Voice assistants struggle with CPR instructions; GOP support for gun restrictions slips; concerns over jet engines | Hot off the Wire podcast

On this version of Hot off the Wire:

» A new study says Alexa, Siri and other voice assistants could do a better job giving instructions on CPR to help bystanders respond in emergencies. Researchers asked voice assistants questions that might be posed by someone witnessing a cardiac arrest.

» Republican and independent support for gun restrictions is slipping a year after Congress passed the most comprehensive firearms safety legislation in decades with bipartisan support. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows the gap between Democrats and Republicans on the issue of guns is widening.

» Federal safety regulators are warning airlines to make sure that workers stay away from jet engines that are still running. The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that the alert follows “multiple” incidents of workers being hurt or killed during ground operations.

» A neurosurgeon investigating a woman’s mystery symptoms in an Australian hospital has plucked a 3-inch wriggling worm from the patient’s brain. Hari Priya Bandi was performing a biopsy through a hole in the 64-year-old patient’s skull at Canberra Hospital last year when she pulled the parasite out with forceps.

» North America’s grassland birds are in trouble 50 years after adoption of the Endangered Species Act as habitat loss, land degradation and climate change threaten what remains of a once-vast ecosystem. Their overall population fell by more than half since 1970 — more than any other type of bird, with some species declining 75% or greater.