Howard Berkes

Coal miners who are exposed to silica dust are at a higher risk of black lung disease. Despite decades of advocacy, new efforts to regulate the toxic dust are under threat.

Rates are now the highest they've been in nearly 50 years among veteran coal miners. Mining experts blame toxic silica dust, now more common in mines.

Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today.

Addressing a problem first identified 50 years ago, federal regulators say stricter new rules to limit miners' exposure to silica dust are expected to finally go on the books on Tuesday.

For decades, miners have called for limits on highly toxic silica dust, which they're exposed to while mining. An investigation shows its impact and the weakness of proposed rules to protect them.

Allan McDonald, who directed the booster rocket project at NASA contractor Morton Thiokol, urged delaying the launch of the space shuttle before it exploded in 1986. He has died at age 83.

The power of family history can lead a person to do lot of things. For Howard Berkes, the family tradition of facing crises head-on led him to sign up for experimental testing of a COVID-19 vaccine.

There's a change in Kentucky law that puts diagnoses of the deadly coal miners' disease black lung mostly in the hands of physicians who typically work for coal companies.

After issuing a scathing report and reaching a $209 million settlement, officials are moving ahead on an internal probe of the agency that regulates mines and a federal criminal investigation of the disaster that killed 29 miners.

Cement plants, like Ash Grove in Chanute, Kan., burn hazardous waste for fuel, causing anxiety for nearby residents despite assurances of regulators.