The number of children taking antibiotics has decreased over the past decade with fewer unnecessary prescriptions being written in every age group, according to a study in the March 2014 Pediatrics that examined the years 2000-2010. – American Academy of Pediatrics
Simple Invention Can Seal a Soldier’s Wound In 15 Seconds
When a soldier is shot on the battlefield, the emergency treatment can seem as brutal as the injury itself. A medic must pack gauze directly into the wound cavity to stop bleeding from an artery — an agonizing process that doesn’t always work. Many soldiers still bleed to death.
Now, RevMedx, a small group of veterans, scientists, and engineers, has come up with a better way to stop the hemorrhaging.
DC Workers Pick Up Blankets for the Homeless and Launder – Photo Goes Viral
This photo of neatly folded and laundered blankets left on a park bench became the most popular story ever posted by the Good News Network in its 5 years on Facebook. The story brought poignancy to the touching photo, yet only three sentences were necessary to attract a quarter million “Likes” and 8,900 comments.
The woman who snapped the photo, wrote the story: “Yesterday this pile of blankets was all over the ground filthy, partially wet and frozen having been slept in the night before. I saw a D.C. city worker putting the stuff into what looked like a trash bag. Then this morning I walk by the same spot and see the blankets had been washed and folded… Made me smile”.
U.S. Abortion Rate at 40-Year Low
The abortion rate in the United States dropped to its lowest point since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in 1973, according to a study suggesting that long-acting contraceptive methods are having a significant impact in reducing unwanted pregnancies.
The Guttmacher Institute said abortions dropped 13 percent from 2008 to 2011, after having fallen eight percent between 2000 and 2005.
(READ the story in the Washington Post)
Iowa Business Rescues Animal Shelter in Frigid Cold
An animal shelter in Iowa had a crisis of cold noses when their furnace broke down during the sub-zero weather in January.
The Clinton Humane Society didn’t have the money to replace the heating system because they’ve been inundated in recent months with local animal-hoarding situations. The only solution was to try to raise the money.
But a local HVAC firm, the Schebler Company, came to the rescue donating a new furnace, and a large crew to do the installation, too.
(READ the story, with photos, in KWQC-TV)
Libya’s Cache of Toxic Arms Now All Destroyed
You may have heard about the ongoing international effort to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons.
A similar American-backed campaign, carried out under a cloak of secrecy, ended successfully last week in another strife-torn country, Libya.
The United States and Libya in the past three months have discreetly destroyed what both sides say were the last remnants of Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi’s lethal arsenal of chemical arms.
(READ the story in the NY Times)
RELATED:
Syria Meets Deadline, Renders Chemical Weapons Facilities ‘Inoperable’
The Idea That Turned Russian Warheads Into American Electricity
Thanks to Harley Hahn for submitting the link!
Man Uses Rake to Create Huge Murals in the Shoreline
Andres Amador spends a lot of time on beaches creating artworks, but he doesn’t use a paint and brush. He relies on a rake — and the Northern California coastline as a canvas — to create intricate designs in the wet sand, which last only hours, until the tide comes in like a wet eraser.
His expansive artwork, like that of snow artist Simon Beck, spans hundreds of square feet and is a delight for beach combers lucky enough to gaze upon his finished designs.
“Its fun,” says the 42-year-old from San Francisco. “I get to be at the beach.”
Called Earthscape Art, his beach paintings were inspired by the markings made in the sand by his walking stick.
SEE more of his amazing work on his Facebook page, and his website, AndresAmadorArts.com, where you can buy prints.
Hurricane Katrina Hero Noticed by ‘Hardcore Heroes’ and Will Smith
Ex-marine John Keller says he wasn’t trying to be a hero when he used a kayak, a hotwired boat and an air mattress — along with his smarts and brawn — to fend off thugs and save more than 200 people in his New Orleans apartment building during Hurricane Katrina.
“I really didn’t think about what I was doing, I was just doing it,” the six-foot-seven, 260-pound New Orleans native told the Edmonton Journal.
“I didn’t really think about it until I read the paper and it listed blow by blow what I did. I was like, ‘Damn, I didn’t really think I was doing all this.'”
Keller’s Herculean story is one of two in the first episode of Proper Television’s new series “Hardcore Heroes,” which premiered in January on History.
Thanks to his fearless efforts and unlimited resourcefulness, John Keller saved 244 people – half of whom were elderly and/or disabled – from what would probably have amounted to certain death, according to NOLA.com.
He still lives in the building today.
(READ the story in the Edmonton Journal)
— Hardcore Heroes heads to Canada in 2014; episode listing
Romance Novel Supports Free Dental Care For Domestic Abuse Survivors
For 15 years, dentists from around the U.S. have teamed up with women who are domestic abuse survivors in need of major dental work to provide new smiles at no cost.
