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Track pants are so '80s. Cargo pants, so '90s. We all know that athleisure, and yoga pants in particular, are the future. Activewear sales in the U.S. are up 21 percent from 2014, and yoga pant sales more than tripled last year. The masses have spoken, and I have to agree with them - yoga pants make me feel better than just about any other type of clothing.

So get ready to break up with your jeans, burn your jeggings, and cut up those flannel PJ pants in the back of your drawers. Here are four reasons why yoga pants are the best:

There's finally a fashion trend that allows you to sit crossed-legged without cutting off your circulation.

1. The accessibility factor

Deal with it, people: athleisure is having a moment. Sporting activewear outside the gym may be considered a faux pas to the fashionistas of the world, but to everyone else it's fair game.

Like all major fashion movements through history, yoga pants have graced the catwalk, taken on different fabrics and designs, and spread to just about every major clothing store around the world. Thanks to heavy-hitters like Lululemon and Athleta as well as custom boho-chic designers like Courage My Love, yoga pants offerings have gone from variations on black and gray to a smorgasbord of colors, designs, and styles. These days, you can find couture animal-print pants for $900 as well as chic, affordable pairs for $20.

If you want to feel lean and mean, slip into a pair of high-waisted yoga pants. No one really understands how or why it happens, but they make any trace of bloating completely vanish. Some say it's magic. Others think it has to be some sort of yoga witchery. Either way, it results in a serious self-confidence boost.

So forget the old-school belief that activewear only belongs in the gym. If something makes you feel comfortable and confident, then the opinions of others don't mean a thing. For me, putting on yoga pants almost feels like whipping out my Superman cape. Confidence? Tick! Bloating? Gone. A party trick you might call magic, I call awesome.

Despite being relatively demure and understated, yoga pants help people exercise, move, and nurture themselves better than just about any other fashion fad that came before them. In a phenomenon called " enclothed cognition," research shows that yes, wearing activewear really can make you more active. Basically, clothing holds symbolic meaning, and yoga pants symbolize gym time.

Forget those toe-numbing high heels, the jeans that you need half an hour to squeeze into, or that too-little little black dress. There's finally a fashion trend that allows you to sit crossed-legged without cutting off your circulation. So go out and treat yourself to a pair of yoga pants - no matter how many you already have stuffed into your gym bag. And don't be afraid to call on their confidence-boosting powers wherever and whenever you please.

But know that it is possible to take it too far. Just like swimwear worn out of context can be perceived as loony, there are some places where activewear is out of bounds - though the list is pretty short. These days, it just includes weddings, funerals, and first dates.

Related reads:

Yoga is incredible for keeping your body & mind healthy. Ready to learn about how the power of food can also create a sound body & mind? Register now for our FREE Functional Nutrition Webinar with Kelly LeVeque.

Emma Mildon, also known as the spiritual personal assistant, is an international columnist, No. 1 best-selling author, and publicist. As a world traveler, she has sought out medicine men, healers, physicists, authors, and artists to explore spirituality, channeling, and healing and has also practiced meditation, yoga, and life coaching. Through it all, Emma has connected with like-minded soul searchers across the globe and aims to provide fun spiritual wisdom to her generation. Emma writes for the Huffington Post, mindbodygreen, Wanderlust, and Yoganonymous and is the author of the best-selling book The Soul-Searcher's Handbook, available now. Her upcoming book, Evolution of A Goddess, is now available for preorder.

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My Ode To Yoga Pants: 4 Reasons They're The Best

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Track pants are so '80s. Cargo pants, so '90s. We all know that athleisure, and yoga pants in particular, are the future. Activewear sales in the U.S. are up 21 percent from 2014, and yoga pant sales more than tripled last year.

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Break out your favorite stretchy, patterned leggings and cutest racerback tank - The New York Times just reported that the term "athleisure" will be included in the next update of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

What does this mean for those of us who rock this look to work two or three times a week? Nothing really. But you no longer have to use those annoying air quotes when you tell your friends about your latest athleisure purchase. It's a real word now. According to a Merriam-Webster dictionary editor, the term "meets all criteria for entry," which basically means it's been used frequently over a long period of time.

Not that you needed us to tell you, but keep rocking your athleisure gear at work, at the gym, at brunch - clearly the trend is here to stay. Plus this news, just gave us another excuse to watch our favorite video spoof on athleisure, enjoy!

