A Maryland teenager wants to inspire more girls to study computer science.Grace Brehm, 17, has had a knack for technology and computer science from a young age. She even wrote a book that was released in early July to educate more teens about the field."I think it was just mostly my dad being an engineer, and he was always talking to us about, like, circuits and I was always wondering how things work," Brehm said.She took that interest with her to Notre Dame Preparatory School and joined the cybersecurity club in her freshman and sophomore years, but she was disappointed in the turnout."Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of interest in the club at my school even though there are, like, 600 students that can join the club — only about 10 or 15 students are actually in the club," Brehm said.Just down the road at the all-boys Loyola Blakefield, Brehm said the cybersecurity club is one of the biggest of its kind in the area."It has more than 100 students involved, which was really a big change from NDP's only 10 students," Brehm said.So, in junior year, Brehm joined Loyola's club and became the only girl on the team. She made it her mission to find out why more girls weren't interested in computer science."There just aren't a lot of resources that are aimed towards women. Like, textbooks usually use more stereotypical males, colors are black and red and black and blue, and there are just not a lot of female role models in the field, which is really unfortunate," Brehm said. So, she set out to change that. The teen wrote and published the book "An Introduction to Computer Science for Young People," which shares some basics about the field."On the cover of the book, I chose colors that are both stereotypically male and female -- so, red, blue, purple — and things to try to get everyone involved. I also chose to include the stories of some really important female leaders," Brehm said. "I hope it is definitely going to inspire a lot of people, and hopefully girls, to join the field, and hopefully, they will see me and think that they can do something and that they can make a change." Watch the video above for the full story.

CINCINNATI —

A local professor who studies misinformation about vaccines on social media is adding new insights into the concerns by President Biden that the myths are “costing lives.”

“There are groups of individuals that are doing the work to try to create misinformation, propaganda for various reasons, even monetary reasons,” said Northern Kentucky University's Dr. Traian Marius Truta.

Truta is a professor of computer science, and since 2018, has studied vaccine misinformation spread by social media. Truta said determining exactly how much of an impact misinformation has is hard to quantify.

“Social media plays a huge role in spreading misinformation however, social media also plays an important role in eliminating misinformation,” Truta said.

One myth that gained traction on social media was that the vaccine had a tracking device, another myth claimed that the vaccine made people magnetic. Truta said the most ridiculous claims are believed by fewer people.

“There are some, but very few. I doubt there are very many that are not taking their vaccine because of those claims,” Truta said.

Social media is only one part of the complex misinformation issue. Even if it is hard to measure, the impact is apparent to many doctors.

“The medical community and the scientific communities are trying to get good scientific information out there but it’s a constant uphill battle when things are coming from all different sources that are untrue,” said TriHealth medical director for infectious diseases Dr. Stephen Blatt.

Overdramatizing actual side effects is another form of misinformation and is sometimes very effective. Blatt said false claims that sound like they could be real are also hard to stop.

“One of the ones that’s come up recently is that the COVID vaccine interferes with fertility in men in women. That’s not true. The vaccines are very safe, even in pregnant women and they don’t cause infertility and that’s important to know,” Blatt said.

President Biden and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are calling on social media platforms to do more to reign in misinformation about vaccines.

“We know that health misinformation harms people’s health. It costs them their lives,” Murthy said.