there really wasn't anything to learn about the disease.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Somehow the diligent couple convinced researchers at Harvard to lend them bench space to better understand the genetics driving PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every night the supermom and superdad spent six hours in a lab collecting blood and tissue samples, extracting DNA, and deciphering the code. Generous postdoctoral students tutored the couple until the wee hours of the morning. And, after a couple of years, Terry and her husband discovered the gene behind PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'This year we actually have four different treatments that we think are going to be effective.'\u003ccite>Sharon Terry\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Eventually they built a diagnostic test and posted all of their data on an open online consortium, which Terry now runs, called \u003ca href=\"http://www.geneticalliance.org/advocacy\">Genetic Alliance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cats can be herded if you move their food,” says Terry. “And so we basically said the food is DNA and clinical histories. We're going to put that together, and we're going to get you to come to us, and play by our rules. And our rule is, ‘You have to share with other scientists.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Cure on the Horizon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genetic Alliance offers a suite of tools to help other families who receive a devastating diagnosis. The advocacy organization offers advice on how to do scientific research, how to talk to kids about genetic disease and how to become an activist on Capitol Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry’s children, now 27 and 29, are now closer to a cure than at any time since their diagnoses two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year we actually have four different treatments that we think are going to be effective,” Terry says. “They've been effective in our mouse model. We're now looking at moving into human clinical trials for these treatments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry hopes her story will inspire other families to take action when a doctor delivers crushing news. She recently shared her story on stage at the TEDMED health conference in Palm Springs.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ciframe src=\"https://embed.ted.com/talks/sharon_terry_science_didn_t_understand_my_kids_rare_disease_until_i_decided_to_study_it\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Update June 20, 2017:\u003c/em> The video of Sharon Terry's talk at TEDMED has been released.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the mid-1990s, Sharon Terry learned that her two young children had a rare genetic disease called \u003ca href=\"https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/pseudoxanthoma-elasticum\">pseudoxanthoma elasticum\u003c/a>, also known as Grönblad–Strandberg syndrome and more commonly called PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PXE is a slow progressive disease that hardens connective tissue, causing loose, wrinkly skin in the neck, under the arms, around the groin and behind the knees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was a moment of just complete devastation that my two beautiful, perfect, wonderful children had a disease that I didn’t understand,” Terry says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Disillusioned by Experts\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The good news was that the Boston family had time. Terry’s five- and seven-year-old might look elderly by the time they were 20, but they had several years before the disease triggered severe aging, obscured their vision or impaired their blood vessels.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'We're going to get you to come to us, and play by our rules. And our rule is, ‘You have to share with other scientists.’ \u003ccite>Sharon Terry\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>The bad news was that doctors and researchers knew very little about PXE, and the little they did wasn't being shared across labs. Terry watched, furious, as one group of researchers extracted vials of blood from her children’s arms, only to have a different team of scientists poke and prod her kids for a new set of samples a few days later.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw, over and over, intense competition,” says Terry. “We had to figure out how to get these scientists to play with each other.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>'Take the Bull By the Horns'\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The family took an unconventional approach to orchestrating their children’s care, especially given that neither parent had a background in science. Terry has a master’s degree in religious studies. She was a college chaplain before she became a full-time mom. Her husband is a construction manager with a concentration in drafting from a trade school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_302165\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 433px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-302165\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-800x540.jpg\" alt=\"Sister and brother Elizabeth and Ian Terry in 2005.\" width=\"433\" height=\"292\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-800x540.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-160x108.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-768x518.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-240x162.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-375x253.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005-520x351.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2016/12/2005.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 433px) 100vw, 433px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sister and brother Elizabeth and Ian Terry in 2005. \u003ccite>(Sharon Terry)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\"We decided that we had to take the bull by the horns and, first, learn what we could about the disease,\" Terry says. \"We quickly learned there really wasn't anything to learn about the disease.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Somehow the diligent couple convinced researchers at Harvard to lend them bench space to better understand the genetics driving PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Every night the supermom and superdad spent six hours in a lab collecting blood and tissue samples, extracting DNA, and deciphering the code. Generous postdoctoral students tutored the couple until the wee hours of the morning. And, after a couple of years, Terry and her husband discovered the gene behind PXE.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'This year we actually have four different treatments that we think are going to be effective.'\u003ccite>Sharon Terry\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>Eventually they built a diagnostic test and posted all of their data on an open online consortium, which Terry now runs, called \u003ca href=\"http://www.geneticalliance.org/advocacy\">Genetic Alliance\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Cats can be herded if you move their food,” says Terry. “And so we basically said the food is DNA and clinical histories. We're going to put that together, and we're going to get you to come to us, and play by our rules. And our rule is, ‘You have to share with other scientists.'\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>A Cure on the Horizon\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Genetic Alliance offers a suite of tools to help other families who receive a devastating diagnosis. The advocacy organization offers advice on how to do scientific research, how to talk to kids about genetic disease and how to become an activist on Capitol Hill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry’s children, now 27 and 29, are now closer to a cure than at any time since their diagnoses two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year we actually have four different treatments that we think are going to be effective,” Terry says. “They've been effective in our mouse model. We're now looking at moving into human clinical trials for these treatments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Terry hopes her story will inspire other families to take action when a doctor delivers crushing news. She recently shared her story on stage at the TEDMED health conference in Palm Springs.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Silicon Valley's Toxic Past Haunts Sunnyvale Neighborhood",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sunnyvale’s San Miguel neighborhood, with its leafy trees and modest houses, is home to hundreds of families and four schools for young children. Underneath these quiet streets lies a shadow of Silicon Valley’s past: groundwater contaminated with a solvent once used to make computer chips, and known to cause cancer and birth defects. