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Blistering heat waves and more frequent wildfires are reversing a generation of U.S. clean air gains, a new study has found. The peer-reviewed research by the climate analytics firm First Street Foundation projected that by midcentury, the increased levels of microscopic soot particles and ozone molecules entering Americans’ lungs will be back to the levels they were at in 2004 — before a decades-long federal campaign to clean up the air. ... Falling air quality has driven up the number of days when children in the U.S. West can’t safely play outside nearly fivefold since 2000. (Elbein, 2/12)

Consumer Reports says it found plastic chemicals in every food product it tested at very high levels, including products sold by General Mills. "Consumers should be very concerned, but they shouldn't panic," said Brian Ronholm, Consumer Reports' Director of Food Policy. After testing dozens of supermarket products, Consumer Reports found plastic chemicals - known as phthalates in nearly all of them. (Henry, 2/9)

There's a controversy simmering today about one of the ways doctors declare people to be dead. The debate is focused on the Uniform Determination of Death Act, a law that was adopted by most states in the 1980s. The law says that death can be declared if someone has experienced "irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain." But some parts of the brain can continue to function in people who have been declared brain dead, prompting calls to revise the statute. (Stein, 2/11)

Stacy Hernandez always had irregular periods. But when the bleeding wouldn’t stop, she got scared. She said she visited her general practitioner and urgent care at least six times. Doctors changed her birth-control medications, blamed her excess weight and suggested the bleeding would eventually subside. It didn’t. After more than a year, a doctor ordered an ultrasound followed by a test that finally identified the problem: uterine cancer. (Abbott, 2/12)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched the 2024 version of its federally funded national tobacco education campaign to help more people quit smoking — with a special aim at menthol cigarettes. "The CDC’s Tips campaign is designed to increase smoking cessation awareness and intervention in populations with high smoking rates and poorer health outcomes, including those living with mental illness," Dr. Lama Bazzi, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City, told Fox News Digital. (Sudhakar, 2/11)

Despite the wide availability of a cheap, effective remedy for potentially fatal diarrheal disease, too few children receive the treatment, according to an analysis that suggests provider misconceptions may be driving the crisis. ... Oral rehydration salts (ORS), a solution of glucose and electrolytes that prevents dehydration, is the front-line treatment for diarrhea in kids and is on the WHO List of Essential Medicines. But the study, published in the journal Science, suggests that misconceptions among providers lead physicians to underprescribe the inexpensive cure. (Blakemore, 2/11)

As pickleball’s popularity has skyrocketed, so have the number of serious injuries among players. Bone fractures related to pickleball have increased 200% over the last 20 years, according to an analysis of a large government injury database presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on Monday. (Carroll, 2/12)

MIRA, which stands for miniaturized in vivo robotic assistant, recently became the first surgical robot at the International Space Station. The tiny robot, which weighs about 2 pounds, arrived at the space station on Feb. 1. Over the next few weeks, the robotic assistant will practice operating in zero gravity. Developers plan to use MIRA to conduct a surgical simulation via remote-controlled technology, with a surgeon directing its movements 250 miles away from Nebraska. (Kim, 2/10)