It is a problem of massive plastic proportions — a giant floating debris field, composed mostly of bits and pieces of plastic, in the northwest Pacific Ocean, about a thousands miles off the coast of California. It’s called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and it covers a vast area of hundreds, maybe even thousands, of miles of open ocean
Tag Archives: food
Afghan Elections: The Man Who Would Beat Karzai
The downtown Kabul campaign headquarters of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah bustles with the expected frenetic activity of an election engine in the final throes of the campaign season
Blue M&Ms linked to reducing spine injury
The same blue food dye found in M&Ms and Gatorade could be used to reduce damage caused by spine injuries, offering a better chance of recovery, according to new research.
Taliban’s video of captured soldier an effort to change image?
The United States military has been relatively mum on the recent capture of Army Pfc.
Frank McCourt, author of Angela’s Ashes, Dies
For most of his life, until he was well into his 60s, Frank McCourt wasn’t a writer, he was a teacher. But it is as a writer, the author of the wildly successful memoir Angela’s Ashes, that he will be remembered. He died on Sunday in New York of meningitis.
Police: Hospital employee swiped shots, spread hepatitis C
A former hospital employee may have exposed hundreds, or even thousands, of surgical patients to hepatitis C after taking their fentanyl injections and replacing them with used syringes filled with saline solution, authorities say. Kristen Diane Parker, who worked at Rose Medical Center in Denver, has admitted to secretly injecting herself in a bathroom and using unclean syringes as replacements for patients, investigators said
Twittering from the tractor: smartphones sprout on the farm
As he rolls across the wheat fields of his Nebraska farm, Steve Tucker often has his hands not on the wheel of his tractor, but on a smartphone. He sometimes posts a dozen messages per day on Twitter, commenting on everything from the weather to the state of his crops to his son’s first tractor ride and even last night’s cheeseburger.
Two anti-smoking drugs to carry mental-health warnings
Two popular anti-smoking drugs will now carry warnings about the risk of severe mental health problems, the Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday.
FDA advisers vote to take Vicodin, Percocet off market
A government advisory panel voted Tuesday to recommend eliminating prescription drugs that combine acetaminophen with narcotics — such as Vicodin and Percocet — because of their risk for overdose and for severe liver injury. The panel, assembled by the Food and Drug Administration, voted 20 to 17 to advise the FDA to remove such prescription combination drugs from the market. The group recommended that the FDA “send a clear message that there’s a high likelihood of overdose from prescription narcotics and acetaminophen products,” Dr.
The Other North Korean Crisis: An Economy in Tatters
I had the rare opportunity in 2002 to take a road trip through North Korea.