Science, Health and Technology

The Missouri Science and Innovation Reinvestment Act, or MOSIRA, has been ruled unconstitutional by a Cole County judge.

The average medical school student graduates with close to $160,000 in debt. That heavy burden is one reason why there is a long-running shortage of primary care doctors in rural America. More and more graduating students choose higher-paying specialties over rural primary care. In this weekly update, a new pilot program helps medical students pay off loans as soon as they start residency, so it's easier to choose a lower-paying, but possibly more fulfilling career path.

Eight hundred and seventy one high school students suffered concussions during last fall, according to a new survey conducted by the Missouri State High School Activities Association. Unsurprisingly, 75 percent of those concussions happened to football players.  State lawmakers made this survey mandatory last year, so there isn’t any previous data with which to compare it.

New research shows that differences in the brain development of autistic children are already visible in infants as young as six months old.

On this week’s show, we’ll explore what's in our food, and hear from the director of a documentary that looks at the difficult choices involved with legalized, physician assisted suicide.

Pick up your favorite packaged food and read the ingredient list.

If you stumbled over any of the words or a color jumped out at you, you might be looking at what’s known as a food additive.  

The film How to Die in Oregon, follows several terminally ill patients as they undertake the difficult decision to end their lives under the state’s controversial Death with Dignity Act.