They are an almost inevitable feature of any upmarket kitchen, but the glamour and durability afforded by quartz countertops come at a heavy cost. We’re not talking about their often eye-watering price tags, but about the deadly toll they’re taking on the workers who make them. A new study, conducted by the University of California – San Francisco (UCSF), has concluded that these craftspeople are dying of lung disease at a young age as a result of their work. “Every day I hope that the phone rings telling me to come to the hospital to get my new lungs,” former countertop maker Leobardo Segura-Meza said in a press release for the medical report, which was published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Segura-Meza, 27, first took a job as a stone worker in LA when he was just 17. He explained that he would always wear a mask and use dust-reducing tools when he cut and ground the slabs. And yet, in February 2022, he suffered from such severe shortness of breath that he was forced to go to A&E. A lung biopsy revealed that he had silicosis and he has been on an oxygen tank ever since. He’s now no longer able to financially support his wife and children and, although he’s been approved for a lung transplant, he fears he’ll run out of time. Two fellow stone workers died while they were on the waiting list, the press release points out. So why is quartz so bad? How many people have died so far? And what’s being done about it? What exactly is quartz and why is it particularly dangerous? Quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust and is made up of silicon and oxygen. It is resistant to chemical and physical weathering, which makes it ideal for use in kitchen worktops. “Quartz” countertops aren’t made of pure quartz, however. They consist of an artificial material made up of pieces of natural quartz bonded together with adhesive, resins and, often, glass. They are popular, not only because they are robust and easy to clean, but because natural quartz can be found in a variety of colours and can also be easily dyed. The danger associated with quartz comes from the tiny particles of toxic dust that are released when it is cut, ground and polished. Over time, exposure to this dust can lead to a disease called silicosis. Particles from this engineered stone are far more dangerous than from its all-natural counterparts because of its high concentration of silica and the polymer resins and dyes that are added to it. The risk of silicosis from artificial stone was first identified in Israel in 2012, and the first US case was identified in Texas in 2015. Since then, California has become an epicentre of the disease, which used to be known among coal miners as “black lung”. What is silicosis? Silicosis is a lung disease caused by breathing in tiny bits of silica. Over time, exposure to silica particles causes inflammation which, over time, can lead to permanent lung scarring. This, in turn, makes breathing difficult. Complications from silicosis can include tuberculosis, lung cancer, chronic bronchitis, autoimmune disorders and kidney disease, the American Lung Association warns. Approximately 2.3 million US workers are exposed to silica because of their jobs, including 2 million in construction and 300,000 in other industries, according to the health organisation. How many people have died after working on quartz countertops? Researchers at UCSF and UCLA collaborated with public health officials to identify 52 stone workers in the state who had recently been diagnosed with silicosis. Of these, 51 were Latino immigrants – like Segura-Meza – and most were diagnosed between 2019 and 2022. For 20 of the patients, the disease had already reached an advanced stage at the time of their diagnosis, and have now 10 died. Their median age was 45, with an average work history of 15 years, according to the report. “Increasing case counts of silicosis among stone fabricators over the last 10 years and accelerated progression of disease transforms the paradigm of an all-but-previously-forgotten disease in the US,” said Jane Fazio, a co-author of the UCSF study. “Our study demonstrates severe morbidity and mortality among a particularly vulnerable group of young underinsured and likely undocumented Latino immigrant workers.” What’s being done about all this? The study’s authors are calling for the implementation of new measures to protect workers from exposure to silica dust and help ensure early diagnosis of silicosis. There is also some discussion of a potential ban of high-silica products. “Our paper raises the alarm,” said Sheiphali Gandhi, a UCSF pulmonologist and co-author of the study. “If we don't stop it now, we're going to have hundreds if not thousands of more cases. Even if we stopped it now, we're going to be seeing these cases for the next decade because it takes years to develop.” No country has yet banned quartz-based materials, but Australia has considered it and is developing new regulations to help reduce the risk of silicosis, the press release for the study notes. In California, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is reportedly weighing up a potential ban, and the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health has begun drafting emergency rules. However, among the challenges faced by affected workers are a lack of access to health care and the need to support their families. Of the patients included in the study, 45 per cent continued working after their diagnosis. Furthermore, demand for quartz surfaces is booming. According to one research report, the market for quartz countertops will grow to $13 billion (more than £10 billion) by 2027. All this leads us to believe that the problem isn't going away any time soon. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

This content originally appeared on Mashable for a US audience and has been adapted for

Prime Video is the seriously popular on-demand streaming service that hosts literally thousands of movies,

Turns out bears have been just as vain as the rest of us, all along.

