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Though tanning may be far from the minds of chilly Illinois residents at the moment, a new study out of Northwestern Medicine is highlighting the risks of tanning beds, and showing how they can lead to skin cancer. Not only is the use of tanning beds associated with nearly triple the risk of developing melanoma, but heavy users of tanning beds also had more damage to the DNA of their skin cells, according to the study published Friday in the peer-reviewed journal Science Advances. (Schencker, 12/12)

More about cancer —

Researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park, tested a program they say could eliminate cervical cancer by analyzing and recommending improvements to national vaccination strategies for the virus that causes the cancer. (Hille, 12/12)

A new study suggests that tailoring breast cancer screening to a woman’s individual risk can be as safe as yearly mammograms while reducing unnecessary testing for some and better targeting of care for others. Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death for women around the world, affecting about 1 in 8 women in the United States. (Johnson and Eunjung Cha, 12/12)

A Los Angeles jury awarded $40 million on Friday to two women who claimed that talcum powder made by Johnson & Johnson caused their ovarian cancer. The giant health care company said it would appeal the jury’s liability verdict and compensatory damages. The verdict is the latest development in a longstanding legal battle over claims that talc in Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower to Shower body power was connected to ovarian cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that strikes the lungs and other organs. (12/13)

On social media and mental health —

TikTok’s algorithm favors mental health content over many other topics, including politics, cats and Taylor Swift, according to a Washington Post analysis of nearly 900 U.S. TikTok users who shared their viewing histories. The analysis found that mental health content is “stickier” than many other videos: It’s easier to spawn more of it after watching with a video, and harder to get it out of your feed afterward. (Merrill, Hunter, Fox and Shapiro, 12/12)

On the gun violence epidemic —

In 2019, a 16-year-old student at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, pulled a gun from his backpack and opened fire on his classmates in the school quad. Mia Tretta, then a 15-year-old freshman, was shot in the abdomen and hospitalized. Her best friend was killed. The shooting shaped Tretta’s decision to attend Brown University, in a state she deemed to have strong gun laws and located far away from home, on the opposite coast from the trauma that upended her time in high school. (Wu, 12/14)

A gunman remains at large, two days after opening fire inside a Brown University academic building, killing two students and injuring nine others. Officials in Providence, R.I., said Sunday evening that police are releasing a man in his 20s who was briefly held as a person of interest. His release leaves authorities without any known suspect. "We have a murderer out there," Attorney General Peter Neronha said at a news conference late Sunday. (Hernandez and Rosman, 12/15)

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and state leaders pledged to strengthen gun laws a day after a father and son killed 15 people in the nation’s deadliest terror attack. The National Cabinet has tasked police ministers and attorneys-general to explore options including caps on the number of firearms an individual can hold, limits on open-ended licenses, stricter rules on the allowed types of guns and modifications, and a requirement that license holders be Australian citizens. (Chandler and Whitley, 12/15)