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That chemical, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/trichloroethylene-tce\">trichloroethylene or TCE\u003c/a>, was as crucial to chipmakers in the 1960s and 1970s as yeast is to a bakery. TCE is a powerful solvent used to clean silicon wafers before the chip design is etched onto them. And it’s responsible for nearly half the federal Superfund sites in \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites_in_California#Santa_Clara_County\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. These are areas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designates as the nation’s most toxic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara has 24 Superfund sites, according to former EPA regional director Jared Blumenfeld. The neighborhood of San Miguel is located within one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When TCE is present in groundwater, it can turn to vapor, seeping through cracks in building frames and into homes and classrooms. Short-term exposure can cause slowed breathing, light-headedness and headaches; over the longer term, TCE exposure causes cancer, particularly kidney cancer and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">non-Hodgkin lymphoma\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And in 2011, a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339451/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study appeared to show \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">that fetuses exposed to TCE in the first trimester have a higher risk of heart defects at birth. Socioeconomic differences could have influenced the results, though researchers tried to account for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_388759\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 378px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-388759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-800x1445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"378\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-800x1445.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-160x289.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-768x1387.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-1020x1842.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-960x1734.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-240x433.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-375x677.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-520x939.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0.jpg 1113w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of the Triple Site area in Sunnyvale, Calif. \u003ccite>(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Years of Contamination\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A half-mile south of the San Miguel neighborhood is Lowe’s Home Improvement, built on the site where \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signetics\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Signetics Inc.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—which became \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.usa.philips.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Philips Semiconductors\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in 1975—left massive amounts of trichloroethylene in the soil and groundwater from nearly 30 years of chip manufacturing. Next to Lowe’s is a large, vacant dome of soil carpeted with dry grass.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here’s where we have the highest concentrations of TCE,” says EPA site manager Melanie Morash, gesturing at the mound. This is essentially Ground Zero for what the EPA calls the Triple Site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Triple Site gets its name from the three chipmakers responsible for the contamination: Philips, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.amd.com/en/home\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advanced Micro Devices\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/vwsoalphabetic/TRW+Microwave,+Inc.+(Building+825)\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TRW Microwave\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the 1960s and ‘70s, these companies stored TCE in underground tanks for later use. But the tanks and pipelines sometimes ruptured, leaking TCE into the soil and groundwater. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when the EPA launched its \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Superfund program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to clean up the nation’s most toxic sites, that these properties began to get attention. By then, the TCE had spread through groundwater a mile to the north, underneath hundreds of homes and apartments and all four schools.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cleanup Begins\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 1980s, the EPA worked with the manufacturers to clean up the toxic plume by excavating soil and treating the water. One method decontaminates the water by exposing it to ultraviolet light; the other oxygenates the water, releasing the TCE into the air, where it disperses. Although it isn’t ideal to make TCE airborne, it reduces concentrations enough that it isn’t a health risk to people, Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_410384\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-410384\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"EPA Triple Site site manager Melanie Morash at the dome of earth near the former Philips Semiconductor property, where TCE contamination is concentrated. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-520x693.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">EPA Triple Site site manager Melanie Morash at the dome of earth near the former Philips Semiconductor property, where TCE contamination is concentrated. \u003ccite>(Beth Winegarner/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Across the street from Ground Zero, in the parking lot of Planet Granite, gym-goers breeze past a fenced-off cluster of machinery. The systems hum as they pump groundwater from beneath the soil, aerate the water to disperse toxic chemicals, and return the water to the aquifer. This is one of the Phillips treatment plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early 2000s, AMD and TRW switched to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://news.stanford.edu/news/1997/april23/tce.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a method pioneered at Stanford University\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in which natural bacteria break down the TCE. The bacteria are fed molasses, lactose or vegetable oil to boost their population, creating enough microbes to transform TCE into harmless components, according to Michael Calhoun, a geologist with Haley & Aldrich Inc. and a consultant for AMD.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bioremediation has been successful for TRW and AMD. Philips—which is now responsible for the remaining cleanup at the Triple Site—held off, sticking to traditional methods. It wasn’t until 2016 that Philips began testing bioremediation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokeswoman Silvie Casanova declined to comment on why Philips waited so long to try the method. It’s unclear whether it will work as well now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a contaminant released into the ground and it sits there for a while, it can diffuse into the soil, and then it’s more difficult to get back out,” Calhoun said. “Even if you clean up the groundwater, it will continue to diffuse from the soil back into the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_388757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-388757\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-1180x886.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-960x721.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom.jpg 1279w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two air monitors inside a classroom at San Miguel Elementary School in Sunnyvale. The devices monitor inside buildings for signs of TCE vapor. They must be in place for at least 24 hours to get accurate results. \u003ccite>(Beth Winegarner/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fighting to Protect Public Health\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the 2011 study revealed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=171&tid=30\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the risk for birth defects from TCE\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the EPA worked to update its process of notifying people about contamination. Previously, the agency tested buildings in Superfund zones quarterly, and then notified occupants of the results four to five months later, said former regional director Blumenfeld. But the risk to fetuses is highest in the first trimester, meaning pregnant women needed the information much sooner.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"QIiBrV7DZWww9hv35669NPpPlzzmI7hs\"]Getting the agency to change was an uphill battle. Chipmakers hired lawyers to fight back. EPA headquarters in Washington D.C. told Blumenfeld to hold off because it was working on new national guidelines, but they never materialized, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blumenfeld eventually won. Under the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/3dc283e6c5d6056f88257426007417a2/6a24ed351efe25b888257d16007659e8/%24FILE/R9%20TCE%20Action%20Levels%20and%20Recs%20Memo%207_14.