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"The 3-Minute Interview: Lee Hirsch, anti-bullying activist" by Susan Ferrechio. washingtonexaminer.com. June 4, 2013

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Hirsch created of the film "Bully" and The Bully Project, a social action campaign aimed at ending bullying in schools across America. He will speak Wednesday at the National Press Club in downtown D.C.
Why did you create this project?

I was bullied as a kid. And I became a filmmaker. Making the film "Bully" was something I had looked at many times. I was probably scared to make the film. After we produced it, we saw the film was really moving people and that is where the secondary tier of work began. I wanted to harness the moment and create the best tools we possibly could to allow people to use the film as a motivator and actually create safety in our schools.

What is the project about?

It's is very much like an experiment. It's about how we can leverage the power of a film that has traction, that brings people to a place where they want to raise their hand and say, "What can I do?"

How do you create that kind of leverage?

It's interesting because what we are celebrating in part on Capitol Hill on Wednesday is that we met and surpassed our goal of getting a million kids to see the film.

Beyond the film, how does the project work?

We have created a set of tools that go with it -- lessons that are created for the student that sees the film. It's using the film as a tool for educators, the people who are reaching out for it and saying we want to do that in our community and bring it to our school.

What do you believe is behind the uptick in bullying?

It has a lot to do with the broader question of school climate and school culture... Schools have gotten very focused on results and numerical evaluation based on testing. And what I see has gotten lost is increasing the social and emotional connections between students and staff. Schools need to teach kids empathy and how to process relationships.

What can a school do to reduce bullying?

The Bully Project includes a toolbox that is a roadmap for creating change. The first thing we encourage people to do is survey the school climate and school culture and really determine how many students feel connected to the school. They should determine what are the areas in student daily life that feel safe and unsafe.

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The 3-Minute Interview: Lee Hirsch, anti-bullying activist

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Hirsch created of the film "Bully" and The Bully Project, a social action campaign aimed at ending bullying in schools across America. He will speak Wednesday at the National Press Club in downtown D.C.

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“Teenage Girl is Dogs’ Best Friend” by Briar Marbeck. 3News.co.nz. August 10, 2014

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“10 Child Labor Facts.” By Matt Berg. BorgenProject.com. October 4, 2013

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Child labor, as defined by the International Labor Organization (ILO), is "work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential, and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development." The persistence of child labor is one of the biggest obstacles to human rights globally. Child Labor perpetuates poverty by depriving children of education and leaving them without the skills needed to secure the future of themselves and their communities. This article sheds light on key child labor facts and the countries where child labor prevails.

Top 10 Child Labor Facts

1. Much of Indonesia's tobacco is produced by thousands of children as young as eight. Tobacco cultivation is extremely labor intensive and children are often subjected to serious health risks including nicotine poisoning.

2. According to the ILO, 168 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor as of 2013.

3. Of these 168 million children, 85 million are engaged in what the ILO deems "hazardous work."

4. According to a study conducted by the ILO in 2004, the benefits of eradicating child labor would "outweigh costs by nearly six to one."

5. The sub-Saharan African region has the second highest number of child laborers in the world; about 59 million in 2012. According to the Pew Research Center, 21.4 percent of children aged five to 17 are involved in child labor while 10.4 percent are engaged in hazardous work.

6. Agriculture accounts for 60 percent of child labor according to the ILO.

7. Only one out of five children involved in child labor is paid for their work.

8. The majority of children in child labor perform unpaid family work.

9. The 10 countries that strategic consulting firm Maplecroft listed as the worst countries for child labor in 2012 were: Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Ethiopia, Burundi and Zimbabwe.

10. About 60 percent of children in Ethiopia are engaged in some form of child labor. Many of these children work in the mining industry; an industry that poses some of the biggest dangers for child laborers.

Many parents in impoverished countries push their children into work out of necessity, unable to sustain their families on their own incomes.

One of the best ways to combat child labor is to provide fair wages and safe working conditions for parents so that they can provide for their families without being forced to depend on their children. To fight against child labor is the fight against global poverty.

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10 Shocking Child Labor Facts - The Borgen Project

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Here are 10 child labor facts about the perpetuating cycle of poverty that results from depriving children of an education. These shocking facts about child labor demonstrate the detrimental effects of the practice on the countries which it plagues.

