Laughter is catching and it’s also healing. Now it’s been discovered that when breastfeeding mothers of infants with eczema laugh, their babies have lower levels of reaction to the disease.
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About twice as many Atlantic hurricanes form each year on average than a century ago, but so we don’t repeat the mistakes of Katrina, when weak levees broke, scientists have developed “instant dams” that can be dropped from the air.
A new study concludes that warmer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and altered wind patterns associated with global climate change are fueling much of the increase. Researcher Greg Holland says, “These numbers are a strong indication that climate change is a major factor in the increasing number of Atlantic hurricanes.”
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Becoming a vegetarian is one way to help combat global warming, but will it make you smarter?
A new study shows that intelligent children are more likely to become vegetarians later in life. Researchers in the UK found that people who were vegetarians by age 30 had an IQ five points higher at the age of 10. There was no difference in IQ scores between strict vegetarians and people who said they were basically vegetarian but also ate fish or chicken.
Vegetarians are more likely to be female, to have more education and (therefore) a better job and to be in a higher social class. However, they don?t necessarily earn more money.
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Five years ago, we warned that this might happen and now it has: the Northwest Passage–the direct shipping route from Europe to Asia–is now clear of ice, for the first time since records started being kept 30 years ago.
BBC News reports that "historically, the Northwest Passage linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been ice-bound through the year." But global warming has changed that.
In LiveScience.com, Andrea Thompson writes that since "the opening of the fabled Northwest Passage and the recent announcement that Arctic Sea ice has reached a new record summer low are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to polar problems."
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