Russian orphanages are a scandal, said Jennifer Rankin. State institutions house nearly 400,000 children, a population larger than many cities. But less than one third of these children are actually orphans. Many “fall into the system when their parents, often fighting a losing battle with alcohol or drugs,” lose their parental rights. Even more of them—nearly half the total—have disabilities, […]
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The Chinese government has revealed that it has a nationwide surveillance system to track dissidents, and it bears the same name as the evil computer network that tries to destroy humanity in the Terminator movies. Skynet, begun in 2005, has at least 20 million cameras installed across the country in public places, including on buses and streets, and outside dissidents’ […]
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A new study has found the strongest link yet between air pollution and autism, which experts now say affects one in 50 U.S. schoolchildren. Pregnant women who lived in areas with high levels of diesel exhaust and airborne mercury were found to be twice as likely to have a child with autism as those living in places with the lowest […]
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Researchers have found that – by testing foods left on bacteria – the five second rule does not keep the bacteria from getting on your food. The five second rule states that if you pick up your food before the five seconds that it is safe to eat. As a matter of fact, the researchers found that food left on […]
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A team from the University of Witwatersrand found some bones that had characteristics of early human ancestors. They discovered these bones in the Rising Star caves in South Africa back in 2013. The bones showed that these early humans – Homo Naledi by name – had the brain size of a gorilla, the body the size of an ape, and […]
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Researchers have been looking into young children and the use of smart devices and their speech development. Children that start using these devices before the age of 2 are found to have a speech impediment. There was a study on about 900 children between the ages of 6 months and 18 months where 20% of the children were using these […]
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The oil released during the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster may damage fish populations in the Gulf of Mexico for years to come. New research from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that exposure to crude oil can cause heart defects in fish embryos—abnormalities that will likely kill many developing fish and shorten the lives of others. The study looked […]
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In a new study on screen time and mind and body development shows that it may have serious health consequences. It covered the connectivity in the brain between spending time in front of a screen or actual reading. They showed that the brain had better connectivity to language and cognitive control when the children read actual books more, over the […]
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What’s the most forbidden topic in America? asked Timothy Egan. It’s not sex or religion. It’s gun violence. We are “the most armed society in the world,” with more than 300 million guns in private hands, and 9,146 gun homicides in 2009—a rate nearly 20 times higher than that of other supposedly civilized countries. “But don’t bring that up.” Sports […]
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I am increasingly convinced that has everything to do with the nature of the space in which people encounter on another, and whether those space bring out peoples divisions or commonalities within cultures. If you are thinking to yourself “We should get more Christians to invite Jews and Muslims to their birthday parties and make them bring their own hot […]
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