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Water Warrior for Marginalized Communities

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Water Warrior for Marginalized Communities

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"Autumn Peltier: 'Water Warrior' for Marginalized Communities." by Olivia Riggio.
KCET.org. September 16, 2020.

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Fifteen-year-old water protector Autumn Peltier, Anishinaabe-kwe, comes from the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario, Canada. It was there, after observing that Indigenous people on the island could not drink the water in their communities, that she began her fight for clean water.

"It all started by learning why my people couldn't drink the water on Ontario Indigenous lands. I was confused because Canada is not a third-world country, but in my country, the Indigenous people live in third-world conditions," she said when she addressed the United Nations Global Landscapes Forum in September 2019.

Peltier was nominated for the International Children's Peace Prizeby the David Suzuki Foundation in 2017, 2018 and 2019. She was also recognized as an Ontario Junior Citizen for her environmental advocacy work and won a WE Day award for Youth in Action when she was 12. She has shared her message at hundreds of events around the world and has been dubbed a "Water Warrior" for her continued activism.

In 2016, she famously confronted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about his failure to protect Indigenous people's water at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in 2016. She was just 12 years old when she told him, "I am very unhappy with the choices you made." Through tears, she added only "the pipelines," to which Trudeau responded, "I will protect the water."

In her U.N. speech the following year, Peltier explained that boil water advisories have existed in some Indigenous communities in Canada for over 20 years. She also mentioned learning about Flint, Michigan and other marginalized communities' struggles to obtain clean water around the world.

Peltier's passion comes, in part, from the tradition in which she grew up. Her great-aunt, Josephine Mandamin, served as the chief water commissioner of the Anishinabek Nation, a position Peltier took on when she was just 14. In her 2019 U.N. speech, Peltier described the spiritual significance of water to her people.

"For years and years, our ancestors have passed down traditional oral knowledge that our water is alive and our water has a spirit," she said. "Our first water teaching comes from our mother. We literally live in water for nine months, floating in that sacred water that gives us life."

During her first U.N. speech in 2018, Peltier urged the general assembly to "warrior up" and take serious steps to defend the planet. In 2019, she called for a banning of plastics and a return to older, more sustainable ways of life.

"We can't eat money or drink oil." she said.

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Autumn Peltier: 'Water Warrior' for Marginalized Communities

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Autumn Peltier is passionate about granting communites acess to clean water. It's a cause she has been fighting for since she was at least 12 years old.

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Girls Can Change the World-But We Have to Invest in Them First

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Girls Can Change the World-But We Have to Invest in Them First

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"Girls Can Change the World-But We Have to Invest in Them First." by Malala Yousafzai. Time.com. January 4, 2018.

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Girls Can Change the World-But We Have to Invest in Them First

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Activist Malala Yousafzai writes that if we want a brighter future-for them and for ourselves-we must invest in female education today.

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What is Space Exploration Doing for You?

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What is Space Exploration Doing for You?

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What Is Space Exploration Doing For You?

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"A Brief History of Screen Panic." by Blanca Meyers. Wired.com. March 27, 2018.

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For as long as we've had TVs, videogames, smartphones, and tablets, there have been scientists, politicians, and parents worrying about whether too much screen time will make kids less healthy (maybe), more violent (debatable), and hopelessly distracted (Sorry, can you repeat that?). Here's a short history of people fearing the worst.

Anthropologist Earnest A. Hooton describes TV as "a visual education in how to do wrong."

Fredric Wertham writes, "I have found that children from 3 to 4 have learned from television that killing, especially shooting, is one of the established procedures for coping with a problem."

Following the release of a videogame called Death Race, Gerald Driessen, a behavioral scientist, describes gaming consoles as "definitely negative ... The person no longer is just a spectator, but now an actor in the process of creating violence."

"Children with higher weight status played moderate amounts of electronic games," a study in The Journal of Adolescence read, "while children with lower weight status played either very little or a lot."

"Social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol," says Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the UK-based Royal Society for Public Health. "It is no longer possible to ignore it when talking about young people's mental health issues."

How to Reverse Infertility * Tools for Fetal Surgery * Save the Preemies * The Year's Best Tech Playthings * Cashing in on Kiddie YouTube * The #MiniMilah Effect * Rethinking Screen Time * A Brief History of Digital Worries * Solving Health Issues at All Stages
This article appears in the April issue. Subscribe now.

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A Brief History of Screen Panic, From TVs to Today

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For as long as we've had screens, people have worried whether too much screen time would make kids less healthy, more violent, and hopelessly distracted.

