Sleep Troubles? Here’s How to Fix Them

Sleep Troubles? Here’s How to Fix Them - The quest for a restful night's sleep is a constant struggle for some, but gadget makers with devices that track sleep patterns are noticing trends among their users and behaviors that have helped them wake up refreshed.

By monitoring body movements at night and during naps using armbands and wristbands with motion and temperature sensors, companies have gathered data on thousands of users striving for a better night's sleep. And they've seen sleep improvement among users who've gotten sun exposure early in the day, altered their bedtime rituals and changed their eating habits. 

"Insomnia is something that most people can overcome by just understanding their sleep better ... and having the information on what to do next," said Julia Hu, founder and chief executive officer of Lark, a sleep coach device maker. 

In a study of 3,089 of Lark users, nearly 22 percent experienced symptoms of insomnia including trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep and generally spending a significant amount of time awake in bed, Lark reported. 

Notably, more people with insomnia symptoms had trouble staying asleep rather than falling asleep in the first place, the study found. About 14 percent of all Lark users had trouble staying asleep vs. 9 percent of users who had trouble falling asleep, according to the study. 

After tracking their sleep patterns and changing their behaviors before bedtime, nearly 73 percent of the 669 users with any insomnia symptoms got better sleep, according to the study. 

Using advice from sleep coaches used by NBA, NFL and Olympic athletes, Lark's sleep coaching device suggests behavior changes that could help its users sleep better, including getting ready for bed 30 minutes before a user's target bed time, avoiding caffeine after 3 p.m. and keeping computers away from the bed. Exposure to sunlight early in the morning can also affect the body's sleep cycle, Hu told "Big Data Download." 

And another gadget maker, BodyMedia, found a correlation between sleep duration and obesity among 6,344 users of its activity and sleep tracking device, suggesting that weight loss can lead to better sleep. During sleep, the body regulates hormones that cause hunger, BodyMedia explains. 

Using body mass index, a measure calculated using weight and height, the company found that users at a healthy weight got about 412 minutes of sleep on average compared 403 minutes on average among obese gadget users with a body mass index of between 35 and 40. The BMI of those at a "normal" weight is between 18.5 and 24.9, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

And losing weight can actually ease breathing problems including snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, according to the University of Minnesota. 

Besides losing weight, BodyMedia suggests that its users in need of better sleep avoid large meals late at night, take a hot bath before bed and avoid alcoholic beverages before bed, the company said. 

BodyMedia's research also found sleep differences between men and women. 

"We actually saw that women were getting more sleep than men across the board," said BodyMedia chief technology Officer Ivo Stivoric, who added that the company is doing further research to determine the daily habits that may contribute to that finding. 

One common thread that BodyMedia identified is that sleepers of all types get more sleep per night in the winter than they do in the summer. In the month of June, the month with the most daylight hours, BodyMedia users got an average of nearly 6.3 hours of sleep vs. more than 6.5 hours of sleep in January. ( Big Data Download )

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Six Signs You Need More Sleep

Six Signs You Need More Sleep - Need a reason to hit the snooze button a few more times? Sleep is as vital for survival as food, according to Dr. Mary Susan Esther, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM). And chances are you're more likely to burn the midnight oil to finish all your work (and play) than you are to pass up dinner. But chronic lack of sleep can lead to a host of health problems such as high blood pressure, obesity, depression, irregular hormone production, a weakened immune system, memory lapses, constant irritability and decreased concentration and reaction times.

So are you spending enough quality time between the sheets asleep? See how many of the signs below describe you. Then decide if a sleep deficit is holding you back.

1. You're not hungry for lunch.

A lack of sleep can make you constantly want to eat more, or persistently feel like you're not hungry. It throws off your internal clock resulting in abnormal feelings, which is why so many people lose or gain weight during periods of sleeplessness.

2. You've looked at three other Web sites in the last 5 minutes and checked your email twice.

No, you (probably) don't have Attention Deficit Disorder. Whether you're writing a quick email or solving chemical equations; a lack of sleep can make focusing seem impossible.

3. You can't remember where you put the car keys.

Your brain needs sleep to refresh and regenerate. Without it, your short-term memory may be impaired which is why pulling an all-nighter rarely yields better results than getting quality shut-eye, according to Dr. Neil Kline, a sleep physician and representative of the American Sleep Association.

