This solution to some plastic trash could be growing in your yard

An engineer who noticed how well mushrooms' roots can bind material together has launched a company that molds the protein into packaging material and other structures.

fcafotodigital/Getty Images Cutting carbs is tough, but using more whole grains can work just as well Some dieters are targeting the entire food group when the trouble really spurs from easily digested, highly refined carbohydrates and the blood-sugar spikes they can cause. High-fiber whole grains, fruits, vegetables and beans slow the digestion process, leaving you feeling more full for longer. Whole grains contain the entire seed as well, which means extra nutrients. And with the sauce recipes here, they’ll still pack plenty of flavor. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Religious groups drove the civil rights movement and abolition. After decades on the sidelines, religious liberals are mobilizing As with the religious conservatives who formed the Moral Majority in 1979, religious liberals now view their most treasured values as being under assault — by the Trump administration. "There are over a hundred verses of Scripture that say we are to welcome immigrants and welcome strangers," says the Rev. Jennifer Butler, an ordained Presbyterian minister and founder of the group Faith in Public Life. The group in recent months has organized a series of rallies against the Trump administration’s policies toward migrants. Courtesy of Martin Brosy via Unsplash ‘We're supposed to be invulnerable,’ but more and more doctors feel burned out — creating a public health crisis One 2018 survey found that nearly four out of five physicians feel burned out at least some of the time — manifesting as exhaustion, detachment and inefficiency. Those can be huge problems when patients' lives are on the line. A new study recommends reducing doctors' paperwork, creating new positions to track physician wellness and reducing the stigma around mental health needs. One doctor says that starting in medical school, doctors are taught to ignore their own mental well-being, creating a “toxic and dysfunctional culture.” NPR An engineer looking to make Styrofoam obsolete turns to mushrooms’ roots When Eben Bayer was a kid growing up on a farm, he sometimes helped his father move wood chips — and often found them strung together by mycelium, the threadlike structures fungi use to gather nutrients. The company he has started now grows the same protein in molds, producing a biodegradable packaging material. It's a badly needed innovation — Styrofoam currently makes up a quarter of the material in U.S. landfills, Bayer says. Rebecca Gibian/AP An enduring government secret: How healthy are the Supreme Court justices? The relative transparency around Ruth Bader Ginsberg's cancer treatment and decision to work from home for a while was in stark contrast to the usual murkiness around the well-being of the lifetime appointees. Often, as in the cases of John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia, ongoing health problems are only revealed after severe complications or death. The most extreme case might be William O. Douglas, who continued as a justice for nearly a year after a 1974 stroke left him partially paralyzed and in terrible pain. Corrected Link: Courtesy of Claire Mulkey Struggling with breastfeeding, her brain blasted by hormones and sleep deprivation, a new mom’s landed in a psychiatric unit Lisa Abramson, a Silicon Valley marketing executive, was ready to be the perfect mom. But when keeping her baby’s weight up meant feeding her every two hours, exhaustion slipped into confusion, visions of snipers and spy cams, and a threat to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. It took a stint in a psych ward for the postpartum psychosis to lift. The condition affects one or two out of every thousand women who give birth, but symptoms can be easy for doctors to miss, and U.S. treatment lags behind Europe’s. You received this message because you're subscribed to our Best of NPR emails. |  Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy | NPR 1111 N. CAPITOL ST. NE WASHINGTON DC 20002