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"Athleisure" Is Officially A Thing: The Word Is Now In Merriam-Webster

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Break out your favorite stretchy, patterned leggings and cutest racerback tank - The New York Times just reported that the term "athleisure" will be included in the next update of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. What does this mean for those of us who rock this look to work two or three times a week?

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selfie attempt results in damage to artwork by salvador dali and francisco goya - cnn

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Selfie attempt results in damage to artwork by Salvador Dali and Francisco Goya

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A woman at an art museum in Yekaterinburg, Russia, tried to take a selfie on October 27 and accidentally knocked over a structure carrying two works of art.

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CLOSE

Selfies have become a matter of life and death - and no, that's not just an exaggerated pronouncement from your Instagram-obsessed teen.

In recent weeks alone, selfies have been credited with saving at least one Michigander, and blamed for killing a 32-year-old woman who fell to her death while visiting Pictured Rocks in the Upper Peninsula as she took photos near a 200-foot cliff.

New research identified 259 other deaths worldwide in the past six years related to selfies, of which more than a million are taken a day.

"Everybody is trying to be somebody on the Internet," said Norman Irvin, a 28-year-old Detroiter who regularly posts selfies on his various Facebook accounts. "You take a picture of yourself, your crew, and hope you get a few likes. The more dangerous the selfie, the more likes you get."

As a result, he said, people try to do extra getting a pic next to a Tiger or bungee jumping off a bridge.

His riskiest selfie ever: A snap while on a Cedar Point roller coaster.

Norman Irvin, a 28-year-old Detroiter who regularly posts selfies like this one, which was taken in downtown Detroit, on his social media accounts. (Photo: Norman Irvin)

Some selfie stats

A paper, "Selfies: A boon or bane?" published this summer in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care ​​​​​​warned that selfies are increasing leading to injuries and deaths, and the number of deaths, especially among adolescents, is on the rise.

Moreover, the study said, "death by selfie" isn't an official cause, and so these fatalities are difficult to count. The global study also only looked at reports in English, and at accounts in which a selfie was taken so the true magnitude of the problem, the paper added, is likely higher.

Most of the deaths, 72 percent, were men - and attributed to risky behavior.
Read more:
Causes of death included: getting hit by a moving train, being washed away by waves on a beach, capsizing in a boat while rowing, burning in a fire, being shot, electrocuted, attacked by an animal - and, as in Michigan, falling off the edge of a cliff.

The average age of those who died: 23.

Last month's death in Michigan, which was witnessed by two kayakers, was not included in the study.

The word selfie, the study said, dates back to at least 2013, when the Oxford Dictionary named it as the word of the year. Selfies have been taken everywhere, including by astronauts in space.

International space station astronaut Aki Hoshide takes a self-portrait while in space in 2012. (Photo: AP)

Google estimated that 24 billion selfies were uploaded to Google photos in 2015, and other research found 55% of millennials have posted a selfie on social media.

In fact, the study said, selfie picture quality is a mobile phone selling feature.

The selfie has spawned a host of selfie neologisms, apps and inventions to help take them. The selfie shoe, for instance, has a pocket to hold your phone while you lift your leg, giving you more reach than using your arm to snap a pic.

Selfie sticksat the 2015 International Consumer Electronics Showin Las Vegas (Photo: Britta Pedersen)

In terms of where selfie deaths occurred, more than half of them - 159 - were in India. The United States was third, with 14, just after Russia, with 16. India, the study said, had the highest number of deaths partly because the country has a high number of people younger than 30, and because selfies in India are especially trendy - even more so than the United States.

In June, the Indian website scoopwhoop.com published several photos of people taking selfies under the headline "13 Types Of Selfies You Can Only Take In India Because It Probably Won't Happen Anywhere Else." Among the images: A man posing with a cobra, a guy with a burning car, and folks in front of oncoming trains.

In addition to dangerous selfie poses, experts also warn that posting selfies also may inadvertently expose people to other dangers: identity theft, cyber bullying and, for the selfies in bad taste, potential disqualification from school and work opportunities.

Dr. David Rosenberg, the chair of the Wayne State University psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, said this technology certain can be "a good servant" by enhancing quality of life, but it also tends to be a "cruel and crippling master."

