The Pulse – Nov. 7, 2014

This weekend, Matthew McConaughey will head into outer space on a quest to save mankind. The new mega sci fi movie directed by Christopher Nolan is called Interstellar. The protagonist? A farmer-slash-astronaut tasked with finding a hospitable planet since Earth no longer fits that category. Well, we think we’ve got a better story from the far reaches of the solar system. Todd Bookman reports on NASA’s mission to bring home a few fast-moving particles of space dust.

Doesn’t it seem like we JUST got through the ACA enrollment period? Well, guess what, a year has gone by, and it’s time for round two. Open enrollment for Obamacare begins again on Nov. 15. Elana Gordon has this preview of what’s in store.

Health officials say not enough children are getting the shot that protects them from the Human papillomavirus. To push those numbers up, the government has invested lots of dollars in vaccine-education campaigns and public service announcements, but a new study from the University of Pennsylvania questions if improving knowledge among parents and kids actually works to improve vaccination rates.

This week’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that without substantial and sustained reductions in greenhouse gases, risks to people and ecosystems would be severe.   Among other things, the report advises policy makers to encourage the growth of forests and trees that absorb carbon. StateImpact Pennsylvania¹s Susan Phillips takes us into the woods with a Pennsylvania landowner who is on a mission to heal her forest.

In light of Veterans Day next week, we talk to two healthcare professionals who have taken several volunteer trips to Southwestern Germany over the years to help treat wounded soldiers at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. 

Also on the show, using art to cope with obsessive compulsive disorder and addiction, the implications of the midterm elections on health and environmental policies and a look at “fearbola,” the word dubbed to represent the fear of a virus that seems to be spreading faster than Ebola itself.