Tech

March 4, 2025 (San Diego's East County) -- Our Health and Science Highlights provide cutting edge news that could impact your health and our future.

HEALTH

• Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response (Politico)
• As measles cases rise in the U.S., some adults may need a vaccine booster   (NPR)
•  FDA links deadly listeria outbreak to frozen nutritional shakes(KPBS)
• Emulsifiers Make Food More Appealing. Do They Also Make You Sick? (Wall St.Journal)
• To solve for doctor shortages, states ease licensing for foreign-trained physicians  (NPR)
• Exercise may help patients with colon cancer live as long as those who never had it, study suggests (CNN)
• RFK Jr. Just Kneecapped the CDC on His First Day (New Republic)
• It's like 'dead birds flying': How bird flu is spreading in the wild (NPR)

SCIENCE AND TECH

• Exclusive: FDA staff reviewing Musk’s Neuralink were included in DOGE employee firings, sources say (Reuters)
• Cryptocurrency exchange says it was victim of $1.5 billion hack (AP)
• Predatory app downloaded 100,000 times from Google Play Store steals data, uses it for blackmail (Malwarebytes)
• Plane that flipped over in Canada highlights some of the dangers of holding kids on your lap  (AP)
• Musk has inside track to take over contract to fix air traffic communications system (AP)
• Elon Musk's DOGE Website Being 'Hacked' Sparks Mockery (Newsweek)

For excerpts and links to full stories,click  “read more” and scroll down.

HEALTH

Trump administration firings hit key office handling bird flu response (Politico)

The layoffs in USDA’s National Animal Health Laboratory Network program office come as egg prices reach record high amid worsening outbreak.

As measles cases rise in the U.S., some adults may need a vaccine booster   (NPR)

[CDC] say there are some adults who should consider getting revaccinated. That includes older adults who were born after 1957 and were vaccinated before 1968.

 FDA links deadly listeria outbreak to frozen nutritional shakes(KPBS)

The source of a Listeria outbreak that has sickened 38 people including 11 who died since 2018, has been traced to frozen nutritional shakes, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The contaminated shakes, sold under the brands Lyons ReadyCare and Sysco Imperial, were distributed to nursing homes, hospitals and long-term care facilities across 21 states, including California.

Emulsifiers Make Food More Appealing. Do They Also Make You Sick? (Wall St.Journal)

Recent studies have found that consuming common emulsifiers is linked to a higher risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and some cancers. Other research seems to show why: The substances change the gut microbiome in a way that can cause inflammation.

To solve for doctor shortages, states ease licensing for foreign-trained physicians  (NPR)

The changes involve residency programs — the supervised, hands-on training experience that doctors must complete after graduating medical school. Until recently, every state required physicians who completed a residency or similar training abroad to repeat the process in the U.S. before obtaining a full medical license.  Since 2023, at least nine states have dropped this requirement for some doctors with international training, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards. More than a dozen other states are considering similar legislation.

Exercise may help patients with colon cancer live as long as those who never had it, study suggests (CNN)

There is something you can do that may help you live longer after a colon cancer diagnosis, and you can start it on your own, at your home or a gym. Exercise is associated with longer lives for patients with colon cancer, according to a new study published Monday in Cancer, a journal of the American Cancer Society.

RFK Jr. Just Kneecapped the CDC on His First Day (New Republic)

Hours after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged that the Department of Health and Human Services would not undergo a staff purge, it did.  The Trump administration laid off half of its Epidemic Intelligence Service, otherwise known as the “Disease Detectives.” The lay off affected 1,260 staff

It's like 'dead birds flying': How bird flu is spreading in the wild (NPR)

 It's a disease that originated in east Asia, first detected in China in 1996s…. It is killing not just birds in large numbers but also mammals, like elephant seals and sea lions, as well as porpoises, dolphins and otters to a lesser degree.

SCIENCE AND TECH

Exclusive: FDA staff reviewing Musk’s Neuralink were included in DOGE employee firings, sources say (Reuters)

U.S. Food and Drug Administration employees reviewing Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink were fired over the weekend as part of a broader purge of the federal workforce, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter...That division includes reviewers overseeing clinical-trial applications by Neuralink and other companies making so-called brain-computer interface devices, the sources said.

Cryptocurrency exchange says it was victim of $1.5 billion hack (AP)

A major cryptocurrency[, Bybit,] exchange says it was the victim of a sophisticated hack that stole about $1.5 billion worth of digital currency, marking one of the biggest online thefts of all time.

Predatory app downloaded 100,000 times from Google Play Store steals data, uses it for blackmail (Malwarebytes)

A malicious app claiming to be a financial management tool has been downloaded 100,000 times from the Google Play Store. The app— known as “Finance Simplified”—belongs to the SpyLoan family which specializes in predatory lending.  Sometimes malware creators manage to get their apps listed in the official app store. This is a great benefit for them since it lends a sense of legitimacy to the app, and they don’t have to convince users to sideload the app from an unofficial site.

Plane that flipped over in Canada highlights some of the dangers of holding kids on your lap  (AP)

 Experts agree it’s safer for children younger than 2 years old to have their own plane seats and ride in approved car seats when flying, even if families have to pay for an extra ticket. But babies are still allowed to travel in laps, so parents continue doing it despite the risks. 

Musk has inside track to take over contract to fix air traffic communications system (AP)

A satellite company owned by Elon Musk has the inside track to potentially take over a large federal contract to modernize the nation’s air traffic communications system.  Equipment from Musk’s Starlink has been installed in Federal Aviation Administration facilities as a prelude to a takeover of a $2 billion contract held by Verizon, according to government employees, contractors and people familiar with the work.  Musk said that the network used by air traffic controllers is aging and requires drastic and quick action to modernize it. 

Elon Musk's DOGE Website Being 'Hacked' Sparks Mockery (Newsweek)

The official website for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which tech billionaire Elon Musk heads, was reportedly hacked on Friday, sending waves of confusion and amusement through the internet. The DOGE website is based around a database that can "be edited by anyone," according to a report first published by news outlet 404 Media.