China’s more affluent generation of middle class families have been raising more and more pampered children bringing a growing blight of obesity to Chinese society.
In a sleepy riverside village in Southern China, three-year-old Lu Zhihao tears around his home; his belly, arms and legs wobbling with fat as he stuffs a pear into his mouth.
Imposter scams are now No. 6 on the FTC’s list of Top Ten Complaints for 2010.
Imagine getting an e-mail from the FBI. What would you do? Chances are you’d respond to find out what’s up. And bad guys who pretend to be FBI agents are counting on that.
Continue reading… “Government Impersonator Scams on the Rise”
Stink bugs
Stink bugs, the smelly scourge of the mid-Atlantic, are hitch-hiking and gliding their way across the country. Officially known as the brown marmorated stink bug, sightings of the pest have been reported in 33 states, an increase of eight states since last fall. (video)
Continue reading… “Stink Bug Epidemic Spreads to 33 U.S. States”
“Patients need to be asked ‘can you afford your medications?’
A significant portion of people – perhaps as many as one in five – don’t take drugs a doctor has prescribed because they can’t pay for them, according to a new survey of people visiting an emergency room.
Continue reading… “1 in 5 People Don’t Take Prescription Drugs Because of Cost”
Schools under pressure to abolish corporal punishment.
Tyler Anastopoulos got in trouble for skipping detention at his high school recently, he received the same punishment that students in parts of rural Texas have been getting for generations.
Plastics have officially entered the food chain, as seen in the deadly effect things like Styrofoam and bottle caps have on sea turtles and albatross, and even whales. However, how far into the food chain is plastic going? It seems even microbes are eating their fill, though whether or not they’re actually digesting the plastic or just passing it up the chain to larger life forms is still a big question. Regardless, researchers including Tracy Mincer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and colleagues have found bacteria that is feasting on plastics found in the ocean.
Continue reading… “Marine Microbes Found Feasting On Plastic”
Millions of spiders have crawled into trees in Pakistan to escape flood waters, shrouding them with their silky webs. The eye-catching phenomenon is an unexpected side-effect of last year’s flooding which claimed the lives of almost 2,000 people.
However, since the monsoon weather devastated the nation last July, much of the water has still not yet receded. The tiny insects have sought refuge amongst the trees weaving beautifully intricate webs between the leaves. The branches are now so cocooned in spiders webs it gives the appearance of them being shrouded in a large net…
Continue reading… “Trees Cocooned in Spiders Webs Reducing Risk of Malaria in Pakistan”
Teens don’t want to miss emergency texts, even late-arriving ones.
10th-grader Ashley Olafsson sleeps with her cellphone under her pillow so she doesn’t miss “emergency’’ texts — “like if a friend broke up with her boyfriend.’’ Stephanie Kimball of Waltham, 14, is also available for urgent overnight correspondence, such as, “Hey, seeing if you’re awake.’’ Dedham ninth-grader Courtney Johnson gets as many as 100 texts while in bed. “I just don’t feel like myself if I don’t have my phone near me or I’m not on it,’’ she said.
Continue reading… “Texting Teens Exhausted by Being ‘On Call’ All Night”
A deadly drug-resistant bacteria is spreading to elderly patients in nursing and long-term care facilities in Los Angeles County, according to CBS Local Los Angeles. Today 350 cases have been counted, most found in the elderly population. It’s called the CRKP bacteria and currently, it has no cure…
Continue reading… “Drug Resistant Superbugs Hit U.S. Hospitals and Nursing Homes”
The Motor City’s engine is dying. Detroit’s population shrank by more than 25% in the last decade, according to Census statistics reported in the New York Times. The city’s population fell to 713,777 in 2010, a drop of almost 240,000 residents. That’s 100,000 more than Katrina-ravaged New Orleans lost.
Continue reading… “Detroit’s Population Shrank 25% in Last Decade”
Where are all the nuclear power plants?
At Nature blogs, Declan Butler has put together a really info-dense mapping of the world’s nuclear power plants, using Google Earth. Nifty stuff for anybody whose interest in nuclear power has gone up significantly in recent weeks…
Continue reading… “Google Map of the World’s Nuclear Power Plants”
For reasons unknown, Microsoft has changed the settings on Hotmail to disable HTTPS for users in several countries including Bahrain, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Hotmail users in those countries can now be readily spied upon by ISPs and their governments. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has some good perspective…
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.