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11405 | Computers help docs spot breast cancer on X-rays | This well-reported story on a study of computer-aided detection (CAD) of problems found in mammograms follows most health journalism best practices. But two related flaws, and one contextual issue, prevent it from providing a higher level of reader service. As the ratings above show, the reporter provides necessary inf... | true | The story should have stated how much CAD costs per mammogram, and how that compares to the costs of a radiologist or technician providing a second reading of the images. The story quotes a researcher saying cost-effectiveness needs to be studied. This should have triggered additional reporting comparing costs. The sto... | |
13194 | "Chris Koster ""opposed protecting the women of Missouri"" because he ""was one of only four senators to vote against"" a bill ending the practice of making rape victims pay for their own rape kits." | Our ruling Greitens says Koster voted against a 2007 bill requiring the state to pay for rape victims’ medical exams. Greitens says Koster voted against a 2007 bill requiring the state to pay for rape victims’ medical exams. In reality, the bill did more than that. In reality, the bill did more than that. Koster says h... | mixture | Crime, Women, Missouri, Eric Greitens, | "In a September press release, Eric Greitens, Missouri’s Republican candidate for governor, said his opponent, Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, voted against legislation protecting women from sexual assault and domestic violence. Greitens said Koster voted against a 2007 bill mandating that the state pay for ""r... |
10745 | Diabetes study: Interventions help prevent disease | The study upon which this story is based is very complicated and riddled with caveats. Some of the results baffle its authors. The study’s simple but narrow conclusion is this: A few years of diet and exercise education/support appears to reduce risk of type 2 diabetes in a high risk population over 10 years. But the s... | false | Again, the story misses an opportunity to say how much it costs to participate in a diabetes prevention program–or, for that matter, to take metformin. A creative story could then have compared those costs to the costs of managing diabetes. During a time when costs of health care are so much in the public’s mind, stori... | |
10008 | Study: Stockings given to stroke patients don’t work | This news report on a study showing that compression stockings don’t reduce stroke patients’ risk of blood clots is cleanly done. The findings are of high quality, the results clearly explained, and two independent sources are used to provide context. The story could have been made stronger in three ways: Since the st... | true | The story does not report the price of compression stockings [which range from $20 to $75 per pair through online retailers]. This is a surprising omission. Because in the UK these stockings are so commonly used, the costs of treatment for the population are significant. Even in the US where use is less common, the cos... | |
6271 | Shutdown casts pall on effort to help Oregon winegrowers. | Winegrowers in southern Oregon faced financial ruin after a California winemaker claimed wildfire smoke tainted their grapes and refused to buy them. Now, the rejected fruit that was turned into wine by local vintners is facing another setback. | true | Earl Blumenauer, Wildfires, Ron Wyden, Fires, Oregon, North America, Business, Wineries, Science, Donald Trump, Wine | Two Oregon wineries stepped in to buy the grapes, but getting the Oregon Solidarity wines they produced to markets on time is in doubt because the federal agency that approves labels has a huge backlog, a hangover from the government shutdown. Nationwide, makers of alcoholic drinks face disrupted business and lost reve... |
34273 | "The Trump administration made immigrants pay $800 for DNA tests in order to get back children taken under its ""zero tolerance"" policy." | "What's true: A handful of immigrants at a Texas shelter said they were informed by government workers they would have to personally pay hundreds of dollars for DNA tests to prove their relationship with children taken under the Trump administration's ""zero tolerance"" policy. What's false: The federal government has ... | unproven | Politics, donald trump, immigration, zero tolerance policy | In mid-July 2018, outraged social media users shared a meme reporting that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was forcing migrants to pay $800 in out-of-pocket costs to prove familial ties in order to regain custody of children taken from them under the government’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy: ... |
7807 | U.S. youth activity report card gives poor grades to adults. | American children are scoring failing marks in fitness because of the lure of the Internet, time-pressed parents and the culture of the car, fitness experts say. | true | Health News | Only one quarter of children aged 6 to 15 meet the current guidelines of 60 minutes of moderate physical activity per day, said Dr. Russell R. Pate, chairman of the non-profit National Physical Activity Plan (NPAP) Alliance, which issued the first U.S. report card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth. “Fifty per... |
7352 | Emails: Trump nominee involved in shelving CDC virus guide. | A former chemical industry executive nominated to be the nation’s top consumer safety watchdog was involved in sidelining detailed guidelines to help communities reopen during the coronavirus pandemic, internal government emails show. | true | AP Top News, Health, General News, Politics, Pandemics, Virus Outbreak, Science | Now the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is questioning the role played by nominee Nancy Beck in the decision to shelve the guidelines. Beck is not a medical doctor and has no background in virology. President Donald Trump has nominated Beck to be chairwoman and commissioner... |
28691 | Transcript reproduces Ben Stein's television commentary about the observance of Christmas. | In 2014 the entire conglomeration mistakenly came to be attributed to journalist Steven Levy. | mixture | Politics Soapbox, ben stein, christmas, steven levy | Ben Stein, a lawyer by training, has also served as a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon, has to date authored dozens of books (both novels and non-fiction efforts), and continues to write editorials and columns for a number of publications. He is perhaps best known to the world at large, however, for his in-f... |
9465 | Menopause hormone therapy not linked to premature death | This is a story about a study that follows-up on the long-term effects of hormone therapy on the risk of death. The findings show that women who took combined hormone therapy (estrogen and progesterone) for approximately 5 years, or who took estrogen alone for 7 years, had the same risk of death 18 years later as those... | true | HRT,menopause | No information is given on the cost of a typical course of treatment. This study does not aim to quantify the benefits of treatment, rather to show whether there is any difference in risk of death associated with taking hormone therapy for 5 to 7 years. The original Women’s Health Initiative trial was designed to exami... |
31579 | Sweden has the highest rate of rape among European countries. | There is simply no data to show that Sweden is the rape capital of Europe, or even that rape is on the rise in the country. | false | Uncategorized, 2015 refugees, rape in sweden, refugee | On 18 February 2017, U.S. president Donald Trump drew international attention for comments during a rally in Florida in which he argued that accepting refugees from war-torn regions like Syria would make the United States less safe. To make his point, President Trump claimed that the night before, asylum seekers had do... |
14511 | Statistics show 2 to 3 Texas women per week have major complications and 10 women per week seek help at an ER after an abortion. | "Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said in a press release that ""statistics show 2 to 3 Texas women per week have major complications and 10 women per week seek help at an ER after an abortion."" These statistics were based on a study of abortions in California, not Texas. That study included a higher percent... | false | Abortion, Texas, Ken Paxton, | "This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments for Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, a landmark abortion case that will decide the fate of Texas’ 2013 abortion law, known as House Bill 2. The law, among other things, requires abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and requires abo... |
