Psychology

Source: Google News - HealthResults from a new study suggest that physical activity's effects on stress—and related mood conditions—can protect against cardiovascular disease (CVD). The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, examined the medical records of more than 50,000 people and found, in a 10-year median follow-up, that people who had achieved recommended levels of physical exercise had a 23% lower risk of developing CVD than those...

Source: Google NewsThe British government's plan for a landmark smoking ban that aims to stop young people from ever smoking cleared its first hurdle in Parliament on Tuesday. The bill would make it illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone born after January 1, 2009. If passed, the law will give Britain some of the toughest anti-smoking measures in the world. Authorities say it would create modern Britain's "first smoke-free generation."

Source: Google News - HealthThe University of Southern California has cancelled its 2024 valedictorian's graduation speech amid backlash over her social media activity on Israel. The valedictorian, Asna Tabassum—a Muslim—was chosen on the basis of her high academic scores and involvement in campus life. USC cited "substantial risks" to campus security in the decision to cancel Ms. Tabassum's address, but she said the move was an effort "to silence my voice."

Source: Google NewsClimate change will reduce future global income by about 19% in the next 25 years compared to a fictional world that's not warming, with the poorest areas and those least responsible for heating the atmosphere taking the biggest hit, a new study estimates. Climate change's economic toll will be about $38 trillion a year by 2049, according to the report, published Wednesday in the journal Nature. And by 2100, that number could double.

Source: U.S. News and World ReportA Russian poetry competition has banned transgender people from submitting entries this year, in what it says is an effort to protect traditional values. The Andrei Dementyev All-Russian Poetry Prize, organized by the government of Russia's Tver region, accepts applications until late April from poets "regardless of citizenship, nationality, profession and place of residence." But the competition explicitly bars "citizens who have changed their...

Source: U.S. News and World ReportIf you're an American who feels—YAWN—sleepy or tired while reading this, you're not alone. A majority of Americans say they would feel better if they could have more sleep, according to a new poll. But in the U.S., the notion of pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps is everywhere, both in its environment of always-on technology and work hours. In that climate, getting enough sleep can seem like a dream.

Source: Google News - HealthAt a congressional hearing, Columbia University's president strongly condemned antisemitism, while defending her handling of Gaza war protests. Asked if calls for genocide of Jews were against college policy, Dr. Nemat Shafik unequivocally said they were. But she hedged when asked about another slogan widely seen as antisemitic—"from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free"—saying "I hear them as such, some people don't."

Source: U.S. News and World ReportThirty years ago, as women's rights advocates worked to pass the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, domestic violence was still something of a hushed topic. Then Nicole Brown Simpson's death forced it into the spotlight. Americans riveted by the murder investigation of superstar ex-husband O.J. Simpson—who died Wednesday at 76—heard startling and painful details of the abuse she described. Her case, say experts, changed the movement nearly...

Source: ABC News - InternationalGerman lawmakers approved legislation Friday that will make it easier for transgender, intersex, and nonbinary people to change their name and gender in official records. The "self-determination law," one of several social reforms that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government pledged when it took office in 2021, is set to take effect on November 1. Germany, the European Union's most populous nation, follows several other countries in making the...

Source: United Press International - Health NewsA bipartisan group of lawmakers from both chambers of the U.S. Congress have introduced a bill to combat anti-Semitism, which has been spiking across the nation amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza. The Countering Anti-Semitism Act would create a new position of White House national coordinator to counter anti-Semitism who would serve as the president's principal advisor on countering domestic anti-Semitism and coordinate federal efforts to...

Source: U.S. News and World ReportSpanish disability rights activist Cristina Paredero grew up feeling different and was diagnosed with a form of autism aged 18. She says her parents told her she should never have children, and pressed her into agreeing to get sterilized. Paredero, who is now 31 and upset over what happened, helped draft a 2020 law banning forced or coerced sterilization in Spain and has joined other activists fighting to outlaw the practice across the European...

Source: U.S. News and World ReportA "hoax," the advocates for which should "ROT IN HELL." A product of China, they could lead to a "bloodbath" for the U.S. economy. Or, a savior of the environment that is creating "tens of thousands of good jobs." These are, respectively, how former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden have described electric vehicles—an unlikely wedge issue in a 2024 election that's seen division on pretty much everything else.

Source: United Press International - Health NewsIntense weather fluctuations caused by climate change could be contributing to a rise in stroke deaths, researchers report Wednesday in the journal Neurology. The study, based on three decades of health records in more than 200 countries and territories, found over 521,000 stroke deaths in 2019 linked to temperatures that swung too low or high. Low temperatures cause a person's blood vessels to constrict, increasing blood pressure and stroke...

Source: U.S. News and World ReportDonald Trump on Wednesday lashed out at Jewish voters who support President Joe Biden and framed this year's election as a referendum on the strength of Christianity in the United States—part of his effort to secure backing from evangelical conservatives. Speaking in Atlanta ahead of a fundraiser, the presumptive Republican nominee said, "Any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat or votes for Biden should have their head examined."

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company - Top Stories NewsCanada is setting up a $500-million fund to help community health organizations provide more mental health care to young people. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland made the announcement Tuesday in Ottawa alongside other cabinet ministers, including Ya'ara Saks, minister of mental health and addictions. Many Canadians are facing stress due to war, climate change, and finances, Saks said, and "young people often do not have the tools that they...

