Friday, November 6, 2026
Microplastics Are Chemically Active, and Could Cause Biological Harm
Ignore industry claims that plastic is inert
- Researchers
found that microplastics and nanoplastics can react with surrounding
water to generate highly reactive molecules, challenging the view that
plastics are chemically inert.
- As
plastics break into smaller particles, their surface area increases
relative to their volume, creating more sites where these reactions can
occur.
- The
findings identify a potential mechanism for biological harm from
microplastic exposure, including in the water-rich environments of blood
and cells.
- Understanding
this chemistry could help researchers redesign plastics to reduce
their potential impacts on human health and the environment.
Plastics are supposed to be chemically inert. It’s the
reason they’re used so frequently to package food, bottle water and create
children’s toys.
But something important happens when a large piece of
plastic fragments into micro and nanoparticles: its surface area increases
dramatically relative to its volume. Vastly more of the material is now exposed
to its surroundings.
A new study by researchers from Columbia University and the
University of California, Berkeley, found that this newly created surface is
not necessarily safe and identified the chemical reasons why.
High protein, low cost, good for the environment, blends into every meal
Tofu is the winner
Consumers are increasingly confronted with conflicting
information surrounding how much protein they should have and which protein
sources are healthiest, most sustainable, and best value for money. Cambridge
research has uncovered the truth.
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
What are the best sources of protein?
In a paper published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems,
Dr. Chris Macdonald explored the best sources of protein currently available.
To answer the question, Macdonald had to build a new
holistic scoring system that combines measures of environmental impact, health,
affordability and availability into a single framework.
Applying the scoring system to 20 commonly consumed
protein-rich foods, the analysis found a striking pattern: every product in the
highest-scoring quintile was plant-based, while every product in the
lowest-scoring quintile was animal-based. Tofu ranked first overall, while
cheddar cheese ranked last.
The paper argues that many existing food rating systems focus on only one aspect of a product. While useful, these single-dimension labels can obscure important trade-offs and make it difficult to compare foods comprehensively.
Trump Administration Delays Awards Slated To Improve Rural America’s Health
Charlestown, Narragansett Tribe and other South County communities among populations expected to benefit
A 12-sentence message from Alina Czekai, director of the federal Office of Rural Health Transformation, said officials “discovered an additional administrative process requirement.”
The Rural Health Transformation Program, which President Donald Trump touted as an “unprecedented” investment to “revitalize hospitals in our cherished rural communities,” calls for federal regulators to award states shares of $10 billion a year for five years.
In 2026, each state was awarded between $147 million and $281 million, with allocations determined by a federal scoring process to be revisited each year. State leaders had just over seven weeks last year to write applications as they competed against one another for first-year funds.
A national program of “this size, scope, and complexity” that has operated on a tight timeline is going to have “unforeseen issues in implementation,” said Alan Morgan, chief executive of the National Rural Health Association, which represents rural hospitals and clinics. “It’s just going to happen.”
Since the program launched last summer, state leaders have raised concerns about tight deadlines and burdensome reporting demands. First-year progress reports show state leaders have complied with federal demands to boost rural health technology infrastructure while also sending money to local communities.
Still, the speedy rollout did not “set anybody up for success to make meaningful progress,” said Lori Foley, who leads revenue and compliance advisory at PYA, a national consulting firm that has worked with regional and local health systems over the past year.
For state leaders, the Oct. 30 email has only added to the pressures of the previous months. One called the email funding alert “cryptic.” Another said there have been “plenty of surprises along the way.” One Midwestern state health association leader said her staff was “in the dark over here” about the funding. KFF Health News agreed not to name the state officials because they feared retribution.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
The Ocean State’s version of a blue wave: 10 Republicans left in the legislature
Not much left of the GOP - or LORIB
By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current
 |
| Richmond Town Council President Samantha Wilcox, center, defeated six-term Republican Sen. Elaine Morgan for the Senate District 34 seat in Tuesday’s general election. At left is Lynn Gamwell and at right is Hayden Kendall, her campaign manager. (Photo by Deb Carney) |
The results leave just 10 Republicans in the 113-member legislature, down from 14.
That includes two GOP members of the 38-person Senate, and eight out of 75 in the House. And there’s still one independent, as former Republican darling Allan Fung, now disaffiliated and at odds with GOP leaders, won his wife’s old House seat in Cranston.