By Max A. Cherney The U.S. semiconductor industry faces a shortfall of roughly 67,000 workers by 2030, according

Eight simple lifestyle changes could add more than 20 years to your life, research suggests. According to a study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition in Boston, making minor changes even if you are already middle aged could pay massive dividends when it comes to extending your life. “Our research findings suggest that adopting a healthy lifestyle is important for both public health and personal wellness,” said Xuan-Mai T Nguyen, a health science specialist involved in the work at the US Department of Veteran Affairs. “The earlier the better, but even if you only make a small change in your 40s, 50s, or 60s, it still is beneficial,” she added. So what are the lifestyle changes? Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter They are: Eat well. Avoid cigarettes. Get a good night’s sleep. Be physically active. Manage stress. Avoid binge drinking. Be free from opioid addiction. Have positive social relationships. Who knew stopping smoking was so good for you?... The research drew on data from questionnaires and medical records collected between 2011 and 2019. The records covered more than 700,000 US veterans aged from 40 to 99 who were enrolled in the Veterans Affairs’ Million Veteran Program. “Men and women who adopted eight therapeutic lifestyle factors could gain 23.7 or 22.6 years of life expectancy, respectively, at age 40 years compared to those with no adopted lifestyle factors,” the authors write. However, as the study was done through observation, the work cannot prove a causal link between the factors identified and differences in lifespan. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Apple has released new stable versions of iOS and iPadOS, and they're all about security

A TikTok user has issued a warning about an alleged dog scam circulating online. Noah (@noahglenncarter) claimed that people are sharing a photo of an injured dog named Danny covered in porcupine needles that need to be removed at the vet for a fee. He alleged that many accounts are cropping up online dedicated to helping Danny the dog – but they're all fake. "I really hope that not many people have fallen for this so far, but I highly doubt that because if you see this on your FYP, I imagine that you're gonna want to try as much as you can," Noah said. "Without knowing they're just trying to get your money from you, you're probably going to want to help this dog because it looks very, very painful." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Noah's clip was soon flooded with comments from fellow users: "THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT THIS!!! It’s gotten so out of hand that it’s honestly tiring now," one person wrote Another added: "I swear I saw that picture in 2022 or so." Meanwhile, a third added: "This is wild, who in their right mind would ever do this." @noahglenncarter People are using this dog Danny to take what you have #foryou #danny #savedanny #foryou #dog The 'Danny photo' used in Noah's video originates from the JMK9 Dog Training Facebook page. In April, the page shared the image of the dog, writing: "This little lady couldn’t help herself and ran down a Porcupine. Any of the 3 most important commands in the world would have saved her from these daggers. Come, Leave It, Place. Don’t wait for your dog to come back to the house looking like a GSP / Porcupine Hybrid to teach these things." According to Know Your Meme, a TikTok account called "@savedannyy" cropped up online, with a slideshow of the dog. It reportedly asked for $900 to get the quills removing and provided a CashApp link to send money. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Elon Musk has replaced Twitter’s bird logo with an “X”. The Tesla and SpaceX founder, who bought the social media platform in October, set the new logo live on Monday 24 July. It is the latest move in a series of major alterations to Twitter since Musk’s takeover. “Soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”, he tweeted, 24 hours before the change went live. “Larry the Bird” had been Twitter’s emblem since its creation in 2006. The “X” has long been an obsession of Musk’s and is his name for an “everything app” that he has pledged to launch at some point in the future. Read More ‘What a 24 hours it’s been’: Shaka Hislop gives health update after on-air collapse Twitter blue bird sign taken down from San Francisco HQ Elon Musk provides first glimpse of new Twitter logo in X rebrand

