Just a week after a nonprofit revealed that the U.S. is lagging behind other developed countries in energy efficiency, a research firm’s data shows that the nation is the leader in denying climate change.

With more and more denial earning time on TV and in Washington, it’s not all that surprising. Still, it’s sobering to see visual data of Americans’ attitudes toward climate change compared to other countries.

The data comes from United Kingdom-based Ipsos MORI, as part of the company’s Global Trends study, which polled 16,000 people in 20 countries. The respondents were asked 200 questions about eight topics, including the environment.

The above graph shows that the U.S. had the fewest amount of respondents agree that climate change is largely a result of human activity. Meanwhile, more than 80 percent of respondents from Argentina, France, Italy, Spain and Turkey believe that humans are mostly responsible.

Of the eight questions regarding the environment, two others also gauge climate denial. The U.S. leads or ties for first when it comes to the answer the is most closely related to climate denial. When viewing the graphs on Ipsos MORI’s report page, hovering over the graph provides an exact percentage of how respondents answered.

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NEW DELHI — A new study suggests that consuming probiotics found in yoghurt and other dairy products not just help in aiding digestion but may also help in controlling blood pressure.

Probiotics are a form of ‘good bacteria’ which are generally found in fermented food. They basically help keep the intestines healthy and assist in digesting food.

During the study, researchers analysed results of nine high-quality studies examining blood pressure and probiotic consumption in 543 adults with normal and elevated blood pressure.

They found that regular probiotic consumption lowered systolic blood pressure (the top number) by an average 3.56 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) by an average 2.38 mm Hg.

The positive effects from probiotics on diastolic blood pressure were greatest in people whose blood pressure was equal to or greater than 130/85, which is considered elevated.

Probiotics with multiple bacteria lowered blood pressure more than those with a single bacteria, the study found.

The research is published in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

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Some 39 months after the multiple explosions at Fukushima, thyroid cancer rates among nearby children have skyrocketed to more than forty times (40x) normal.

More than 48 percent of some 375,000 young people-nearly 200,000 kids-tested by the Fukushima Medical University near the smoldering reactors now suffer from pre-cancerous thyroid abnormalities, primarily nodules and cysts. The rate is accelerating.

More than 120 childhood cancers have been indicated where just three would be expected, says Joseph Mangano, executive director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.

The nuclear industry and its apologists continue to deny this public health tragedy. Some have actually asserted that “not one person” has been affected by Fukushima’s massive radiation releases, which for some isotopes exceed Hiroshima by a factor of nearly 30.

But the deadly epidemic at Fukushima is consistent with impacts suffered among children near the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island and the 1986 explosion at Chernobyl, as well as findings at other commercial reactors.

But a wide range of independent studies confirm heightened infant death rates and excessive cancers among the general population. Excessive death, mutation and disease rates among local animals were confirmed by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and local journalists.

In the 1980s federal Judge Sylvia Rambo […]

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Antibiotic resistance that turns ordinary disease-causing bacteria into illnesses that can’t be controlled could bring about the “next pandemic,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden warned at a National Press Club event Tuesday.

Frieden also addressed a series of laboratory safety lapses that brought CDC lab precautions to the public spotlight. But he devoted much of his attention Tuesday to other threats still facing public health.

Frieden brought attention to the growing trend of antibiotic-resistant bacteria – which can cause patients to “enter the hospital with one disease and leave with another,” Frieden said. Antibiotics and similar drugs – referred to under the umbrella of anti-microbrial agents – have been commonly used to treat infections and diseases for the past 70 years. However, their common use has caused some bacteria to mutate and become resistant to these drugs, according to the CDC.

Frieden cited CRE – a deadly family of bacteria that are nearly immune to antibiotics – as one of the most problematic infections because of their ability to “jump” between organisms and even species.

“Anti-microbial resistance has the potential to harm or kill anyone in the country, undermine modern medicine, to devastate our economy and to make our health […]

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Plastic is an extremely durable material, taking 500 years to biodegrade, yet it’s designed to be used for an average of 5 minutes, and so it’s thrown away. Few know where this mass of junk will end up … in the oceans, killing and silently destroying everything, even us.”

Cristian Ehrmantraut has developed a prototype for a floating platform that filters the ocean and absorbs plastic. Located 4 km from the coast of Easter Island, close to the center of the mega-vortex of plastic located in the South Pacific, the tetrahedral platform performs a kind of dialysis, allowing the natural environment to be recovered as well as energy and food to be produced.

From the Architect. The idea for the project comes from a reality that, although few realize it, affects us all: the disposable culture and its principal actor – plastic

Since the 1960s, plastic has become a part of our daily lives, allowing us, among other things, to extend our lifespan. However, behind this remarkable reality lies an uncomfortable fact: plastic is an extremely durable material, taking 500 years to biodegrade, yet it’s designed to be used for an average of 5 minutes, and so it’s thrown away. Few know where […]

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