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Total number of posts: 23556
Finally, an easy way to find out what’s in your food
So what’s in the food you eat? How much sugar is in that cookie? Which foods contain arsenic? The Environmental Working Group spent 3 years to create a database of 80,000 products with all their ingredients. Foods get a score of 1 through 10 (1 is the best) based on how well they perform in three Read More...
Cocoa could help reverse memory decline
Meditation is the only proven way to prevent dementia, but cocoa could actually reverse age-related memory loss. A study from Columbia University found that memory decline in adults happens in an isolated part of the brain. It just so happens that the part of the brain associated with memory loss Read More...
World’s greenest economies
The 2014 Global Green Economy Index ranked the world’s nations into two lists: what countries are green, and what countries are perceived to be green. While perception is obviously less important than performance, the differences in the two lists are interesting. The US scored 6th on perception, Read More...
Daydreaming helps you think
Usually when we’re working on a difficult problem we try to keep our minds from running astray, but scientists have found the opposite might be true. When you daydream you activate an area of the brain called the “default network”, traditionally thought to impair mental performance, not Read More...
It’s good to give
We’ve all felt the high that comes from giving. Now, science suggests there is a biological basis for it. When researchers gave subjects some money and a list of causes to which they might contribute and tracked their brain activity when they did so, they found that the mere thought of giving Read More...
Talking therapy better than drugs for social anxiety
Social anxiety disorder affects about 15 million adults in the US, and it’s typically treated with a range of psychiatric medications. But a new analysis has found that cognitive behavioral therapy is notably better than drugs for managing this condition, in addition to being much safer. Read More...
Boeing turns cooking oil into fuel
Gutter oil: what can we do with it? Well, put in the tank of a Boeing! That's what the US aircraft maker must have thought after revealing plans earlier this year to green its fleet. A factory in China will convert thousands of gallons of used cooking oil into Read More...
Expanding the EPA’s Clean Power Plan
If you’ve ever noticed smoke billowing from a power plant and been concerned about the effect that is having on the environment, don’t worry—you’re not alone. This past June, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released the Clean Power Plan, a proposal that endeavors to Read More...
Coal use in China falls
This is a statistic we really want to see going down. Being outside in some of China’s polluted cities can be worse for your health than smoking cigarettes. The main contributor to China’s notorious pollution is the incessant burning of coal. Coal is also a major contributor to the fast-rising Read More...
Ebola vaccines coming to Africa in two months
Scientists in various countries are battling to control the Ebola epidemic. The first two vaccines are on track to be distributed in West Africa in January and a third should be available shortly after. Currently human stability tests of the vaccines are being carried out on small groups of Read More...