A recent study by the Global Nutrition Report 2017 shows that eating beans bred to contain more iron boosts memory and attention in college-going women in Rwanda. The specially biofortified beans could prove significant in a continent where iron deficiency (ID) affects both adults and children, with dire consequences. Lenny Ruvaga reports for VOA from Kigali, Rwanda. …
Militants in Lake Chad Region Block Polio Program
Scientists warn a campaign to eradicate polio in central Africa is falling short because of upheaval in the Lake Chad Basin area, where the Boko Haram militant group remains active. On the positive side, on country – Gabon – has been declared polio-free. Professor Rose Leke, who heads the Africa Regional Certification Commission for polio eradication, says Central Africa has seen no cases of polio in the past 15 months. But, she adds, scientists cannot be sure the polio virus has been eradicated in the region. Leke says medical teams find it difficult getting access to conflict zones in Mali, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and parts of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria affected by the Boko Haram insurgency. “DRC has circulating polio viruses, so many of them. We are worried about the country and so we have specific recommendations also for DRC and for all the others. We are still very concerned about the Lake Chad basin area, the Borno [state in Nigeria] area where we do not know what is happening there. I think that is a concern for the entire world,” she said. Leke says polio cases have decreased by more than 99 percent in the past 30 years, from an estimated 350,000 per year to just 37 reported cases in 2016. She says as a result of the global effort to eradicate the disease, more than 16 million people have been saved from paralysis. According to the United Nations, once a …
Survey: Rohingya Refugees Fear for Health, Safety
A survey by the U.N. refugee agency reveals heightened worries by the Rohingya refugee population in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh over their health and safety. It has been nearly four months since the mass exodus of Rohingya refugees began from Myanmar into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. More than 645,000 Rohingya who escaped violence and persecution in Myanmar are living in squalid, overcrowded settlements. A survey by the U.N. refugee agency and 13 other organizations finds the refugees have developed strong support networks to help them cope with their difficulties. UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says the refugees have many worries. They express concern about their safety, considering their weak shelter accommodations and poor lighting at night. “Access to sanitation is still insufficient, leading sometimes to long queues for latrines,” said Mahecic. “Women and girls are anxious about the shortage of private bathing spaces, forcing some to wash outside their shelters in early morning hours.” The survey finds some children have to walk long distances to fetch water and firewood, a situation that can put them at risk. Mahecic says both parents and children want access to education and more safe places for children to play. He says health services also are a major concern. “Increased mental health support for those who have witnessed the killings or suffered torture or rape remains crucially needed,” said Mahecic. “Refugees cite continued feelings of depression and rejection, especially among the elderly and disabled. Many young people are worried about their uncertain future.” Mahecic says the UNHCR …
World Meteorological Org.: Arctic Warming Appears Irreversible
The World Meteorological Organization reports 2017 is on track to be among the three hottest years on record, just behind the two preceding years. While 2017 may only emerge as the third warmest year on record, scientists predict it will beat out the competition for warmest year without a warming El Nino. These record setting years concern those who see this as a sure sign that climate change is happening at a quickened pace. The WMO says the overall long-term warming trend since the late 1970s is worrying and cannot be ignored. The United Nations agency says rising temperatures are ushering in more extreme weather with huge socioeconomic impact. WMO spokeswoman Claire Nullis says the warming conditions prevailing over both the Arctic and the Antarctic are very alarming. She says the Arctic is warming at about twice the rate of the global temperature increase. “We are very, very concerned about the rate of warming in the Arctic,” she said. “There was an Arctic Report Card released last week. It said while 2017 saw fewer records shattered than in 2016, the Arctic shows no sign of returning to the reliably frozen region it was decades ago.” The Arctic Report Card is a peer-reviewed report that brings together the work of 85 scientists from 12 nations. WMO notes warmer than average temperatures dominated across much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces during November. It says the most notable temperature rises were across the Northern Hemisphere. For example, it reports temperatures in …
EPA Says Superfund Task Force Left Behind Little Paper Trail
