Volunteering May Boost Kids’ Well-Being

Kids and teenagers who volunteer may be helping not only their communities, but also themselves, according to research published May 30 in JAMA Network Open.

Volunteering through school, a religious organization, or a community group is associated with better overall health and wellness among children and adolescents, the researchers found. Compared to kids who hadn’t parti…

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Annual Climate Change Deaths Could Top Infectious Disease By 2100

In recent decades, tens of thousands of people around the globe have died as the result of extreme heat, and yet the phenomenon of deadly heat would be easy to miss. That may not be true much longer.

A new analysis published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that, if left unchecked, climate change could drive temperatures up to the point where they would lead …

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There’s No Such Thing as a New Normal With Climate Change

Melanie Guttmann, co-founder of Letzte Generation (Last Generation), a German climate group, once spent six days in jail after being arrested during a protest. She told me it was one of the worst experiences of her life. “I just wanted to get out of there and have a peaceful life, spend some time with the people I love, start a family.” But ultimately, she says, it was worth it, and…

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Why William Shatner’s History-Making Spaceflight Is Something to Celebrate

You could be forgiven for never having heard of The Butler’s Night Off, an obscure 1951 Canadian film that was a little bit of noir, a little bit of comedy and a whole lot of forgettable. Indeed it would have been forgotten entirely, were it not for a small part played by a 20-year-old actor whose character name was simply listed as “a crook” and whose real name, as p…

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With Innovation, We Can Keep Reducing the Toll of COVID-19

Scrolling through social media these days, you’ll see that loud extremists continue to dominate COVID-19 discourse. At one pole are the denialists who argue—incorrectly—that COVID is “just a cold.” At the other are those who suggest that no meaningful progress has been made in controlling its devastation. The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.

We h…

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To Leap-Frog Fossil Fuels, Africa Needs More Clean Energy Investment

Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) announced that the world had reached a new tipping point, with more than half of global energy investments going into clean and renewable technologies. But that spark of good news in an otherwise grim year for the climate seems to have largely sidestepped Africa. The continent received only 2% of global green energy investments in 2023, d…

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Your Brain Doesn’t Want You to Exercise

If the benefits of physical activity were distilled into a pill, everyone would be on it. Studies show that moving improves nearly every aspect of health: boosting sleep, strength, and mental well-being while slashing the risk of chronic conditions and premature death. What’s more, studies show that exercise has a positive impact even when done in very short chunks and with no equipment or fa…

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Why Health Officials Are Warning This Tick Season Could Be Worse Yet

“This year, there are worse ticks than many of us have ever seen in our lives,” says Janet Foley, an epidemiologist at the University of California Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

Ticks are roaming American forests in greater numbers this year than any in recent memory leaving thousands of humans at risk for lyme disease, say public health officials. And things could get …

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Why Eating Toothpicks Is a Viral Trend

South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) issued a warning urging people to stop eating deep fried toothpicks. Videos of people preparing and eating the toothpicks have gone viral on TikTok and Instagram in recent months, and appear to be especially popular in South Korea. 

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