Jessica Naudziunas
Jessica Naudziunas is Harvest Public Media's connection to central Missouri, working out of the KBIA offices in Columbia, Mo. She joined Harvest in July 2010. Jessica has spent time on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday and WNYC's Soundcheck, and reported and produced for WNIN-FM in Evansville, Ind. She grew up in the city of Chicago, studied at the University of Tulsa and has helped launch local food gardens in Oklahoma and Indiana.
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Researchers found a fivefold increase in cases of kids being treated for injuries from swallowed magnets between 2002 and 2011. Small children were tempted by tiny, ball-shaped magnets. Older kids ran into trouble using magnets to simulate body piercings. -
McDonald's may seem to be everywhere, but there are still 105 countries without the fast food giant, from Ghana to Jamaica to Yemen to Tajikistan. In six countries, McDonald's once had a presence, but due to economics, and sometimes politics, the franchises closed. -
Every 30 minutes a child ends up in the emergency room after being injured by a television. Flat screen TVs aren't necessarily safer, according to a study. They are heavy and perhaps even more likely to tip over than those old tube monsters. Experts say TVs need to be tethered to a wall. -
Smoking and drinking go together like, well, smoking and drinking. A study with rats sheds light on the brain chemistry behind why smokers seem to be more likely to drink, and sometimes to drink to excess.
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A fossilized tyrannosaur tooth found lodged between bones in a hadrosaur's tail is giving paleobiologists pretty firm clues about the tyrant king's meal plan. And Hollywood may have been right all along — T. Rex definitely knew how to kill. -
Doctors say prisoners of sound mind have a right to refuse nourishment and must not be force-fed. -
Since 2007, the Food and Drug Administration has had the power to require drugmakers to continue studying the safety of their pills or other medicines as a condition for approving them in the first place. An analysis finds that many studies are behind schedule. -
Five people burst into flames last year after spray-on sunscreen ignited on their skin. The manufacturer has recalled those sprays, but the Food and Drug Administration says sprays can still pose a fire risk because they include flammable chemicals. So spray carefully, or opt for a shirt. -
Long John Silver's Big Catch platter has plenty of fans. But the limited-time seafood dish is anything but healthful: The fish dish, complete with onion rings and hush puppies, comes in at a whopping 33 grams of trans fats — more than two weeks' worth, according to a nutrition watchdog group. -
Kevin West, author and blogger, takes NPR's Lynn Neary to a farmers market to choose the summer's best produce for canning. "You take this experience ... and you put it in the jar. And six months from now we will re-experience that moment," West says.
