The Danger of Annual Checkups

Visiting your doctor for an annual physical examination might actually have a negative impact on your health, WebMD.com reports. Danish researchers analyzed studies involving 183,000 patients and found that those who received regular checkups were no less likely to die of cancer or heart disease than those who only saw the doctor when they had symptoms. People who skipped their […]

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In Poor Taste?

Gun-maker, American Legacy Firearms, unveiled the “Dallas Heritage Rifle” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  “If I hurt someone’s feelings, I’m sorry,” said company boss Steve Faler, “but I’m not gonna worry about it.”

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Cost of Gun Violence

Gun violence now costs Americans an estimated $229 billion a year, including the expense of imprisoning gun offenders, medical treatment for the roughly 31,000 people killed and 75,000 wounded each year, lost wages, and loss of quality of life among victims and their families, according to an analysis by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.  By the same measures, […]

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Illegal Trade In Human Kidneys

As diabetes rates rise worldwide, so does the illegal trade in human kidneys.The World Health Organization estimates that 10,000 black-market operations a year are being performed in places like China, Pakistan, and India, as doctors transplant kidneys purchased from poor donors for as little as $5,000 into richer patients paying up to $200,000.

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7 GOOD REASONS TO BEFRIEND A SHARK

If nightmares about Jaws are keeping you from taking a dip in the ocean, relax. You’re much less appetizing than you think. 11: U.S. fatalities from sharks, 1990-2006 16: U.S. fatalities from collapsing sand holes, 1990-2006   1 in 310,733: Odds of dying in a fireworks accident 1 in 3,750,000: Odds of dying in a shark attack   80: Total unprovoked shark attacks around the world in 2012 30 Million: Sharks killed by people each year   219: Estimated […]

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Voyager 1 Escaping Our Solar System

On the 35th anniversary of its launch, the Voyager 1 spacecraft is close to becoming the first man-made object to escape our solar system. The spacecraft—run by a 1977 computer 100,000 times less powerful than an iPod Nano—is currently 11.3 billion miles away. In 2004, Voyager 1 entered the turbulent boundary zone beyond Pluto, where solar winds encounter plasma pushing […]

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