The Environmental Protection Agency says an internal task force appointed to revamp how the nation’s most polluted sites are cleaned up generated no record of its deliberations. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt in May announced the creation of a Superfund Task Force that he said would reprioritize and streamline procedures for remediating more than 1,300 sites. Pruitt, the former attorney general of Oklahoma, appointed a political supporter from his home state with no experience in pollution cleanups to lead the group. The task force in June issued a nearly three-dozen page report containing 42 detailed recommendations, all of which Pruitt immediately adopted. The advocacy group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, known as PEER, quickly filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking a long list of documents related to the development of Pruitt’s plan. After EPA didn’t immediately release any records, PEER sued. Now, nearly six months after the task force released its report, a lawyer for EPA has written PEER to say that the task force had no agenda for its meetings, kept no minutes and used no reference materials. Further, there was no written criteria for selecting the 107 EPA employees the agency says served on the task force or background materials distributed to them during the deliberative process for creating the recommendations. According to EPA, the task force also created no work product other than its final report. “Pruitt’s plan for cleaning up toxic sites was apparently immaculately conceived, without the usual trappings of human parentage,” said Jeff …
A Collision of Two Stars 1,800 Years Ago Will be Visible to Us in 2022
In the universe, particularly in our galaxy, there are a great number of multiple-stellar systems where two or more stars rotate around each other. In many of these systems, the stars collide – a phenomenon that has been familiar to astronomers for a long time. But scientists say a collision that happened almost two thousand years ago will soon be able to be seen with the naked eye. VOA’s Aram Vanetsyan has more. …
Studying Music’s Healing Powers
“Music hath charms,” the saying goes, and it does have power, to make us happy, sad, or even ignite social change. But it also has healing powers, and researchers want to know how that works. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Displaced by Mining, Peru Villagers Spurn Shiny New Town
This remote town in Peru’s southern Andes was supposed to serve as a model for how companies can help communities uprooted by mining. Named Nueva Fuerabamba, it was built to house around 1,600 people who gave up their village and farmland to make room for a massive, open-pit copper mine. The new hamlet boasts paved streets and tidy houses with electricity and indoor plumbing, once luxuries to the indigenous Quechua-speaking people who now call this place home. The mine’s operator, MMG Ltd, the Melbourne-based unit of state-owned China Minmetals Corp, threw in jobs and enough cash so that some villagers no longer work. But the high-profile deal has not brought the harmony sought by villagers or MMG, a testament to the difficulty in averting mining disputes in this mineral-rich nation. Resource battles are common in Latin America, but tensions are particularly high in Peru, the world’s No. 2 producer of copper, zinc and silver. Peasant farmers have revolted against an industry that many see as damaging their land and livelihoods while denying them a fair share of the wealth. Peru is home to 167 social conflicts, most related to mining, according to the national ombudsman’s office, whose mission includes defusing hostilities. Nueva Fuerabamba was the centerpiece of one of the most generous mining settlements ever negotiated in Peru. But three years after moving in, many transplants are struggling amid their suburban-style conveniences, Reuters interviews with two dozen residents showed. Many miss their old lives growing potatoes and raising livestock. Some …
Study: There’s No Fail-safe Way to Prevent Dementia
A new study has dashed hopes that people may be able to protect themselves from dementia through medicine, diet or exercise. “To put it simply, all evidence indicates that there is no magic bullet,” Dr. Eric Larson wrote in the Annals of Internal Medicine. The study outlined in the medical journal looked at four types of intervention to try to prevent dementia — prescription drugs, exercise, cognitive training, and nonprescription vitamins and supplements. Researchers found none worked. The Lancet, a British medical journal, reported earlier this year that about one-third of dementia cases could be linked to such conditions as cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, a lack of exercise and depression. While Larson said there was no simple answer to the prevention of dementia, he highly recommended a commonsense, healthful lifestyle that may help delay the disease. It would involve exercising regularly, refraining from smoking, eating a healthful diet and taking part in activities that stimulate the brain. …
US Sees Foreign Reliance on ‘Critical’ Minerals as Security Concern
