Category Archive

Someone’s got their thinking cap on: Those with asthma or allergies can now look to the nearest flagpole to find out how aggravating the outdoors will be for the day. Color-coded flags will fly at seven middle schools and several businesses around the county to alert residents on the state of the air, thanks to the Alamance Child Asthma Coalition. … Read More

The "Soup Nazi" restaurant (the real one) has been hit with 109 health code violations.

You remember Jennifer Mee, that poor 15-year-old girl in Florida who had the hiccups that wouldn’t go away for five weeks? And then, one morning two weeks ago, they just suddenly stopped after a visit to a hypnotist’s office? Well, she returned to school Wednesday, to the cheers and ovations of her fellow students. And then yesterday, well, they’re baaaa-aaack!

Wait until the weekday, if you can. Here’s why.

Health news: As little as five minutes of exercise could help smokers quit, says a new study. Research published in the international medical journal Addiction showed that moderate exercise, such as walking, significantly reduced the intensity of smokers’ nicotine withdrawal symptoms. "If we found the same effects in a drug, it would immediately be sold as an aid to help … Read More

We really need to overhaul health care big time: Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday. A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him. If his mother had been insured. If his family had not lost its Medicaid. If Medicaid dentists weren’t so hard to find. If his mother hadn’t been focused on getting a dentist for his … Read More

This is the warning label for radiation that we’re all used to: Apparently, people didn’t "get" what this meant, so the International Atomic Energy Agency has just announced and released a new universal symbol: For those of you didn’t understand the old universal symbol, let me translate the new one, just so we’re all the same page: WARNING!  A SHIP’S … Read More

Another viral video from YouTube.  This one however, is actually educational and even inspiring. The short homemade film is entitled "In My Language" and it shows the Amanda Baggs in her typical routine. Amanda Baggs has severe autism. She didn’t cry when she was born. She had to be taught how to nurse. As a little girl, she rocked her … Read More

I first blogged about her last Friday. Yes, she still has the hiccups.  But now she’s plagued with something else …instant celebrity: ST. PETERSBURG – The notes under the door. The incessant phone calls. The impassioned pleas, all begging for a piece of the story. It wasn’t reporters in search of secret intelligence involving the war in Iraq. The subject: … Read More

She was on the Today show this morning, so maybe you already know this story: She has tried holding her breath. Drinking water from the far side of the glass. Putting sugar under her tongue. Sipping pickle juice. Breathing into a paper bag. But none of those home remedies has helped 15-year-old Jennifer Mee, who started hiccupping three weeks ago … Read More

Check your Peter Pan peanut butter.  You might want to throw it out: ConAgra Foods Inc. told consumers to discard certain jars of Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter after the spread was linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened almost 300 people nationwide. Lids of jars with a product code beginning "2111" can be returned to ConAgra … Read More

If you’ve never heard of body identity integrity disorder, or BIID, then this first-person article will be a mind-blower. BIID is a psychological disorder in which the sufferer, who is usually "normal" in all other respects, does not "identify" with certain parts of his or her body.  This usually manifests itself in childhood, and carries into adulthood, when the sufferer … Read More

So this guy has a stroke, right? And part of his brain is damaged.  A little-known and little-understood part called the "insula". After the stroke, he discovers that he simply "forgot" that he was a two-pack-a-day smoker.  No cravings.  No urges.  No withdrawal.  Not even a conscience attempt to quit.  He just stopped. Could this be a clue to stop … Read More

People who are nicer have more active brains (specifically, larger posterior superior temporal sulci) than people who do not engage in altruistic helping behavior, according to a new study by Duke researchers. More here: Altruism describes the tendency of people to act in ways that put the welfare of others ahead of their own. Why some people choose to act … Read More