Give Back A Smile is the only national assistance program that repairs teeth due to intimate partner violence. To date, the program has restored the smiles of more than 1,400 domestic violence survivors. Volunteer dentists provide on average $9,000 worth of smile-zone restoration treatment at no charge to qualified adult domestic violence survivors.
Survivors apply for services through the Madison, Wisconsin-based program, but can get help from anywhere in the U.S.
Mother in Wales Offers Free Home Cooked Meals for Families on Benefits
A mother in Wales has posted an advert on Gumtree offering free home cooked meals every Monday to families living on benefits.
Boudicca Stretton-Brown, 27, said she was happy to cook extra while feeding her own family “to offer a little help to those who may need it.”
Now people are writing to say that they saw my advert and felt inspired to donate to charity.
(READ the story in the Independent)
Thanks to Betty Wynne for submitting the link!
Photo by JF Sebastian on Flickr – CC
Mollusk Shells Inspire Super-Glass
The structure and toughness of a mollusk shell has inspired scientists at McGill’s University to create glass that doesn’t shatter. Instead, the glass bends with flexibility that comes from a network of microscopic cracks.
According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, a research team in McGill’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, led by Prof. François Barthelat, has successfully taken inspiration from the mechanics of natural structures like seashells in order to significantly increase the toughness of glass.
“Mollusk shells are made up of about 95 per cent chalk, which is very brittle in its pure form,” says Barthelat. “But nacre, or mother-of-pearl, which coats the inner shells, is made up of microscopic tablets that are a bit like miniature Lego building blocks, is known to be extremely strong and tough, which is why people have been studying its structure for the past twenty years.”
Previous attempts to recreate the structures of nacre have proved to be challenging, according to Barthelat. “Imagine trying to build a Lego wall with microscopic building blocks. It’s not the easiest thing in the world.” Instead, what he and his team chose to do was to study the internal ‘weak’ boundaries or edges to be found in natural materials like nacre and then use lasers to engrave networks of 3D micro-cracks in glass slides in order to create similar weak boundaries. The results were surprising.
The Dramatic Results
The researchers were able to increase the toughness of glass slides (the kind of glass rectangles that get put under microscopes) 200 times compared to non-engraved slides. By engraving networks of micro-cracks in configurations of wavy lines in shapes similar to the wavy edges of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle in the surface of borosilicate glass, they were able to stop the cracks from propagating and becoming larger. They then filled these micro-cracks with polyurethane, although according to Barthelat, this second process is not essential since the patterns of micro-cracks in themselves are sufficient to stop the glass from shattering.
The researchers worked with glass slides simply because they were accessible, but Barthelat believes that the process will be very easy to scale up to any size of glass sheet, since people are already engraving logos and patterns on glass panels.
He and his team are excited about the work that lies ahead for them.
“What we know now is that we can toughen glass, or other materials, by using patterns of micro-cracks to guide larger cracks, and in the process absorb the energy from an impact,” says Barthelat. “We chose to work with glass because we wanted to work with the archetypal brittle material. But we plan to go on to work with ceramics and polymers in future. Observing the natural world can clearly lead to improved man-made designs.”
Read the full paper, ‘Overcoming the brittleness of glass through bio-inspiration and micro-architecture’ by F. Barthelat et al, in Nature Communications: www.nature.com.
NFL Stars Change Two Young Boys’ Lives
Green Bay Packers wide receiver Randall Cobb and New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich are helping two young boys build their confidence and overcome bullying and discrimination in their schools.
The boys, Elijah Williams and Tyson Wheelock, enjoyed meaningful time alone with these big role models.
UK Man Creates Adult-Sized ‘Little Tikes’ Car to Go 70mph
A roadworthy version of a children’s toy car has been built.
John Bitmead constructed an adult-sized copy of a Little Tikes toy car. The registered vehicle runs on gasoline and can reach speeds of up to 70mph (110km/h).
Costing £4,000 to build, it also includes an airbag, headlights, and mirrors.
(WATCH the video below from the BBC)
Super Bowl: Peyton Manning Signing was Denver Broncos’ Gamble that Paid Off Big
The Broncos’ decision to sign Peyton Manning in March 2012 — after he’d had four surgeries on his neck, missed the entire 2011 season and was released by the Indianapolis Colts — has paid off handsomely.
He led the team to a stellar year that racked up the best offensive numbers in the NFL. They earned a chance to win the Super Bowl championship trophy tomorrow in the final game of the season against the Seattle Seahawks, which have the best defensive numbers in the the league.
What the Broncos did in signing Manning was a gamble. When Manning left the Colts and was searching for a new team, there were no assurances that he would be the same player again.
(READ the story in the Washington Post)
Home Depot, Chick-Fil-A and Others Open Doors to Snow-Stranded Drivers
It only took a few inches of snow to leave thousands of drivers stranded across the South, as inaccurate weather predictions and lack of planning led to havoc on Alabama and Georgia roadways.