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What your food would look like if it weren't genetically modified

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What your food would look like if it weren't genetically modified

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Next time you bite into a slice of watermelon or a cob of corn, consider this: These familiar fruits and veggies didn't always look and taste this way.

Genetically modified foods, or GMOs, inspire strong reactions nowadays, but humans have been tweaking the genetics of our favorite produce for millennia.

While GMOs may involve splicing genes from other organisms (such as bacteria) to give plants desired traits - like resistance to pests, selective breeding is a slower process whereby farmers select and grow crops with those traits over time.

From bananas to eggplant, here are some of the foods that looked totally different before humans first started growing them for food.

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Here's what your food would look like if it weren't genetically modified over millennia

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Bet you've never seen fruits and veggies that look like these before.

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The Unknown About the Unsinkable Titanic

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The Unknown About the Unsinkable Titanic

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The Unknown About The Unsinkable Titanic

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Did more than just the iceberg lead the "unsinkable" Titanic to sink?

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Online Bullies Called Me the World's Ugliest Woman

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Online Bullies Called Me the World's Ugliest Woman

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"Lizzie Velasquez: 'Online bullies called me the world's ugliest woman'." by Kathleen Hawkins. bbc.com. March 14, 2015.

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A woman who was bullied for the way she looks is the focus of a new film that premieres at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas on Saturday.

What started as a search for music online - purely homework procrastination - would change Lizzie Velasquez's life.

She was 17 when she stumbled across a YouTube video entitled "The World's Ugliest Woman". What she didn't expect was that the woman featured in the video would be her. It was an eight-second clip and had been watched over four million times.

She didn't realise it was her until it started playing.

"I was shocked," Velasquez recalls, "but it wasn't until I started to read the comments that my stomach really sank."

"Why would her parents keep her?!" read one of the comments, "kill it with fire" said another. And they continued on and on. Some commentators said she should kill herself, and one said people would go blind if they saw her on the street. Velasquez couldn't help but read every comment, and she says there were thousands.

"I cried for many nights - as a teenager I thought my life was over," she says. "I couldn't bring myself to talk to anybody about it, I didn't tell any of my friends, I was just so shocked that it had happened."

Velasquez was already used to being bullied daily for the way she looks. Born with two rare conditions - Marfan and lipodystrophy - she is unable to gain weight, no matter how much she eats. When she started kindergarten she remembers how classmates recoiled from her, afraid.

Now 26 she is 5ft 2in and weighs about 60lbs (27kg). She is totally blind in her right eye and visually impaired in the other, and was in and out of hospital growing up with a number of health problems - eye surgery, ear surgery, complete foot reconstruction, bone density tests, and a number of blood tests as doctors tried to decipher what her condition was. It wasn't until last year that they managed to put a name to it.

She lacks energy at times because of her conditions, and takes a long time to fight off infections such as bronchitis. She is currently undergoing heart scans to determine whether or not Marfan syndrome has caused any defects, and she was admitted to hospital in November unable to keep down food due to a problem with her oesophagus.

She also has a recurring problem with her right foot which easily fractures due to a lack of fat on the sole, but is adamant she doesn't let it get her down.

"When I was a teenager I would look in the mirror and wish I could wash away my syndrome," she says. "I hated it because it caused so much pain in my life. Being a 13-year-old girl who is constantly picked on is unbearable."

When she was born, Velasquez, from Texas, weighed just 2lb 10oz (1.2kg) and doctors told her parents that, in all probability, they would have to take care of her for the rest of her life and didn't know what her life expectancy was.

Full of instant love for their daughter, Velasquez's parents, Rita and Lupe, say they never thought "why is this happening to us", and just wanted to get her home, to start her life.

It's because of this attitude that Velasquez credits her parents entirely for her ability to think positively when she was being bullied at school or stared at and mocked in the streets. As a child they told her to go to school with her head held high, smile, and be nice to everyone, no matter how they treated her. It's a message that has stuck and she says now that she happily forgives the person who posted that YouTube video nine years ago. "I don't know what they're going through," she says. "While my life may be hard at times, they could be going through something much worse."

Velasquez decided she could try to make a change. She started her own YouTube channel to let people know who the person behind the "World's Ugliest Woman" video really was, and to teach others they, too, could be confident in their own skin.

