In 2008, Japan set the Metabolic Syndrome Countermeasures Act as a new health mandate for its citizens. Contrary to public misconception, the Metabo Law does not criminalize being overweight. Instead, the legislation is meant to encourage residents to lose weight if it’s needed to improve their health. It involves annual waist measurements for people between...
James Balog is a conservationist and environmental photographer with a long history of skepticism. Since the 1980s, he would scoff at people speaking about the drastic effects of climate change. After years of these firmly-held beliefs, his mind was changed in one momentous instant. In the early 2000s, he and his crew were in the...
The traditional career path is becoming less common. In the past, people could work hard, climb the ranks of their profession, and retire with a good pension. Today, careers are much more complicated. Between frozen salaries, a lack of quality jobs available, and fear of being replaced by AI, there’s the rising cost of living....
A lump in the breast is the most well-known sign of breast cancer. It can send a wave of panic over anyone who notices one on themselves. However, there are other symptoms of breast cancer to look out for. In a general sense, any changes to breasts shouldn’t be dismissed, such as shifts in size...
Today, a cell phone can do infinitely more than an old rotary. It’s a camera, calculator, photo album, TV, shopping mall, encyclopedia, and much more. The internet offers seemingly endless information about any topic you can think of. To an outsider, one small device seems to access an entire dimension that exists only on screens....
Over 60,000 African penguins have starved to death over the course of eight years. A new study documented the penguin colonies off the coast of South Africa, on Dassen Island and Robben Island. The researchers noticed a pattern: breeding penguins starving to death during the molting season. They attributed these losses to the climate crisis...
Unfortunately, many people are sick for the holidays this year. It’s common for colds and viruses to spread during chilly weather because the cold can dampen immune defenses and increase germs’ viability. Respiratory symptoms tend to include coughing, runny noses, and fevers. But this season, a recurring complaint is a severely sore throat alongside negative...
For a long time, fats were considered detrimental the a healthy diet. In the 1970s and 80s, fad diets like the Scarsdale and grapefruit diets were all the rage. There was a new market of low-fat food products (which typically contained more sugar and carbohydrates). Researchers later questioned the potential drawbacks of severely restricting all...
People are growing wise to pyramid schemes and emails from Nigerian princes, so scammers are getting crafty. Nowadays, artificial intelligence seems to be everywhere. Generative AI platforms make it easy to procure images, text, videos, music, and other types of audio. This technology has improved over the past few years, and AI byproducts used to...
Human beings are not the only ones with a sweet tooth. Fruit bats are named after their love of sugary fruits. In fact, they can eat double their body weight in fruit, which is their main source of food. Unfortunately, a similarly sugar-rich diet is unhealthy for people. It can cause blood glucose levels to...
Solar energy is often praised for being cleaner and more sustainable than other power sources. For example, fossil fuels are finite, their sources are depleting, and they cause air pollution. Meanwhile, solar energy uses sunrays, which are unlimited and abundant (albeit weather-dependent). However, there’s an aspect to solar energy that is not environmentally friendly: land...
The joke may be on academics, philosophers, and other intellectuals. The smartest people may be comedians and clowns. Or they can be both scholar and jokester. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking are examples of geniuses who also had a quick-witted sense of humor. Studies are finding that this isn’t a coincidence, and they are linking...