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">new notification requirements\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> adopted in 2014, the EPA is required to test air quality inside buildings vulnerable to TCE vapor, install mitigation measures “quickly” and retest to make sure they’re working. When exposures reach a certain level, those mitigations must happen immediately, and residents aren’t allowed back in until it’s safe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Knocking on Doors\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing all that testing, though, meant getting permission from property owners. The schools within the Triple Site complied quickly, but residents were another story. EPA workers, led by Morash and Alejandro Diaz, the EPA’s community involvement coordinator for the site, began going door-to-door to ask if they could test the air inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Miguel neighborhood includes mostly small, single-family homes with grassy front yards. Sprinkled among them are several modest-sized apartment buildings. During the day, the streets are quiet; almost nobody remains outside. The neighborhood is also extremely diverse, with large concentrations of Latino, Asian and South Asian residents. Diaz said the EPA did outreach in several languages, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, Punjabi and Urdu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_410388\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-410388\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"This riser pipe and fan are part of a system that diverts TCE vapor from underneath a building to its roof, where it’s released into the air rather than going inside the building. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-520x693.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This riser pipe and fan are part of a\u003cbr>system that diverts TCE vapor from underneath a building to its roof, where it’s released into the air rather than going inside the building. \u003ccite>(EPA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The idea is to remove any barriers and make it the least scary possible,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since early 2015, the team has knocked on more than 500 doors—every property in the Triple Site zone—and tested every school building. About 225 households have allowed testing. The team has detected concerning levels of TCE vapor in 55 households and 37 school buildings, Morash said. Buildings at Rainbow Montessori, San Miguel Elementary and King’s Academy all tested positive for TCE vapor; mitigation systems are in place in the schools now, and their air is monitored regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 30 properties, which include some 100 households, have refused air testing, Huitric said; those who said no haven’t told the team why. The EPA keeps in touch with the property owners, ready to act if they change their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shashi Jaggia, who has owned a 12-unit apartment building on Duane Avenue within the Triple Site zone since 1999, cooperated with the EPA when they came calling. Jaggia had no idea her tenants were being exposed to TCE until the EPA contacted her a couple of years ago. But she wasn’t surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m in the real estate business,” she said. “I know there’s lots of contamination in the groundwater in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first year after installing the systems, the EPA tests the air frequently to make sure levels remain safe. If they do, the tests are less frequent in following years. That’s the protocol for all properties in the Triple Site, Huitric said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, cleanup, testing and mitigation at the Triple Site is expected to continue indefinitely, until the TCE levels in both groundwater and indoor air are safe. President Donald Trump’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/trump-epa-budget-noaa-climate-change/527814/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proposed budget\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> includes a 31.4 percent cut to the EPA, including $330 million in cuts to the Superfund program. Philips is bankrolling cleanup costs at the Triple Site, but other elements of the process could be in trouble, Blumenfeld said, including enforcement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not planning for anything until we know for a fact what’s happening,” said Caleb Shaffer, section chief for Superfund’s California Cleanup Section. “We can’t predict the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UCSF's Maria Glymour contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A toxic chemical, known as trichloroethylene, or TCE, was as crucial to chipmakers in the 1960s and 1970s as yeast is to a bakery. ",
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"description": "A toxic chemical, known as trichloroethylene, or TCE, was as crucial to chipmakers in the 1960s and 1970s as yeast is to a bakery. ",
"title": "Silicon Valley's Toxic Past Haunts Sunnyvale Neighborhood | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sunnyvale’s San Miguel neighborhood, with its leafy trees and modest houses, is home to hundreds of families and four schools for young children. Underneath these quiet streets lies a shadow of Silicon Valley’s past: groundwater contaminated with a solvent once used to make computer chips, and known to cause cancer and birth defects. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That chemical, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/trichloroethylene-tce\">trichloroethylene or TCE\u003c/a>, was as crucial to chipmakers in the 1960s and 1970s as yeast is to a bakery. TCE is a powerful solvent used to clean silicon wafers before the chip design is etched onto them. And it’s responsible for nearly half the federal Superfund sites in \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Superfund_sites_in_California#Santa_Clara_County\">Santa Clara County\u003c/a>. These are areas the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designates as the nation’s most toxic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Santa Clara has 24 Superfund sites, according to former EPA regional director Jared Blumenfeld. The neighborhood of San Miguel is located within one of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">When TCE is present in groundwater, it can turn to vapor, seeping through cracks in building frames and into homes and classrooms. Short-term exposure can cause slowed breathing, light-headedness and headaches; over the longer term, TCE exposure causes cancer, particularly kidney cancer and \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">non-Hodgkin lymphoma\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. And in 2011, a \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3339451/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">study appeared to show \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">that fetuses exposed to TCE in the first trimester have a higher risk of heart defects at birth. Socioeconomic differences could have influenced the results, though researchers tried to account for that.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_388759\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 378px\">\u003cimg class=\"wp-image-388759\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-800x1445.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"378\" height=\"683\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-800x1445.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-160x289.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-768x1387.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-1020x1842.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-960x1734.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-240x433.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-375x677.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0-520x939.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/10-Triple-Site-Map-page-0.jpg 1113w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of the Triple Site area in Sunnyvale, Calif. \u003ccite>(U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Years of Contamination\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">A half-mile south of the San Miguel neighborhood is Lowe’s Home Improvement, built on the site where \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signetics\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Signetics Inc.\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">—which became \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.usa.philips.com/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Philips Semiconductors\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in 1975—left massive amounts of trichloroethylene in the soil and groundwater from nearly 30 years of chip manufacturing. Next to Lowe’s is a large, vacant dome of soil carpeted with dry grass.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here’s where we have the highest concentrations of TCE,” says EPA site manager Melanie Morash, gesturing at the mound. This is essentially Ground Zero for what the EPA calls the Triple Site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Triple Site gets its name from the three chipmakers responsible for the contamination: Philips, \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://www.amd.com/en/home\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Advanced Micro Devices\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/vwsoalphabetic/TRW+Microwave,+Inc.