Insulin Price Plan, Monkeypox Facts, Milky Way Memoir. August 12, 2022, Part 1
Science Friday
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🗓️ 12 August 2022
⏱️ 47 minutes
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Summary
30 million people in the U.S. live with diabetes, and access to insulin can be expensive. More than 1 in 5 people with private insurance pay more than $35 a month for this necessary medication. The U.S. Senate has a plan to cap insulin prices for certain diabetics, but critics say this plan would not help make insulin affordable for a majority of people.
Plus, many people have been following the discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST, with baited breath. Astronomers may have found the youngest exoplanet we know of. And a deep space hoax of a chorizo slice fooled the astronomy community.
Joining Ira to talk about these stories and other science news of the week is Katherine Wu, staff writer for The Atlantic based in New Haven, Connecticut.
What You Need To Know About Monkeypox
Last week, the White House declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency.
Currently there are a little over 9,000 confirmed cases in the United States, and just under 30,000 worldwide. Since the end of May, monkeypox has been spreading in countries where it has not been previously reported.
The virus is mainly spreading within gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men. And because of that there is stigma associated with the outbreak.
Ira talks with Rachel Roper, virologist at the Brody Medical School at East Carolina University, and Perry Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers University School of Public Health, to explain the basics of transmission, answer listener questions, and debunk misinformation about the monkeypox outbreak.
Frenemies, Lovers, And The Fate Of The Cosmos: Our Galaxy Tells All
Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 13.6 billion years old, all-knowing, and a little sassy. It has a rich social life of friends, frenemies, and even love interests—all other galaxies in the local group, including the stunning Andromeda. And the Milky Way is a little disappointed that we’ve stopped telling as many stories about it.
Or at least, that’s how folklorist and astronomer Dr. Moiya McTier imagines the galaxy’s personality when writing her new book, “The Milky Way: An Autobiography of Our Galaxy.” The book stretches from the beginning of the universe to the birth of our planet, and then on to the eventual theoretical end of the cosmos. Along the way, we learn both the science of how stars form and galaxies collide, and the many stories and myths humans have told about these bodies throughout our relatively brief lives.
McTier joins Ira to tell all (on behalf of the Milky Way), and explain the importance of story in scientific knowledge and discovery.
Read an excerpt of the book on sciencefriday.com.
Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Science Friday, I'm Ira Plato. Later in the hour, I master course on monkey pox, |
| 0:05.6 | debunking some common misconceptions about the virus, and meet the all-knowing galaxy we live in, |
| 0:12.0 | the Milky Way, in a sassy new tell-all. But first, 30 million people in the U.S. live with diabetes, |
| 0:19.6 | and access to insulin can be very expensive. More than one in five people with private insurance, |
| 0:26.3 | pay more than $35 a month for this necessary medication. The U.S. Senate has a plan to cap insulin |
| 0:33.1 | prices for some seniors, but critics say this plan would not help make insulin affordable |
| 0:39.6 | for a majority of people. Joining me to talk about this and other science stories of the week |
| 0:45.4 | is Catherine Wu, staff writer for the Atlantic based in New Haven, Connecticut. Welcome back to |
| 0:51.6 | Science Friday, Katie. Hello, it's good to be here again. Nice to have you. Okay, let's start with |
| 0:56.8 | this insulin story. What's the current status of insulin access for diabetics in the U.S.? Yeah, |
| 1:03.6 | so insulin is very, very, very expensive, which is very unfortunate. As you've pointed out, this can |
| 1:10.2 | be a life or death drug for some people, especially those with type one diabetes who can't make insulin |
| 1:16.7 | on their own. As you pointed out, there are some people paying way more than $35 a month for |
| 1:22.9 | this medication. Some people are paying into the hundreds per month, which can be a huge |
| 1:27.6 | portion of their paycheck. That is massive. That's on par with what they may be paying for food, |
| 1:33.9 | even part of their housing. This is much more than people elsewhere in the world pay. |
| 1:39.2 | Absolutely. There was a study, I believe it was last year by the Rand Corporation that found that |
| 1:44.3 | average prices for a vial of insulin in the U.S. exceed prices in any other country and is about |
| 1:50.5 | 10 times more than the global average, which is a huge gap. So the Senate plan for insulin access |
| 1:58.9 | doesn't quite solve this problem, does it? No. So, obviously, this bill is still working its way |
| 2:06.9 | through all of the legislative red tape, but it has cleared the Senate in a mixed bag form. |
| 2:13.4 | So people with Medicare are slated to get a copay cap of $35 per month, but people with private |
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