On the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to allow the sale of hearing aids over the counter and online:Rachel Smith, URI clinical associate professor and director of the audiology clinic at the URI Speech and Hearing Centers
“The intent of the FDA was to broaden access. You can get glasses at an optometrist, or an ophthalmologist, or you can get them at a local drugstore. … They’re looking to make hearing aids the same way.”
WPRI, Channel 12
On bringing ticks that have been stored in a research lab fridge back into action with just a puff of her breath:Jannelle Couret, URI assistant professor of biological studies
“It’s like being outside. You walk by and take a breath and they say, ‘What’s that? Smells like a good meal.’”
The Providence Journal
Couret is working on a $2.6- million National Institutes of Health grant to study the evolution of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease in black-legged ticks.
On a call by the top U.S. addiction researcher to deregulate methadone, a medication that can reduce opioid dependency:Jeffrey Bratberg, URI clinical professor of pharmacy
“Methadone has saved countless lives in Canada, Australia, several countries in Europe, and around the globe, providing more destigmatized care in more places safely and effectively.”
CBS News
On how the movements of right whales, sightings of which have decreased in the Gulf of Maine over the past decade, aren’t totally understood by scientists:Robert Kenney, URI emeritus marine research scientist
“Right whales are perverse beasts. Every time you think you know what they’re doing, they do something different.”
Mother Jones
Photo: istock