+(Building+825)\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">TRW Microwave\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In the 1960s and ‘70s, these companies stored TCE in underground tanks for later use. But the tanks and pipelines sometimes ruptured, leaking TCE into the soil and groundwater. It wasn’t until the 1980s, when the EPA launched its \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfund\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Superfund program\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to clean up the nation’s most toxic sites, that these properties began to get attention. By then, the TCE had spread through groundwater a mile to the north, underneath hundreds of homes and apartments and all four schools.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Cleanup Begins\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 1980s, the EPA worked with the manufacturers to clean up the toxic plume by excavating soil and treating the water. One method decontaminates the water by exposing it to ultraviolet light; the other oxygenates the water, releasing the TCE into the air, where it disperses. Although it isn’t ideal to make TCE airborne, it reduces concentrations enough that it isn’t a health risk to people, Blumenfeld said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_410384\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-410384\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"EPA Triple Site site manager Melanie Morash at the dome of earth near the former Philips Semiconductor property, where TCE contamination is concentrated. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/6-melanie-dome-520x693.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">EPA Triple Site site manager Melanie Morash at the dome of earth near the former Philips Semiconductor property, where TCE contamination is concentrated. \u003ccite>(Beth Winegarner/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Across the street from Ground Zero, in the parking lot of Planet Granite, gym-goers breeze past a fenced-off cluster of machinery. The systems hum as they pump groundwater from beneath the soil, aerate the water to disperse toxic chemicals, and return the water to the aquifer. This is one of the Phillips treatment plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the early 2000s, AMD and TRW switched to \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://news.stanford.edu/news/1997/april23/tce.html\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">a method pioneered at Stanford University\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in which natural bacteria break down the TCE. The bacteria are fed molasses, lactose or vegetable oil to boost their population, creating enough microbes to transform TCE into harmless components, according to Michael Calhoun, a geologist with Haley & Aldrich Inc. and a consultant for AMD.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bioremediation has been successful for TRW and AMD. Philips—which is now responsible for the remaining cleanup at the Triple Site—held off, sticking to traditional methods. It wasn’t until 2016 that Philips began testing bioremediation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Spokeswoman Silvie Casanova declined to comment on why Philips waited so long to try the method. It’s unclear whether it will work as well now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have a contaminant released into the ground and it sits there for a while, it can diffuse into the soil, and then it’s more difficult to get back out,” Calhoun said. “Even if you clean up the groundwater, it will continue to diffuse from the soil back into the water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_388757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-388757\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-800x600.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-160x120.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-768x576.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-1020x766.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-1180x886.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-960x721.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-240x180.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-375x281.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom-520x390.jpg 520w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/05/9-image-tester-in-classroom.jpg 1279w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Two air monitors inside a classroom at San Miguel Elementary School in Sunnyvale. The devices monitor inside buildings for signs of TCE vapor. They must be in place for at least 24 hours to get accurate results. \u003ccite>(Beth Winegarner/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Fighting to Protect Public Health\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">After the 2011 study revealed \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/phs/phs.asp?id=171&tid=30\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">the risk for birth defects from TCE\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the EPA worked to update its process of notifying people about contamination. Previously, the agency tested buildings in Superfund zones quarterly, and then notified occupants of the results four to five months later, said former regional director Blumenfeld. But the risk to fetuses is highest in the first trimester, meaning pregnant women needed the information much sooner.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Getting the agency to change was an uphill battle. Chipmakers hired lawyers to fight back. EPA headquarters in Washington D.C. told Blumenfeld to hold off because it was working on new national guidelines, but they never materialized, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Blumenfeld eventually won. Under the \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/3dc283e6c5d6056f88257426007417a2/6a24ed351efe25b888257d16007659e8/%24FILE/R9%20TCE%20Action%20Levels%20and%20Recs%20Memo%207_14.pdf\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">new notification requirements\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> adopted in 2014, the EPA is required to test air quality inside buildings vulnerable to TCE vapor, install mitigation measures “quickly” and retest to make sure they’re working. When exposures reach a certain level, those mitigations must happen immediately, and residents aren’t allowed back in until it’s safe.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Knocking on Doors\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doing all that testing, though, meant getting permission from property owners. The schools within the Triple Site complied quickly, but residents were another story. EPA workers, led by Morash and Alejandro Diaz, the EPA’s community involvement coordinator for the site, began going door-to-door to ask if they could test the air inside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Miguel neighborhood includes mostly small, single-family homes with grassy front yards. Sprinkled among them are several modest-sized apartment buildings. During the day, the streets are quiet; almost nobody remains outside. The neighborhood is also extremely diverse, with large concentrations of Latino, Asian and South Asian residents. Diaz said the EPA did outreach in several languages, including Vietnamese, Tagalog, Punjabi and Urdu.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_410388\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box.jpg\">\u003cimg class=\"size-medium wp-image-410388\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/futureofyou/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-800x1067.jpg\" alt=\"This riser pipe and fan are part of a system that diverts TCE vapor from underneath a building to its roof, where it’s released into the air rather than going inside the building. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1067\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-800x1067.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-160x213.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1020x1360.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1920x2560.jpg 1920w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-1180x1573.jpg 1180w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-960x1280.jpg 960w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-240x320.jpg 240w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-375x500.jpg 375w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2017/06/3-Riser-pipe-and-fan-inside-the-box-520x693.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This riser pipe and fan are part of a\u003cbr>system that diverts TCE vapor from underneath a building to its roof, where it’s released into the air rather than going inside the building. \u003ccite>(EPA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The idea is to remove any barriers and make it the least scary possible,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since early 2015, the team has knocked on more than 500 doors—every property in the Triple Site zone—and tested every school building. About 225 households have allowed testing. The team has detected concerning levels of TCE vapor in 55 households and 37 school buildings, Morash said. Buildings at Rainbow Montessori, San Miguel Elementary and King’s Academy all tested positive for TCE vapor; mitigation systems are in place in the schools now, and their air is monitored regularly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 30 properties, which include some 100 households, have refused air testing, Huitric said; those who said no haven’t told the team why. The EPA keeps in touch with the property owners, ready to act if they change their minds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shashi Jaggia, who has owned a 12-unit apartment building on Duane Avenue within the Triple Site zone since 1999, cooperated with the EPA when they came calling. Jaggia had no idea her tenants were being exposed to TCE until the EPA contacted her a couple of years ago. But she wasn’t surprised.