673 | U.S. CDC recommends against using vapes with marijuana ingredient. | People should stop using e-cigarettes, especially those with marijuana ingredient tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), U.S. public health officials recommended on Friday, as an investigation into illnesses and deaths related to vaping deepens. | true | Health News | E-cigarettes have been marketed as tools to help smokers quit, but rising use among youth in the United States and a spate of severe lung illnesses tied to the devices have triggered a backlash and heightened regulatory scrutiny. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has in the past advised consumers to a... |
2773 | New British biotech firm to tap gene therapy for blindness. | Oxford scientists have set up a biotechnology company to develop the use of gene therapy in treating blindness, and the Wellcome Trust medical charity has invested 12 million pounds ($20 million) in the start-up. | true | Health News | NightstaRx plans to develop and sell therapies for retinal dystrophies - degenerative conditions affecting vision - by building on work carried out at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, it said on Thursday. Oxford-based researchers reported two weeks ago that an early-stage clinical trial ... |
7833 | Working out when to exercise in the cold and flu season. | Sniffles, runny noses and flu-like symptoms can deter, delay and even derail many exercisers just when enthusiasm for that New Year’s resolution is beginning to flag. | true | Health News | Health and fitness experts advise to starve a fever of exercise. But feeding a cold moderately, with a brisk walk, may not be a bad idea. “The classic line from every sports medicine doctor is, ‘If you can do it, do it. If you can’t, don’t,’” said Dr. Lewis G. Maharam, author of “Running Doc’s Guide to Healthy Running.... |
31172 | "Chelsea Clinton tweeted that ""genital mutilation"" is a culturally loaded, racist term, and that the practice of ""genital cutting"" has many health benefits." | Despite such claims, all the outrage surrounding Clinton’s alleged comments about FGM was (and remains) pointless, however. The tweet was a hoax. | false | Questionable Quotes, chelsea clinton, female genital mutilation, new york times | The final week of April 2017 saw an outburst of vitriol on Facebook and Twitter in reaction to comments allegedly tweeted by Chelsea Clinton defending the practice of female genital mutilation. The World Health Organization defines female genital mutilation (FGM) as “all procedures that involve partial or total removal... |
3523 | Robotic device winds its own way through beating pig heart. | Borrowing from the way cockroaches skitter along walls, scientists have created a robotic device that safely guides itself through the delicate chambers of a pig’s heart as it’s beating. | true | Technology, Robotics, North America, Science, U.S. News | It is one of the first times researchers have shown that a truly autonomous surgical robot can navigate inside the heart, not controlled by a doctor with a joystick, according to a study in Wednesday’s journal Science Robotics . Heart surgeons routinely push a thin tube called a catheter through twisting and turning bl... |
25840 | Eric Esshaki Says Haley Stevens’ plan for “socialized medicine” would “eliminate 100,000 doctors and nurses.” | Eric Esshaki, a former nurse, is running to unseat incumbent Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s 11th congressional district. Esshaki claims that Stevens health care plan would significantly reduce the number of nurses and doctors. The campaign cites analysis funded by a group lobbying against Medicare for All that makes ... | false | Health Care, Health Check, Michigan, Eric Esshaki, | "Republican Eric Esshaki, a former nurse, is vying to unseat incumbent Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Rochester Hills, in Michigan's 11th congressional district, which she flipped from red to blue in 2018. In an ad, Esshaki attacks Stevens on health care, promising to stop her plan for ""socialized medicine."" ""She’d eliminate... |
7364 | Whitman County 9th county approved for phase 2 reopening. | Whitman County in Eastern Washington has been given the OK to take a faster path to reopening businesses, including restaurants, under Gov. Jay Inslee’s coronavirus recovery plan. | true | Health, General News, Virus Outbreak, Washington, Jay Inslee | Washington State Secretary of Health John Wiesman approved the county’s application Friday, making it the ninth county in the state to receive approval to move into phase two of the four-phase reopening process. Those counties can allow restaurants to open at 50% of capacity. Hair and nail salons, tattoo and makeup art... |
34432 | A Southern California mom experienced a near-miss abduction of her daughter by human traffickers at a local IKEA store. | A familiar urban legend about retail environments and human trafficking popped up again in a viral Facebook post about a Southern California IKEA store. | unproven | Crime, facebook warnings, human trafficking, ikea | On 23 March 2017, Facebook user Diandra Toyos shared a photograph said to have been taken inside an IKEA furniture store somewhere in Southern California, along with a common claim: that she and her family had narrowly avoided abduction by human traffickers while shopping there. Toyos’ report was widely disseminated vi... |
12923 | "Jeanne Shaheen Says Donald Trump's abortion rule ""puts at risk 15 times more funding and millions more women and families ... than previous similar policies by Republican presidents." | "Shaheen said Trump’s Mexico City policy has a much broader reach compared to past Republican presidents, putting 15 times as much money ""at risk,"" as well as millions of women and families. On paper, the numbers support that comparison. Previous Republican administrations applied the abortion funding policy to famil... | true | Global News Service, Foreign Policy, Public Health, Jeanne Shaheen, | "Among the flurry of policies President Donald Trump put in force in his first week was to reimpose a ban on taxpayer dollars going to overseas groups that have anything to do with abortion. The so-called Mexico City policy was born under President Ronald Reagan and since then, with partisan regularity, Republican pres... |
26369 | Wisconsin has “no tracing program going on that we can speak of. | Wisconsin is still ramping up the capacity for tracing, and there have clearly been gaps in the work so far. But hundreds of people around the state are doing this tracing work -- local and state health officials both. | false | Public Health, States, Wisconsin, Scott Fitzgerald, | "Facing a growing push to re-open Wisconsin, Gov. Tony Evers has laid out a series of key benchmarks for easing social distancing restrictions, dubbed the ""Badger Bounce Back"" plan. The state is tracking data on cases, symptoms and hospital usage, but Evers has also pointed to three other logistical elements: access ... |
5851 | Louisiana ranks 2nd for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis rates. | Sexually transmitted diseases have increased across the U.S. for a third consecutive year and Louisiana ranked second-highest for each of the three STDs measured. | true | Sexually transmitted diseases, Chlamydia, Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gonorrhea, Syphilis, Louisiana | NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune reported Tuesday that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Louisiana has the second-highest rates of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. The CDC’s 2016 STD Surveillance Report was released in late September. Louisiana had roughly 16 syphilis cases per 100,000 people. G... |
10616 | Preventive Surgeries May Be Lifesaver for Women at High Cancer Risk | It is careful to make clear that the potential benefits of preventive surgery seen in the study apply only to women who carry these specific gene mutations. It provides readers with absolute percentages of cancer and death among the women in the study and not merely vague descriptions of the how the women who opted for... | mixture | The story does not mention the costs of genetic testing, increased cancer surveillance or surgery. This story presents a generally positive portrayal of the benefits of preventive surgery. Coupled with the absence of information about harms, the overall impression might be considered out of balance. But the story does ... | |
