ADHA behavior
Credit: The DailyPedia
According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 5 percent of American children suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), yet the diagnosis is given to some 15 percent of American children, many of whom are placed on powerful drugs with lifelong consequences. This is the central fact of the journalist Alan Schwarz’s new book, ADHD Nation. Explaining this fact—how it is that perhaps two thirds of the children diagnosed with ADHD do not actually suffer from the disorder (emphasis added)—is the book’s central mystery. The result is a damning indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, and an alarming portrait of what is being done to children in the name of mental health.
What prompted you to write this book?
In 2011, having spent four years exposing the dangers of concussions in the National Football League and youth sports for The New York Times, I wanted another project. I had heard that high school students in my native Westchester County (just north of New York City) were […]
Cracks in the dry bed of the Stevens Creek Reservoir in Cupertino, Calif.
Credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
A mega-drought would make the ongoing California drought look small. The U.S. Southwest could face destructive mega-droughts unless dramatic action is taken to curb emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, according to new research.
Researchers behind the study, published in the journal Science Advances, found that expected temperature increases will lead to a 70% chance of a mega-drought assuming a moderate increase in precipitation. If rainfall remains constant or falls, the chance of a mega-drought soars above 90%, according to the study.
Mega-droughts have the intensity of the worst droughts of the 20th century but last for decades. A mega-drought in the American Southwest would strain water resources in a highly populated region. The ongoing California drought has led to unprecedented water restrictions after only six years.
Researchers say their findings have […]
A Chinese shopkeeper dusts a statue of China’s first Emperor Qin Shi Huang at a souvenir shop in Xian. Making replicas of the Terracotta Warriors and the emperor is a lucrative industry for people living on the harsh and barren plains of Shanxi province, where 26 years […]
Boston citizen friendly infrastructure
Credit: Lisa Poole/AP
Big cities are usually associated with cramped spaces, polluted air, and clogged up roads. But on the other hand, joggers, cyclists, and urban parks are also a ubiquitous element in cities.
Those contradictory factors are the reason why residents in big cities are healthier when comparing 48 medium to large cities against each other, a new survey released by Gallup and Healthways on Tuesday says, part of its State of American Well-Being series. The presence of infrastructure in these cities promote active living, thus improving residents’ overall well-being and happiness.
“Policies that nudge people into healthy activities – where it is easy to walk to the store, bike to a friend’s house, get access to fresh produce and be surrounded by healthy-minded, supportive friends – are ones that make the healthy choice the easy choice,” Dan Buettner, founder of the Healhways Blue Zones Project, said in the report. “Sustained transformation depends on building an environment and establishing social policies […]
Credit: Shutterstock
Here’s something I never thought I’d say: I just went back to work after a nine-month maternity leave.
This state of affairs is unexpected in part because I’m an American, and maternity leave for many women in America is six to 12 weeks — and much of that requires stockpiling and then cashing in your vacation. Let’s take a moment and all laugh out loud at the idea that newborn care has anything to do with vacation.
This year-long leave is possible because I now live in Canada, where I moved nearly four years ago to be closer to my Toronto-based boyfriend (now my husband). In Canada I can take up to a year of maternity leave and still return to my job. The government provides Employment Insurance — it’s not a salary replacement but it helps cover some costs while I’m off.
But my lengthy leave is even more surprising because I love what I do. I’m one of the few people I know who […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