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m in the real estate business,” she said. “I know there’s lots of contamination in the groundwater in the area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first year after installing the systems, the EPA tests the air frequently to make sure levels remain safe. If they do, the tests are less frequent in following years. That’s the protocol for all properties in the Triple Site, Huitric said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, cleanup, testing and mitigation at the Triple Site is expected to continue indefinitely, until the TCE levels in both groundwater and indoor air are safe. President Donald Trump’s \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/05/trump-epa-budget-noaa-climate-change/527814/\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">proposed budget\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\"> includes a 31.4 percent cut to the EPA, including $330 million in cuts to the Superfund program. Philips is bankrolling cleanup costs at the Triple Site, but other elements of the process could be in trouble, Blumenfeld said, including enforcement.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re not planning for anything until we know for a fact what’s happening,” said Caleb Shaffer, section chief for Superfund’s California Cleanup Section. “We can’t predict the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>UCSF's Maria Glymour contributed to this post.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Alan Alda's Experiment: Helping Scientists Talk to the Rest of Us",
"headTitle": "Alan Alda’s Experiment: Helping Scientists Talk to the Rest of Us | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Alan Alda’s father wanted him to become a doctor, but it wasn’t meant to be. “I failed chemistry really disastrously … ” Alda says. “I really didn’t want to be a doctor; I wanted to be a writer and an actor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1696113\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 284px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1696113\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"284\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg 284w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda-240x365.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alda’s book hits bookshelves on Tuesday June 6, 2017. Random House, 213 pages.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Which is exactly what happened, but Alda didn’t leave science behind entirely. His new book, \u003cem>If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?, \u003c/em>is all about communication — and miscommunication — between scientists and civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are dying because we can’t communicate in ways that allow us to understand one another,” he writes. “It sounds like an exaggeration, but I don’t think it is. When patients can’t relate to their doctors and don’t follow their orders, when engineers can’t convince a town that the dam could break, when a parent can’t win the trust of a child to warn her off a lethal drug. They can all be headed for a serious ending.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alda explains why empathy is crucial to successful science conversations, and describes his work at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aldakavlilearningcenter.org/explore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alan Alda Center For Communicating Science\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/531271710/531444474\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"NPR embedded audio player\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the experience that inspired the book\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was at a dentist’s office in the chair ready to have him start an operation on my gum. So he’s got the scalpel ready to poke me in the face with it. He says, “Now, there will be some tethering.” I said, “Pardon me?” He said, “Tethering, there will be tethering.” I said, “What do you mean tethering.” He said, “TETHERING! TETHERING!” He started barking at me. I was too impressed by his surgical gown to say, “Put the knife down and tell me what you mean by tethering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I let him go ahead with the operation and it turned out that it changed my smile, because he cut the little tissue between the upper part of your gum and your upper lip. And I was making a movie a couple of weeks later, and the cameraman said, “What are you sneering about? I thought you were supposed to smile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it turned out that when I told the dentist that maybe it would be a better idea to tell people what was going on, firstly he said, “I \u003cem>told\u003c/em> you there were two steps to the operation.” And then he sent me a letter trying to maneuver me off of a lawsuit. And I had no interest in a lawsuit. I just wanted him to communicate better with his patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his improvisational theater program to help scientists learn to communicate better\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First of all, it’s \u003cem>not \u003c/em>to encourage them to be funny. … It doesn’t make them comedians, it doesn’t make them actors. The reason for the improv exercises is to really get everybody accustomed to the idea that contact with the other person is essential, is a first step toward good communication. Because if you are thinking only about communication as having the perfect message regardless of how it lands on your audience, then you’re likely just to be spraying information at them and not really saying something to them that sticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how he began reading scientific studies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I followed the same path that humanity did, which was to start with superstition. I was interested in things like spiritualism and astrology, and one of the books I was reading was supposedly written by someone who had been dead for a couple hundred years but written recently through a medium. And I thought, if any of this is true, the physicist who lives across the street would probably know the answer. And I asked him about it and he said, “I don’t know, doesn’t sound familiar to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I said, maybe the answer’s in the \u003cem>Scientific American.\u003c/em> And I started reading that, and I think one of the things that attracted me, engaged me right away, was that I saw there was a completely different way to think and to weigh things, which was on the basis of observation and evidence. And there’s something deeply moving about it and entertaining at the same time. That’s what I’m trying to get scientists to do — to share that excitement and passion that they have with those of us who don’t do that for a living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why there’s such hostility to science \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it’s at least partly a communication issue. Trust is really important, because … we [don’t] have the time in our ordinary lives to get up to speed on … nanoscience or quantum mechanics. It’s kind of important to have trust that we feel toward those people who have spent their lives doing that. Science and the public have separated so much that many people in the public consider science just another opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On scientists’ reluctance to speak in declaratives\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think many of us feel: “Wait a minute, you told me a year ago red wine was good for me. Now you’re telling me it’s not. … What’s going on here? Can’t you make up your mind?” … That’s also a communication question. I think there are basic things about science that people should be helped to understand. For instance, any one study is not supposed to arrive at \u003cem>the\u003c/em> truth for all time. It gets us a little closer to truth. Almost every research paper that I read says at the end: “More research is called for.” I wish articles about science would include that more. This is not the final word.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his invitation to non-scientists \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a beautiful experience to learn what science is up to. It’s just, just wonderful. So I recommend to anybody to open their mouths and let the hook catch them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Radio producer Ian Stewart, radio editor Ed McNulty, web producer Beth Novey, and Shots editor Nancy Shute contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Alan+Alda%27s+Experiment%3A+Helping+Scientists+Learn+To+Talk+To+The+Rest+Of+Us&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Alan Alda’s father wanted him to become a doctor, but it wasn’t meant to be. “I failed chemistry really disastrously … ” Alda says. “I really didn’t want to be a doctor; I wanted to be a writer and an actor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1696113\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 284px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1696113\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"284\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda.jpg 284w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda-160x243.