10576 | Prenatal Vitamins May Lower Autism Risk | Although the findings of this preliminary study are important and warrant additional exploration, we can’t yet say with any confidence whether prenatal vitamins are protective against autism, as this story prematurely suggests. Autism, as the story notes, affects about 1 in 110 children, and its prevalence seems to be ... | mixture | Autism,WebMD | There was no discussion of costs, which is unfortunate considering that there can be big differences in the price of prescription prenatal vitamins vs. OTC brands. Some women may also do fine with a basic store-brand multivitamin. Costs can also vary depending on insurance coverage, since some plans may cover the cost ... |
37928 | "In August 2020, Democrats removed ""under God"" from the pledge of allegiance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC)." | An August 19 2020 Fox News chyron reading “DEMS STRIKE ‘UNDER GOD’ FROM PLEDGE WHILE PITCHING BIDEN AS FAITH CANDIDATE” circulated on social media, leading users to believe the Democratic National Convention (DNC) had omitted “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in its opening ceremonies. The chyron was misleading... | mixture | Fact Checks, Politics | "On August 19 2020, a screenshot of a Fox News chyron asserting that Democrats had removed “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance began circulating on social media:We encountered the Fox News chyron in image-only form; it read:DEMS STRIKE “UNDER GOD” FROM PLEDGE WHILE PITCHING BIDEN AS FAITH CANDIDATEA cropped edge ... |
5559 | 2 new vaccines required for some Kansas school students. | Students in certain grades at Kansas public and private schools will be required to have two new vaccinations this year. | true | Meningitis, Health, General News, Kansas, Hepatitis, Topeka | The Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced Thursday that students entering kindergarten and first grade will need two doses of a hepatitis A vaccine. Students entering seventh grade will need one dose of the meningococcal ACWY vaccine. And students starting their junior year will need the meningococcal A... |
2785 | Colorado farmers get home detention for 2011 listeria outbreak. | A federal court judge sentenced two Colorado farmers on Tuesday to six months of home detention and five years probation for their role in a deadly 2011 listeria outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupes. | true | Health News | Eric and Ryan Jensen, brothers who are former owners of Colorado-based Jensen Farms, pleaded guilty in October to six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting linked to one of the deadliest U.S. outbreaks of food-borne illness. “I must deliver both justice and mercy at the same time,” U.S. Magistrate Ju... |
6279 | EPA proposes rewrite of rules on lead contamination in water. | The Trump administration on Thursday proposed a rewrite of rules for dealing with lead pipes contaminating drinking water, but critics say the changes appear to give water systems decades more time to replace pipes leaching dangerous amounts of toxic lead. | true | Health, General News, Politics, Environment, Business, Flint, Michigan | Contrary to regulatory rollbacks in many other environmental areas, the administration has called dealing with lead contamination in drinking water a priority. Communities and families in Flint, Michigan, Newark, New Jersey, and elsewhere have had to grapple with high levels of lead in tap water and with regulatory fai... |
5785 | Montana state Rep. Tom Winter announces run for US House. | Democratic state Rep. Tom Winter of Missoula says he’s running for Montana’s lone U.S. House seat in 2020. | true | Health, Access to health care, Montana, Missoula | The 32-year-old first-term legislator, who owns a business that provides in-home health care, is seeking the seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte. Winter is the first Democrat to announce plans to run for the seat held by Republicans since 1997. Winter said Tuesday he wants to improve access to health care ... |
1668 | Mind-controlled prosthetic limbs allow precise, smooth movement. | More than a decade after becoming paralyzed from the neck down, Erik Sorto has been unable to perform even the simplest of daily tasks. | true | Science News | “That was the ultimate goal: to drink a beer by myself,” said Sorto, a 34-year-old from Los Angeles who became a quadriplegic after a 2002 gunshot wound. Things may be looking up for Sorto and others with similar disabilities. Scientists on Thursday described a better way to harness mind power to move prosthetic limbs.... |
30758 | George Soros experienced a life-threatening cardiac condition just before Christmas 2017. | This report is false. No news outlets, in Hungary or elsewhere, have reported that the billionaire had suffered a serious heart attack or had undergone cardiac surgery on Christmas Eve 2017. This story originated with Your News Wire, a fake news site that peddles in sensationalized and fabricated clickbait stories. | false | Junk News, george soros, your news wire, yournewswire | On 25 December 2017, frequent offender YourNewsWire.com reported that Hungarian-American business magnate George Soros had suffered a heart attack in Hungary on Christmas Eve and underwent triple coronary artery bypass surgery soon afterward: George Soros suffered a “massive heart attack” while inspecting a new faculty... |
5778 | Rally to demand continued transgender access to health care. | Supporters of transgender rights are staging a rally in downtown Boston to demand continued federal protections for transgender people who need health care. | true | Access to health care, Health, Discrimination, Gender discrimination, Massachusetts, Boston | Activists and advocates planned to gather at City Hall Plaza on Sunday afternoon to protest the Trump administration’s proposed rollback of the Health Care Rights Law. Organizers say they’re mobilizing in response to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services proposal that would tell health care providers and insur... |
9079 | Allergy drug improves function in patients with chronic injury from multiple sclerosis | This news release from the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) describes a trial using the antihistamine drug clemastine fumarate to see if it regenerated nerves in patients with chronic multiple sclerosis (MS). Approved by FDA in 1977 for allergies, the generic form of this drug has been available over the c... | mixture | Clemastine fumarate,multiple sclerosis,University of California - San Francisco | Clemastine fumarate, also known by its brand name Tavist, is an antihistamine that can currently be bought over the counter. According to GoodRx.com, 60 tablets of 2.68mg Clemastine go for $33.33. If patients take the clinical trial’s dose of 2 tablets per day, this supply should last 30 days. Since costs are not discu... |
4976 | Alaska AG thinks hitting plane’s call button saved his life. | Alaska Attorney General Kevin Clarkson has said he overcame any thoughts of embarrassment and pushed a call button seeking help from a flight attendant when he suspected he was having a heart attack during a flight last month. | true | Health, Heart attack, Alaska | “This cannot be happening to me, I’m the guy who runs or walks three-five miles every day,” Clarkson recounted of the April 26 incident in guest column provided to media outlets this week. “Looked up at the call-button, hesitated — I thought ‘we’re only 30 minutes out of Seattle, maybe this will get better.’ But someth... |
3740 | Advisers: Baltimore’s mayor still recovering from pneumonia. | Close advisers to Baltimore’s embattled mayor said Tuesday that she’s staying out of public view because of a serious case of pneumonia, not the mounting scandal involving her sale of her children’s books. | true | U.S. News, Health, Pneumonia, Childrens books, Maryland, U.S. News, Baltimore | The Baltimore Sun reported that Catherine Pugh continues to convalesce at home and is under doctors’ supervision. She abruptly took leave April 1. “While her well-known tireless energy has been diminished by this illness, her doctors are confident she will recover her health and strength in due course,” Pugh’s personal... |
26315 | “It’s not the coronavirus that’s killing people. It is the economy.” | A TikTok video said skyrocketing unemployment is killing people, not the coronavirus. The researcher whose work lies behind the stat in the video said that’s a complete misreading of his results. The link between recessions and future deaths is complicated, and the unprecedented current crisis makes predictions even ha... | false | National, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Bloggers, | "A TikTok post is proof that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. In the video, Steven Baker, an Idaho chiropractor and self-defined ""expert in healing,"" argued that the tens of thousands of deaths the country is witnessing don’t come from the coronavirus. They come from the shutdown. ""The economy is what’s ... |