Today’s Google Doodle is a reminder that some human beings are truly extraordinary. The design, which you’ll see if you head to the search engine’s homepage, is a celebration of Dr Mohamed “Mod” Helmy – a man who risked his life to save Jewish people during the Second World War. Dr Helmy was born in Khartoum, Sudan, on 25 July, 1901, to an Egyptian father and a German mother. At the age of 21, he moved to Germany to study medicine, swiftly proving his skills as a talented physician and becoming head of urology at Berlin’s Robert Koch Hospital (now known as Krankenhaus Moabit). Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter However, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 was to turn his happy life upside down. Dr Helmy was forced to watch, powerless, as his Jewish colleagues were all fired from the hospital. And whilst he was initially kept on, he was soon subjected to discrimination and persecution for being a North African, and lost his job, too. He was also banned from marrying his German fiancée Annie Ernst (although, we’re pleased to say, he was able to do so some years later). In 1939 and again in 1940, the doctor was arrested along with other Egyptian nationals. And although the Nazis released him when he became gravely ill, he was under strict instruction to report to the police twice a day as proof he was unfit for internment. Despite being targeted by the regime himself, Dr Helmy continued to speak out against Nazi policies and, after being demoted to the role of doctor’s assistant, he made the most of his limited position by writing sick notes to help innocent people escape hard labour. He also repeatedly risked his life to help his Jewish friends. When Berlin’s deportation of the Jews began and his family friend Anna Boros was in need of a hiding place, Dr Helmy brought her to a cabin he owned in the neighbourhood of Buch. This became her safe haven until the end of the war, as Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Center, notes in its biography of the doctor. At times of danger, when he was under police investigation, Dr Helmy would arrange for Boros to hide elsewhere. “A good friend of our family, Dr Helmy…hid me in his cabin in Berlin-Buch from 10 March until the end of the war,” she wrote after the war. “As of 1942 I no longer had any contact [with] the outside world. The Gestapo knew that Dr Helmy was our family physician, and they knew that he owned a cabin in Berlin-Buch. “He managed to evade all their interrogations. In such cases he would bring me to friends where I would stay for several days, introducing me as his cousin from Dresden. When the danger would pass, I would return to his cabin. “Dr Helmy did everything for me out of the generosity of his heart and I will be grateful to him for eternity”. Dr Helmy also helped protect Boros’ mother, Julianna, her stepfather, Georg Wehr, and her grandmother, Cecilie Rudnik. Thanks to his courage and resourcefulness, all four of them survived the Holocaust. He remained in Berlin until his death in 1982. In 2013, Yad Vashem posthumously bestowed its Righteous Among the Nations award on Dr Helmy. He was the first Arab rescuer to be awarded the prestigious title. The Google Doodle artwork was created by Berlin-based artist Noa Snir to honour his Egyptian and German background and capture his open-hearted nature. Speaking about her work on the project, Snir told a Google Q&A: ": I found the story of Mod Helmy very moving. I come from a Jewish background, and the thought of individuals outside of the Jewish community risking their lives to help others during WW2 is something that personally gives me hope about humanity. "I think Helmy's case is an especially interesting one as he himself suffered persecution due to his background and ethnicity, and that still didn't stop him from helping as many people as he could. It's unfathomable to me, this type of courage and integrity." She added that she hoped people would view her Doodle and reflect on the fact that "even in one of the darkest moments in world history, there were truly remarkable people who made acts of extreme courage and solidarity". "I think we should all aspire to be the Mod Helmy's of the world, or ask ourselves how we can take example from him in whatever small way we can," she said. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The fan who goes by the name, Ryan, shared a tweet about Ross' $180M contract, stating that it was officially terminated.

A runway model has hit back at the “weirdos” responding to her after a clip of her catwalk goes viral. Marissa DuBois, an American model who goes by the name Riss, has been making waves after a clip of her walking the runway in Fashion Week went viral on Twitter. The video was posted on Twitter by the pop culture account Daily Loud and has been viewed almost 60 million times in just two days. As she walked the runway, DuBois was wearing a green bikini paired with a matching sheer cover-up. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Her curvy figure caught people’s attention and many left comments on who she reminds them of. One person wrote that she was a “blend of Beyonce and Shakira”, to which DuBois responded, “The honor”. Others discussed her body in horrible ways, suggesting that she is overweight is setting a bad example. Some speculated as to whether the model has had plastic surgery to achieve her look, but DuBois quickly shut them down. She tweeted: “For the weirdos that somehow think my body's fake... this was my senior sign in HS (high school).” Alongside the tweet was a picture of her from high school. It showed DuBois holding a big sign with her nickname and a drawing of her large bottom, referencing the name “Big Booty Judy”. “She got receipts,” one Twitter user responded. Another said: “You don’t owe anyone any explanation. You are beautiful.” Someone else commented: “Who ever saying her body fake is straight haters fr.” As well as being a model, DuBois has gained a large social media following documenting her life across multiple platforms. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.