4. You can't carry on a conversation.

Come Saturday night you may work a party like a pro, but as long as you're sleep-deficient, coming up with witty or even coherent one-liners is out of the question.

5. You're drowsy at the wheel.

Your eyes may glaze over now and then when you're staring at the computer screen or stuck in an endless meeting, but if you struggle to stay awake behind the wheel or doing any task that puts your life at risk you're not just bored. You need more sleep.

Caffeinated drinks, blasting music, or rolling down the windows (in January) may arouse you briefly, but it won't keep you alert for long drives.

6. You feel sick and you never get sick.

Your immune system repairs and strengthens while you sleep. So in addition to eating flu-fighting foods, log at least seven hours a night to stay healthy all season. ( menshealth.com )

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The Return of Back-Alley Abortions

The Return of Back-Alley Abortions - In states across the country, women are being arrested for the crime of ending their own pregnancies—though they have a constitutional right to do so in a doctor’s office. Michelle Goldberg on a worrisome new trend.

Underground abortions have returned to the United States, just as pro-choice activists have warned for years. And women have started going to jail for the crime of ending their own pregnancies, or trying to.

This week Jennie L. McCormack, a 32-year-old mother of three from eastern Idaho, was arrested for self-inducing an abortion. According to the Associated Press, McCormack couldn’t afford a legal procedure, and so took pills that her sister had ordered online. For some reason, she kept the fetus, which police found after they were called by a disapproving acquaintance. She now faces up to five years in prison, as well as a $5,000 fine.

Idaho recently banned abortions after 20 weeks, and McCormack’s fetus was reportedly between five and six months old. But according to Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Reproductive Freedom Project, under Idaho law, McCormack could have been arrested even if she’d been in her first trimester because self-induced abortion is illegal in all circumstances. “It doesn’t matter if it’s an 8- or 10- or 12-week abortion,” says Kolbi-Molinas. “If you do what you could get lawfully in a doctor’s office—what you have a constitutional right to access in a doctor’s office—they can throw you in jail and make you a convicted felon.”

While horrific, McCormack’s case is not unique. In recent years, several women have been arrested on suspicion of causing their own abortions, or attempting to. Most have come from conservative rural states with few clinics and numerous restrictions on abortion. In America’s urban centers and liberal enclaves, the idea of women being prosecuted for taking desperate measures to end their pregnancies might seem inconceivable, a never-again remnant of the era before Roe v. Wade. In fact, it’s a slowly encroaching reality.

Even more, these cases demonstrate that criminalizing abortion means turning women who have abortions into criminals.

In 2005, Gabriela Flores, a 22-year-old Mexican migrant worker, was arrested in South Carolina. Like McCormack, she had three children and said she couldn’t afford a fourth, and so she turned to clandestinely acquired pills. (The drug she took, Misoprostol, is an ulcer medicine that also works as an abortifacient and is widely used in Latin American countries where abortion is illegal.) Initially facing two years in prison, she ended up being sentenced to 90 days.

In 2009, a 17-year-old Utah girl known in court filings as J.M.S. found herself pregnant by an older man who is now facing charges of using her in child pornography. J.M.S. lived in house without electricity or running water in a remote part of the state, several hours’ drive from the nearest clinic, which was in Salt Lake City. Getting there would have required not just a car—her area had no public transportation—but money for a hotel in order to comply with Utah’s 24-hour-waiting period, as well as for the cost of the abortion itself.

According to prosecutors, when J.M.S. was in her third trimester, she paid a man $150 to beat her in the hopes of inducing a miscarriage. The fetus survived, but she was charged with criminal solicitation to commit murder. When her case was thrown out on the grounds that her actions weren’t illegal under the state’s definition of abortion, legislators changed the law so they would be able to punish women like her in the future. Meanwhile, prosecutors have appealed J.M.S.’ case to the Supreme Court, and observers expect it to rule against her. She could still face a trial and prison time.

A woman doesn’t even have to be trying to abort to find herself under arrest. Last year, a pregnant 22-year-old in Iowa named Christine Taylor ended up in the hospital after falling down a flight of stairs. A mother of two, she told a nurse she’d tripped after an upsetting phone conversation with her estranged husband. Though she’d gone to the hospital to make sure her fetus was OK, she confessed that she’d been ambivalent about the pregnancy and unsure whether she was ready to become a single mother of three.