4206 | University forensic science team reveals stories of the dead. | Staff and students with Mercyhurst University’s applied forensic science program do much more than just study bones. | true | Pennsylvania, General News, Crime, Forensics, Science | When the Mercyhurst team arrives at a crime scene, members are tasked with telling the story of how human remains arrived there, how long they were in place, and whether the remains were affected by weather, animals or other humans. “It’s all about reconstructing past events,” said Dennis Dirkmaat, department chairman ... |
7213 | City asks judge to let case against OxyContin maker proceed. | A Washington city that says the pain medication OxyContin has devastated the community asked a federal judge Monday to let it move forward with its lawsuit seeking to hold the pill’s manufacturer accountable for damages. | true | Health, Lawsuits, Washington, Patrick Fitzgerald, Courts, Seattle, Everett | Everett, a working-class city of about 108,000 north of Seattle, sued Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma in January, alleging the company knowingly allowed pills to be funneled into the black market and into the city and did nothing to stop it. Purdue filed a motion to dismiss in March. Before hearing arguments Monday, U.... |
26819 | Viral image Says the 2008 book “End of Days” predicted the current coronavirus outbreak. | Dean Koontz, not Sylvia Browne, wrote about “Wuhan-400.” | false | Pop Culture, Public Health, Coronavirus, Viral image, | "The book ""End of Days"" by Sylvia Browne explores, well, end of days — ""predictions and prophecies about the end of the world,"" according to the book’s subtitle. It was first published in July 2008, more than a decade before the new coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Online, fact-base... |
7194 | Castro vows to champion health care, housing during 2020 bid. | Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro introduced himself to Iowa Democrats on Monday night as a champion for universal health care and affordable housing as he indicated he was close to launching a run for the presidency. | true | San Antonio, Iowa, Health, Universal health care, North America, Campaigns, Politics, United States, Julian Castro | Castro spoke with party activists at a crowded house party in North Liberty after forming an exploratory committee last month. Castro said that he would announce his presidential campaign on Saturday in San Antonio and that he looked forward to meeting with Iowa voters before the first-in-the-nation caucuses next year.... |
9671 | Smart air quality device and app helps you breathe easier | The story describes a device and related mobile app, called Awair, that monitors air quality in the home and reports the information to users. The story offers little information about how the device could actually benefit users. More importantly, the story makes the air in our homes sound positively terrifying, using ... | false | air quality monitor,awair,fox news,journalism | The story states that the Awair app is free, but that each air monitoring device costs $199 dollars. Presumably, one would need multiple devices to monitor air quality throughout a residence. Not only are the benefits not quantified, but the potential benefits are not clearly defined at all. Instead, the story makes st... |
397 | Fourteen NGOs oppose London Metal Exchange plans to ban tainted cobalt. | Fourteen non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Amnesty and Global Witness have opposed plans by the London Metal Exchange to ban cobalt tainted by human rights abuses, a letter seen by Reuters showed. | true | Environment | Cobalt is a key ingredient in the batteries that power electric vehicles, a fast-growing sector of the auto industry, and in metal alloys used to make jet engines. It was singled out in LME proposals to embed responsible sourcing principles into metal brands deliverable against its contracts, which include copper and z... |
4532 | Baker takes aim at ‘surprise’ bills in health care overhaul. | Gov. Charlie Baker introduced legislation Friday aimed at overhauling Massachusetts’ health care system by restricting how hospitals and doctors bill patients and requiring walk-in clinics to treat low-income patients on Medicaid. | true | Health care reform, General News, Legislation, Charlie Baker, Medicaid, Massachusetts | Outlining the effort, the Republican governor said it’s designed to lower costs and streamline health care for the future. “We need to prepare our health care system for the future, focus our efforts on achieving the best outcomes for patients and bring down costs,” Baker said in a statement. He said the legislation wo... |
28811 | Improperly cleaned tanning beds are vectors for sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes. | What's true: It's theoretically possible that one could catch sexually transmitted disease (STD) from an improperly cleaned tanning bed. What's false: It's highly unlikely that one would catch an STD in this manner. | mixture | Medical, Disease, herpes, sexually transmitted disease | According to long-standing rumors, tanning beds can be dangerous — not just because the ultraviolet light can potentially deliver a nasty burn to your skin, but because they purportedly can be vectors for various viruses and bacteria. The possibility has spawned a plethora of stories that are long on scares but relativ... |
40656 | This is a prayer request for 2 year old Michael Novenche from New York. The email says he’s got a brain tumor, underwent surgery, but only a portion of the tumor was removed and he is now going through chemotherapy. | Pray for two-year-old cancer victim Michael Novenche | true | Prayers | (01/16/02) The family of little Michael requests fresh prayer. He is going for an emergency MRI because of excruciating headaches. (7/12/01) According to Michael’s family, a more recent check-up shows that Michael’s tumor, which showed signs of shrinkage in a previous ... |
10309 | New Inhaled Insulin Shows Promise for Diabetes | The story reads like an advertisement for the therapeutic superiority of a new treatment for diabetes — a treatment that has not been approved by the FDA, a treatment about which the FDA has requested more data before it can decide whether it’s worth approving. Neither the article’s author nor anyone interviewed descri... | false | Costs are not mentioned. It’s relevant because one of the problems Exubera faced was that it cost about twice as much per day as standard insulin, according to a NY Times article. The overall economic burden of Exubera was influenced by (see page 105 of this journal article) its enormous development costs and the needs... | |
7429 | Shut by COVID-19, Wyoming ski hill to reopen for summer. | A western Wyoming ski hill that shut down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic plans to reopen starting Memorial Day weekend. | true | Jackson, Health, General News, Wyoming, Virus Outbreak, Public health, Restaurants | Snow King Mountain has developed an operations plan and will open for summer season as scheduled May 23, officials at the ski hill in Jackson announced Thursday. The announcement came as Wyoming prepared to ease up on public health measures. Starting Friday, people could gather in groups as large as 25, up from 10 prev... |
13912 | We’re losing as many people to heroin and opioid overdoses as we lost to the AIDS epidemic at its peak. | The scourge of heroin and opioid deaths still doesn’t match AIDS at its worst | false | Drugs, New York, Andrew Cuomo, | "Before signing legislation to combat New York State’s growing heroin and opiate addiction problem, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo compared the epidemic’s death toll to the number of people who died during the peak of the AIDS crisis. Cuomo, who created a heroin and opioids task force this year, said the number of people dying f... |
9841 | Experimental Treatment May Help Relieve Back Pain | The story presents the results of a trial examining outcomes of patients with a disc herniation treated with a spinal injection of ozone and steroids. Because the story describes results presented at a meeting, it lacks details that are important to assess the quality of the study. Patients in this study had symptoms t... | mixture | Back pain,WebMD | Though this is still an experimental approach, it would have been appropriate to discuss the costs in terms of the closest similar treatment – an epidural steroid injection. Since the story claims the experimental approach has been used thousands of times in Europe, some cost frame of reference was possible. The story ... |
