Researchers say they've linked silica dust directly to severe black lung disease A new study links the epidemic of severe lung disease among coal miners to toxic silica dust. The findings echo a 2018 investigation by NPR and the PBS show Frontline. Robert Benincasa
Pandemic updates: King County Metro nixes mask requirement on buses Updated news about the coronavirus pandemic in Seattle and Washington state. KUOW Staff
CDC extends transportation mask mandate until May 3 The Biden administration will continue to require travelers to wear masks on planes and other forms of public transport,. Pien Huang
Seattle Now: How's your mental health? Disasters like the Covid pandemic have a dramatic impact on our mental health. Two years after the pandemic started, we're still not out of the woods — but there's an opportunity to make changes for the better. Clare McGrane
Images of Zelenskyy show the physical toll that trauma and stress can have on the body Health experts told NPR that long-term exposure to trauma and stress — like that of the war in Ukraine — can impact a person's sleep, memory, mood and physical appearance. Jaclyn Diaz
Could a psychedelic trip help burned out health care workers cope? This scientist thinks so Tony Back, an oncologist at the University of Washington, thinks he knows of something that could help health care workers struggling with anxiety and depression: Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound found in magic mushrooms. Eilís O'Neill
Adulting 101: Tap into your inner child Throughout this pandemic many of us have dipped into nostalgia and tapped into childhood to cope. Borrowing from the past can be helpful, but it can also be really hard to go back there. That’s where inner child work comes in. Libby Denkmann
The new White House COVID czar calls for calm as cases rise, driven by BA.2 The country is in a good place in the pandemic, but we should prepare for an unpredictable future, according to the latest assessment from the new White House coronavirus boss. Michael Levitt
Deb gave her boyfriend an 'opt out' option when she got cancer. He went another way When Deb Merchant was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2003 she gave her boyfriend a choice: he could "opt out" of their relationship. He had a simple response.
Teen drug overdose deaths rose sharply in 2020, driven by fentanyl-laced pills While adult overdoses surged in the last decades, teens hadn't seen the same kind of death rates. But now fatal overdoses nearly doubled in one year and continued to rise in 2021. Rhitu Chatterjee