Suspecting Taylor had hurled herself down the stairs on purpose, the nurse called a doctor, and at some point the police were brought in. Taylor was arrested on charges of attempted feticide. She spent two days in jail before the charges were dropped because she was in her second trimester, and Iowa’s feticide laws don’t kick in until the third.

These cases are a harbinger of what’s to come as abortion laws become increasingly strict and abortion clinics harder to access in the more conservative parts of the country. They demonstrate the lengths to which women will go to end unwanted pregnancies. But even more, they demonstrate that criminalizing abortion means turning women who have abortions into criminals.

The antiabortion movement likes to see itself as pro-woman. Most of its spokespeople talk about protecting women from abortion, insisting they’re not interested in seeing them punished. “It’s tragic that this young woman felt that this was her only way out,” National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said in a statement in response to questions about the McCormack case. “The pro-life movement has never supported jail sentences for women who are victims of the abortion culture and abortion industry.”

Tobias said her group calls on Idaho officials “to engage in more publicity about the network of pregnancy resource centers and about the existence of Idaho’s safe haven law—either of which would have helped this young mother and saved her child.” But she didn’t call on them to release McCormack or to change the laws under which she’s being charged. If these sorts of prosecutions aren’t what the antiabortion movement had in mind when it pushed wave after wave of state-level legislation, now might be a good time to speak up. ( thedailybeast.com )

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Russia marks Victory Day with vast parade

Russia marks Victory Day with vast parade – Tens of thousands of granite-faced soldiers marched in lockstep across Red Square Monday in Russia's annual Victory Day display of military might, while President Dmitry Medvedev said the country is committed to peace and global stability.

The parade, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II, is the centerpiece of Russia's most solemn secular holiday, both commemorating the Soviet Union's enormous sacrifices in the war and asserting the potency of its modern military.

The 20,000 troops who strode in precision formation through the vast square outside the Kremlin were followed by more than 100 pieces of mobile military hardware, from armored personnel carriers to lumbering Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile launchers. It concluded with a squadron of helicopters carrying flags over the square but, unusually for recent years, did not include warplanes.

Although Russian armed forces suffered from severe funding shortages and morale problems in the early years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the parade put forth the image of a spit-and-polish and vigorous military, with an emphasis on discipline and precision. The parade announcer even praised the "maximal synchronization" with which the cars carrying Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and Moscow Military District commander Col.-Gen. Valery Gerasimov approached each other in the center of the square.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, walk along the Kremlin wall prior to the beginning of the Victory Day parade in Moscow, on Monday May 9, 2011.

Medvedev told the crowd, which included many war veterans festooned with medals and ribbons, that restoring the military would continue.

"The state will continue to do everything to guarantee the dignity of military service. to actively upgrade the armed forces so that the troops will have have the most modern equipment," said.

"Today Russia firmly upholds the principles of peaceful cooperation, consistently advocates for a security system and contributes to the overall effort to maintain global stability in the world," he said in the speech from a tribune set up in front of the Lenin Mausoleum.

The mausoleum, the focal point of the square, was hidden behind an elaborate scrim painted to mark the holiday, reflecting the symbolic delicacy of comemorating a victory achieved by the Soviet regime that is now largely discredited. Some of the marching military units carried period flags bearing the Communist hammer-and-sickel emblem.

Last year's Victory Day period was marked by repeated complaints from Medvedev and other officials that some countries denigrate the Soviet Union's contribution in WWII, in which some 26 million Soviets died, according to some estimates.

But Medvedev made no reference to the issue this year and made of a point of noting the efforts of the other Allies.

"Now, new generations are reinforcing the traditions of friendship and cooperation with those nations who together with us celebrate victory. And I sincerely congratulate the veterans of all countries," he said. ( Associated Press )

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Now Muslim militants target Prince Harry: Outrage after extremists post chilling online hate video

Now Muslim militants target Prince Harry: Outrage after extremists post chilling online hate video - An extremist group is believed to be targeting Prince Harry after a propaganda hate video has come to light following the assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

The 26-year-old, third in line to the throne, is the subject of a three-minute video posted last week by an organisation calling itself Muslims Against Crusades.

