Lifestyle

Dr. Stephen Schoenthaler, a Professor of Criminal Justice at the California State University in Stanislaus, has long argued that there is a link between a healthy diet and decreased aggressive behaviour, as well as with increased IQ and school performance. Dr. Schoenthaler is well-known for a youth detention center study where violations of house rules fell by 37% when vending machines were removed and the cafeteria replaced canned food by fresh alternatives. He summarizes his findings by saying that “Having a bad diet right now is a better p

Several explosions hit popular tourist destination areas in Kuta Beach, Indonesia early today, killing at least 19 people and injuring 100 others. Between 11:50 and 12:00 UTC, three explosions hit the Kuta Square and Jimbaran Beach, two popular Western tourist areas in Bali. The Indonesian national news agency, ANTARA, reported that the first two explosions occurred at 6:50 p.m. local time, near a Jimbaran food court and the third blast at 7:00 p.m. in Kuta Town Square. Other reports claim that the blasts occurred at around 7:15 p.m. The two

The British Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, announced during the week that junk food is to be banned from schools in England from September 1st 2006. Items such as crisps, sweets, chocolate bars and chewing gum are expected to be among the items banned. Junk foods are classified as those high in fat, salt or sugar. Recently the British government committed £280m to improving school food over the next three years. That followed a campaign by celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, to improve school food. The action by the British government to ban junk

A United Nations health expert who is co-ordinating the response to the recent south-east Asian bird flu outbreak, has warned that the disease could kill 'up to 150 million' people in the near future. Dr David Nabarro told the BBC that a new outbreak of bird flu was possible, with migratory birds carrying the disease to Africa or the Middle East where the human death toll "could be anything between 5m and 150m". "The consequences in terms of human life when the pandemic does start are going to be extraordinary and very damaging." Bird flu —

The American Food and Drug Administration has recalled operational rations (MREs) donated by Britain to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina. The Daily Mirror insinuated that the majority of the 400,000 rations donated by Britain, at a cost of millions of pounds, are set to be destroyed at a plant in Little Rock, Arkansas. The Washington Times reported, on September 23, 2005, that a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that the food was being held at the facility but denied any plans to incinerate the rations donated by

Human Rights Watch yesterday released a report containing new and detailed allegations, by three serving US army officers, of widespread torture and abuse of Iraqi detainees by American forces, at Forward Operating Base Mercury, near Fallujah. Prisoners are alleged to have been severely beaten, forced into painful "stress positions", deprived of sleep, denied food and water, subjected to extremes of hot and cold, and to have had chemical substances applied to their skin and eyes. Some of the abuses were specifically ordered by Military

In a new study that may have important applications in medicine, researchers from the University of California Santa Barbara found that cells have evolved a surprising, but efficient, way to regulate the transport of goods to the nucleus and surrounding organelles. Nutrients and signals outside of a cell get to the cell nucleus by way of carriers called endosomes. Endosomes travel through a cell on a highway of structural supports called microtubules. Researchers studied the motion of endosomes by putting florescent tags, which glow under c

The Tennessee state Department of Mental Health has ordered the closing of two Ex-gay ministries operated by Love In Action International Inc., a controversial Christian group that counsels gays to give up homosexuality. The state deemed that Love in Action was "providing housing, meals and personal care for mentally ill patients without a license". In particular, the state found that Love in Action was dispensing medication to patients without the required license. Love in Action has repeatedly drawn fire from gay rights groups who view it

Police at Scotland Yard have discovered that the suicide bombers who mounted an attack on London on July 7th had rehearsed their plan nine days earlier. As part of the formal investigation into the attacks, detectives studied thousands of hours of CCTV footage. The images show three of the bombers entering Luton station, before travelling to King's Cross station where they are also pictured. Police were able to trace their movements after recovering tickets and receipts from houses connected to the bombers which indicated the route of their t

On September 14, pop singer Britney Spears reportedly gave birth to a baby boy through Cesarean section. Spears and husband Kevin Federline issued a statement on their website confirming the birth later in the week, saying the following: "We are ecstatic to announce the birth of our son! Everyone is happy, healthy and doing wonderful. Thank you for all your love and well wishes!!". Spears reportedly gave birth through a Cesarean section due to the fact she did not want to experience the regular pain encountered during child birth. She has bee

The Spanish word "tortuga" means "turtle." But in the wake of the New Orleans disaster, the USS Tortuga is helping other animals. For nearly two weeks now, sailors from Tortuga's repair division have devoted much of their time during this disaster relief operation to ensure the health and comfort of displaced pets. September 4th, just after the ship moored to a pier at Naval Support Activity (NSA) New Orleans, HT1(SW) Mark Hanley and DC1(SW) Antony Graves gathered materials from the repair shop on board to construct a kennel along the levee.

The body’s immune system is less effective at quashing disease than it could be - but if it were better the immune system might do more harm than good, according to new research by Michael Deem and colleagues of Rice University in Houston. The immune system has apparently evolved to be mildly inefficient so that it achieves a balance between quick response to disease and decreased probability of autoimmune disease, a condition in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue. The authors drew their conclusions from a model of the dynamics of