Still, not all news about selfies is bad, and the new selfie study offered a potential solution.

Selfies for good

Some institutions are tapping into the popularity of selfies to try to do good.

Oakland University, for example, used a selfie booth - a set up where folks could have their photos taken with funny hats and props - to boost attendance and liven up a big campus meeting that otherwise might have been rather dull.

Even the university president got in on the photo taking.

"The power of the selfie is incredible," said Brian Bierley, media relations director of the Rochester Hills university. "Everybody likes to get their picture taken. The line was wrapped around the room. It rivaled any food line."

And early last month, a Michigan woman, Juanita Branch, credited a selfie with saving her life.

She updated her Facebook page with a fresh selfie and then noticed "something wasn't right" in the images. So she took a closer look in the mirror and realized one side of her face was drooping, and went to the hospital.

It turned out, she was having a stroke.

"I'm gonna stop making fun of people who take selfies," Fox 2 Detroit quoted Branch saying after doctors treated her in time as a result of what she initially saw in the digital images. "That selfie literally did save my life."

To keep people safe, the selfie study concluded that folks need to be educated about the dangers. It also urged that areas where folks are at risk, especially tourist areas, be declared and marked as "No Selfie Zones."

They likely would include cliffs, tall building overlooks and places close to water.

Some countries have already done this. In Russia, the study said, there are signs and slogans warning of the dangers of selfies. In India, selfies are prohibited in 16 areas in Mumbai. And in Indonesia, officials are setting aside spots for tourists that are selfie safe.

"Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous," the study said, cautioning that "although our study has enlisted the largest number of selfie deaths and incidents to date, this is just the tip of iceberg."
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
Selfie slang

The rise of the selfie - a digital photo of yourself that is taken with your mobile phone, usually one-handed - is tied to the technology, according to a new study that looked at selfie-related deaths worldwide.

New terms also have been coined: koolfie, restaurantfie, musclefie, dentisfie, belfie, chestie, dronie and many more.

There are websites dedicated to "how to have a perfect selfie" and "different poses for selfie." There also are selfie sticks and selfie shoes, devices that will extend the reach of your phone so you can get a better photo. There are even selfie contests.

Read or Share this story: https://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2018/10/04/selfie-deaths-study/1510556002/

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Selfies are killing us: How they become a worldwide danger

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CLOSE Selfies have become a matter of life and death - and no, that's not just an exaggerated pronouncement from your Instagram-obsessed teen. In recent weeks alone, selfies have been credited with saving at least one Michigander, and blamed for killing a 32-year-old woman who fell to her death while visiting Pictured Rocks in the Upper Peninsula as she took photos near a 200-foot cliff.

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Popular social media personality Ryker Gamble, far left, died on July 3, 2018 after falling into a River in Squamish, BC. Photo via Instagram

This article originally appeared on VICE Canada.

A new study has found more than 250 people have died in pursuit of a perfect selfie.

The study published by the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care journal (and republished by the National Library of Medicine in the US) looks into how many of us social media obsessed plebs are dying for the 'gram. Led by Dr. Agam Bansal at the India Institute of Medical Sciences, the study analyzed news articles from October 2011 to November 2017 and found there have been 259 reported deaths-dubbed selficides in one part of the article-resulting from that never-ending thirst for Instagram likes.

Some of these deaths have been relatively high profile. In Canada-while we don't know if it was for a selfie- three social media influencers were killed this year after falling into a river and being swept over a waterfall. In May of this year, a man in India was mauled to death by a bear while trying to get a selfie. There have been several stories of people falling just after they've taken the selfie leaving only the ghostly photo of them seconds before their demise. The study makes it clear that this isn't a small problem and there are almost certainly more people out there who died taking selfies than the 259 they reported.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg," reads part of the study. "Many cases are not reported."

In regards to those 259, the researchers broke down the geography of the deaths and found that the "highest number of incidents and selfie-deaths" were in "India followed by Russia, the United States, and Pakistan." The average age of those getting killed was unsurprisingly pretty young at 22.94 years. According to the data, the chance of you reaching death by selfie drops off significantly (again, unsurprisingly) by the time someone hits 30. Just over three-quarters of those killed taking selfies were men (also, unsurprisingly).