It is believed that Harry is being targeted to avenge the death of the Al Qaeda leader, who was shot by American commandos last Sunday, as six years ago he dressed as a Nazi and has served the British Army in Afghanistan.

Action: The video shows a series of clips from Prince Harry's time in Afghanistan fighting Taliban forces

The video, entitled 'Harry the Nazi', shows the young royal - who was best man to his elder brother William just over a week ago - serving for the British Army against Taliban forces in 2007 and 2008, saying that 'all my wishes have come true'.

It begins with the Muslims Against Crusades sign looming large and imposing, and then sounds of soldiers marching are accompanied by Arabic voices.

Originally posted on the group's jihadist website, the video continues to show snippets of Prince Harry talking to the media while in action in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

It also shows the royal - who spent 10 weeks in Afghanistan and joked that he is a 'bullet magnet' - using derogatory Asian terms 'Paki' and 'Raghead' in videos taken while he was in the Middle East, and exposed by the News of the World.

Man's best friend: Prince Harry pictured today at a polo tournament, playing with the vet's dog

The clips are spliced together and framed in a central box, as though someone is watching the footage on a television, flicking through Harry's actions.

Outside of the frame, there is a dark border, and smoke rises from beneath.

The clips stop suddenly, and all that remains is a picture of Harry dressed as a Nazi - a decision which caused outrage, when he wore the outfit for a fancy dress party in 2005 - and then the production abruptly ends..

Best man: The 26-year-old was his elder brother's right-hand man at the Royal Wedding

The film is designed to incite hatred against Harry - who has recently been promoted to captain in the Army - and it appears to have worked. Below the video, posted on YouTube, people have written aggressive, threatening messages in response to it.

One person wrote: 'May Allah curse and destroy him.' Another, calling himself Brother Younis, said: 'May he rot in hell.' And a third poster pointed out that both Harry and Hitler begin with the letter H, and added: 'Harry the royal British Nazi.'.

Extremists: The video, which was posted on YouTube on April 29, shows the group name as a title credit

Dead: Osama Bin Laden was shot by US commandos in northern Pakistan on May 2 and Anjem Choudary, a member of the pro-Islamic group 'Islam4UK', has warned that Britain should expect another 7/7 terror attack

'Prince Harry is inevitably at risk,' a security source told the News of the World. 'As risks go up then the protection capability has to be increased.'

Muslims Against Crusades's website claims that their members are 'raising the banner for Islam' and reveals why Prince Harry - and William - are targets.

In the Frequently Asked Questions section they write: 'It would seem fitting and appropriate to condemn individuals, who sympathise with such a brutal mob (referring to the British Army who are fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya), or who promote their literature or glorify their cause.

'William and Harry are not exempt from accountability, and their conscientious decision to enrol in an army that engages in the aforementioned crimes, cannot be taken lightly.'

The extremist organisation today claimed that the video was not meant to be inflammatory, and inist that it is not a call to arms for terrorists to target Harry.

The group's spokesman, Islamic cleric Anjem Choudary did admit, however, that the video was designed to direct Muslim anger towards the Royal Family's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said the video was created to promote the group's aborted attempts to protest at the Royal Wedding.

Protests: Extremists clashed with police outside the U.S. Embassy in London on Friday

Clashes: Muslim demonstrators marched outside the U.S. Embassy and called President Obama 'arrogant'

'There is a real anger with the Royal Family about their participation in war against Iraq and Prince Harry because of his tour fighting against Muslims in Afghanistan,' said the 44-year-old.

'Prince William has also expressed a desire to fight in Afghanistan.

'This video was being used to explain why we were planning to protest at the Royal Wedding.'

He continued: 'I can assure everyone that the Muslims Against Crusades has no intention of targeting Prince Harry or any other member of the Royal Family.

'We believe in political action, not military action. We believe in the covenant of security; in return for our wealth and well-being protected it is not permitted to target wealth and life of those with whom we live.

'It is the objective of this, and videos like it, to draw attention to the Royal Family's involvement in wars that kill our Muslim brothers and sisters.'

Last Friday Choudary organised a 200-person strong protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London, so that Muslims Against Crusades could voice their opinions against 'arrogant' President Obama, who ordered the commandos to attack Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan.