9794 | A New Approach to Treating Hair Loss | This story about two patients who underwent a hair transplant using leg hair starts with a problematic premise: that male pattern baldness is a medical condition causing “enormous stress” that needs to be treated with surgery. But even with that framing, this story fails to deliver most of the basic components necessar... | false | baldness remedies | The closest readers are given about any sense of costs is the amount of work involved. The story says “On average, a procedure involves 1,500 to 1,800 follicles and takes about eight hours, with breaks.” Cosmetic surgeons don’t work cheaply, and insurance is likely not to cover these procedures. All it would have requi... |
13685 | Overdosing is now the number one accidental killer in our Commonwealth. | "Attorney General candidate Josh Shapiro wrote in his campaign platform for fighting the opioid epidemic in Pennsylvania that ""Overdosing is now the number one accidental killer in our Commonwealth."" Data from The Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control and the several other independent reports shows tha... | true | Drugs, Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, | "Pennsylvania’s heroin and prescription drug abuse crisis is one of the most acute problems facing the state, and the number of overdose deaths has skyrocketed in recent years. Sitting politicians and candidates for office are racing to propose solutions. Among them is Democrat Josh Shapiro, a Montgomery County commiss... |
41716 | The government will build 40 new hospitals. | Six hospitals in England are getting the money to upgrade their buildings within the next five years. Up to 38 hospitals are getting money to develop plans for their hospitals between 2025 and 2030, but not to actually begin any building work. | mixture | health | There will be 50,000 more nurses going into the NHS. The government has committed to do this by 2024/25. Not all of these nurses will be ‘new’. The government have announced the end of hospital parking charges for patients. In December it was announced that hospitals in England will have to provide free car parking to ... |
5305 | Jane Fonda uses 80th birthday to help others with fundraiser. | Even with all her fame and accolades, Jane Fonda struggled for years with self-confidence. | true | Georgia, Health, Jane Fonda, Entertainment, Movies, North America, Teen pregnancy, Atlanta | The two-time Oscar-winner was able to overcome her insecurity with a strong support base of friends, therapy sessions and by writing a memoir. But she knows others aren’t as fortunate as her, particularly teenagers trying to find themselves while avoiding life’s pitfalls. To help, Fonda started the Georgia Campaign for... |
11387 | J&J joins development of blood test that can spot 1 cancer cell in a billion healthy ones | This story about a business deal to support development of a test that can detect extremely low levels of cancer cells circulating in a person’s blood stream hits most of the points we want to see, yet our reviewers felt that readers are left with an overly positive and uncritical portrayal of the present state of this... | true | Associated Press | We’ll give the story a minimally passing grade on this criterion as well, because it does note that an earlier version of a test that uses some of the same principles costs several hundred dollars. The story would have been better if it more clearly differentiated between tests used to monitor treatment (where a new te... |
31588 | Entering your PIN in reverse at any ATM will automatically summon the police. | Finally, there is the problem of ATM customers’ quickly conjuring up their accustomed PINs in reverse: Even in situations lacking added stress, mentally reconstructing one’s PIN backwards is a difficult task for many people. Add to that difficulty the terror of being in the possession of a violent and armed person, and... | false | Crime, atms, crime warnings | Messages offering a seemingly helpful heads-up about how to deal with a situation in which one is forced to hand over money withdrawn from an ATM under duress began circulating on the Internet in September 2006: I just found out that should you ever be forced to withdraw monies from an ATM machine, you can notify the ... |
37846 | "Garbage Pail Kids' ""Corona Mona"" predicted the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic." | It seems that a surefire way to drive traffic is to link a pop culture memory to a current event, in this case claiming that “Corona Mona” was a Garbage Pail Kids card with artwork featuring an obvious respiratory infection. The image was likely altered as a joke before it was presented as an authentic “strange coincid... | false | Fact Checks, Viral Content | In April and May 2020, memes circulated of a specific trading card from 1980s American pop culture touchstone the Garbage Pail Kids called “Corona Mona,” showing one of the product’s signature unseemly figures covered in mucus:In the above version, a card called “Corona Mona” is captioned: “we traced the virus back to ... |
9181 | Soy food consumption linked to prolonged survival in some breast cancer patients | This news release describes results of a patient survey-based study that examined the association between dietary soy foods and death from any cause among thousands of American and Canadian women with breast cancer. The release reports that women with breast cancer who ate the highest amounts of isoflavones (a primary ... | mixture | soy foods,Wiley | Although a report on this study did not necessarily require observations involving the $ sign, the release would have been more helpful had it noted that soy products are relatively inexpensive compared to other sources of protein and might also have mentioned the financial and social costs of breast cancer. We would h... |
3826 | Collection sites available for expired, leftover medications. | Illinois and federal officials are encouraging people to bring expired and unused prescription drugs to collection sites. | true | General News, Medication, Prescription drugs, Illinois | Saturday marks the Drug Enforcement Administration’s nationwide “Drug Take Back Day.” Only pills or patches can be accepted, not liquids or needles. A list of collection sites is available on the DEA’s website. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s website also provides a list of medication collection sites ar... |
28666 | A photograph shows a homeless woman outside in the cold holding a dead baby. | What's true: News organizations reported that a homeless woman was found holding a dead baby in Portland, Oregon in January 2017. What's false: The photograph attached to the meme shows a homeless man in Washington, D.C. in 2013. | mixture | Fauxtography, homeless, misleading, oregon | On 17 January 2017, the Willamette Week reported a heartbreaking story: as the temperature there dipped below freezing, a homeless woman was discovered at a bus stop barefoot, clad in tattered clothes, and holding a dead baby: The infant, found Jan. 9, marks the fifth death on Portland’s streets during the cold weathe... |
16971 | Less than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical marijuana have cancer or AIDS. | "Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot said ""less than 5 percent of registered users in states allowing medical marijuana have cancer or AIDS."" The medical marijuana opponents that run the website said they estimated their total using figures from states with current laws allowing the drug. Not all states report figures the sa... | true | Health Care, Florida, Marijuana, Don't Let Florida Go To Pot, | "One of the biggest question marks over Florida’s proposed medical marijuana amendment is over who will use it. According to an opposition group, it’s not who you may think. Don’t Let Florida Go To Pot, a campaign run by a coalition of more than 40 organizations opposing Amendment 2, says on its website that most patie... |
22897 | "In Wisconsin, ""6.2 percent of the population is black yet 24 percent of all state abortions are on African-Americans." | Pro-Life Wisconsin says African-Americans make up about 6 percent of population, account for 24 percent of abortions | mixture | Abortion, Wisconsin, Pro-Life Wisconsin, | "Using 13 billboards in Milwaukee, Pro-Life Wisconsin says it wants to raise awareness of what it calls the disproportionate abortion rate among African-American women in Wisconsin. According to the organization, which works to outlaw abortion, the billboards appeared Nov. 29, 2010, and will stay up for 30 days. They f... |
