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Americans who have spent time in foster care are far more likely than other adults to lack a college degree, health insurance and a stable health care provider, according to a new federal analysis that is unprecedented in its scope. One striking finding in the report: Less than 5% of men who have been in foster care hold bachelor’s degrees, compared with 31% of other men. (Crary 1/22)

It goes without saying that cigarettes and surgery are not a winning combination. Scores of studies have shown that patients who use tobacco have poorer post-surgical outcomes. But many doctors give smokers conflicting advice on the ideal length of time they should go cold turkey before their operations. A new report released this week by the World Health Organization seeks to provide some clarity. Patients who quit smoking at least four weeks before an operation, the study found, have substantially improved outcomes, with fewer post-surgical infections and a reduced probability that they will have to return to the hospital for additional care. (Jacobs, 1/22)

When U-Haul announced it would stop hiring nicotine users in the states where it could, the reactions were decidedly mixed. “Good for U-Haul! Nicotine is a drug. … It just happens to be legal!” wrote one Facebook commenter. “I’m not [a] smoker, but I don’t think being a smoker should keep you from employment,” wrote another. (Siegel, 1/22)

More than three in five Americans are lonely, with more and more people reporting feeling like they are left out, poorly understood and lacking companionship, according to a new survey released Thursday. Workplace culture and conditions may contribute to Americans' loneliness. And loneliness may be on the rise. The report, led by the health insurer Cigna, found a 7% rise in loneliness since 2018, when the survey was first conducted. (Renken, 1/23)

The findings have big implications for employers. Lonely workers are twice as likely to miss a day of work due to illness and think about quitting their job more than twice as often as non-lonely workers. More than one in 10 lonely workers say their work is not as good as it should be. "It's important that we remember to give employees the opportunities to engage with others, to make sure we're not creating work environments that make loneliness worse," said Nemecek. (O'Donnell, 1/23)

For three years running, California’s wildfires have sent plumes of smoke across Silicon Valley. So far, though, that hasn't spurred much tech innovation aimed at addressing extreme-weather disasters associated with climate change. It's true that tech companies from enterprise software-maker Salesforce to financial-technology firm Stripe have pushed to dramatically reduce their climate impact. (1/22)

In October 2015, scientists reconstructed the genome of a 4,500-year-old man who lived in Ethiopia. It was the first time that anyone had created a complete genetic snapshot of an African from an ancient skeleton. Since then, other researchers have recovered DNA from skeletons unearthed in other regions of the continent. Now researchers have found the first genetic material from West Africa. On Wednesday a team reported that they had recovered DNA from four individuals in Cameroon, dating back as far as 8,000 years. (Zimmer, 1/22)

After 12 years and more than $40 million, an eclectic team of 100 biologists, computer scientists, and neuronal proofreaders announced on Wednesday that they have mapped the “connectome” in the central region of the poppy-seed-sized brain of a fruit fly, working out the precise meanderings of 25,000 neurons and their 20 million connections. The neural map covers one-third of the fly brain, making it the largest connectome, or wiring diagram, ever worked out; besides its 20 million synapses, the precise characterization of more than 4,000 cell types makes it the most detailed. All told, the feat by researchers at Google and the Janelia Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute amounts to a big “told you so” to skeptics who said it couldn’t be done this soon, this inexpensively, or this well. (Begley, 1/22)

Kaiser Health News: Patients Want A ‘Good Death’ At Home, But Hospice Care Can Badly Strain Families

“I’m not anti-hospice at all,” said Joy Johnston, who relocated to New Mexico years ago at age 40 to care for her dying mother. “But I think people aren’t prepared for all the effort that it takes to give someone a good death at home.” Surveys show dying at home is what most Americans say they want. But it’s “not all it’s cracked up to be,” said Johnston, a caregiver advocate and writer from Atlanta. (Farmer, 1/23)

It was a milestone moment in Big Tech’s incursion into medicine. The health care arms of Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple have yet to speak at J.P. Morgan. During the presentation, Conrad detailed the company’s numerous projects, including a partnership with diabetes giant Dexcom to make a low-cost, disposable glucose monitor. (Things got tense, there.) Mega and Lee were enthusiastic about the attention for the company, and the potential for bringing a tech company mindset to health care. (Brodwin and Herper, 1/22)

Addiction experts say women in recovery often have different needs and obstacles than men, and accommodating them is important at a time when research shows women are drinking more, and in higher amounts. The stakes are high: A report released earlier this month by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism shows alcohol-related deaths in the U.S. overall are climbing, especially among women. (Thayer, 1/22)