They organised a mock funeral for the 54-year-old Al Qaeda leader, and carried placards which read: 'Royal Family baby killers' and 'William and Harry watch your back'.

And Al Qaeda-supporting cleric Choudary warned that Britain is likely to suffer another 7/7 terrorist attack.

'Following the boasts and gloats of the arrogant President Barack Obama that he ordered the murder of "unarmed" Sheikh Osama Bin Laden without trial or consideration of his rights and the shooting and kidnapping of his defenceless wife and son, Muslims around the world are witness to America's utter disregard for fairness or justice,' the Muslims Against Crusades website explained.

Police stepped in to separate the protesters and members of the English Defence League amid threats of violence from both sides.

Though many were shocked that the protest was allowed to go ahead, coming as it did shortly after the verdict into the 7/7 inquest was released by Lady Justice Heather Hallett.

She recorded that the 52 victims had been 'unlawfully' killed when four terrorists attacked three London Underground trains and a bus in 2005.

While the Metropolitan Police refused to answer questions about the extremist group asked by MailOnline directly, a 'police source' told the News of the World: 'The Met are constantly monitoring activity by Muslims Against Crusades.

'If a direct threat is made we will respond.' ( dailymail.co.uk )

READ MORE - Now Muslim militants target Prince Harry: Outrage after extremists post chilling online hate video

Back to reality for the Middleton family

Back to reality for the Middleton family - As the new Duchess of Cambridge adjusts to life as a global household name, the rest of the Middleton family have been enjoying a taste of normality.

Forty eight hours after standing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in front of a sea of faces, Michael and Carole Middleton were savouring the peace and quiet of their home in rural Berkshire, perusing the Sunday papers and even fiding time to mow the lawn.

The couple, who run an online party accessories business, spent the day with their two younger children, Pippa and James, at their secluded home near the village of Bucklebury.

They headed straight to the family home on Saturday after leaving the exclusive Goring Hotel near Buckingham Palace where they stayed for the royal wedding.

Yesterday Mr Middleton was the first to venture out into glare of publicity, taking a short drive in his silver Land Rover to Peaches newsagents in the village.

He returned 25 minutes later, looking relaxed with his shirt-sleeves rolled up, taking the line of photographers parked on the grass verges at the end of their private lane in his stride. Undaunted, he later re-emerged to mow the lawn.

Carole Middleton and her daughter Pippa arrive in Bucklebury

Pippa, the bride’s 27-year-old sister and maid of honour – who has herself become a global household name since Friday – had a taste of what lies ahead when she emerged in the passenger seat of a silver Mercedes C-class coupe mid-afternoon.

Wearing dark designer sunglasses and a white blouse, she also appeared unfazed, smiling broadly as she swept past a line of photographers.

As their new coat of arms, granted by the Queen, and inevitable place at the top table at society gatherings for life attest, life will never be same again for the former British Airways workers and their children.

But after days at the centre of a dazzling global spectacle, the family must now adjust to what will pass for normality.

Their connections to the Royal family could make them the subject of not only curiosity from the media and public alike but even a potential target for terrorists.

But while St James’s Palace have urged the media not to publish any photographs of the cottage on Anglesey where Prince William and Princess Catherine will live, there was no overt sign of security being stepped up at the Middletons’ home yesterday.

Even the customary police car, which has been stationed outside the converted farmhouse almost around the clock since the engagement was announced last year, was notable by its absence.

The family is however said to have been given personal security briefings but have not been assigned their own protection officers although Thames Valley Police is expected to keep a discreet watch on the property.

The Princess’s parents are widely expected to continue living in their home and running their business, Party Pieces.

They may have little choice about that - estimates for their share of the bill for Friday’s festivities range from £100,000 to as much as £250,000, including the cost of hiring out the hotel.

James Middleton, the bride’s 23-year-old brother, was also showing no sign of taking life easy to enjoy a celebrity lifestyle.

The young entrepreneur, who regularly works 14 hours days, is in the process of setting up three new businesses to complement his upmarket bakery, Cake Kit Company.

For the bride’s parents and siblings alike the challenge will now be to combine their new status as royal in-laws with business-as-usual.