26549 | Pictures and reports of “empty hospitals” prove COVID-19 spread is “fake crisis for real government planned agendas.” | There are hospitals with significant numbers of empty beds — but not because of a conspiracy that exaggerates the coronavirus outbreak. Hospitals have canceled non-urgent surgeries and other procedures in an effort to free up bed space for an expected influx of coronavirus patients. | false | Health Care, Public Health, Facebook Fact-checks, Coronavirus, Facebook posts, | "As the death toll from the coronavirus continues to climb, some conservative commentators questioned how busy American hospitals actually are. On Twitter, photos and video clips purporting to show nearly empty hospital parking lots were tagged with #FilmYourHospital. More of the same on a YouTube ""citizen reporters""... |
1871 | "Work burnout tied to ""emotional eating"" in women: study." | Women who are fed up with their jobs may be more likely to turn to food for comfort in times of stress, according to a Finnish study. | true | Health News | "A woman takes part in a chocolate eating competition in Tbilisi February 10, 2012. REUTERS/David Mdzinarishvili The study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that those who reported work burnout were also more likely to have a habit of “emotional” eating, or eating when stressed, anxious or ... |
12845 | Most of these mass shootings take place in (areas) where you're not allowed to have a concealed weapons permit. | "Corcoran said, ""Most of these mass shootings take place in arenas where you're not allowed to have a concealed weapons permit."" Corcoran cites research by an advocate for gun rights who used a strict definition to define places where guns were not allowed. In reality, there are places where concealed weapons are per... | mixture | Crime, Florida, Guns, Richard Corcoran, | "In the wake of mass shootings at the Pulse night club in Orlando and at the Fort Lauderdale airport, Florida lawmakers are expected to act on a series of bills to expand where people can carry their guns. The bills would allow concealed-carry permit holders to carry their guns in places such as airports, schools, coll... |
1575 | Sweet potato experts win World Food Prize. | Four scientists who specialized in sweet potatoes were named the winners of this year’s World Food Prize on Tuesday for their work to make foods more nutritious. | true | Health News | Maria Andrade of Cape Verde, Robert Mwanga of Uganda and American Jan Low, who all are from the Lima, Peru-based International Potato Center, and American Howarth Bouis of the international research group HarvestPlus were honored in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department. Kenneth M. Quinn, president of the World Food ... |
4619 | 1-year-old daughter, wife of Congo’s Goma victim have Ebola. | The wife and 1-year-old daughter of the man who died of Ebola in Goma this week have tested positive for the disease, health officials confirmed Thursday, the first transmission of the virus inside the densely populated crossroads city on the border with Rwanda, a scenario that health experts have long feared. | true | AP Top News, Health, General News, Africa, International News, Rwanda, Ebola virus | Rwanda briefly closed its border with Congo over the virus outbreak in the city of more than 2 million as the painstaking work of finding, tracking and vaccinating people who had contact with the man — and the contacts of those contacts — began. The man died on Wednesday after spending several days at home with his lar... |
34250 | Another man was responsible for the assault that Christine Blasey Ford described as being perpetrated by Judge Brett Kavanaugh. | No additional information has yet been made available regarding the claims put forward by the two men interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee staff. | unproven | Politics, brett kavanaugh, christine blasey ford | On 16 September 2018, Christine Blasey Ford identified herself publicly as the woman who wrote a confidential letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein alleging that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, in the presence of his classmate Mark Judge, had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s when he was a student at Georgetown P... |
10396 | A Squirt of Insulin May Delay Alzheimer’s | We are always leery of stories reporting on very preliminary clinical research, especially for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease where there are no effective treatment options. These stories frequently raise hopes to a level that is not justifiable given where we are in the scientific evaluation process. In its re... | mixture | Alzheimer's,New York Times | The story did not mention the cost of insulin. This information is readily available and would have provided valuable context. There will also be the cost of the specialized inhaler. The story says that insulin-treated patients “either improved slightly or remained the same in tests of memory and assessments of their a... |
23534 | Over 80 percent of our trade deficit today is with countries that are not trade agreement partners, that are not level playing fields for the United States. | Hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless after a cyclone packing winds of about 200 km per hour slammed into eastern India, ripping out tin roofs and destroying power and telecom lines, officials said on Sunday. | true | Trade, Texas, Kevin Brady, | At least 33 people were killed after cyclone Fani struck the state of Odisha on Friday but a million people emerged unscathed after they moved into storm shelter ahead of landfall. The death toll could have been much greater if not for the massive evacuation in the days before the storm made landfall, officials said. T... |
29388 | The U.S. government was sued and found culpable for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., but the news media refused to report it. | Questions and speculation may always surround the assassination of Dr. King and other national tragedies. Our investigation of these most recent allegations, as well as several exhaustive previous official investigations, found no reliable evidence that Dr. King was killed by conspirators who framed James Earl Ray. Nor... | false | Politics Conspiracy Theories, conspiracy theories, martin luther king jr. | Intermittently, rumors have circulated on social media holding that the United States government was found guilty in 1999 of conspiring to assassinate Martin Luther King, Jr. Furthermore, according to these rumors, the reason this relatively new information (King was murdered on 4 April 1968) comes as a surprise to man... |
5647 | Lawsuit: Fertility doctor used own sperm to impregnate woman. | A family alleges in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that a Colorado fertility doctor used his own sperm instead of that of an anonymous donor to impregnate a woman without her consent. | true | U.S. News, Colorado, Grand Junction, Health, General News, Lawsuits | KUSA-TV reports that the lawsuit contends Dr. Paul Jones of Grand Junction committed fraud by using his own sperm to artificially inseminate Cheryl Emmons, allowing her to give birth to two daughters in 1980 and 1985, respectively. The Mesa County District Court suit contends the daughters discovered they shared Jones’... |
38652 | A blog post titled “Two Droplets” tells the story of a Milwaukee man who suffered a chemical burn on the back of his hand from drain cleaner that has lead to a five-year medical nightmare. | Two Droplets Blog Warns of Drain Cleaner Dangers-Investigation Pending! | unproven | Health / Medical | We don’t have any clear answers on this one. We can’t independently confirm whether or not the claims made in the Two Droplets blog post are true, but our investigation is ongoing. In the blog, the unnamed author tells the horrific story of her husband’s encounter with “two droplets” of drain cleaner in June 2010. Afte... |
42075 | Senator Elizabeth Warren has been on Risperdal since first being prescribed the drug in 2011. | A baseless claim about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s health is circulating on social media. | false | conspiracy theories, false claims, | A baseless claim about Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s health is circulating on social media.Shortly after Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced on New Year’s Eve that she has formed an exploratory committee for president, an internet conspiracy theorist falsely claimed that she is taking an anti-psychotic medication.David Zublick, ... |
