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The search for a missing tourist vessel near Titanic wreck · Apple News Today

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  Shumita Basu, Narrating: Good morning! It's Tuesday, June 20th. I'm Shumita Basu. This is "Apple News Today." On today's show… Why cancer drugs are in short supply, Gen Z is going public about plastic surgery, and how astronomers are fighting photobombers in outer space.
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  But first, let's take a look at some major stories in the news. A search is underway in the Atlantic for an underwater tourist vessel that was visiting the Titanic wreckage. Five people were on board when the submersible went missing. It launched Sunday morning with only a four-day oxygen supply. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger is leading the rescue effort.
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  John Mauger: It is a remote area and it is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets.
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  The Royal Canadian Air Force is helping the U.S. Coast Guard in the search, which includes planes and boats. The submersible was sent by OceanGate Expeditions, which charges a quarter-million dollars to see the Titanic wreckage up close.
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  On land in the U.S., powerful tornadoes, extreme heat, and other severe weather are hitting states in the South and the Plains. At times, people have had to endure the heat without power to run air conditioning or fans. High winds downed power poles and wires over the weekend, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana without electricity.
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  And Secretary of State Antony Blinken is coming off a busy series of top-level talks in China, including a meeting with Xi Jinping. Blinken says the conversations were "candid," which is often diplomatic speak for "heated." Blinken told "NPR" that he'd like to see China do more to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
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  Antony Blinken: If China can play a constructive role in… when the time is right, finding a just and durable peace in Ukraine and ending Russian aggression, that would be a good thing. And we've applauded some parts of the peace principles that they put out, very consistent with our own, particularly when it comes to protecting Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
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  Cancer patients are increasingly facing a problem. Some crucial drugs used in treatments are in dangerously short supply. And experts say it may be months before the issue is fixed.
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  NPR explains how the economics of the generic drug system drives this. Manufacturers are under constant pressure to keep costs low. Thin profit margins can make it hard to stay in business. And sometimes, companies cut dangerous corners. FDA inspectors recently found major safety and quality violations at an overseas plant that made about half of key cancer drugs in the U.S. It's shut down, and it's not clear whether another company will pick up the slack.
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  Dr. Kevin Schulman, a professor of medicine and business at Stanford University, told "NPR" this is a big global problem.
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  Dr. Kevin Schulman: I mean, we save hundreds of billions of dollars a year using generic drugs rather than brand name drugs, but we only save that money if the drugs are available.
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  Doctors and patients now confront difficult choices when they can't get preferred drugs. Denver oncologist Dr. Jennifer Rubatt told "NPR" she's struggling with this.
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  Dr. Jennifer Rubatt: When I was faced with this drug substitution for a young woman with young kids, I did cry because, if her cancer comes back, I am always gonna question if it was because I had to give her a substitute.
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  Last month, the Society for Gynecologic Oncology issued new guidance on how deal with drug shortages. It recommends using minimum doses, stretching time between treatments. It even says doctors should scrape droplets from multiple vials, to make every last bit of this now scarce resource last as long as possible.
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  Plastic surgery has often been the kind of thing that people didn't really talk about, whether it's celebrities or regular people. But "The Washington Post" looks at how something different is happening with Gen Z. If you scroll TikTok, you see young people not only admitting to having work done, they're documenting their procedures in detail. Madeleine Aggeler at "The Post" told us how social media, and even pandemic video conferencing, may be driving demand for more plastic surgery among young people.
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  Madeleine Aggeler: They're constantly looking at themselves on the computer and videos. And when you're looking at yourself all the time, you are noticing little imperfections. You're noticing a little extra bit of skin here or asymmetry here.
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  People under 30 are a minority of plastic-surgery patients, but doctors told her there's been a big jump in recent years. According to plastic surgeons Aggeler spoke to, Gen Z is getting cosmetic work done younger than previous generations, and they often come in knowing exactly what they want, having seen influencers' videos about certain procedures. That's a big surprise to surgeons, who say older patients typically turn to them for recommendations.
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  Aggeler: What they've noticed is that younger patients coming in, patients who are under 30, tend to be really comfortable with risky procedures. The plastic surgeon said that they've noticed that a lot of younger patients don't seem to have a lot of fear around plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures, in part because these TikToks and Instagrams make it look so easy. And so, if we're making these procedures look easy in a 30-second TikTok, that can be a little bit dangerous sometimes.
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  Aggeler was wrestling with the contradictions in this mainstreaming of plastic surgery. In many ways, it cuts against something that Gen Z has embraced: body positivity.
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  Aggeler: They had Instagram filters, Snapchat filters, reality TV, all of these outside forces that are like, "Yeah, love your body, but also, what if you looked completely different? What if your nose was smaller? What if you had bigger lips?" And I think it's challenging to navigate those two things of like, accept yourself, but also maybe change yourself completely.
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  Photobombing in outer space. It's a thing. All of our fancy space cameras keep snapping these images where satellites end up blocking the view. And the stakes of a photobomb are much higher in the cosmos than here on Earth.
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  "Wired Magazine" explains why scientists looking through telescopes hate it so much when satellites get in the way. It messes up their ability to clearly see the planets and stars they need to study, making their work tougher. And this problem is getting worse. Over the last two decades, "Wired" reports that the number of satellite photobombs have doubled.
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  Astronomers do have a few ways to correct ruined shots, including software that can track satellite trails and digitally remove them, kind of like Photoshop. And companies that make satellites are trying to help too. One experiment involves covering satellites with a thin film to darken them so that they reflect less light. But that's a work in progress.
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  If you want to really nerd out and see what a space photobomb looks like, you can check out the full "Wired" story in the Apple News app.
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  And if you're already listening in the News app right now, stick around.
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  We've got a narrated article coming up next from "GQ" about the Bronner family, of "Dr. Bronner's" soaps. You know, the one with all the text on the labels? It started out as a quirky, family-run business. Today, it rakes in close to 200 million dollars a year. And the family's remained committed to sharing their counterculture beliefs.
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  So sit back, enjoy listening to that, and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.
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