As the bunting came down across Britain yesterday, the festive mood continued on Party Pieces – where red white and blue bunting was still proudly on sale at £5.99 a roll. ( telegraph.co.uk )

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New Hair Trends for Spring

New Hair Trends for Spring - There may still be a chill in the air, but there’s a clear forecast for spring hair: It’s coming undone. As relaxed silhouettes, bright colors and textured lightweight fabrics paraded down the New York fashion runways, hairstyles also unwound -- think the disheveled glamour of Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively and Sienna Miller.

“This spring, you’re perfect in a cool pair of jeans, a simple shirt and a beautiful jacket,” says Jeanne Yang, who styles the likes of Keanu Reeves and Katie Holmes, with whom she also designs the fashion line Holmes & Yang. “Your hair should have the same vibe -- like you’re pulled together, but not trying too hard. Nobody wants to look like they’ve just sat in a salon for an hour.”

Hair is getting shorter, cut in long layers just below the collarbone or at the shoulders. Beverly Hills stylist Byron Williams, who tends to the tresses of Selena Gomez and Eva Mendes, has been chopping flowing hair to 2 inches below the collar bone for an “edgier, fresher” take on surfer-girl sexy. Still, says, Lori Morris, senior editor of American Salon magazine, “There’s no big haircut of the season. Curls are relaxed and wild, and ponytails are loose and messy, as if you’ve just played tennis for an hour.” Jamal Hamadi, a favorite stylist of Kirsten Dunst, says come spring he’ll start with a shoulder-length cut that has jagged ends for more natural texture. “You want to look like a messy child,” he says.

Want to get a jump on spring? Here’s how to achieve what will be the season’s big four hair trends:

1. Loose Waves

For this surfer-girl look, start with day-old hair that has some texture and body to it. Dampen your wavy locks with a texturizing spray, then scrunch random pieces while you blow-dry with a diffuser. If your hair is straight, wrap 3-inch chunks around a large-barreled curling iron. Finish with a light-hold hair spray.

2. Messy Braids

The look: braids with attitude. Spritz hair with a texturing spray, then part to the side, letting loose strands fall around the face. Gather hair into a slightly-off-to-one-side ponytail. Braid loosely and secure with an elastic band. Cover the band by winding strands of hair around it. Fasten stray strands with a bobby pin.

3. Textured Ponytails

The ponytails that bobbed down the spring runways were a bit less sleek than usual. With the tails textured and a little bit wild, they were a fetching mix of control and chaos. To get this look, smooth your hair with a dab of gel, and then brush it into a high ponytail. To texturize the tail, flat-iron hair and then mist it with sea-salt spray. Pull clumps apart for that cool, unkempt, out-at-the-club-till-4 a.m. look.

4. Hot-rollered Hair

For sexy tousled waves, wind haphazard sections of your hair into hot rollers. Leave in for five minutes, then remove and fluff the curls with your hands. If the waves are too voluminous, lightly brush. Place a dab of shine cream onto your palms and work onto the surface of your hair, then mist with a light-hold spray. “I wore hot rollers in my hair as I drove to a wedding,” says Yang. “When I got there, I pulled them out and headed to the party. Everyone kept telling me my hair looked fabulous -- little did they know I’d just styled it in my car!” ( myfoxny.com )

READ MORE - New Hair Trends for Spring

Nuclear Overreactors

Nuclear Overreactors - Let's cool the political meltdown over Japan's damaged nuclear power plants - Less than a year ago, a drilling rig exploded off the coast of the United States, killing 11 workers and pouring 4 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. No natural disaster caused this tragedy. It was entirely man-made. President Obama halted deep-water drilling but lifted the moratorium less than six months later. On Friday, while fielding questions about Japan's nuclear reactors, he proudly noted that his administration, under new, stricter rules, had "approved more than 35 new offshore drilling permits."

That's how we deal with tragedies in the oil business. Accidents happen. People die. Pollution spreads. We don't abandon oil. We study what went wrong, try to fix it, and move on.

Quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Futaba, Japan

Contrast this with the panic over Japan's reactors. For 40 years, they've quietly done their work. Three days ago, they were hit almost simultaneously by Japan's worst earthquake and one of its worst tsunamis. Not one reactor container has failed. The only employee who has died at a Japanese nuclear facility since the quake was killed by a crane. Despite this, voices are rising in Europe and the United States to abandon nuclear power. Industry analysts predict that the Japan scare, like Chernobyl, will freeze plant construction.