Thankfully, there were businesses willing to extend some Southern hospitality to the marooned drivers.
Home Depot quickly turned a number of its stores into shelters on Tuesday night. The Atlanta-based company kept 26 stores open all night long across Alabama and Georgia.
The employees from Chick-Fil-A outside of Birmingham, Ala. handed out hundreds of chicken sandwiches for free along the highway.
“We cooked several hundred sandwiches and stood out on both sides of 280 and handed out the sandwiches to anyone we could get to,” said store manager, Mark Meadows (pictured).
And they refused to take a penny from the drivers who had been stuck in their cars for as long as seven hours.
(SOURCE: Reuters)
Photo credit: Lauren Dango, FB – Thanks to Dyan Schecterson for submitting the link to our Facebook Page!
World Welcomes the Year of the Horse on Chinese New Year
The Year of the Horse gallops in today on the Chinese New Year. Celebrations around the world are in full swing with parades, fireworks, revelry, dragons (of course) and prayers for good fortune on the first day of the Lunar New Year.
The 15-day celebration of Chinese new year starts today, with the first new moon of the calendar year, marking the end of the year of the snake. To bring luck this year and welcome the horse (which in 2014 is combined with the element, wood), Chinese believers will wear red and gold and light candles and incense at local temples.
If the Year of the Horse is your Chinese zodiac birth year, you are said to be:
Persistent 10-year-old’s Hunch Leads to Life-saving Rescue
One more hour and the 80-year-old woman would have been dead from exposure, but thanks to a ten-year-old boy who wouldn’t give up on his hunch that ‘something was wrong’, she was rescued from a freezing garage.
10-year-old Danny DiPietro and his dad were driving home from a hockey game in a Detroit suburb when Danny spotted what he thought was a dog out of the corner of his eye.
“It was late at night and super cold out and their garage was open and something just didn’t feel right,” Danny told 7 Action News.
Once he was home, Danny kept thinking something should be done about what he thought was a dog, so he asked his mom if she could go check it out.
Alabama Doctor Walks Six Miles in Snow to Perform Brain Surgery
Many reports out of the southern U.S. this week hailed people who were performing kind deeds during the freak winter storm that paralyzed much of Alabama and the South. This story demonstrates how admirably some workers perform if others are depending on them.
A doctor, who was called suddenly to perform brain surgery during a life-threatening emergency, had only one option for transportation leaving the hospital where he was located, he had to walk. Up hills and (mostly falling) down hills, wearing only scrubs and slip on shoes, Dr. Zenko Hrynkiw trudged on through the wintery mix to the main road where traffic was at a dead stop in both directions.
After walking six miles he finally reached a passable roadway where a salesman picked him up to deliver him to Trinity Medical Center. He said it was miraculous the man hadn’t died before he arrived, but insisted that any good doctor would do the same thing.
(READ the story from NPR – WATCH a press conference below)
Facebook Rescues Pregnant Woman, Many Others in Atlanta Storm
Read about the Facebook group, SnowedOutAtlanta, that attracted 46,000 fans in a day and how that buzzing hive of concerned citizens helped rescue a pregnant mom and boy who had been stuck in their car for 12 hours – with only Tic Tacs to eat – with no water.
By 11 o’clock that night, Michelle Sollicito, who started the group after winter weather began causing havoc in her Georgia city, said that at least 400 people had been helped by the group. That includes a stranded man — worried about his wife who had been in a car accident and his two children who were stuck at school. He had walked a mile from his car to stay at Sollicito’s house for the night after seeing her post on Facebook according to NBC.
SnowedOutAtlanta grew so big that it split into several regional groups. One of them was started by Chris Calhoun, owner of Avalon Limousine Service, who had access to one very valuable commodity: gasoline. He said he delivered around 15 to 20 gallons of gas to stranded drivers who had contacted with him through the Facebook group, Snowed Out Atlanta Eastside.
(READ the story from NBC News)
Thanks to Joel Arellano for submitting the link on our Facebook Page!
Photo from Christle L. Fox on SnowedOutAtlanta
The Idea That Turned Russian Warheads Into American Electricity
Last month the final shipment of uranium from Russia arrived in the United States marking the end of a program that turned the fuel from 20,00 Russian warheads into electricity for the United States.
Thomas Neff, a physicist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology conceived of the idea, later dubbed Megatons to Megawatts, to let Moscow sell its uranium from weapons retired after the Cold War, and dilute it for fuel to power electric utilities in the US. The result: Russians received much needed cash and the US benefited with an inexpensive source of power.
While in operation, the program fueled one in ten American bulbs.
Nuclear experts hail it as a remarkable, but little known, chapter of atomic history. The two decades of bomb recycling, they say, not only reduced the threat of atomic terrorism and helped stabilize the former Soviet Union but achieved a major feat of nuclear disarmament — a popular goal that is seldom achieved.
(READ the full story New York Times)