Mar 30 How Healthy Is Your County? A Few Miles Can Make a Big Difference By Dante Chinni What difference can a few miles make? It may be the difference between living a healthy life and struggling against a sea of health problems, according to a new study that ranks the relative health of counties. The study… Continue reading
Mar 29 Explainer: What Is the Difference Between Radiation and Radioactive Contaminants? The damage caused at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami has created a host of potential hazards for workers and residents. Radiation and radioactive contaminants can have serious effects on humans, and can spread… Continue reading
Mar 28 Ancient Stone Scraps, Stardust and Rock People Stone Tools Cut Swathe Through Clovis History Thousands of stone scrappings and chips, believed to be discarded during an ancient toolmaking process, were unearthed by archaeologists in a Texas creek bed. Dating shows the chips to be as… Continue reading
Mar 24 Tsunami Prediction: What Can and Can't Be Done to Save Lives This aerial image shows tsunami tidal waves moving upstream in the Naka River in Ibaraki prefecture on March 11; STR/AFP/Getty Images As horrific as the March 11 earthquake and tsunami were in Japan, they were exciting events for… Continue reading
Mar 24 Slide Show: Tuberculosis a Silent Killer By Talea Miller Health officials are drawing attention to the 22 countries that contribute 80 percent of the global burden of tuberculosis on March 24, designated World TB Day. Tuberculosis is a deadly infectious disease that can be transmitted through the air, making… Continue reading
Mar 24 South Africa Still Struggling with Deadly TB-HIV Epidemic By Ray Suarez Cape Town, South Africa (Photo courtesy United Nations) Thursday is World Tuberculosis Day. Ray Suarez reported on the toll of the deadly airborne disease in South Africa in 2009 as one of his first stories with the global health unit. Continue reading
Mar 24 Workers at Nuclear Plant Hospitalized, Radiation in Tokyo's Water Stokes Fears By News Desk Updated 4:30 p.m. ET New photos of the so-called "Fukushima 50" -- the workers who have stayed behind to help rescue a damaged nuclear plant have been made available this week. (Workers at the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant. Continue reading
Mar 22 Radiation in Japan's Food Supply: Dangerous or Benign? By Jenny Marder The Japanese government reported on Sunday that it had halted some food shipments to prevent tainted samples of milk and spinach from reaching consumers. Iodine 131 was found in milk samples in Kawamata, a town in Fukushima prefecture, where the… Continue reading
Mar 21 One Year Into Health Reform, What Do You Want to Know? By Lea Winerman Wednesday marks the one-year anniversary of health care reform -- and, it seems, Americans are as confused as ever about the law. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey PDF found that 52 percent of people say they don't… Continue reading
Mar 18 Top 5 Global Health Headlines: Nuclear Health Concerns, Transplant Patient Given HIV By Talea Miller Checking radiation levels in Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture. Photo by Ken Shimizu/AFP/Getty Images Nuclear Health Fears in Japan Japan raised the nuclear alert level at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant to five out of a seven level international scale… Continue reading