Let's cool this panic before it becomes a political meltdown.

Early reports said four Japanese plants were in trouble. Now it appears only two were disabled. Early reports said three employees had radiation sickness. Now we're hearing only one is sick, and even in that case, the radiation dose appears relatively low. Two reactor buildings exploded, but these were explosions of excess hydrogen, not nuclear fuel, and neither of them ruptured the inner containers that encase the reactor cores. Some radiation has leaked, but according to measurements outside the plants, the amount so far is modest. Any leak is bad, and the area of contamination, even at low rates, will probably spread. Japan needs our sympathy and our help. But let's not exaggerate the crisis.

In advanced countries like Japan and the United States, nuclear plants are built to standards no drilling rig can touch. If a sensor, cable, or power source fails, another sensor, cable, or power source is available. Containers of steel or concrete envelop the reactors to prevent massive radiation leaks. Chernobyl didn't have such a container. Three Mile Island did. That's why Three Mile Island produced no uncontrolled leakage or injuries.

Japan's plants were designed to withstand quakes and tsunamis, but not a combination of this magnitude. At the affected facilities, the quake knocked out the primary cooling systems, and the tsunami wiped out the backup diesel generators. Then a valve malfunction thwarted efforts to pump water into one of the reactors. Everything that could go wrong did.

Despite this, the reactor containers have held firm. The explosions around them have blown outward, relieving pressure, as designed. Meanwhile, plant operators, deprived of their primary and secondary power sources for cooling the cores, have tapped batteries and deployed alternate generators. To relieve pressure, they've released vapor. And in some cases, they've pumped seawater and boric acid into the reactors, destroying them to protect the public. Cooling systems are back online at two previously impaired reactors, and a backup pump has averted cooling problems at a third plant.

The reactor where the crisis began, Fukushima Daiichi Unit 1, is one of Japan's oldest. It was two weeks from its 40-year expiration date when the quake hit. Similar plants in the United States have been upgraded to ensure that in the event of power failure, water can still be pumped in to cool them. And nuclear plants are indisputably getting safer. Since 1990, worker radiation exposure and automatic reactor shutdowns worldwide have declined by a factor of three. According to an analysis last year by the Nuclear Energy Agency of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, plants being constructed by today's standards are 1,600 times safer than early nuclear plants, in terms of the predicted frequency of a large radiation leak. Even if a reactor core is damaged, as in Japan, the NEA report notes that today, "the probability of a release to the environment is about ten times less than that of core damage," thanks to improvements in fuel, circuits, and containment.

If Japan, the United States, or Europe retreats from nuclear power in the face of the current panic, the most likely alternative energy source is fossil fuel. And by any measure, fossil fuel is more dangerous. The sole fatal nuclear power accident of the last 40 years, Chernobyl, directly killed 31 people. By comparison, Switzerland's Paul Scherrer Institute calculates that from 1969 to 2000, more than 20,000 people died in severe accidents in the oil supply chain. More than 15,000 people died in severe accidents in the coal supply chain—11,000 in China alone. The rate of direct fatalities per unit of energy production is 18 times worse for oil than it is for nuclear power.

Even if you count all the deaths plausibly related to Chernobyl—9,000 to 33,000 over a 70-year period—that number is dwarfed by the death rate from burning fossil fuels. The OECD's 2008 Environmental Outlook calculates that fine-particle outdoor air pollution caused nearly 1 million premature deaths in the year 2000, and 30 percent of this was energy-related. You'd need 500 Chernobyls to match that level of annual carnage. But outside Chernobyl, we've had zero fatal nuclear power accidents.

That doesn't mean we can ignore what has happened in Japan. Precisely because nuclear accidents are so rare, we have to study them intensely. Each one tells us what to fix in the next generation of power plants. The most obvious mistake in Japan was parking the diesel generators in an area low enough to be flooded by a quake-driven tsunami. The batteries that backed up the generators weren't adequate, either. They lasted only eight hours, and power outage fallback plans at U.S. reactors are even shorter. Moreover, this is the second time an advanced nuclear facility has had to vent radioactive vapor (Three Mile Island was the first). Maybe it's time to require filtration systems that scrub the vapor before it's released.