She currently has about 240,000 subscribers to her channel and a TED talk she was subsequently asked to give in Austin in 2013 entitled "How do you define yourself?" has over seven million views on YouTube.

She says that the community that has built up around her online presence has been amazing, and she sees people posting comments who have been bullied saying she makes them feel able to seek help, speak to somebody, or stand up to the bullies.

Going further, she has teamed up with Tina Meier whose daughter Megan took her own life after being bullied online, and together they are campaigning US Representatives of Congress to vote for the first federal anti-bullying bill. It would mean that all schools would have to start recording every instance of bullying and would be provided with funds to put towards anti-bullying efforts.

And now Velasquez's life and anti-bullying work is the focus of a new documentary due to premiere at SXSW. Sara Hirsh Bordo, the director of the film, says that it is not just about Velasquez's story but is a universal story, for everybody who has been bullied.

"Her experience of triumphing adversity and making it to the other side of a painful experience is universal," she says. "As soon as Lizzie became more open and honest - whether it was her TED talk or her YouTube videos - it was clear that people were thirsty for a story where somebody stands up and says I'm not going to be a victim, I'm going to make a change."

A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story premieres at SXSW on 14 March.

Follow @BBCOuch on Twitter and on Facebook, and listen to our monthly talk show

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Lizzie Velasquez: 'Online bullies called me the world's ugliest woman'

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A woman who can't gain weight due to a rare syndrome was called the "world's ugliest woman" in a video online.

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Animal Homelessness Is a Community Challenge

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Animal Homelessness Is a Community Challenge

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"Animal Homeless Is a Community Challenge." By

Gary Weitzman. Huffpost. Dec 27, 2011.

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Our relationships with the animals we keep are highly personal. They provide us with unconditional love, and we take on a personal responsibility for making sure that they are well cared for. But when the bond between an animal and his guardian is broken, as when an animal is lost, abandoned, or surrendered to a shelter, who then has responsibility for the animal and his care?

Most people would say it's the local animal shelter's responsibility. And that's true. We take on the function of caring for animals other people don't want or can't care for. And we acknowledge our special role in speaking for the voiceless and upholding the moral status of animals in our communities. But if you were to ask the people at the shelter whose responsibility it is to care for lost, mistreated, and abandoned animals, they'd insist that it's the community's as a whole.

That's because we can't do this work by ourselves. Animal shelters rely on the community for funding, homes, volunteer help, and most importantly, we need people to care for their animals properly and not contribute to the problem. That's why we insist that animal welfare is a community responsibility and that success in this field comes through partnerships with people outside of the shelter.

In fact, just a few weekends ago we had an amazing adoption event -- a real example of community partnership. We got 65 animals into new homes in just two days. We kept our adoption trucks moving back and forth from the shelter to their temporary station in front of Friendship Hospital for Animals all weekend.

This private veterinary hospital, the largest in the nation's capital, understands the need for community involvement in animal welfare. Thanks to them, we have a thriving humane education program, ready veterinary interns and staff to help for events and patient care, and now... 65 new homes for our animals. It's exactly the kind of partnership we're always looking for.

With the help of that hospital, we made a lot of new friends and found many new homes. The astonishing thing to me though, was not the number of adoptions. We'd like to do that every weekend. It's the fact that by simply bringing animals to where our adopters live, and not keeping them in our shelter, which, let's face it, is not exactly on the beaten track of metro D.C.'s population (most shelters are tucked away near landfills, railroad tracks, airports, and other well-healed neighborhoods!), we literally tripled our adoptions for the weekend. One obvious conclusion -- we've got to get out more!

And that's exactly what we bought our new adoption truck to do -- bring our animals literally into the waiting arms of adopters. Easy enough to say, but not so simple to do. Especially in a city like Washington, in which parking a 22-foot truck has its challenges. So we need partners: businesses like Friendship Hospital for Animals that can host adoption events and provide us with venues to meet the public and tell them about our work.

At the same time, it's incumbent upon us in the animal welfare business to make our shelters welcoming places that the public doesn't have to be afraid to visit. So many times I hear from donors or other supporters that they love what we do, but don't want to visit because it's so sad to see all those animals without homes or hope.

But that's exactly what you won't see at the Washington Animal Rescue League or in any of the new "breed" of animal shelters being built all over the country. What you'll see at the League are contented dogs and cats acting like dogs and cats. That means you'll see them playing, eating, sleeping, and wagging their tails or stretching their paws in greeting. You'll also see funny bowls and buckets holding treats and messages from our behavior staff asking you to toss a few treats to help train our dogs to be household pets.