Source: Google News - HealthGermany on Tuesday strongly rejected a case brought by Nicaragua at the United Nations' top court accusing Berlin of facilitating breaches of the Geneva Convention and international humanitarian law by providing arms and other support to Israel in its deadly assault on Gaza. The day before, Nicaragua urged judges to order a halt to German military aid to Israel, arguing that Berlin was enabling acts of genocide and breaches of international...

Source: Google News - HealthThe National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announced a policy Monday that all but bans transgender athletes from competing in women's sports at its 241 mostly small colleges across the U.S. The NAIA, which oversees some 83,000 athletes competing in more than 25 sports, is believed to be the first college sports organization to take such a step. The policy, which goes into effect in August, allows all athletes to participate in male...

Source: United Press International - Health NewsGender Queer, a memoir by LGBTQ author Maia Kobabe, was the most challenged book in U.S. public libraries last year, says the American Library Association in a statement that launched National Library Week. The ALA released its Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2023 along with its State of America's Libraries Report. The report reveals the actions libraries and their workers have taken to address censorship attempts and meet community needs.

Source: Google News - HealthTransgender Catholics are expressing disappointment with a Vatican document released Monday that refers to sex changes as a threat to human dignity. "Transgender people are beloved, intentional creations of God the same as cisgender men and women are," said Michael Sennett, a transgender man who is involved with an LGBTQ+ ministry. "Trans people who take hormones or have surgeries are not playing God; we are respecting and accepting our...

Source: United Press International - Health NewsThe Vatican and Pope Francis issued a strong declaration Monday condemning transgender sex change, surrogate motherhood, and abortion as "grave threats" to human dignity. "We are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created," the doctrine states. The document includes "gender theory," sex changes, surrogacy, and euthanasia in the Catholic Church's list of threats to dignity.

Source: United Press International - Health NewsThe International Court of Justice opened hearings Monday over allegations that Germany is aiding genocide committed by Israel in Gaza. Nicaragua last month initiated the proceedings by accusing Germany of "facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide." Germany is a key weapons dealer for Israel, while Nicaragua has been a supporter of...

Source: Google News - HealthA group of older Swiss women have won the first ever climate case victory in the European Court of Human Rights. The women, mostly in their 70s, said that their age and gender made them particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves linked to climate change. The court said Switzerland's efforts to meet its emission reduction targets had been woefully inadequate. It is the first time the powerful court has ruled on global warming.

Source: Google News - HealthRwanda's president said the international community "failed all of us", as he marked 30 years since the 1994 genocide that killed around 800,000 people. President Paul Kagame addressed dignitaries and world leaders who had gathered in Rwanda's capital, Kigali, to commemorate the bloodshed. "And the lessons we learned are engraved in blood," he said. On this day in 1994, extremists from the Hutu ethnic group launched a 100-day killing spree, in...

Source: U.S. News and World ReportDespite gains in faculty diversity at U.S. universities over the last two decades, Black and Hispanic professors remain underrepresented compared to their students and to professionals with advanced degrees in fields such as law and engineering, according to a report released Tuesday. Faculty diversity can improve the sense of belonging and retention rates for students of color, said Representative Bobby Scott, who requested the government study.

Source: Google News - HealthWestern governments are coming under pressure to halt arms sales to Israel over how it is waging the war against Hamas in Gaza. On Friday, the U.N. Human Rights Council backed a weapons ban, with 28 countries voting in favor, 6 against, and 13 abstentions. The U.S. and Germany—which account for the vast majority of Israel's arms imports—both voted against. Israel is a major weapons exporter but is heavily reliant on imported aircraft, bombs,...

Source: BBC News - Asia"It's a pain you can't describe," Raylene Nixon says quietly. In 2021, she watched Australian police footage of her son's death in real time, as he gasped for air and pleaded for help. "Choke him out," one officer can be heard yelling in the body camera video, before another placed Steven Nixon-McKellar in a chokehold. Soon after, the 27-year-old Aboriginal man was dead—one of 562 Indigenous Australians to die in police custody since 1991.

Source: BBC News - AfricaSierra Leone's president has declared a national emergency over the use of kush, a highly additive drug. President Julius Maada Bio called the drug a "death trap" and said it posed an "existential crisis." Because one of the drug's ingredients is human bones, cemeteries have tightened security to stop addicts from digging up skeletons. Groups of young men sitting on street corners with limbs swollen by kush abuse is now a common sight in Sierra...

Source: Canadian Broadcasting Company - Top Stories NewsThe nonprofit Artist Rights Alliance issued an open letter this week calling on artificial intelligence tech companies, developers, platforms, and digital music services to stop using AI to "infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists." The letter, signed by more than 200 artists—including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj—seeks to "protect against the predatory use of AI" and destruction of "the music ecosystem."

Source: ABC News - InternationalJeanette Mukabyagaju, a Tutsi survivor who lost most of her family in the 1984 Rwandan genocide, and Anastasie Nyirabashyitsi, a member of the Hutu majority responsible for the killing, are dear friends. But it was not always that way. The women reside in a community of genocide perpetrators and survivors near the Rwandan capital of Kigali. Over 380 people live in Mbyo Reconciliation Village, which shows how people can peacefully coexist after a...

Source: United Press International - Health NewsOveruse of marijuana is increasingly being linked to dangerous bouts of psychosis, and a new study finds that antipsychotics may be needed to keep such patients out of the hospital. Psychotic episodes involve a dangerous psychiatric state in which people lose their connection with reality. These episodes can get so out of control that people need hospitalization. However, new research suggests that the quick use of injected antipsychotics may...