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/06/Alan-Alda-240x365.jpg 240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 284px) 100vw, 284px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alda’s book hits bookshelves on Tuesday June 6, 2017. Random House, 213 pages.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Which is exactly what happened, but Alda didn’t leave science behind entirely. His new book, \u003cem>If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face?, \u003c/em>is all about communication — and miscommunication — between scientists and civilians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are dying because we can’t communicate in ways that allow us to understand one another,” he writes. “It sounds like an exaggeration, but I don’t think it is. When patients can’t relate to their doctors and don’t follow their orders, when engineers can’t convince a town that the dam could break, when a parent can’t win the trust of a child to warn her off a lethal drug. They can all be headed for a serious ending.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alda explains why empathy is crucial to successful science conversations, and describes his work at the \u003ca href=\"http://www.aldakavlilearningcenter.org/explore\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alan Alda Center For Communicating Science\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://www.npr.org/player/embed/531271710/531444474\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" title=\"NPR embedded audio player\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Interview Highlights\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the experience that inspired the book\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I was at a dentist’s office in the chair ready to have him start an operation on my gum. So he’s got the scalpel ready to poke me in the face with it. He says, “Now, there will be some tethering.” I said, “Pardon me?” He said, “Tethering, there will be tethering.” I said, “What do you mean tethering.” He said, “TETHERING! TETHERING!” He started barking at me. I was too impressed by his surgical gown to say, “Put the knife down and tell me what you mean by tethering.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I let him go ahead with the operation and it turned out that it changed my smile, because he cut the little tissue between the upper part of your gum and your upper lip. And I was making a movie a couple of weeks later, and the cameraman said, “What are you sneering about? I thought you were supposed to smile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it turned out that when I told the dentist that maybe it would be a better idea to tell people what was going on, firstly he said, “I \u003cem>told\u003c/em> you there were two steps to the operation.” And then he sent me a letter trying to maneuver me off of a lawsuit. And I had no interest in a lawsuit. I just wanted him to communicate better with his patients.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his improvisational theater program to help scientists learn to communicate better\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First of all, it’s \u003cem>not \u003c/em>to encourage them to be funny. … It doesn’t make them comedians, it doesn’t make them actors. The reason for the improv exercises is to really get everybody accustomed to the idea that contact with the other person is essential, is a first step toward good communication. Because if you are thinking only about communication as having the perfect message regardless of how it lands on your audience, then you’re likely just to be spraying information at them and not really saying something to them that sticks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On how he began reading scientific studies\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I followed the same path that humanity did, which was to start with superstition. I was interested in things like spiritualism and astrology, and one of the books I was reading was supposedly written by someone who had been dead for a couple hundred years but written recently through a medium. And I thought, if any of this is true, the physicist who lives across the street would probably know the answer. And I asked him about it and he said, “I don’t know, doesn’t sound familiar to me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So I said, maybe the answer’s in the \u003cem>Scientific American.\u003c/em> And I started reading that, and I think one of the things that attracted me, engaged me right away, was that I saw there was a completely different way to think and to weigh things, which was on the basis of observation and evidence. And there’s something deeply moving about it and entertaining at the same time. That’s what I’m trying to get scientists to do — to share that excitement and passion that they have with those of us who don’t do that for a living.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On why there’s such hostility to science \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think it’s at least partly a communication issue. Trust is really important, because … we [don’t] have the time in our ordinary lives to get up to speed on … nanoscience or quantum mechanics. It’s kind of important to have trust that we feel toward those people who have spent their lives doing that. Science and the public have separated so much that many people in the public consider science just another opinion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On scientists’ reluctance to speak in declaratives\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think many of us feel: “Wait a minute, you told me a year ago red wine was good for me. Now you’re telling me it’s not. … What’s going on here? Can’t you make up your mind?” … That’s also a communication question. I think there are basic things about science that people should be helped to understand. For instance, any one study is not supposed to arrive at \u003cem>the\u003c/em> truth for all time. It gets us a little closer to truth. Almost every research paper that I read says at the end: “More research is called for.” I wish articles about science would include that more. This is not the final word.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On his invitation to non-scientists \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a beautiful experience to learn what science is up to. It’s just, just wonderful. So I recommend to anybody to open their mouths and let the hook catch them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Radio producer Ian Stewart, radio editor Ed McNulty, web producer Beth Novey, and Shots editor Nancy Shute contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Alan+Alda%27s+Experiment%3A+Helping+Scientists+Learn+To+Talk+To+The+Rest+Of+Us&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"disqusTitle": "Why is Your Teenager Acting So Weird? Let a Neurobiologist Explain",
"title": "Why is Your Teenager Acting So Weird? Let a Neurobiologist Explain",
"headTitle": "Future of You | KQED Future of You | KQED Science",
"content": "\u003cp>As far as the brain is concerned, the teenage years are a world unto themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an eminent neurobiologist and single mother of two teenaged boys, \u003ca href=\"http://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g324/p8577612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Frances Jensen\u003c/a> had a front-row seat to the seemingly contradictory behavior that would allow her sons to ace a test at school yet still make lapses in judgment no sensible adult would. She wrote about these experiences, and the underlying biology that led to them, in her new book, co-authored with science journalist Amy Ellis Nutt, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062067869/the-teenage-brain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contradictions Jensen observed occur in part because our brains do not fully mature until we are in our mid- to late-20s, when the frontal lobe, which controls decision-making and risk-taking, develops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jensen recently spoke with Michael Krasny, the host of \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/05/12/neuroscientist-explores-the-contradictions-of-the-teen-brain/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KQED's Forum radio show\u003c/a>, to explain how parents can better understand the biochemical imperatives that make their teens and young adults so emotional and unpredictable, as well as leaving them more vulnerable to addiction and mental disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some excerpts from Jensen's answers on the show, edited for length and readability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the Unpredictable Behavior of Teens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teenagers do have frontal lobes, which are the seat of our executive, adult-like functioning like impulse control, judgment and empathy. But the frontal lobes haven’t been connected with fast-acting connections yet. The brain actually connects regions from the back of the brain to the front, so the last place to have these fast-acting connections is the frontal lobe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is another part of the brain that is fully active in adolescents, and that’s the limbic system. And that is the seat of risk, reward, impulsivity, sexual behavior and emotion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they are built to be novelty-seeking at this point in their lives. Their frontal lobe isn’t able to say, \"That’s a bad idea, don’t do that.