Jordan is considered to be one of the most modern Middle Eastern countries, yet a woman is killed by a male relative there about every two weeks, because of alleged sexual transgressions?which include saying the wrong thing or even being raped.
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You may be harboring the dreaded Legionnaires Disease in your water pipes and home. The bacteria can grow in the slimy gunk lining the pipes and this may be the cause of about 20% of the cases.
“The evidence suggests that the residential water system is an underappreciated source of Legionnaires disease,” says microbiologist Janet Stout.
Daniel Q. Haney writes that Stout thinks between 2 and 5% of the 600,000 pneumonia cases requiring hospitalization in the U.S. each year are caused by the Legionella pneumophilia bacteria. The diagnosis is often missed because it requires both a bacterial culture and a special urine test.
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Scientists know the Earth’s magnetic poles are getting ready to flip, so they plan to study an ice core shipped from Antarctica that can tell them what happened to the Earth the last time this occurred. They’ll also be able to find out what the climate was like the last time Earth was in its current orbit?without the global warming caused by manmade pollution. This will tell them how much of the current warming is natural, and how much has been caused by us.
Magdeline Pokar writes in New Scientist that the ice core dates back at least 750,000 years, making it the oldest continuous ice core ever drilled. The gases and particles trapped in the layers of the ice reveal information about the Earth’s climate and atmosphere, including periods of global warming.
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Chris Idzikowski, of the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, has linked each of the the six most common sleeping positions to a personality type. He says, “We are all aware of our body language when we are awake but this is the first time we have been able to see what our subconscious posture says about us.”
The most common sleep position, used by 41% of the 1,000 people he surveyed, is the “fetus” position. If you sleep all curled up, you’re tough on the outside but have a sensitive heart. You’re shy when you first meet someone, but you relax later. Twice as many women sleep this way as men.
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