But don’t mistake a handful of upsets for a harbinger of change on Smith Hill. Excluding open seats, 95% of state lawmakers who won Tuesday are incumbents. Reelection was all but guaranteed for most due to the absence of serious opponents — or any at all.
“There’s no sea change in Rhode Island state government based on these results,” said Adam Myers, associate professor of political science at Providence College. “Republicans were already a non-factor. Essentially, now, they’re going to be even less of a factor.”
The absence of change in the legislature stands in stark contrast to Congress as Democrats flipped at least 30 Republican-held seats, notching enough victories to control both chambers.
Yet, the Ocean State’s few progressive pickups could stem from the same national rebuke of Trump that led to Democratic victories nationwide, Myers said.
“The fact that this happened in very different parts of the state, everywhere from Woonsocket, to Cranston, to Exeter, suggests to me that the best way to explain it is, these were nationalized races,” Myers said. “Voters in Rhode Island were primarily acting on, or responding to, national changes.”
Woonsocket’s about-face
Perhaps the clearest example was in Rhode Island’s House District 49 where independent Rep. Jon Brien (LORIB endorsed) lost to progressive-backed Democrat Veronicka Vega by nearly 5 points.
Brien, a former Democratic state representative from Woonsocket who became an independent before his second, non-consecutive legislative career began in 2022, espoused conservative stances on taxes, the Israel-Hamas War and COVID-era public health rules. And Woonsocket voted for Trump in 2024 — the first time the northernmost city backed a Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan in 1984.
“As the lone independent in the House, I couldn’t help but get swept up in a confluence of political events that seemingly affected elected leaders across the country,” Brien said in an email. “It seems that this election cycle was less about the candidate and more about the candidate’s ideology.
Vega, 26, was a first-time candidate who put her personal story of facing homelessness, poverty and food insecurity — and the social safety net programs that helped support her — at the heart of her campaign. She was backed by the Rhode Island Working Families Party, Reclaim RI and Affordable RI, among other progressive groups.
To Dan Denvir, co-chair of Reclaim RI, Vega’s victory shows voters’ appetite for progressive politics extends beyond Providence.
“There are poor and working-class families all over this state who oppose MAGA extremism and the corporate Democratic politics that allowed MAGA extremism to happen,” Denvir said.
Vega did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Across the state in Senate District 34, voters also moved left in electing Democratic challenger Samantha Wilcox over 12-year Republican incumbent Sen. Elaine Morgan (LORIB endorsed).
Wilcox, 37, a paralegal and Richmond Town Council president, didn’t think her victory meant anything about a progressive shift in the rural, western district spanning parts of Charlestown, Exeter, Hopkinton, Richmond and West Greenwich.
“We canvassed thousands of doors, regardless of political party,” Wilcox said. “That’s what our district was looking for, someone who listens to both sides.”
Limitations on solar development on rural land, property taxes and housing were what voters wanted to talk about, not political party, Wilcox said.
Morgan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Four’s a crowd
The Senate GOP also lost 10-year incumbent Sen. Thomas Paolino (LORIB endorsed), who was defeated by Democrat Nelly Burdette in a four-way race with two independent candidates. The number of names on the ballot — the most of any state legislative race — likely contributed to Paolino’s loss, Myers said.
Indeed, the 2,000 votes combined for the two independents, Jina Petrarca and John Barr II, is four times the 500-vote margin between Burdette and Paolino, according to preliminary, unofficial results Tuesday night.
Paolino also pointed to the split as the reason for his loss.
“I don’t believe the results are indicative of what 57% of District 17 wants,” Paolino said in a text message Wednesday morning.
He did not call Burdette to concede because he said he did not have her number.
But Denvir with Reclaim, which helped canvas for Burdette, argued that the two independents, both of whom ran for and held office before as Democrats, likely siphoned votes away from Burdette, rather than Paolino.
Burdette, a Ukrainian refugee, clinical psychologist and first-time candidate, said she began canvassing the district in April, well before any of her opponents. The Working Families Party also supported Burdette.
Party ideology came up much less than concerns over healthcare access and energy bills, Burdette said.
“People liked that I was part of the community, not from the political world,” Burdette said Wednesday.
However, Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz warned of the consequences from an even more imbalanced legislature.