The United States needs to encourage domestic production of a handful of minerals critical for the technology and defense industries, and stem reliance on China, U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said Tuesday. Zinke made the remarks at the Interior Department as he unveiled a report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), which detailed the extent to which the United States is dependent upon foreign competitors for its supply of certain minerals. The report identified 23 out of 88 minerals that are priorities for U.S. national defense and the economy because they are components in products ranging from batteries to military equipment. The report found that the United States was 100 percent net import reliant on 20 mineral commodities in 2016, including manganese, niobium, tantalum and others. In 1954, the U.S. was 100 percent import reliant for the supply of just eight nonfuel mineral commodities. “We have the minerals here and likely we have enough to provide our needs and be a world trader in them, but we have to go forward and identify where they are at,” Zinke told reporters at an Interior Department briefing. He also blamed previous administrations for allowing foreign competitors like China to dominate mineral production for minerals, such as rare earth elements, used in smartphones, computers and military equipment. Zinke said the report is likely to shape Interior Department policy-making in 2018, as the agency looks to carry out its “Energy Dominance” strategy, expanding mining and resource extraction on federal lands. The survey is the …
Striking a Chord, Researchers Tap Brain to Find Out How Music Heals
Like a friendly Pied Piper, the violinist keeps up a toe-tapping beat as dancers weave through busy hospital hallways and into the chemotherapy unit, patients looking up in surprised delight. Upstairs, a cellist plays an Irish folk tune for a patient in intensive care. Music increasingly is becoming a part of patient care, although it’s still pretty unusual to see roving performers captivating entire wards, as they did at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital one recent fall morning. “It takes them away for just a few minutes to some other place where they don’t have to think about what’s going on,” said cellist Martha Vance after playing for a patient isolated to avoid spreading infection. The challenge: harnessing music to do more than comfort the sick. Now, moving beyond programs like Georgetown’s, the National Institutes of Health is bringing together musicians, music therapists and neuroscientists to tap into the brain’s circuitry and figure out how. “The brain is able to compensate for other deficits sometimes by using music to communicate,” said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins, a geneticist who also plays a mean guitar. To turn that ability into a successful therapy, “it would be a really good thing to know which parts of the brain are still intact to be called into action — to know the circuits well enough to know the backup plan,” Collins added. Scientists aren’t starting from scratch. Learning to play an instrument, for example, sharpens how the brain processes sound and can improve children’s reading and …
Greek Lawmakers Approve 2018 Budget Featuring More Austerity
Greece’s parliament on Tuesday approved the 2018 state budget, which includes further austerity measures beyond the official end of the country’s third international bailout next summer. All 153 lawmakers from the left-led governing coalition backed the budget measures in a late vote, while the 144 opposition lawmakers present rejected them. Three were absent from the vote. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised that the country would smoothly exit the eight-year crisis that has seen its economy shrink by a quarter and unemployment hit highs previously unseen during peacetime. Tsipras argued that international money markets — on whose credit Greece will have to depend once its rescue loan program ends — are showing strong confidence in the country’s prospects, with the yield on Greek government bonds dropping to a pre-crisis low of less than 4 percent. “The way to exit [the crisis] is for our borrowing costs to return to acceptable levels so the country can finance itself without the restrictive bailout framework,” Tsipras said. The budget promises Greece’s international lenders continued belt-tightening measures and high primary budget surpluses — the budget balance before debt and interest payments are taken into account. It sets the primary surplus at 2.44 percent for 2017 and 3.82 percent for 2018, higher than previously estimated. The economy is forecast to grow by 1.6 percent in 2017 and 2.5 percent next year, helped by a return to growth across Europe. Debt to hold steady With the Greek economy worth around 185 billion euros ($271 billion) in …
Ex-Odebrecht CEO, Symbol of Brazil Graft Probe, Leaves Jail
