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Science Friday

Food Myths, Kids Flu Shot, Europe Plastics Ban. Dec 21, 2018, Part 1

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Science, Life Sciences, Wnyc, Natural Sciences, Friday

4.46.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 December 2018

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You’ve probably heard of the five second rule, when you drop a cookie on the floor and take a bite anyway because it’s only been a few seconds. What about when you’re at a party and you see someone double dip a chip in the salsa? How much bacteria does the double dip and the five-second rule spread around? Biologists Paul Dawson and Brian Sheldon investigate these questions their new book, Did You Just Eat That?: Two Scientists Explore Double-Dipping, the Five-Second Rule, and other Food Myths in the Lab. They talk about how bacteria spread around in our everyday lives and what can be done for food safe handling in our homes. What is the right age to get a flu vaccination at a pharmacy? In North Carolina, apparently, it’s 14. The age limit was written into state law a few years ago. Across the country, age limits for pharmacists to give vaccines range from 3 years old in some places to 18 in others. But why? Since the 1990s, states have been changing laws to allow pharmacists to give more and more vaccines to patients at younger ages. In 26 states and Washington D.C., pharmacists can give vaccines to people at any age. The rest have varying limits starting as young as 3-years-old in Arizona and as old as 18 for vaccines in North Carolina—except for the flu shot.  This week, European Union leaders signed a provisional agreement that would ban 10 major single-use plastic products, from plastic straws and cutlery to Q-tips with plastic stems. The agreement would need to be ratified by EU member states, likely in the spring. If approved, the ban would be implemented in 2021. Rachel Feltman, science editor at Popular Science, joins Ira to talk about the proposed ban and what it might mean in the EU and elsewhere.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, Ira here. Wondering if you've ever thought about what goes into making our radio show.

0:05.5

It's something I think about every single day.

0:08.4

Financially speaking, it's a lot.

0:10.8

It costs us tens of thousands of dollars each week to make Science Friday.

0:15.6

And fees from stations, well, they account for less than 30% of our budget.

0:20.7

That's where you come in.

0:22.5

Donations help support these costs, both big and small.

0:26.6

A donation from you in any amount allows us to provide the high-quality science news and conversations that you depend on.

0:35.6

You can make a donation by going to ScienceFriday.com slash give.

0:40.4

Your gift helps ensure the conversation continues.

0:44.4

That's sciencefriiday.com slash give.

0:47.6

And thanks.

0:49.3

This is Science Friday.

0:50.6

I'm Ira Flato.

0:51.8

Later in the hour, we'll be asking you, did you just eat that?

0:56.3

Stick with me.

0:57.0

You're going to want to hear this.

0:58.5

But first, we all know that plastics in the environment are a big problem, and recently

1:04.1

came word that an effort to clean up some of the plastics in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

1:09.3

is not going as well as planned.

1:12.6

In Europe, though, there are moves to tackle the problem closer to the source.

1:17.1

The EU is finalizing rules for a ban on many single-use plastic items.

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