India led the way with almost 50 percent of the fatalities reported in the study. The study suggests one of the reasons for this is because India has a relatively young population and therefore has more people in the age group prone to die this way. The researchers do write that there may be another factor though.

"Our study has shown that the ratio of deaths to incidents is almost double in India," reads the study. "This unique feature could be attributed to the reason that the trend of group selfies is more prevalent in India as compared to other countries."

The top three causes of deaths were drowning, being hit by a vehicle, or falling. In terms of the vehicle-related deaths the biggest killer has been people trying to get that perfect shot in front of a moving train. Unsurprisingly the United States leads when it comes to firearm-related selfie deaths.

So, you ask, how can we solve this situation? How can we keep our young from walking into the mouth of a volcano or whatever? Well, the study puts forth the idea of "no-selfie zones" in dangerous areas for those mortality-challenged millennials out there.

"Selfies are themselves not harmful, but the human behavior that accompanies selfies is dangerous. Individuals need to be educated regarding certain risky behaviors and risky places where selfies should not be taken," reads the study. No-selfie zones "should be declared across many tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths."
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journal of family medicine and primary care

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Hundreds of People Have Died Taking Selfies, Study Says

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Popular social media personality Ryker Gamble, far left, died on July 3, 2018 after falling into a River in Squamish, BC. Photo via Instagram This article originally appeared on VICE Canada . A new study has found more than 250 people have died in pursuit of a perfect selfie.

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Twice a year, switching between daylight saving time and standard time throws us off our usual routine. We might expect to feel a bit sleepy or maybe even a little "off." But springing forward or falling back an hour can have other surprising effects: It's linked to changes in our health, diet and even tendency to get into an accident.

"Sleep is a kind of outward symbol of the timing processes of our body," explained Chris Winter, M.D., author of "The Sleep Solution" and president of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine clinic in Virginia. "Our bodies function on an internal schedule, from hormone release to body temperature to cognition - and sleep is linked to them all."

Appetite

Blame this one on the hormones. "Appetite in general is often not the body requesting food; it's the body anticipating food," Dr. Winter explained. "When your body knows you eat lunch around 12:30 p.m. or so every day, it anticipates and prepares for the meal."

Your body receives those signals from hormones, like ghrelin, which increases our cravings so we're motivated to eat, and leptin, which affects feelings of satiety. "These two hormones are intimately associated with sleep, which is part of why when we're not sleeping well, we tend to overeat," Dr. Winter said. "It's a tight hormonal balance and daylight-saving shifts can absolutely throw it off."

Accidents

Speaking of being thrown off, you may find daylight saving time shifts make you feel mentally fuzzy or slow. Sleep disruptions can conversely affect cognitive performance.

Back in 1999, Johns Hopkins and Stanford University researchers published a comprehensive study that analyzed 21 years' worth of fatal car crash data. They found a small but notable increase in car crash deaths on the Monday after the switch to daylight saving time in the spring: 83.5 deaths, compared with 78.2 deaths on the average Monday.

And studies of workplace-specific accidents have uncovered similar links. Research published in 2009 showed the Monday after switching to daylight saving time saw a 5.7 percent jump in workplace injuries, and nearly 68 percent more workdays lost to injuries, meaning they were more severe. These conclusions were reached by analyzing U.S. Department of Labor and Mine Safety and Health Administration injury data from 1983 to 2006.

Mood

Here again, disruptions in our normal sleep schedule can throw off hormonal balances. Lack of proper sleep can exacerbate depressive feelings, anxiety, irritability, and mental exhaustion.

Studies show even partial sleep deprivation can have a negative effect on mood, and as Dr. Winter pointed out, this effect can snowball: When you feel stressed and anxious thanks to lack of sleep from the previous night, it's hard to settle down for that night's rest, too.

If you have teens in the house, take special note: "The effects of [daylight saving time] can have more impact on adolescents," said André U. Aguillon, M.D., assistant professor at the University of Toledo's medical school and program director of the university's Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program. "Not only do they require more sleep than adults, but their habitual sleep-wake timing is typically delayed."

The spring forward has links to heart attack and certain strokes

"The heart has a pretty significant circadian rhythm," said Winter, who has studied brain-blood flow during sleep. "We tend to see that disrupted sleep may make people more vulnerable when we wake up - not causing a heart attack but perhaps exacerbating underlying conditions."

