Science
Billion-dollar dialysis companies and a labor union are spending tens of millions of dollars to sway Proposition 8 votes their way on Election Day. Health experts say the proposition is unlikely to improve care for dialysis patients and may put care out of reach for patients in low-income areas.
But they also say risky practices in the industry put patients’ lives at risk.
Last year, the state of California experienced its most destructive and deadliest wildfire season on record. October is one of the highest-risk months of the year for wildfires in the state. Currently, fire departments and agencies are working to spread the message and give people the tools they need to prevent fires in the first place.
Despite cancer deaths declining over recent years, cancer has surpassed heart disease as the leading cause of death in Oakland and Alameda County.
Ten communities from around the state are being selected for the deployment of air monitoring systems and community emissions reduction programs.
Sudo Mesh volunteers are hopeful that with the new resources and the right work, they can blanket all of Oakland in a functioning mesh network—a free and open web—within 5 years.
The Alameda County Public Health Department is preparing to launch a marketing campaign this summer to promote PrEP, a drug that prevents HIV infection, targeted specifically to communities which are most affected by HIV. PrEP, short for Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, was approved by the Federal Drug Administration for use in 2012, and although it has had a national effect on lowering HIV rates, it isn’t reaching the communities in Alameda County it needs to. Although African American males make up only…
On Monday afternoon, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represents California’s 13thDistrict, which includes Oakland, stood in front of a stage at the Barbara Lee Science and Allied Health Center at Merritt College in Oakland. She was speaking at a media briefing with three other members of Congress who belong to the Congressional Black Caucus(CBC) Diversity Task Force, which she co-chairs. “We here not only to discuss the lack of equity and inclusion, but also the broader impact that the tech sector…
The Bay Area is sinking and climate change is speeding things up, according to a new study published in Science Advances this month. The study was conducted over the span of two years by researchers Manoocher Shirzaei and Roland Burgmann, who used satellite images to evaluate regions of the Bay Area, such as Treasure Island, which are experiencing sea level rise because of the accelerated melting of polar ice. Shirzaei is a former UC Berkeley post-doctoral student, and Burgmann is…
On January 31, over 100 people gathered on the observatory deck at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland to witness the rare spectacle of the Super Blood Blue Moon.