“Rhode Islanders are already struggling with some of the highest electricity costs in the country, an increasingly unaffordable cost of living, and a state government that continues to spend more while delivering too little,” de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, said in a statement. “The last thing taxpayers need is even less scrutiny of the decisions being made on Smith Hill.”
The Fung factor
A three-person competition for Cranston’s House District 15 may have also helped Fung defeat freshman Republican Rep. Chris Paplauskas, Myers said. The race, which also included Democrat Colleen Crudele, grew contentious in the final weeks before the election, driven by a rift between the Fungs and Cranston Mayor Ken Hopkins, for whom Paplauskas works as chief of staff. Fung’s wife, Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung ran and lost to Hopkins in the 2024 mayoral primary. Her mayoral campaign opened up the legislative seat, which Paplauskas won by 26 votes in 2024.
Paplauskas did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday, though both he and Crudele called Fung to concede, according to Fenton-Fung.
“I’m incredibly humbled and honored to make history as the first Asian American elected to the Rhode Island House of Representatives, but what means even more to me is the trust people of Cranston have placed in me once again,” Fung said in a statement.
Fung served 12 years as city mayor, and has run twice for governor and once for U.S. Congress, all as a Republican. He disaffiliated this spring, prompting criticism from state party officials including House Minority Leader Mike Chippendale.
“It will be interesting to see how a man who once thought himself gubernatorial and congressional material will operate as but one of 75 in a room that doesn’t embrace independence and rejects disloyalty,” Chippendale, a Foster Republican, said of Fung.
Chippendale, too, blamed national sentiment for GOP losses.
“Rhode Islanders were beaten over the head, day after day and hour after hour, with ads about Donald Trump,” he said. “One might think Trump was running in every RI race. Even after all those ads, I’m still waiting to hear what the Democrats who ran them intend to do about the electric bill, the shortage of primary care doctors or the cost of buying a home in this state.”
A second freshman GOP representative, Richard Fascia (LORIB endorsed) of Johnston, also lost his reelection campaign to Democrat Edward Stravato.
Stravato, 40, a lawyer and small-business owner, credited his “old school” campaign — heavy on handwritten letters with little-to-no social media presence — for his victory.
“I think it speaks more to our campaign than it does a blue wave,” said Stravato.
The district spanning Johnston and Cranston backed Trump in the last three elections. Stravato said he identifies as a moderate Democrat, “not a liberal.”
Stravato said Fascia had called him to congratulate him earlier Wednesday morning.
Fascia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Almost no luck for The League of RI Businesses
Conservative political group The League of RI Businesses notched one victory from its efforts to put more “business-minded” candidates in the legislature. League-backed Republican Michael Riley defeated Democrat Shaina Smith in the open House District 42 seat, which includes all of Scituate and a piece of Cranston. Riley will succeed Republican Rep. Robert Quattrocchi, who chose not to run for reelection after 10 years in office. EDITOR'S NOTE: LORIB endorsed 8 conservative incumbents. Three lost their seats to Democrats. Riley was the only non-incumbent LORIB candidate to win. Seven of Levesque's House picks for the House lost. - Will Collette
Dave Levesque, co-founder of The League and owner of Brewed Awakenings coffeehouses, said he was disappointed but not surprised by The League’s low success rate among its endorsed legislative candidates.
“We’ve learned a lot of lessons,” Levesque said, citing the need for better vetting of candidates, and being more selective in the process.
The League bypassed the $2,000 per candidate per year donation limit in state law by setting up a political action committee for every city and town in the state. Levesque acknowledged that campaign finance strategy might have worked better if money was spent on advertising and outreach, rather than poured into candidates’ campaign accounts directly.
“It’s not just about money, you need a strong ground game,” Levesque said.
He was unbothered by the prospect of campaign finance reforms championed by lawmakers and good government groups like Common Cause Rhode Island seeking to prevent The League from leveraging multiple PACs to donate more money to candidates.
“There’s ways around it,” Levesque said. “That’s the least of what we have to worry about. The problem now is, what’s going to happen in the General Assembly? What bills and laws are they going to pass that make Rhode Island not as business-friendly as it needs to be?”
Open seat races
Other open seat races decided Tuesday include:
- Providence House District 7: Democrat Amy Santiago defeated Republican Chris Ireland (LORIB endorsed).