A 2014 U.S. study showed one hour of sleep during the "spring forward" to daylight saving time raised the risk of having a heart attack the following Monday by 24 percent compared to other Mondays during the year. By contrast, when "falling back" later in the year to gain an extra hour of sleep, heart attack risk fell 21 percent on the following Tuesday after returning to standard time.

Similarly, a study presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 2016 conference showed daylight saving time transitions may be linked to an increased risk of ischemic stroke.

Tips to adjust: Do's and don'ts

Do get as much light as possible when you wake up. Sure, you may not feel like throwing open those curtains as soon as you open your eyes. But this is "by far the most effective way to jumpstart the change," Dr. Winter said. "Your body sets its rhythm in large part by light."

Do exercise in the A.M. This gets you up and moving, as well as exposing you to light and raising your body temperature - all great ways to wake your body up.

Do go to bed at your typical time Saturday night before the clocks change. "As we are a typically sleep-deprived society, we should take advantage of the extra hour of sleep," Dr. Aguillon said.

Don't over-caffeinate. Enjoy your morning cup, or whatever your usual coffee habit may be. But don't alter your caffeine routine by, for example, chugging a cup or two in the afternoon because you feel a slump.

Don't take a nap. "This is where people fall off the wagon," Dr. Winter said. "They're tired so they nap in the middle of the day, but then when it's time to go to bed that night or the next night they're not ready, which can have a bad snowball effect."
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Daylight saving time: 4 surprising health effects of 'falling back' an hour

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Twice a year, switching between daylight saving time and standard time throws us off our usual routine. We might expect to feel a bit sleepy or maybe even a little "off." But springing forward or falling back an hour can have other surprising effects: It's linked to changes in our health, diet and even tendency to get into an accident.

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Does Daylight Saving Time Hurt Your Health?

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Daylight Saving Time (DST) messes with our body clocks, and can trigger underlying health issues.

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Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada.

©iStockphoto.com/Lacheev

Spring DST: the ultimate Monday?
Daylight Saving Time is the practice of setting the clocks one hour ahead of standard time to make use of more sunlight in the spring, summer, and fall evenings.
NEWS: DST starts in the US & Canada 2023 NEWS: DST starts in Europe 2023
First Used in Canada in 1908

While Germany and Austria were the first countries to use DST in 1916, it is a little-known fact that a few hundred Canadians beat the German Empire by eight years. On July 1, 1908, the residents of Port Arthur, Ontario-today's Thunder Bay-turned their clocks forward by one hour to start the world's first DST period.

Other locations in Canada soon followed suit. On April 23, 1914, Regina in Saskatchewan implemented DST. The cities of Winnipeg and Brandon in Manitoba did so on April 24, 1916. According to the April 3, 1916, edition of the Manitoba Free Press, Daylight Saving Time in Regina "proved so popular that bylaw now brings it into effect automatically."

Germany Popularized DST

However, the idea did not catch on globally until Germany introduced DST in 1916. Clocks in the German Empire, and its ally Austria, were turned ahead by one hour on April 30, 1916 -two years into World War I. The rationale was to minimize the use of artificial lighting to save fuel for the war effort.

Within a few weeks, the United Kingdom, France, and many other countries followed the idea. Most of them reverted to standard time after World War I, and it wasn't until the next World War that DST made its return in most of Europe.
Is winter time the same as standard time?
Who Invented DST?

If you think Daylight Saving Time is a good idea, you can thank New Zealand scientist George Vernon Hudson and British builder William Willett. In 1895, Hudson presented a paper to the Wellington Philosophical Society, proposing a 2-hour shift forward in October and a 2-hour shift back in March. There was interest in the idea, but it was never followed through.

In 1905, independently from Hudson, British builder William Willett suggested setting the clocks ahead 20 minutes on each of the four Sundays in April, and switching them back by the same amount on each of the four Sundays in September, a total of eight time switches per year.

First Daylight Saving Bill

Willett's Daylight Saving plan caught the attention of Robert Pearce, a British Member of Parliament, and he introduced a bill to the House of Commons in February 1908. The first Daylight Saving Bill was drafted in 1909, presented to Parliament several times, and examined by a select committee. However, many, especially farmers, opposed the idea, so the bill was never made into a law.

