Think climate change is one of the world’s biggest problems? said Alex B. Berezow. Think again. Global warming doesn’t even crack the top 10 of the planet’s immediate concerns. Number 1 on that list: poverty. Nowhere near as “sexy” or “trendy” as climate change, it’s still the single biggest threat facing humanity. Hundreds of millions of people go hungry every […]
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We’re more reliant than ever on prescription medications. Should we be worried? Looking at the numbers alone, the U.S. runs almost entirely on Prozac and heart pills. They’re among the most prescribed medications, according to our national annual checkup from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which this year included a special report highlighting the ever growing […]
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According to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO) around 7 billion people are breathing polluted air. Tens of millions dying from air pollution worldwide are dying every year. Polluted air can raise the risk of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and other chronic respiratory health issues. In a study back in 2015 they found that air pollution has […]
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Rome Penitent Pope Francis with centuries of precedent, publicly went to confession in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was believed to be the first time confessing his own sins. The priest hearing his confession appeared to laugh at one point. Just weeks earlier, the pope also met President Obama privately for nearly an hour, twice longer than expected, an encounter that […]
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Most analysts do not believe the two Iranians who used stolen passports to board the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight were terrorists. So why were they on the plane? The most probable reason being… they were simply hoping to find a better life in the West. Decades of debilitating, punitive sanctions have destroyed Iran’s economy, environment, and health-care system. Sanctions have […]
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Having a baby in some Alabama hospitals can mean getting tested for drugs without a woman’s consent—and winding up in jail for a positive result. Alabama’s chemical endangerment law, in effect for nine years, spurred an investigation by ProPublica and AL.com into hospital drug-testing policies due to the law’s strict penalties. A woman who tests positive for drugs in a […]
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A hallucinatory party drug could point the way to the first new treatments for depression in a generation. Scientists have discovered that ketamine (“Special K”), which club-goers take for dream-like highs, also improves mood disorders by repairing damaged connections in the brain. What’s more, ketamine works within hours as opposed to weeks— even for people whose mood disorders have proved […]
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Dead and dying bottlenose dolphins are washing up along the Mid-Atlantic coast at an alarming rate. Since June, more than 120 dolphins have appeared on beaches from New York to Virginia—seven times the typical number. Early this month, the National Marine Fisheries Service declared the strandings “an unusual mortality event” requiring immediate attention. “All indications show there’s something serious going […]
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Porn star murder suspect nabbed: The Canadian porn actor suspected of murdering his boyfriend in Montreal, then mailing his severed body parts to Canada’s political parties, was arrested in Germany this week. Luka Magnotta, 29, a gay prostitute, was Googling articles about himself in a Berlin cybercafe when the owner recognized him and called police. Authorities allege that Magnotta filmed […]
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As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, comparisons have been drawn to influenza. Both cause respiratory disease, yet there are important differences between the two viruses and how they spread. This has important implications for the public health measures that can be implemented to respond to each virus. How are COVID-19 and influenza viruses similar? Firstly, COVID-19 and influenza […]
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