- Providence House District 12: Democrat Arlette Hidalgo ran unopposed.
- Warwick House District 22: Democrat Zak Pereira defeated Republican Barbara Quigley (LORIB endorsed).
- Warwick House District 23: Democrat William Muto defeated Republican Dana James Traversie (LORIB endorsed).
- West Warwick/Coventry/Warwick House District 27: Democrat Angela Coburn defeated Republican Lawrence Almagno Jr. (LORIB endorsed)
- North Kingstown House District 31: Democrat Jim Sheehan ran unopposed.
- North Kingstown House District 32: Democrat Robert Craven Jr. ran unopposed.
- Barrington/Warren House District 67: Democrat Nicole Jellinek defeated independent Joseph DePasquale.
- November 5, 20266:16 am. This story has been updated to correct the number of Republican lawmakers in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.
New Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Sparked Immune Responses in 99% of Patients
Hope in fight against one of the deadliest cancers
Even after surgery or chemotherapy, the disease may
never go away completely.
By some estimates, malignant tumors in the pancreas can
recur in up
to 80 percent of patients.
Those with certain gene mutations
appear particularly at risk of the disease returning.
A new clinical trial, led by a researcher at the Mayo
Clinic, has put a potential vaccine to the test.
In a randomized phase 2 trial, nearly every patient who
received this vaccine developed an immune response against a mutated gene
called KRAS.
Mutations in KRAS are found in about 90 percent of
pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas, which is the most common type of pancreatic
cancer.
If a medicine can target cells that express these mutations,
it could theoretically keep the cancer at bay.
This does not prove that this vaccine can stop pancreatic
cancer from coming back, but these are hopeful signs, especially since other
cancer vaccines have shown similar immune
responses are linked to improved survival.
The findings are published in Nature Medicine.
Scientists Discover a Surprising Dental Benefit of Cranberry Juice
The catch: Applies to unsugared juice, not sweetened
By University of Illinois at Chicago
Cranberry juice has a reputation for being tart, acidic, and
often sugary, qualities that might seem poorly suited to protecting teeth. A
small human study from the University of Illinois Chicago, however, found that
unsweetened pure cranberry juice was associated with slower dental plaque
regrowth and lower acid production.
UIC College of Dentistry researcher Christine Wu examined
whether compounds naturally found in cranberries could affect dental plaque
bacteria, which feed on sugars and produce acids that contribute to enamel
decay. Cranberries contain proanthocyanidins, anti-inflammatory compounds known
for their ability to interfere with the attachment of bacteria such as E. coli
to cells.
“Just like sugar damage is linked to diet, I’m interested in
how the food and beverages we consume can help combat the harmful bacteria and
benefit our oral health,” Wu said.
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
Behind progressive wins in Rhode Island
RI Working Families Party: Working-class champions win across Rhode Island
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| Megan won by 20 points. Other South County Democratic women were endorsed by RIWFP and won: Rep. Teresa Tanzi, Sen. Victoria Gu and Sen. Alana DiMario |
The Rhode Island Working
Families Party (RIWFP) is celebrating massive general election
victories that mark growing power for working people in Rhode Island state
politics. Two first-time candidates – Veronicka Vega and Dr. Nelly
Burdette – unseated conservative, corporate-backed Republican and
independent incumbents, joining working-class voters nationwide in delivering a
clear message: enough is enough.
Dr. Nelly Burdette, a clinical psychologist and Lincoln mom, unseated Senate Deputy Minority Leader Thomas Paolino in Senate District 17. She will be the first woman to represent the district and the first psychologist in the Rhode Island Senate. [See: Nelly Burdette is running for State Senate District 17]
In Woonsocket, Veronicka Vega defeated Representative
Jon Brien, Rhode Island State Chair of the corporate lobby ALEC, and will be the first person of color to
represent House District 49 – or any Woonsocket seat. [See: Veronicka
Vega wants to represent Rhode Island House District 49, Woonsocket and North
Smithfield]
RIWFP and our partners built and powered both campaigns, without significant help from the Democratic Party establishment. For the past six weeks, volunteers have been hitting doors, holding phonebanks, and texting voters to get out the vote for these two working-family champions. These wins enable both the WFP-aligned Senators and Representatives and the Democratic caucus to pick up a seat in each chamber.
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