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Victoria Micieli, director and scientist at the Center for Parasitological and Vector Studies of the national scientific research institute CONICET, classifies different species of mosquitoes at a laboratory in La Plata, in Argentina's Buenos Aires Province, on Tuesday.
Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images
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According to the CDC, about one in four adults has a fear of needles. Many of those people say the phobia started when they were kids. For some people, the fear of needles is strong enough that they avoid getting important treatments, vaccines or tests. That poses a serious problem for public health. Researchers have helped develop a five step plan to help prevent what they call "needless pain" for kids getting injections or their blood drawn. Guest host Tom Dreisbach talks with Dr. Stefan Friedrichsdorf of UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals, who works with a team to implement the plan at his own hospital. Friedrichsdorf told us some of the most important research on eliminating pain has come from researchers in Canada. Learn more about their work here.
Want to stop needle phobia in adults? Make shots less painful for kids
Student volunteers prepare two balloons for a morning launch in Cumberland, Md., as part of a nationwide project to study the April 8 eclipse.
Meredith Rizzo for NPR
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NASA astronaut and Expedition 70 Flight Engineer Loral O'Hara is pictured working with the Microgravity Science Glovebox, a contained environment crew members use to handle hazardous materials for various research investigations in space.
NASA
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Warehouse workers often labor in extremely hot conditions in California, as do many others whose workplaces are indoors. The state has been considering new rules protecting them when temperatures soar to dangerous levels, but political headwinds have left the rules in limbo.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images
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The Catholic Church officially opposes in vitro fertilization, yet many Catholics don't view IVF as morally wrong.
Filippo Monteforte/AFP via Getty Images
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A cicada perches on a picnic table in front of Nolde Mansion in Cumru Township, PA in May 2021. New research shows that these insects urinate in a surprising way.
Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
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Ben Hasty / MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
The scraggly cherry blossom tree known as Stumpy on March 15 in Washington, D.C. At high tide, the base of the tree's trunk is inundated with several inches of water.
Jacob Fenston
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Workers at the U.S. Embassy in Havana leave the building in September 2017. New research out of the National Institutes of Health finds no unusual pattern of damage in the brains of Havana syndrome patients.
Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
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Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Ultra-processed foods contain substances you wouldn't find in your own kitchen, like high-fructose corn syrup, artificial flavor and color enhancers, anti-caking agents and emulsifiers.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
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A woman watches an annular solar eclipse on October 14, 2023 using special solar filter glasses at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images
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Carlos Tischler/ Eyepix Group/Future Publishing via Getty Images
When Shohini Ghose was studying physics as a kid, she heard certain names repeated over and over. "Einstein, Newton, Schrodinger ... they're all men." Shohini wanted to change that — so she decided to write a book about some of the women scientists missing from her grade school physics textbooks. It's called Her Space, Her Time: How Trailblazing Women Scientists Decoded the Hidden Universe. This episode, she talks to Short Wave host Regina G. Barber about uncovering the women physicists she admires — and how their stories have led her to reflect on her own.
This Women's History Month, how physics connects two Bengali women born decades apart
People await the partial lunar eclipse over Vienna, on July 16, 2019. Astronomers say the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks will soon be visible to the naked eye.
Georg Hochmuth/AFP via Getty Images
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This image from video provided by Iceland Civil Defense shows lava erupting from a volcano between Hagafell and Stóri-Skógfell, Iceland, on on Saturday, March 16, 2024.
AP
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Eclipse enthusiasts wearing protective glasses view a partial eclipse from Beckman Lawn at Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., on Aug. 21, 2017. Another solar eclipse is just weeks away.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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The National Ignition Facility used lasers to generate net energy from a pellet of fusion fuel in 2022. But the experiment is still a long way from truly producing more electricity than it requires.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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