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut says we should "put the brakes" on nuclear power plant construction until we figure out what went wrong in Japan. Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts wants a moratorium on new reactors in "seismically active areas" while we study the problem. That's fine. But let's not block construction indefinitely while we go on mindlessly pumping oil. Because nuclear energy, for all its risks, is safer. ( slate.com )

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Firstborn Children More Likely To Develop Food Allergies

Firstborn Children More Likely To Develop Food Allergies, Study Says - New Research Indicates 'Birth Order Effect' a Factor in Development of Allergies

From watching "The Brady Bunch," it's clear to see that the eldest girl, Marsha, gets the most attention. But according to a new study, she also might get the most allergies.

Birth order, thought by some to determine everything from romantic compatibility to IQ score, may be the reason your oldest child is allergic to peanuts and your younger children are not.

According to a new study, older children are more likely to suffer from food allergies than their younger siblings. The results indicate the "birth order effect" occurs specifically in food allergies, as compared with other types of allergies.

Among study participants, the prevalence of food allergies was 4 percent in firstborn children, 3.5 percent in second-born children, and 2.6 percent in those born later.

Kara Corridan, the Health Editor at Parents magazine, said the study is too preliminary to get "too excited about this." It may be reassuring to parents whose first child has an allergy.
For parents, raising a child with a food allergy puts them "in a club they really don't want to be a part of," Corridan said. Food allergies can sometimes be life-threatening, and parents may have to monitor everything their child eats and touches in all environments. "Even if there's a small fraction of a chance that younger children don't have [food allergies], that would be great," she said.

Firstborns were also more likely to have allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis -- conditions that affect the nose and mouth, respectively -- than their younger siblings.

The study's authors say that multiple pregnancies may cause changes in the womb that help build the immune systems of the second and third children. Another contributing factor may be the "hygiene hypothesis:" in preparing for their firstborn to come home, parents may hyper-sterilize their environments. By the time babies 2 and 3 come around, there are more germs, and the younger siblings may develop stronger immune systems.

"The more you are exposed to an allergen, the more likely it is you'll be immune to it," Corridan said. The connection between birth order and allergies had been established by earlier studies, she said, but this study is the first that breaks the connection down by allergic condition.

Birth order does not seem to affect a child's likelihood to develop asthma or atopic dermatitis, a type of eczema.

The study surveyed 13,000 children ages 7 to 15. The researchers compared the incidence of each allergic disease with birth order. The survey also asked parents whether their children experienced wheezing, eczema or food allergies before age 1 -- and researchers saw the same trend: the prevalence of allergies was higher in firstborn children.

Birth Order Can Be An Indicator For Behavioral Characteristics

The findings were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology in San Francisco on March 20.

The birth order effect has been studied in several other areas of children's lives; literature has indicated firstborns excel at school and science, while younger siblings tend to be more exploratory and take more risks.

Dr. Frank Sulloway, a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, has studied the birth order effect. He said examining children's behavior compared with their birth order opens up the issue of family niches and family dynamics.

"When the firstborn comes along, there are no younger siblings and they've got 100 percent of parental attention," he said. "It seems to be reflected not only in IQ differences ... but firstborns essentially do things that the parents value."

So it makes sense that firstborns score 3 points higher than their younger siblings on IQ tests. Twenty-one of the first 23 American astronauts to fly in space were firstborn, along with a disproportionate number of our nation's presidents and CEOs.

"The good story about younger siblings is they diversify in other ways," Sulloway said. "Younger siblings are always looking for alternative niches to explore and to exploit as a way of getting back some of that parental investment and attention they may have otherwise lost."

While more Nobel Prize winners for science are firstborns, more winners of the Nobel Prize for literature are younger siblings, Sulloway said. Younger siblings are also 50 percent more likely to play dangerous sports.

Sulloway said it's important to keep in mind that most birth order effects are "fairly modest in size," and that there are other contributing factors that influence human behavior and personality development.

"You just have to keep in mind that there are a lot of different things that are influencing behavior, and birth order is just one player in that whole complex process of how we become who we become," Sulloway said." ( abcnews.go.com )

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