One of the most prominent people convicted in Latin America’s largest corruption scandal left prison Tuesday for house arrest after serving two-and-a-half years behind bars at a time when many Brazilians are becoming disillusioned with the graft investigation once hailed as a political game-changer. Marcelo Odebrecht’s release came a day after Brazil’s top court halted investigations into several lawmakers, underscoring the limitations of the “Car Wash” investigation that uncovered nearly institutionalized corruption involving senior politicians in several countries and several major Brazilian companies. Odebrecht, who was CEO of his family’s company of the same name, cooperated with prosecutors and testified that executives routinely paid bribes and made illegal campaign contributions to politicians in exchange for favors. He was originally sentenced to 19 years in prison but, once he began cooperating, that penalty was reduced to 10, with the agreement that the majority of it would be served under house arrest. Odebrecht’s conviction and jailing were seen as a major victory for Car Wash prosecutors. The testimony of Odebrecht and other executives revealed that, for years, the company had essentially captured the Brazilian state, paying bribes and kickbacks to whoever was in power. The corruption was so organized — and endemic — that it had its own department at Odebrecht, blandly named the Division of Structured Operations. On Tuesday, Odebrecht left prison and went to the federal court in the southern state of Parana, where an electronic bracelet was attached, the court said. Neither the court nor his representatives would say …
Gene Therapy for Rare Form of Blindness Wins US Approval
U.S. health officials on Tuesday approved the nation’s first gene therapy for an inherited, rare form of blindness, marking another major advance for the emerging field of genetic medicine. The approval for pharmaceutical company Spark Therapeutics offers a life-changing intervention for a small group of patients with a vision-destroying genetic mutation and hope for many more people with other inherited diseases. The drugmaker said it would not disclose the price until next month, delaying debate about the affordability of a treatment that analysts predict will be priced around $1 million. The injection, called Luxturna, is the first gene therapy approved by the Food and Drug Administration in which a corrective gene is given directly to patients. The gene mutation interferes with the production of an enzyme needed for normal vision. Patients who got the treatment have described seeing snow, stars or the moon for the first time. “One of the best things I’ve ever seen since surgery are the stars. I never knew that they were little dots that twinkled,” said Mistie Lovelace of Kentucky, one of several patients who urged the FDA to approve the therapy at a public hearing in October. Patients with the condition generally start losing their sight before 18, almost always progressing to total blindness. The defective gene that causes the disease can be passed down for generations undetected before suddenly appearing when a child inherits a copy from both parents. Only a few thousand people in the U.S. are thought to have the condition. One …
Analysis: US Tax Cut to Deliver Corporate Earnings Gift
A planned massive Republican tax overhaul has led Wall Street strategists to revise their 2018 corporate earnings forecasts sharply higher, but the jury is out on how long the accelerating effect on profits will last. The tax bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives approved on Tuesday, will cut the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent, beginning Jan. 1, and would be the biggest positive factor for U.S. earnings in 2018. A Senate vote was still awaited. Although there is a wide range of profit estimates for 2018, the expected tax plan benefit has strategists now calling for double-digit profit gains in 2018 over 2017, compared with their forecasts for mid-single-digit gains without the tax cuts. S&P 500 earnings growth for 2017 was an estimated 11.9 percent, according to Reuters data. “This is going to drive the earnings numbers. [Tax] is going to overwhelm everything,” said Credit Suisse Group U.S. Equity Strategist Jonathan Golub, who was waiting for the bill’s passage to adjust his own earnings estimates. With the U.S. and world economies expanding, consumer demand strong and interest rates low, corporate profits were expected to be healthy next year. The tax law will give them an added jolt of adrenaline. Many strategists estimate the cut in corporate tax could deliver an extra boost to earnings next year of between about 7 percent to more than 10 percent. Some of the forecasts were based on a previous version of the legislation calling for a tax cut …
Курс гривні щодо долара США стабілізувався на міжбанку
Перші результати торгів на міжбанківському валютному ринку 19 грудня свідчать про стабілізацію курсу гривні щодо долара США. Як повідомляє профільний сайт «Мінфін», який відстежує перебіг торгів, станом на 12:00 було зафіксовано 190 угод на суму понад 95 мільйонів доларів за середньозваженим курсом 27,8773 гривні за долар. Майже такі ж показники були зафіксовані наприкінці торговельної сесії 18 грудня. Національний банк України встановив на 19 грудня курс на рівні 27,8736 гривні за долар. У Національному банку України заявляють, що фундаментальних причин для девальвації української гривні на сьогодні немає, коливання курсу обумовлене сезонними і психологічними факторами. «Говорити про те, що гривня слабшає, і це якась фундаментальне послаблення, наразі не можна. З іншого боку, є психологічні чинники, відсутність співпраці з МВФ – в тому числі це такий фактор», – сказав заступник голови НБУ Дмитро Сологуб. За його словами, НБУ не відходить від стратегії валютних інтервенцій. «Це коливання будемо згладжувати. Резерви НБУ це дозволяють», – додав він. Ще на початку грудня курс був на рівні 27,15 гривні за долар США. …
