On August 26, President Obama created the largest ecologically protected area on earth by expanding a national marine monument in Hawaii, his home state, to encompass more than half a million square miles. It’s called the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument. [1]
The area of remote Pacific waters known for both extraordinary marine life and importance to native cultures is twice the size of Texas. [2]
A few lucky Amazon.com employees will soon get to have what so many workers only dream of: a shorter work week. [1]
The company is getting ready to launch a program that will have a few technical teams made up of employees who work just 30 hours a week, yet they will be salaried and will receive the same benefits as traditional 40-hour workers. Employees on the part-time team will make about 75% of what full-time Amazon workers make.
A tropical wave in the Caribbean appeared to be morphing into a tropical storm this week, with the potential to slam into Florida. The chance of it turning into a storm or a hurricane has largely subsided, but the year’s hurricane season has only just begun, and many Floridians fear such tropical weather could help spread the Zika virus. [1]
When it comes to the impact of tropical weather on the spread of Zika, there are 2 main concerns: standing water, and high winds.
On August 26, 2016, health officials announced the first case of Zika spread through sex by a man with no symptoms of the virus. Zika has been sexually transmitted in 21 other cases, but those infections were passed on by someone with symptoms of the disease. [1]
Read: Zika Virus Is “Scarier than the CDC Initially Thought”
Great efforts have been made to get people to quit smoking, and to help them avoid starting. The Great American Smokeout, held every third Thursday in November to encourage people to give up tobacco, began in the 1970’s. Medications like Zyban, Wellbutrin, and Chantix were introduced to help would-be quitters fight their cravings. And in the 1990’s, toll-free quit lines were launched in every state. [1]
A new study shows that mothers who use acetaminophen during pregnancy may increase their child’s risk of developing childhood attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other emotional and behavior issues. This new study was published in JAMA Pediatrics.
A new study, published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, states that as many as 1 in 10 adults in the United States suffer from a constant ringing in their ears – known as tinnitus. This extremely irritating condition can contribute to major disruption in people’s lives with a constant ringing or roaring sound sometime so intense that many people can’t find any relief. It can even be a cause for impairment if it continues to bother sufferers.
Noting how much Americans love their sugary drinks, Virginia Tech took to studying the health-compromising beverages. What the researchers found was that cutting out just one sugary drink per day can give you a noticeable overall health boost.
The study shows that extra calories coming from these highly sweetened drinks can be a big risk factor for obesity and type 2 diabetes, as many of us probably realize. Cutting out just one per day reduces the amount of calories ingested from added sugars, making more room for more healthful drinks, like water.
A new study at the University of Cambridge has found that certain viruses that affect plants can actually help the plants attract more bees for pollination. In turn, the plant yields more seeds, making the virus helpful for evolutionary growth and the continuation of the plant’s survival.
If you’re battling depression, your Instagram account might show it. Researchers from Harvard and the University of Vermont have discovered a way to ‘correctly identify’ which users might have depression, using their photos’ attributes, including brightness and color. [1]