26161 | “There were not chemical irritants” used to clear a crowd. Pepper balls are “not a chemical irritant.” | Attorney General William Barr said federal officers did not use chemical irritants to clear protesters from around a D.C. church that Trump was to visit. Park Police say they used pepper balls from the PepperBall company. The company’s weakest pepper ball contains a synthetic compound that government agencies describe ... | false | National, Civil Rights, William Barr, | "On a Sunday morning news show, U.S. Attorney General William Barr said federal officers used no chemical irritants to disperse a crowd of people near a D.C church President Donald Trump was due to visit. Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation, Barr said Park Police and Secret Service used ""standard crowd control"" me... |
37900 | Warnings that someone is injecting poising into water bottles circulated on social media in March 2018. | Officials Warn About Poison Injected into Water Bottles-Reported as Fiction! | false | Disinformation, Fact Checks | There have been scattered reports about people injecting poison (or some kind of foreign substance) into water bottles over the years. But no official warnings were issued about poisoned water bottles issued in March 2018, and there didn’t appear to be an elevated threat.The rumor was started by various warnings about ... |
4086 | Minnesota officials find THC in vaping illness cases. | Investigators are focusing on marijuana-derived THC in the Minnesota cases of teens and young adults who developed vaping-related lung illnesses this summer. | true | Health, Lung disease, General News, Marijuana, Minnesota | The Star Tribune reported Tuesday that health officials have interviewed eight of 15 patients in Minnesota who have been hospitalized for severe respiratory illnesses with confirmed links to vaping. Rich Danila of the Minnesota Department of Health says all eight inhaled THC, the compound in marijuana that gives it its... |
8835 | Antigenics wins Russian approval of cancer vaccine. | Russian regulators have approved the world’s first cancer vaccine, validating an unusual strategy by its maker to introduce the product even though it failed a late-stage clinical trial. | true | Health News | Shares of Antigenics Inc, the tiny New York-based biotechnology company which has been developing the vaccine for 11 years, rose as much as 58 percent on the news. It is the first time the Russian government has approved a drug that was not first cleared in its country of origin, according to Antigenics, and clears... |
7232 | Kate Spade New York fulfills $1 million mental health pledge. | A year after Kate Spade took her own life, the foundation that bears her name has announced the completion of a $1 million pledge to support mental health services. | true | Mental health, Kate Spade, Health, General News, Entertainment, Lifestyle, New York, Celebrities | The Kate Spade New York Foundation said in a statement Wednesday it is donating $200,000 to The Jed Foundation, which partners with schools to strengthen mental health programs. The fashion brand will match public donations to JED from Wednesday through June 12, up to $100,000, at jedfoundation.org/katespade. The donat... |
6690 | Apollo 11′s ‘amiable strangers’ Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins. | Mission commander Neil Armstrong was the flying ace, Buzz Aldrin the scholar. Michael Collins was a crack test pilot, too, but also a wordsmith who described the trio as “amiable strangers.” | true | Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, AP Top News, Apollo 11 moon landing, General News, Moon, Business, Michael Collins, U.S. News, Science | Apollo 11′s astronauts had six months to gel as a crew and prepare for humanity’s greatest space feat. The three had never served together on the same spaceflight before, and the “almost frantic” preparation left little if any time for bonding, Collins said. “Apollo 11 was a little different than some of the other flig... |
7325 | France turns to speedy trains to catch up in virus response. | The high-speed train whooshing past historic World War I battle zones and through the chateau-speckled Loire Valley carried a delicate cargo: 20 critically ill COVID-19 patients and the machines helping keep them alive. | true | AP Top News, Transportation, Understanding the Outbreak, Health, General News, France, Lifestyle, Paris, Science, Emmanuel Macron, Virus Outbreak, Europe, International News | The TGV-turned-mobile-intensive-care-unit is just one piece of France’s nationwide mobilization of trains, helicopters, jets and even a warship, deployed to relieve congested hospitals and shuffle hundreds of patients and hundreds more medical personnel in and out of coronavirus hotspots. “We are at war,” President Emm... |
5896 | 4th Legionnaires’ disease death reported in North Carolina. | North Carolina health officials say a fourth person has died from Legionnaires’ disease. | true | Health, General News, North Carolina, Legionnaires disease, State fairs | The N.C. Department of Health and Human Resources said in a statement on Friday that its Division of Public Health has confirmed 141 cases involving residents from counties and multiple states. In addition to the deaths, 94 people were hospitalized. Information gathered by local health officials showed that most patien... |
36040 | A hotel cleaner in Las Vegas stole a millionaire's used condom from his room, became pregnant, and was awarded millions of dollars in child support for the scheme. | Hotel Cleaner Who Stole Sperm from a Millionaire’s Used Condom Won Child Support Battle, Millions? | false | Disinformation, Fact Checks | On November 10 2019, a story about a hotel cleaner stealing a millionaire guest’s used condom to covertly impregnate herself and receive millions of dollars in child support was shared by the Facebook page “Waploaded.com Media”:The claim was also shared to Reddit’s r/nottheonion (a sub devoted to supposedly real and we... |
22320 | Some of the colleges, including A&M, have already guaranteed that they will not increase their tuition. | "Texas Rep. Jimmie Don Aycock says ""some of the colleges, including A&M,"" have guaranteed tuition freeze" | false | Education, State Budget, Texas, Jimmie Don Aycock, | "During debate over legislation that cuts about $1.5 billion in spending from the state’s current budget, state Rep. Sylvester Turner spoke in favor of an amendment that would have redirected $6.2 million from programs under the purview of Gov. Rick Perry to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which administ... |
34990 | Donald Trump has paid up to eight sexual partners to obtain abortions and sign nondisclosure agreements. | 2) Neither Daniels nor McDougal claimed to have been impregnated by Trump, nor has any other woman come forward to make such a claim. | unproven | Politics | Rumors have circulated for years to the effect that U.S. President Donald Trump has paid off multiple sexual partners to undergo abortions after he impregnated them, and to sign nondisclosure agreements precluding them from discussing their involvement with him. One common form of this rumor holds that Trump may have p... |
21978 | "Planned Parenthood ""raked in more than $300 million in profits over the past four years." | Abortion opponents claim Planned Parenthood had $300 million 'profit' | false | Abortion, Florida, Marjorie Dannenfelser, | "A debate in Congress earlier this year about whether to yank millions of dollars in federal funding for Planned Parenthood spawned a whole slew of claims by politicians about abortion. The Truth-O-Meter weighed in on several claims: everything from a claim by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain that Planned ... |
32871 | "An ""alien mummy"" was recently unearthed in a pyramid, and scientists cannot explain its origins." | We contacted the SLSC and confirmed that the child mummy exhibit remains a permanent fixture at that center, ruling out the possibility that it has escaped and assumed extraterrestrial form. | false | Uncategorized, worldwide science stories | On 21 March 2016 the web site Worldwide Science Stories published a post reporting that the discovery of an “alien mummy” in an Egyptian pyramid had been confirmed by archaeologists speaking under condition of anonymity: The mysterious creature was between 150 and 160 centimeters, and was found by archaeologist near La... |
30258 | When meeting President Donald Trump in July 2018, Queen Elizabeth wore a brooch given to her by former president Barack Obama. | Queen Elizabeth’s brooch choices over the three days of President Trump’s visit can easily, and much more plausibly, be explained by other factors, and accepting or speculating that she was engaging in a weekend-long rebuke to the U.S. president requires the acceptance of assumptions that are simply not supported by co... | false | Politics, conspiracy theories, donald trump, elizabeth ii | President Donald Trump’s short trip to the United Kingdom in July 2018 was accompanied by by protests, political intrigue, and typically intense scrutiny of his demeanor and actions, in particular during his meeting with Queen Elizabeth on 13 July. One theory to emerge after the visit was that the Queen had issued a co... |
