Americans Struggle to Understand Whooping Cough and Its Vaccine

Despite exceptionally high whooping cough (pertussis) activity in the United States this year and last, many Americans remain confused about the disease and current vaccine recommendations, according to a new national poll from the Annenberg Public Policy Center. The survey, conducted Nov. 17–Dec. 1 with 1,637 adults, found a significant drop from 2023 in the share who know a vaccine exists (57% versus 63%), with about 30% unsure that whooping cough and pertussis are the same illness and only 43% recognizing that the Tdap vaccine protects against it. While 83% would recommend Tdap for a preteen or adult due for a booster, just 46% would recommend it to a pregnant woman—a key group for protecting newborns. The CDC currently recommends routine DTaP for infants and Tdap boosters for older children, adults, and pregnant women. (CIDRAP)

Global Food Systems Are Fueling Both Obesity and Global Heating, Review Warns

A new review argues that modern, profit-driven food systems are simultaneously pushing up obesity rates and greenhouse-gas emissions—two crises with shared roots in the “food environment.” The authors describe how widely available, heavily marketed, energy-dense foods (including many ultra-processed products) encourage overconsumption and weight gain, while the supply chains that produce and promote these diets—especially animal-intensive production—drive emissions and strain land and water. The piece emphasizes that medical weight-loss tools can help individuals but don’t fix the underlying system pressures shaping diets at population scale. Proposed reforms include subsidies to lower the price of minimally processed healthy foods, taxes and warning labels for the most harmful products (including sugary drinks), and tighter limits on marketing aimed at kids and low-income communities. (FrontiersIn)

A Single Gut Microbe Kept High-Fat–Fed Mice Lean by Blunting Ceramides

Researchers narrowed a long list of candidate “anti-obesity” microbes down to one standout: Turicibacter. In experiments described here, mice on a high-fat diet that also received Turicibacter gained less weight and showed better metabolic markers than controls, including lower blood sugar and lower fat levels in the blood. The proposed mechanism centers on ceramides—fatty molecules that rise on high-fat diets and can increase intestinal fat absorption while nudging the body toward fat storage and insulin resistance. Turicibacter produces its own lipids, but these appear to suppress ceramide buildup, preserving a leaner, healthier phenotype in mice. The article notes the key caveat: translating a microbe-driven effect from mice to humans is uncertain and will require more work. (New Atlas)

EatingWell: Cocoa-Flavanol Findings Hint at ‘Healthy Aging’—With Big Caveats

This EatingWell explainer spotlights research on cocoa compounds (often discussed as flavanols) and their potential links to aging-related outcomes. The piece frames the appeal: cocoa-derived bioactives have been studied for effects on blood vessel function, inflammation signaling, and other pathways plausibly connected to long-term cardiovascular and cognitive health. But it repeatedly leans on caution—emphasizing that “chocolate” as a food is not the same as standardized cocoa-flavanol interventions, and that dose, formulation, and added sugar/fat matter. It also notes that many studies measure intermediate outcomes (like biomarkers or vascular function) rather than direct measures of slowed aging, and that participant populations, follow-up duration, and adherence can shape results. Bottom line: intriguing signals don’t equal a license to treat candy as a longevity drug. (Eating Well)

CIDRAP: Salad-Linked Listeria Outbreaks Highlight a Persistent Ready-to-Eat Risk

CIDRAP reports on listeriosis outbreaks connected to ready-to-eat salad products, underscoring how chilled, convenience foods can still pose serious microbial hazards—especially for pregnant people, older adults, and immunocompromised individuals. The article explains why Listeria monocytogenes is uniquely concerning: unlike many pathogens, it can grow at refrigerator temperatures, so contamination that slips into processing can intensify over shelf life. Coverage focuses on outbreak investigation signals that link illnesses to specific products, the role of recalls, and the public-health challenge of tracing ingredients across complex supply chains. Practical prevention themes include strict sanitation controls in processing facilities, vigilant environmental monitoring, and consumer awareness about recall notices and safe handling. The story reinforces that “healthy-looking” foods aren’t automatically low-risk when eaten without a kill step like cooking. (CIDRAP)

Phys.org: Europe’s Food Eco-Labels Are a Patchwork—A New Review Maps the Gaps

A new study reviewed by Phys.org surveys Europe’s growing ecosystem of food eco-labels that use life-cycle assessment (LCA) to communicate environmental impact. The central finding is fragmentation: programs vary in which metrics they emphasize, how they calculate footprints, and how they present results to consumers. That inconsistency can confuse shoppers and complicate comparisons across products and countries—especially when labels weigh climate, land use, biodiversity proxies, or other indicators differently. The article frames the work as a first comprehensive overview of these LCA-based schemes and notes that design choices (grading scales, icons, thresholds) shape whether labels actually influence purchasing. For nutrition-focused readers, the implication is that sustainability signals are increasingly paired with diet guidance, but without harmonization, “eco-healthy” can mean different things depending on the label. (phys.org)

Europa Clipper Repurposed Its UV Spectrograph to Study Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

The Europa Clipper spacecraft observed interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on Nov. 6, collecting ultraviolet data over about seven hours from roughly 102 million miles (164 million kilometers) away. Using the Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph (Europa-UVS), the team aims to characterize the composition and distribution of elements in the comet’s coma—the cloud of gas and dust surrounding its core. The story emphasizes a clever operational angle: although Europa-UVS was designed for studying Jupiter’s moon Europa, mission scientists can opportunistically retask instruments during cruise to capture rare targets like an interstellar visitor passing through the solar system “never to return.” NASA also situates the observation in Europa Clipper’s broader timeline: launched in October 2024, arriving at Jupiter in April 2030 to investigate Europa’s ocean-bearing potential habitability. (NASA)

Room-Temperature Electron Behavior Under Pressure Could Reshape Energy Tech

Research suggests that applying high pressure to certain materials can push electrons into unusually efficient current-transfer behavior at room temperature—an advance positioned as relevant to long-sought breakthroughs in superconductivity-adjacent physics and future energy technologies. The article describes how squeezing a material forces electrons closer together, potentially unlocking exotic electronic states that conventional conditions don’t reveal. While the write-up frames the result as a step toward more efficient electricity handling and improved energy preservation, it also makes clear that high-pressure requirements are a major practical constraint; the scientific value may be as much about understanding electron interactions as about immediate deployment. The work is reported as published in Physical Review Letters, and the story focuses on why room-temperature performance is such a big deal—because most dramatic transport effects typically require extreme cooling. (phys.org)