What’s Going On?

Similarities and differences – COVID-19 and influenza
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 ...

Dolphins stranded in Cape Cod
Wellfleet, Mass. Over a two week span, more than 85 dolphins had become stranded along the craggy Cape Codcoastline, including 30 in one day, said the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Typically, 120 dolphins beach themselves from January to April, ...

China’s Ecological Mess
Thousands of pigs were found dead in rivers supplying Shanghai’s water, a grisly discovery that has drawn attention again to China’s toxic pollution, which contributes to some 700,000 deaths each year. Here are some points of concern: WASTE Tai Lake—a ...

Three Unavoidable Health Hazards
Worrying about everyday problems will shorten your life. A British study found that people who reported feeling even mild anxiety—the sort that distracted them, depleted their self-confidence, or occasionally kept them awake at night were 16 percent more likely to ...

Loneliness – The New American Epidemic
If you experience loneliness you are not alone according to a recent survey. A survey of 20,000 adults conducted by USA TODAY showed that about half of them said that they suffer from loneliness. They said that most of the ...

Pesticides and IVF
Women who are trying to get pregnant through IVF (in vitro fertilization) are finding that if they eat too many fruits and vegetables that are sprayed with pesticides might be the reason they can’t conceive. A study of Pesticides and ...

Preventing reefer madness
Marijuana may now be legal in Colorado, said Jordan Weissmann, but do purchasers really know what they’re buying? New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd highlighted that problem last week by describing what happened when she went to Denver to sample ...

The Greatest Era In Human History
Recent polls show that the public has fallen into a mood of pessimism and fatalism. While Washington is halted in a gridlock creating a worrisome "leadership crisis", many Americans fear that the country is unraveling. Little do they realize, The ...

Why the beach is a pitiful sight
Britain’s “decayed seaside resorts” have become a dumping ground for society’s outcasts, said Libby Purves. Towns like Blackpool, Margate, and Clacton-on-Sea were holiday destinations for generations of English families. But they began to decline in the 1970s, when package tours ...

Guatemala: A nation in the grip of depression
Guatemalans are suffering from “an epidemic of chronic pessimism,” said Jose J. Camacho. We all seem to agree that “everything is bad, nothing is certain, everyone has a price, and something evil lurks behind every good deed.” The media fuel ...