Meet CryptoKitties, Digital Kittens on the Blockchain
CryptoKitties, an online game and marketplace featuring virtual kittens, has become an entry point for curious outsiders looking to dabble in cryptocurrencies – decentralized digital monies that rely on blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer transactions. …
Freeze Dried Plasma Makes a Life-Saving Comeback
An old technology is making a comeback with some elements of the U.S. military. Freeze dried plasma was used routinely in World War 2 but discontinued until a month ago, when it was reintroduced into the field. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …
Amnesty: Failed and Exploited, Nepal Migrant Workers Trapped in Debt Cycle
Nepali migrant workers are trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and exploitation due to a failure by authorities to crack down on recruitment firms that charge illegally high fees for jobs abroad, human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday. Wages sent back by an estimated four million Nepalis – mainly employed working in construction or as domestic workers in the Middle East, Malaysia and South Korea – make up more than a quarter of the poor Himalayan nation’s gross domestic product. Nepal permits recruitment agencies to charge 10,000 rupees ($100) from each migrant as a service charge for finding them work with foreign firms, who pay for workers’ travel and visa. But a survey of over 400 Nepali migrants by Amnesty found workers are not only forced up to 12 times more the permitted amount to agencies, but also that most are forced to borrow the money from unscrupulous money lenders at high interest rates. “Migrant workers all too often end up trapped in the soul-destroying situation of working abroad for years simply to pay off the huge, often illegal fees they were charged to take the job,” said Amnesty International’s James Lynch. “The Nepali government’s weak enforcement of the law is playing straight into the hands of extortionists and loan sharks. Tackling this exploitative industry is a matter of urgency,” Lynch added in a statement. The London-based human rights group said almost two-thirds of the migrant workers, who responded to a telephone survey conducted in Nepal and …
CryptoKitties Brings Blockchain to the Masses
How do you explain the abstract concepts of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies? With adorable, digital kittens of course. CryptoKitties, an online game and marketplace featuring virtual kittens, has become an entry point for curious outsiders looking to dabble in cryptocurrencies – decentralized digital monies that rely on blockchain technology to enable peer-to-peer transactions. Company reps say their main goal is to teach people how to use blockchains; open, distributed ledgers of cryptocurrency transactions. Bitcoin is the most famous cryptocurrency and blockchain protocol, but there are others. “As part of launching this project, we were really trying to educate people who haven’t perhaps bought Ethereum before, people who aren’t in the crypto space.” said Elsa Wilk, marketing director at Axiom Zen, the Canadian tech consultancy that created CryptoKitties. That may have been the initial idea. But marry cute kittens and a buzzy, emerging tech phenomenon and kitten chaos ensued. CryptoKitties’ cheerful, user-friendly interface has caused its popularity to surge among blockchain products and services. To date, there have been over $16 million USD in transactions resulting from the purchase, breeding and sale of digital kittens. “Using something like cats is a very unintimidating, friendly, cuddly way to be introduced to a very hard, technical subject like the blockchain,” said Wilk. “We really took the approach of making the blockchain more approachable.” How it works CryptoKitties is built on the Ethereum blockchain. Purchases are made using the Ether cryptocurrency, which can be purchased with real money through a digital currency exchange like …
US EPA Seeks Comment on Carbon Rule Replacement
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued a notice that it wants public input for a possible replacement of Obama-era regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that the agency is repealing. The agency’s advance notice kicks off a 60-day comment period on “specific topics for the Agency to consider in developing any subsequent proposed rule,” according to an EPA release. The move comes after the agency proposed in October to repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, a collection of emissions standards for U.S. states intended to reduce pollution from power plants – the largest emitters of greenhouse gases – by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. “The EPA sets out and requests comment on the roles, responsibilities, and limitations of the federal government, state governments, and regulated entities in developing and implementing such a rule, and the EPA solicits information regarding the appropriate scope of such a rule and associated technologies and approaches,” the notice says. When EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt first announced he planned to repeal the Clean Power Plan, it was not clear whether the agency intended to replace it. At his first congressional hearing earlier this month, Pruitt said he planned to replace it. The notice specifically asks for comment on measures to reduce carbon emissions directly at a power plant. Obama’s Clean Power Plan allowed states to reduce power plant emissions by using a series of different measures across their plant fleets, which some industry groups said went beyond the scope …
