Month: November 2018

The Greater Paris region will become a low-emission zone from next summer, which will limit the circulation of old diesel cars, the regional authority decided on Monday. The Metropole du Grand Paris council said on its Twitter feed it had voted to ban diesel cars registered before Dec. 31, 2000 from the area within the A86 second ring-road, which includes Paris and 79 municipalities around it, a region with 5.61 million inhabitants. The ban will use France’s new “Crit’Air” vignette system, which identifies cars’ age and pollution level with color-coded stickers. Cars with the Crit’Air 5 sticker (1997 to 2000-registered diesels) as well as cars without a sticker will be banned. The council plans to gradually tighten regulations in order to allow only electric or hydrogen-fueled cars on Greater Paris roads by 2030. In central Paris, pre-2000 diesels have been banned since July 2017. Fifteen French metropolitan areas including Lyon, Nice, Aix-Marseille and Toulouse last month agreed to install or reinforce low-emission zones by 2020. The French government hopes this will prevent European Union sanctions over non-respect of European air quality standards. …

Both nature and humans share blame for California’s devastating wildfires, but forest management did not play a major role, despite President Donald Trump’s claims, fire scientists say. Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing and drying the shrubs and trees that provide the fuel, experts say. “Natural factors and human-caused global warming effects fatally collude” in these fires, said wildfire expert Kristen Thornicke of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. Multiple reasons explain the fires’ severity, but “forest management wasn’t one of them,” University of Utah fire scientist Philip Dennison said. Trump tweeted on Saturday: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests.” The death toll from the wildfire that incinerated the town of Northern California town of Paradise and surrounding areas climbed to 29, matching the mark for the deadliest single blaze in California history. Statewide, the number of fire dead stood at 31, including two victims in Southern California. One reason that scientists know that management isn’t to blame is that some areas now burning had fires in 2005 and 2008, so they aren’t “fuel-choked closed-canopy forests,” Dennison said. In those earlier fires, Paradise was threatened but escaped major damage, he said. In the current blazes, it was virtually …

More women and girls in poor countries are using modern contraception, signifying progress in efforts to involve women in family planning, according to a report released Monday. The number of women and girls using contraceptives in 69 of the world’s poorest countries surpassed 317 million in 2018, representing 46 million more users than in 2012, said the report by Family Planning 2020, a U.N.-backed global advocacy group working to promote rights-based family planning. Access to modern contraception helped prevent over 119 million unintended pregnancies and averted 20 million unsafe abortions between July 2017 and July 2018, although populations continue to soar across Africa and other low-income countries, the report said. “The best way to overcome this challenge of rapid population growth is by giving women and girls [the] opportunity to decide how many children they want to have,” Beth Schlachter, executive director of Family Planning 2020, told The Associated Press. The mix of contraceptive methods has improved significantly in 20 of the surveyed countries, “meaning that more women are able to find the short-term, long-acting, emergency, or permanent method that suits their needs and preferences,” the report said. But even as millions of poor women use contraceptives, millions more who want to delay or prevent pregnancy are still unable to access it, often due to lack of information, the report said, citing perceived health side-effects and social disapproval as deterrents. Under Family Planning 2020, which grew out of a summit on family planning held in London in 2012, donors have …

After years of nursing a sometimes dusty cylinder of metal in a vault outside Paris as the global reference for modern mass, scientists are updating the definition of the kilogram. Just as the redefinition of the second in 1967 helped to ease communication across the world via technologies like GPS and the internet, experts say the change in the kilogram will be better for technology, retail and health — though it probably won’t change the price of fish much. The kilogram has been defined since 1889 by a shiny piece of platinum-iridium held in Paris. All modern mass measurements are traceable back to it — from micrograms of pharmaceutical medicines to kilos of apples and pears and tons of steel or cement. The problem is, the “international prototype kilogram” doesn’t always weigh the same. Even inside its three glass bell jars, it gets dusty and dirty, and is affected by the atmosphere. Sometimes, it really needs a wash. “We live in a modern world. There are pollutants in the atmosphere that can stick to the mass,” said Ian Robinson, a specialist in the engineering, materials and electrical science department at Britain’s National Physical Laboratory. “So when you just get it out of the vault, it’s slightly dirty. But the whole process of cleaning or handling or using the mass can change its mass. So it’s not the best way, perhaps, of defining mass.” What’s needed is something more constant. So, at the end of a week-long meeting in the Palace …

Dragon’s blood, mandrake root and devil’s snare were used for potions and spells in the Harry Potter series. But in real life, the creepy-named plants were used for medicinal purposes and could be purchased at an apothecary, also known as a pharmacy. Today, one of the best preserved apothecaries in the United States has been turned into a small museum in historic Alexandria, Virginia. Deborah Block reports. …

A university in London is looking at new ways to use technology that displays fully three-dimensional images. They’re hoping academics and experts can use the technology to deliver lectures in the classroom – remotely. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …

Extreme weather events predicted by climate change sometimes mean more than just bad storms, sometimes they mean the exact opposite. In Germany, a hot, dry summer has left water levels at near historic lows, and that problem is rippling across the entire economy. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