5278 | Science Says: Kate’s morning sickness brutal, not dangerous. | Prince William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, are expecting their third child. And for the third time — as with her previous two pregnancies — the former Kate Middleton is suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, or severe morning sickness. | true | Health, Science Says, Science, Kate Middleton, Prince William, Europe | Hyperemesis gravidarum is estimated to affect about one to three percent of pregnant women and can result in nausea and vomiting so acute that hospitalization is required. It is thought to be caused by pregnancy hormones, but doctors aren’t sure why some women experience worse symptoms than others. The condition usuall... |
4519 | Marshalltown hospital will close obstetrics unit. | A hospital in Marshalltown plans to close its obstetrics unit and women’s health clinic because of a drop in births at the facility. | true | Health, General News, Iowa, Marshalltown, Womens health | The Marshalltown Times-Republican reports UnityPoint Health announced Monday it would make the move in response to a 45 percent decrease in the number of births at the obstetrics unit. As Jennifer Friedly, president of UnityPoint Health — Marshalltown put it, “There simply aren’t enough women choosing to deliver locall... |
40923 | 58% of coronavirus deaths in Scotland are from care facilities. | Dutch businesswoman Minke van Wingerden looks on proudly as one of her 32 brown-and-white cows makes a pit stop at an automated milking station on an unusual farm: a platform located on one of the waterways in Rotterdam port. | false | online | Van Wingerden is one of the developers of the “Floating Farm”, testing whether small-scale, sustainable dairy farming is feasible in the heart of one of the world’s most urban, industrial areas - far away from rolling green fields of a traditional agribusiness. “This idea started in 2012, my partner Peter he was involv... |
34760 | "Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver proved that the meat in McDonald's hamburgers is ""unfit for human consumption"" due to the use of beef trimmings treated with bacteria-killing ammonium hydroxide." | The FDA and USDA continue to maintain that the chemical process is “generally recognized as safe” and that meat and poultry properly treated with ammonium hydroxide is acceptable for human beings to consume. | mixture | Food, fast food, jamie oliver, mcdonald's | January 2018 saw a spate of clickbait posts on social media attempting to exploit a settled, years-old controversy surrounding McDonald’s use of a product called “ammoniated beef” (also known by other names, including “select lean beef trimmings,” “lean finely textured beef,” as well as the colloquialism “pink slime”) ... |
2361 | Casual pot use causes brain abnormalities in the young: study. | Young, casual marijuana smokers experience potentially harmful changes to their brains, with the drug altering regions of the mind related to motivation and emotion, researchers found. | true | Health News | The study to be published on Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience differs from many other pot-related research projects that are focused on chronic, heavy users of cannabis. The collaborative effort between Northwestern University’s medical school, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School showed a ... |
8092 | South Africa prepares quarantine sites as coronavirus cases rise to 709. | South African officials identified quarantine sites across the country on Wednesday, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 709 from 554 and the health minister warned infections were expected to keep rising. | true | Health News | South Africa has reported the most coronavirus cases in sub-Saharan Africa, and public health experts are worried that the virus could overwhelm the health system if infection rates rise steeply. President Cyril Ramaphosa has been praised for ordering some of the toughest measures on the continent to try to halt the sp... |
10471 | A balloon instead of a knife: Sinuplasty for ailing sinuses | This story provides a good balance of information on a new treatment option for chronic sinusitis, and there is corroboration with otolaryngologists not affiliated with the makers of the balloon device who are able to provide perspective on the procedure. The story clearly notes this procedure would be for chronic, not... | true | No mention of the cost of treatment. This is important if the surgery is not a permanent fix for acute sinusitis. Repeated operations and continued medications need to be compared to cost for traditional surgery. No quantitative estimate of the benefits of the new procedure. There was a study of 10 people that found “n... | |
7837 | Irish rally for government action on abortion. | At least 5,000 people marched to the offices of Ireland’s socially conservative prime minister on Saturday to call for clearer guidelines on abortion following the death of a woman denied a termination. | true | Health News | It was the largest of a wave of protests across Ireland in recent days in response to the death of 31-year old Indian woman Savita Halappanavar who died of septicaemia following a miscarriage 17 weeks into her pregnancy. The Irish health authority (HSE) has launched an inquiry into the death, which has reopened a decad... |
3591 | High-tech chestnuts: US to consider genetically altered tree. | Chestnuts harvested from high branches on a chilly fall morning look typical: they’re marble sized, russet colored and nestled in prickly burs. But many are like no other nuts in nature. | true | Plants, Genetics, New York, Forests, Environment, Science, Trees, Syracuse, Technology, General News, Genetic engineering, Forestry, Engineering, U.S. News | In a feat of genetic engineering, about half the chestnuts collected at this college experiment station feature a gene that provides resistance to blight that virtually wiped out the American chestnut tree generations ago. Researchers at New York state’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry are seeking federal... |
5745 | New York ends religious exemption to vaccine mandates. | New York eliminated the religious exemption to vaccine requirements for schoolchildren Thursday, as the nation’s worst measles outbreak in decades prompts states to reconsider giving parents ways to opt out of immunization rules. | true | AP Top News, Immunizations, Religion, New York, Measles, Legislation, Health, Andrew Cuomo, U.S. News, General News | The Democrat-led Senate and Assembly voted Thursday to repeal the exemption, which allows parents to cite religious beliefs to forego getting their child the vaccines required for school enrollment. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the measure minutes after the final vote. The law takes effect immediately but will... |
8550 | Pass the salt: The minute details that helped Germany build virus defenses. | One January lunchtime in a car parts company, a worker turned to a colleague and asked to borrow the salt. | true | Health News | As well as the saltshaker, in that instant, they shared the new coronavirus, scientists have since concluded. That their exchange was documented at all is the result of intense scrutiny, part of a rare success story in the global fight against the virus. The co-workers were early links in what was to be the first docum... |
28080 | We evaluate the claims made in a viral 2018 meme about the police shooting death of John Crawford III. | "What's true: Almost every detail of the case is presented accurately in the meme. What's false: There is a significant dispute over whether police shot John Crawford ""before he even knew what was going on."" The officers involved asserted that he failed to obey instructions to put down what they perceived to be a loa... | true | Politics, donald trump, national anthem protests, police shootings | As the NFL preseason schedule commenced in August 2018, President Donald Trump resumed his fierce criticism of players who protested against racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling or declining to stand on the field during the playing of the U.S. national anthem. After similar protests occurred during several... |
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