David Derbyshire Daily Mail Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:10 UTC
Social networking websites are causing alarming changes in the brains of young users, an eminent scientist has warned.
Sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Bebo are said to shorten attention spans, encourage instant gratification and make young people more self-centred.
The claims from neuroscientist Susan Greenfield will make disturbing reading for the millions whose social lives depend on logging on to their favourite websites each day.
But they will strike a chord with parents and teachers who complain that many youngsters lack the ability to communicate or concentrate away from their screens.
Dr. Christine Aschermann, Dr. Cornelia Waldmann-Selsam, Dr. Markus Kern Scribd Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:19 UTC
The Digital TV will start operating in the USA in these days. Many people are worrying about this new technology which has not been tested yet. People in USA will be the Guinea pigs and, what a chance for the industry, there is so much radiation everywhere without DVBT that you will probably see no difference to other RF. (Perhaps more exhaustion, more tiredness, the feeling of being paralyzed??)
Please see the letter in the attachment. You may forward it to your friends and to the press.
Caroline Scott-Thomas Food Navigator Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:33 UTC
Friends of the Earth International has accused biotech firms of using genetically modified crops to feed profits instead of the world's poor while increasing costs for US farmers, in a report released Tuesday.
The report, Who Benefits From GM Crops?, outlined how agribusiness corporations have seen increased profits on the back of rising grain prices, even as the world's hungry were hit by the food crisis.
Comment: For a more in depth look at the 'attitudes' toward GM crops read the following articles:
Fresh neurons arise in the adult brain every day. New research suggests that the cells ultimately help with learning complex tasks - and the more they are challenged, the more they flourish.
If you watch TV, read magazines or surf the Web, you have probably encountered advertisements urging you to exercise your mind. Various brain fitness programs encourage people to stay mentally limber by giving their brain a daily workout - doing everything from memorizing lists and solving puzzles to estimating the number of trees in Central Park.
It sounds a bit gimmicky, but such programs may have a real basis in neurobiology. Recent work, albeit mostly in rats, indicates that learning enhances the survival of new neurons in the adult brain. And the more engaging and challenging the problem, the greater the number of neurons that stick around. These neurons are then presumably available to aid in situations that tax the mind. It seems, then, that a mental workout can buff up the brain, much as physical exercise builds up the body.
London - A severe brain injury puts people at high risk of epilepsy for more than a decade after they are first hurt, a finding that suggests there may be a window to prevent the condition, researchers said on Monday.
A Danish team found that the odds of epilepsy more than doubled after mild brain injury or skull fracture and was seven times more likely in patients with serious brain injury.
Lisa J. Bunin Gristmill Fri, 08 Aug 2008 01:18 UTC
"Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."-- Anthropologist Margaret Mead
Even if you've heard the above quote many times before, the sentiment expressed is so powerful that I think it's worth repeating. All around the world, small groups of people are organizing public support for improved food safety and successfully challenging large corporations to change their behavior.
Vitamin D may be an important way to arm the immune system against disorders like the common cold, report investigators from the University of Colorado Denver (UC Denver) School of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Children's Hospital Boston.
In the largest and most nationally representative study of the association between vitamin D and respiratory infections, people with the lowest blood vitamin D levels reported having significantly more recent colds or cases of the flu. The risks were even higher for those with chronic respiratory disorders, such as asthma and emphysema. The report appears in the February 23 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Barbara Minton NaturalNews Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:00 UTC
Spirulina is considered one of nature's most perfect foods because it performs such a broad spectrum of activities in the body. Its nutritional profile shows it can replace many more expensive supplements, and its research profile reveals its dedication to promoting good health. Several animal studies have documented the ability of spirulina to arrest the development of cancer progression, reduce risk of cancer initiation, and boost the immune system. Spirulina has anti-viral and anti-allergic effects, and is a natural antihistamine. Recently, spirulina has been found effective at lowering the immune response when it has become overactive, a function that may make it effective against autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis.
Spirulina's credentials date back more than three billion years
Spirulina are microscopic coiled blue-green algae that have been around for the past 3.6 billion years or so. Spirulina and other blue-green algae were the generators of the oxygen found in the atmosphere that allowed higher life forms to evolve. These algae contain every nutrient needed by life to evolve into the diversity of life seen on earth today.
Is eating steak made from a cloned cow more appealing if it was raised organically?
The answer is no, according to Canadian food authorities.
Canada has declared organic food and cloned animals to be mutually exclusive -- which means any products derived from cloned animals won't carry the country's new organic logo.
The restriction will be introduced under a sweeping set of revised national guidelines, released last week, that are designed to regulate the country's organic food industry and prevent companies from making false or misleading claims.
Last year, U.S. health officials declared that any cloned milk or meat could not be called organic.
Craig Brierley Wellcome Trust Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:38 UTC
Could our mother's diet at the time we are conceived set the course for our future health? This intriguing question is at the heart of a new study based on an "experiment of nature" being conducted by Wellcome Trust-funded researchers.
We inherit our DNA - the genetic blueprint that determines our make-up - from our parents: 50% of our DNA from our mothers and 50% from our fathers. Apart from the occasional mutation, deletion or duplication of information, this DNA remains unchanged between generations.
The environment, for example our diet, whether we smoke, and the toxins that we encounter in our daily life, can cause changes in how our genes are expressed - in other words, how they function - and these changes can be inherited, even when the DNA sequence itself does not change. These so-called "epigenetic" effects can occur through a process known as DNA methylation, where methyl caps bind to our DNA and act like dimmer switches on our genes.
Comment: For a more in depth look at the 'attitudes' toward GM crops read the following articles:
The Public is Proved Right: GM crops are no panacea
Exposed: the great GM crops myth
GM crops 'may give lower yields'
Latest GMO Research: Decreased Fertility, Immunological Alterations and Allergies
Chinese consumers wary of GMO food: Greenpeace
The GM genocide: Thousands of Indian farmers are committing suicide after using genetically modified crops