An outbreak of Ebola in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 200 people. Almost 300 Ebola cases have been confirmed since the outbreak began in August, authorities say. The health ministry said half of the cases were in Beni, a city of 800,000 people, in the North Kivu province. The outbreak is in a conflict zone where dozens of armed groups operate. Aid agencies have been forced to suspend or slow down their work on several occasions since the outbreak. Health Minister Oly Ilunga said his response teams “have faced threats, physical assaults, repeated destruction of their equipment and kidnapping.” “Two of our colleagues in the Rapid Response Medical Unit have even lost their lives in an attack,” Ilunga said. Ebola was detected in the DRC in 1976. The current outbreak is the tenth since it was first discovered. The World Health Organization has warned the virus could spread to nearby countries, including Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. Medical workers have lots of experience dealing with Ebola outbreaks in the DRC. Fortunately, they have new tools to fight the deadly virus. A new vaccine has shown it can protect people who’ve come into contact with Ebola victims, and more people have learned techniques to keep the virus from spreading. However, old problems persist with every outbreak. Some people still refuse to believe Ebola exists and have hidden infected family members. Traditional burial practices also put people at risk. …

Taking fish oil or vitamin D? Big studies give long-awaited answers on who does and does not benefit from these popular nutrients. Fish oil taken by healthy people, at a dose found in many supplements, showed no clear ability to lower heart or cancer risks. Same for vitamin D. But higher amounts of a purified, prescription fish oil slashed heart problems and heart-related deaths among people with high triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood, and other risks for heart disease. Doctors cheered the results and said they could suggest a new treatment option for hundreds of thousands of patients like these. Up to 10 percent of U.S. adults take fish oil. Even more take vitamin D, despite no major studies to support the many health claims made for it. “Those who peddle it promote it as good for everything,” but in this definitive test, vitamin D “showed a big nothing,” said Dr. James Stein, a heart specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He had no role in the studies or ties to the companies involved. Results were revealed Saturday at an American Heart Association conference in Chicago and published by the New England Journal of Medicine. About fish oil These oils, also called omega-3 fatty acids, are found in salmon, tuna and certain other fish. They reduce triglycerides and inflammation and may have other effects. There are different types, including EPA and DHA. One study tested 4 grams a day of Amarin Corp.’s prescription Vascepa, which is concentrated …

In Uganda, officials have stepped up measures to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.  Ebola has infected 319 people in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo since August, killing 198.  The border between the countries remains open, and health experts fear the virus will enter Uganda through the cross-border traffic.   The Lamia River marks the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola-infected North Kivu Province and Uganda.   Despite the deadly viral outbreak, Uganda’s Health Ministry says 20,000 people cross the border every week, putting the country at high risk. Ugandan Jane Biira goes to the DRC side at least twice a week to buy food and charcoal to sell back home.   “We have heard the disease is there but, we have to go out and trade.  We are only a little scared, because we have never seen anyone fall ill with Ebola where we go.  We buy the merchandise and leave.” When Biira and others cross into Uganda they get checked at screening points by health care workers and volunteers, like Boaz Balimaka.   “We have the hand-washing, then disinfecting the feet, and screening, then we allow somebody to pass.” While no Ebola cases have yet been detected in Uganda, it can take up to three weeks for symptoms to appear.    The virus causes a severe hemorrhagic fever that kills at least half the people who become infected.   Even with border screenings, Butogo Town Council head John Kandole says they worry someone …

University of Pennsylvania researchers say that for the first time they have linked social media use to increases in depression and loneliness. The idea that social media is anything but social when it comes to mental health has been talked about for years, but not many studies have managed to actually link the two. To do that, Penn researchers, led by psychologist Melissa Hunt, designed a study that focused on Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. The results were published in the November issue of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. How study worked The study was conducted with 143 participants, who before they began, completed a mood survey and sent along photos of their battery screens, showing how often they were using their phones to access social media. “We set out to do a much more comprehensive, rigorous study that was also more ecologically valid,” Hunt said. That term, ecologically valid, means that the research attempts to mimic real life. The study divided the participants into two groups: The first group was allowed to maintain their normal social media habits. The other, the control group, was restricted to 10 minutes per day on each of the three platforms: Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. The restrictions were put in place for three weeks and then the participants returned and were tested for outcomes such as fear of missing out (FOMO), anxiety, depression and loneliness. ​Results of study The results showed a very clear link between social media use and increased levels of …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week will issue a ban on the sale of fruit and candy flavored electronic cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations, an agency official said, in a move to counter a surge in teenage use of e-cigarettes. The ban means only tobacco, mint and menthol flavors can be sold at these outlets, the agency official said, potentially dealing a major blow to Juul Labs Inc, the San Francisco-based market leader in vape devices. The FDA also will introduce stricter age-verification requirements for online sales of e-cigarettes. The FDA’s planned restrictions, first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed to Reuters by the official, do not apply to vape shops or other specialty retail stores. There has been mounting pressure for action after preliminary federal data showed teenage use had surged by more than 75 percent since last year, and the FDA has described it as an “epidemic.” “E-cigs have become an almost ubiquitous — and dangerous — trend among teens,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in September. “The disturbing and accelerating trajectory of use we’re seeing in youth, and the resulting path to addiction, must end. It’s simply not tolerable.” That growth has coincided with the rise of Juul, whose sales of vaping devices grew from 2.2 million in 2016 to 16.2 million devices last year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency threatened in September to ban Juul and four other leading e-cigarette products unless their makers …