\" That’s not happening to the extent it will in adulthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'They’re really like Ferraris with weak brakes.’\u003ccite>Neuroscientist Frances Jensen\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But while that is a weakness, there are strengths of the adolescent brain. Each region of the brain is more active in childhood and adolescence than it will be later in life. They are faster learners, they can build synapses faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re really like Ferraris with weak brakes. They’re learning machines, but they can learn good and bad things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teens' Extreme Emotional Reactions\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why do they react like it’s an international incident when it’s something you consider a completely innocuous event?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Functional imaging studies have looked at children, adolescents and adults who are given the same emotional stressor, and the adolescents will light up the emotional center \u003cem>— \u003c/em>the limbic system \u003cem>— \u003c/em>twice as high as children or adults. So they are uniquely experiencing whatever it is as an international incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we need to remind ourselves that they’re experiencing emotion in Technicolor, whereas we’re experiencing it in black and white. And it makes you understand a bit more why they behave the way they do. Maybe you can count to 10 and not react. Back off and reapproach in a more organized way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teens’ Vulnerability to Addiction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cannabis decreases your cells’ ability to build synapses, which you need for learning. And there’s more substrate for the drug to bind to. So for the same dose, it’s hanging around in teen brains to a greater extent \u003cem>— i\u003c/em>t might be around for four days in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that’s on a single-dose basis. And what’s quite concerning is the literature that’s starting to come out about chronic, daily cannabis use. That’s what we’re really concerned about. And there are some concerning studies that say your IQ’s going to drop permanently if you are exposed to chronic, daily cannabis through this adolescent window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to think of this window as a very precious window. You need to mind your brain at this stage of your life, and it will mind you later… that’s what I tell adolescents when I am talking to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'They are really playing with fire – the schoolyard pranks of yesteryear that are not the same anymore.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>More and more studies are being done, now that it has been realized that the adolescent brain is a specific brain stage. I think parents should make it their business to stay on top of what this research is showing. Your kids are \u003cem>so\u003c/em> not going to do what you say just because you tell them to do it… and if you have a few facts in hand, it can help to make you somewhat more credible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Impacts of Social Media \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building of the teenaged brain hasn’t changed in eons, but what has changed is the environment around our teens. Right now they’re being bombarded by an unprecedented amount of information. And they’re novelty-seeking. And where else are they going to get novelty? It’s all over the internet. We should have a conversation about the age-inappropriate things they can find on the internet, things that might cause stress. And the effects of social media: How does it feed peer pressure behavior?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really a whole new day and they are really playing with fire -– the schoolyard pranks of yesteryear that are not the same anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=\"a3eifBuzpKzoQPGGSSv1l7enHth4vOZL\"]Teens are better learners, and stressful things will stay in their brains longer. There’s a conversation we have to have with them: How do you gate yourself with social media? Life is about trial and error, and there needs to be an opportunity for them to rehearse mistakes, including mistakes in the social media domain, before they make them themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a way to guide your child to make decisions independently rather than helicoptering over them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On How 'Real' Teenage Love Is \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It feels very real to the person in that moment. It’s bona fide emotion; it’s just not emotion that’s measured like it will be later in life, where you might say, ‘I’m attracted to this person, but there’s a lot of reasons why this may not be.’ It’s real but just feels unbridled. Teens have superheated limbic systems, so the emotional areas, the sexual incentive areas, are on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When Medication is Appropriate \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The onset of mental illness occurs in late teens, early adolescence. Schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, psychosis; they come in this window. And the reason for this is developmental. You need to have your prefrontal cortices at least partially connected in order to have the manifestation of these diseases that you might already have as a genetic predisposition. It’s a biological event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to be aware that one in four people in our society have some form of mental illness, ranging from very mild anxiety to a major affective disorder. And 60 to 80 percent of these people are seeing this happen between the ages of 16 and 26. That is a fact. We need to keep our antennae up to determine: Is this just a moody kid? Or is this mental illness? As a parent, if you think your child is not taking an interest in their appearance, losing their appetite, really becoming more isolated, you need to make sure you’re part of your teen’s life and probe what’s going on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dr. Frances Jensen on the teenage brain, in 2015\u003c/em>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9sQNGvveXs&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=PoliticsandProse\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Moody, impulsive, vulnerable -- neuroscientist Frances Jensen says parents could learn a lot about their teens from the biology of the adolescent brain. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As far as the brain is concerned, the teenage years are a world unto themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As an eminent neurobiologist and single mother of two teenaged boys, \u003ca href=\"http://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g324/p8577612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dr. Frances Jensen\u003c/a> had a front-row seat to the seemingly contradictory behavior that would allow her sons to ace a test at school yet still make lapses in judgment no sensible adult would. She wrote about these experiences, and the underlying biology that led to them, in her new book, co-authored with science journalist Amy Ellis Nutt, \"\u003ca href=\"https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062067869/the-teenage-brain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults\u003c/a>.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contradictions Jensen observed occur in part because our brains do not fully mature until we are in our mid- to late-20s, when the frontal lobe, which controls decision-making and risk-taking, develops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jensen recently spoke with Michael Krasny, the host of \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/forum/2017/05/12/neuroscientist-explores-the-contradictions-of-the-teen-brain/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">KQED's Forum radio show\u003c/a>, to explain how parents can better understand the biochemical imperatives that make their teens and young adults so emotional and unpredictable, as well as leaving them more vulnerable to addiction and mental disorders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some excerpts from Jensen's answers on the show, edited for length and readability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On the Unpredictable Behavior of Teens\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teenagers do have frontal lobes, which are the seat of our executive, adult-like functioning like impulse control, judgment and empathy. But the frontal lobes haven’t been connected with fast-acting connections yet. The brain actually connects regions from the back of the brain to the front, so the last place to have these fast-acting connections is the frontal lobe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there is another part of the brain that is fully active in adolescents, and that’s the limbic system. And that is the seat of risk, reward, impulsivity, sexual behavior and emotion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So they are built to be novelty-seeking at this point in their lives. Their frontal lobe isn’t able to say, \"That’s a bad idea, don’t do that.