Brazil Court Approves Compensation for Decades-old Depositor Losses
A Supreme Court justice on Monday approved an agreement to compensate bank depositors for losses caused by government policies several decades ago, settling more than a million legal disputes that have hung over Brazil’s banking system since the 1980s. Depositors who lost their savings due to economic programs applied in the 1980s and 1990s to tackle hyperinflation will have two years to sign up for the compensation deal, Justice Dias Toffoli ruled. Those who are owed up to 5,000 reais ($1,520) will be fully reimbursed, while those with larger liabilities will get between 8 percent and 19 percent less. Around 60 percent of the depositors covered by the agreement are owed up to 5,000 reais, according to the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban). The total value of reimbursements will depend on how many depositors opt in to the scheme. Reuters had reported in November that banks were likely to agree on reimbursing a total of around 10 billion reais, far below initial central bank estimates of up to 342 billion reais. Fitch Ratings said earlier this month that such an agreement would be beneficial to the nation’s banks, which have made enough provisions to cover the reimbursements. Lenders Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, Banco Bradesco SA, Santander Brasil SA, Banco do Brasil SA and Caixa Econômica Federal have signed off on the deal. Other banks can still join. Under former Presidents José Sarney and Fernando Collor, Brazil pursued several unorthodox policies to fight galloping inflation, such as confiscating investments in savings …
EU Governments Agree on Renewable Energy Targets for 2030
European Union environment and energy ministers on Monday agreed on renewable energy targets for 2030 ahead of negotiations next year with the European Parliament, which has called for more ambitious green energy goals. Ministers said they would aim to source at least 27 percent of the bloc’s energy from renewables by 2030 — up from a target of 20 percent by 2020. In October, the European Parliament called for this target to be increased to 35 percent, a level also put forward by a group of big technology, industry and power companies last week. As part of the package of measures, ministers also agreed on the share of renewable fuels to be used in transport, while setting a cap on first-generation biofuels, which critics say compete for agricultural land with food. EU member states set a 14 percent renewables target for fuels used in road transport by 2030, with bonuses given for the use of renewable electricity in road and rail transport. The inclusion of rail into the renewable transport targets was criticized by the European Commission, as large parts of the European rail network are already electrified. “The level of ambition is clearly insufficient,” Europe’s climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete told ministers during negotiations. The European Council and the European Parliament will need to find a compromise in talks over the final legal texts on these matters next year. The EU’s renewables targets are part of a set of proposals to implement the bloc’s climate goals of reducing greenhouse …
Study: Shop Early, Shop Often to Avoid Christmas Impulse Buying
Parceling out holiday shopping in small amounts and completing it in a realistic schedule helps people maintain the self-control needed to avoid being swept away in impulse purchases that can wreck budgets, a study to be published in January said. The study from Texas A&M University researchers looked at how well people complied with maintaining self-control for tasks such as making purchases and found that people should pace themselves if they want to accomplish larger goals. “Try to conserve your energy. Don’t try to make it too hard on yourself because it is going to backfire,” said Marco Palma, director of the Human Behavior Laboratory at Texas A&M and co-author of the study called “Self-control: Knowledge or perishable resource?” It will be published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. Palma recommended making a list and dividing it into sub-goals of small purchases. Shopping online and shopping early in the day can help conserve energy, which can also help people exercise self-control. “Committing to a shopping list will help you stay on budget,” he said in an interview this week. The worst shopping scenario in terms of self-control is waiting until the last minute to make the bulk of holiday purchases, he said. The study used biometric data including eye tracking and brain scanning to measure how well people complied with easy and difficult tasks that required self-control. It found that an initial moderate self-control act enhances subsequent self-control ability by increasing confidence and motivation, but exerting too much …