Willett died in 1915, the year before the United Kingdom started using DST in May 1916. It is not known if he was aware that his idea had become a reality seven years before his death in a small town in Ontario.
DST can cause health problems
Benjamin Franklin, the Father of DST?

Many sources also credit Benjamin Franklin for being the first to suggest seasonal time change. However, the idea voiced by the American inventor and politician in 1784 can hardly be described as fundamental for the development of modern DST. After all, it did not even involve turning the clocks. In a letter to the editor of the Journal of Paris, entitled "An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light," Franklin simply suggested that Parisians could economize candle usage by getting people out of bed earlier in the morning. What's more: Franklin meant it as a joke.
Does DST really save energy?
An Ancient Idea

Although modern DST has only been used for about 100 years, ancient civilizations are known to have engaged in comparable practices thousands of years ago. For example, the Roman water clocks used different scales for different months of the year to adjust the daily schedules to the solar time.

Daylight Saving Today

Daylight Saving Time is now used in over 70 countries worldwide and affects over one billion people every year. The beginning and end dates vary from one country to another.
DST might become history in the EU DST in the US
Topics: Daylight Saving Time, History, Timekeeping

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Daylight Saving Time (DST) is used to save energy and make better use of daylight. It was first used in 1908 in Thunder Bay, Canada. Spring DST: the ultimate Monday? Daylight Saving Time is the practice of setting the clocks one hour ahead of standard time to make use of more sunlight in the spring, summer, and fall evenings.

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Why do Leaves Change Color in the Fall? | The Weather Channel

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The Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore explains why we see such beautiful colors in trees in the fall.

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Ever wonder why some years your prized Japanese maple trumpets color in autumn, while in other years it seems less enthusiastic? There's a good reason. Like our moods, the color intensity of fall foliage changes with the weather.

Above: Photograph by Meredith Heuer. For more, see It's High Season in Grace Kennedy's Garden.

The changing color of fall foliage is a simple chemistry lesson. Chlorophyll is what makes leaves green (and enables plants to use sunlight to create their own food). As days become shorter and temperatures drop, chlorophyll production slows to a stop and the other pigments in the leaves get a chance to show themselves.

Above: Photograph by Marie Viljoen. For more, see The 9 Best Shrubs to Plant for Fall Foliage.

The two primary pigments are carotenoids that produce orange, yellow, and brown colors, and anthocyanins that are responsible for resplendent reds. The orange pigments (carotenoids) are present in leaves year round and get to shine when the green chlorophyll takes a break. Because the orange pigments are constant, their showiness in the fall is predictable. But, the red pigments (anthocyanins) are created in the autumn in response to light, plant chemical changes, temperature, and water supply. This is where weather affects the brilliance of the fall color display.

Above: Zelkova trees in New York City. Photograph by Marie Viljoen.

Warm days and low temperatures (above freezing) at night boost the production of the red pigments, producing a more dazzling display. But early frosts weaken the colors. What weather makes for the best fall foliage show? According the the US Forest Service, "a succession of warm, sunny days and cool, crisp but not freezing nights seems to bring out the most spectacular color displays."

Above: Photograph by Justine Hand.

Moisture also plays a role. "A late spring, or a severe summer drought, can delay the onset of fall color. A warm wet spring, favorable summer weather, and warm sunny fall days with cool nights should produce the most brilliant autumn colors." Bring out the crystal ball, or at least the Farmer's Almanac (15.95).

Above: Even in San Francisco, fall is starting to show its colors on a Japanese maple in my backyard. Photograph by Janet Hall.

Above: Redbud trees turn a brilliant yellow in autumn. For more, see 11 Best Trees to Plant for New England-Style Foliage. Photograph by Marie Viljoen.

Fall's here! See our earlier feature to Identify Those Colorful Leaves.

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Fall Foliage 101: Why Some Autumns are More Colorful - Gardenista

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Ever wonder why some years your prized Japanese maple trumpets color in autumn, while in other years it seems less enthusiastic? There's a good reason. Like our moods, the color intensity of fall foliage changes with the weather. Above: Photograph by Meredith Heuer. For more, see It's High Season in Grace Kennedy's Garden.

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Alex Gomez, 36, of California, was badly bitten in August 2015 when he tried to take a selfie with a four-foot rattlesnake. "It could've bit his neck, and that would have been it. That's...

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