\" That’s not happening to the extent it will in adulthood.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'They’re really like Ferraris with weak brakes.’\u003ccite>Neuroscientist Frances Jensen\u003c/cite>\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>But while that is a weakness, there are strengths of the adolescent brain. Each region of the brain is more active in childhood and adolescence than it will be later in life. They are faster learners, they can build synapses faster.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They’re really like Ferraris with weak brakes. They’re learning machines, but they can learn good and bad things.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teens' Extreme Emotional Reactions\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why do they react like it’s an international incident when it’s something you consider a completely innocuous event?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Functional imaging studies have looked at children, adolescents and adults who are given the same emotional stressor, and the adolescents will light up the emotional center \u003cem>— \u003c/em>the limbic system \u003cem>— \u003c/em>twice as high as children or adults. So they are uniquely experiencing whatever it is as an international incident.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I think we need to remind ourselves that they’re experiencing emotion in Technicolor, whereas we’re experiencing it in black and white. And it makes you understand a bit more why they behave the way they do. Maybe you can count to 10 and not react. Back off and reapproach in a more organized way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teens’ Vulnerability to Addiction\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cannabis decreases your cells’ ability to build synapses, which you need for learning. And there’s more substrate for the drug to bind to. So for the same dose, it’s hanging around in teen brains to a greater extent \u003cem>— i\u003c/em>t might be around for four days in the brain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now that’s on a single-dose basis. And what’s quite concerning is the literature that’s starting to come out about chronic, daily cannabis use. That’s what we’re really concerned about. And there are some concerning studies that say your IQ’s going to drop permanently if you are exposed to chronic, daily cannabis through this adolescent window.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to think of this window as a very precious window. You need to mind your brain at this stage of your life, and it will mind you later… that’s what I tell adolescents when I am talking to them.\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">'They are really playing with fire – the schoolyard pranks of yesteryear that are not the same anymore.’\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>More and more studies are being done, now that it has been realized that the adolescent brain is a specific brain stage. I think parents should make it their business to stay on top of what this research is showing. Your kids are \u003cem>so\u003c/em> not going to do what you say just because you tell them to do it… and if you have a few facts in hand, it can help to make you somewhat more credible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Impacts of Social Media \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building of the teenaged brain hasn’t changed in eons, but what has changed is the environment around our teens. Right now they’re being bombarded by an unprecedented amount of information. And they’re novelty-seeking. And where else are they going to get novelty? It’s all over the internet. We should have a conversation about the age-inappropriate things they can find on the internet, things that might cause stress. And the effects of social media: How does it feed peer pressure behavior?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s really a whole new day and they are really playing with fire -– the schoolyard pranks of yesteryear that are not the same anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Teens are better learners, and stressful things will stay in their brains longer. There’s a conversation we have to have with them: How do you gate yourself with social media? Life is about trial and error, and there needs to be an opportunity for them to rehearse mistakes, including mistakes in the social media domain, before they make them themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s a way to guide your child to make decisions independently rather than helicoptering over them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>On How 'Real' Teenage Love Is \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It feels very real to the person in that moment. It’s bona fide emotion; it’s just not emotion that’s measured like it will be later in life, where you might say, ‘I’m attracted to this person, but there’s a lot of reasons why this may not be.’ It’s real but just feels unbridled. Teens have superheated limbic systems, so the emotional areas, the sexual incentive areas, are on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>When Medication is Appropriate \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The onset of mental illness occurs in late teens, early adolescence. Schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, psychosis; they come in this window. And the reason for this is developmental. You need to have your prefrontal cortices at least partially connected in order to have the manifestation of these diseases that you might already have as a genetic predisposition. It’s a biological event.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We need to be aware that one in four people in our society have some form of mental illness, ranging from very mild anxiety to a major affective disorder. And 60 to 80 percent of these people are seeing this happen between the ages of 16 and 26. That is a fact. We need to keep our antennae up to determine: Is this just a moody kid? Or is this mental illness? As a parent, if you think your child is not taking an interest in their appearance, losing their appetite, really becoming more isolated, you need to make sure you’re part of your teen’s life and probe what’s going on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Dr. Frances Jensen on the teenage brain, in 2015\u003c/em>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"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 />",
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"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",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"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",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
"subscribe": {
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"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"
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},
"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.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"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.",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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},
"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"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",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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"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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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},
"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",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"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/",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"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": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
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},
"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)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"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": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"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/",
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"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",
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"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/show/on-our-watch",
"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"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": {
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"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/",
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"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",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
"rss": "https://ww2.kqed.org/perspectives/category/perspectives/feed/",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvcGVyc3BlY3RpdmVzL2NhdGVnb3J5L3BlcnNwZWN0aXZlcy9mZWVkLw"
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},
"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": {
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"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": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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