Every shelter needs to become a place of hope, education, and engagement -- not despair. They should be places where you can bring kids to adopt a pet, learn about the animals, or just practice compassion for all living things. But above all, places where you can teach responsible animal care, which includes spaying and neutering and adopting from shelters, not from Craig's List. Places where they are taught kindness and that it's important to be part of the world's solutions. Which includes ending animal homelessness. Put us out of business -- please.

November 6-12 is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week. (But you knew that already, didn't you?) It's a great time to get to know your local animal shelter and show them that you're ready to become part of the solution. Every shelter needs adopters, donors, and volunteers. But here are few other ways you might get involved:

1. Help publicize the animals who are looking for homes. Hang a picture and description of an adoptable animal at your workplace or school. You can pull them straight from the shelter's website.

2. Consider donating used towels, blankets, toys, and treats to the shelter. Shelters go through a lot of these. You might even use your neighborhood list serve to organize a drive.

3. Host an adoption event at your work, school, or community group. Even if the event doesn't manage to find too many homes for animals -- and some are more successful in this regard than others -- you will introduce lots of people to the shelter and the work it does.

4. Learn about the services that your local shelter offers -- spay/neuter programs, low-cost vaccination clinics, dog training classes, help for feral cats, and the like -- so that you're ready to talk to friends and neighbors about how they can find help caring for their pets properly.

5. Offer to organize a tour of the shelter for a group of young people. Almost every shelter will happily talk to children about what they do and introduce them to their animals.

It's all about community. What Friendship Hospital showed us this weekend was that community partnerships work. Animal shelters need community support. And this starts by taking good care of all of our own animals. But if it's easier for the mountain to come to Mohammed, we'll do that too, like we did last weekend.

Because when the problem of animal homelessness becomes all of our problems, by spaying and neutering, giving proper veterinary care and teaching compassion for all living things, the animals will finally win. Sixty five dogs and cats who got to sleep in their new beds last week can attest to that.

Related

Animal Welfare abandoned animals animal shelters dc homeless-animals

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Animal Homelessness Is a Community Challenge

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November 6-12 is National Animal Shelter Appreciation Week. It's a great time to get to know your local animal shelter and show them that you're ready to become part of the solution.

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"The Teens Who Feed America." by Karen Coates, Valeria Fernandez and Rebecca
Zissou. Junior Scholastic. January 27, 2020.

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Skip to main content

The Teens Who Feed America

As You Read, Think About: Why might some kids have to work on farms?

A few weeks before the end of the school year, Reyes*, then 15, got up at dawn and packed a bag with clothes, boots, and a raincoat. Then he set out on the 3-day, 1,600-mile trip from his home in Edinburg, Texas, to Hart, Michigan.

It was a journey he'd made every spring since he was 9-first with his family, then on his own. But instead of traveling to see friends or visit relatives, he was going to Michigan to work on a farm, earning money to help his family survive.

While there, Reyes did everything from clearing the land to harvesting asparagus. Many days, it was so hot in the endless rows of crops that after just a few minutes he was drenched in a thick layer of sweat and dirt. His fingers were constantly covered in blisters. He had rashes all over his legs. And his whole body ached.

But by the end of each summer, Reyes had earned a few thousand dollars-enough to help his family pay the bills and buy food, clothes, and other necessities for the coming year.

"Everybody has to pitch in," says Reyes, now 17.

A few weeks before the end of the school year, Reyes*, then 15, got up at dawn. He packed a bag with clothes, boots, and a raincoat. Then he set out on a 3-day, 1,600-mile trip. He was traveling from his home in Edinburg, Texas, to Hart, Michigan.

It was a journey he had made every spring since he was 9. At first, he went with his family. Later, he went on his own. But Reyes was not traveling to see friends or visit relatives. He was going to Michigan to work on a farm. He did it to earn money to help his family survive.

While there, Reyes did everything from clearing the land to harvesting asparagus. Many days, it was very hot in the endless rows of crops. After just a few minutes, he was drenched in a thick layer of sweat and dirt. His fingers were constantly covered in blisters. He had rashes all over his legs. And his whole body ached.

But by the end of each summer, Reyes had earned a few thousand dollars. That was enough to help his family pay the bills and buy food, clothes, and other things they needed for the coming year.

"Everybody has to pitch in," says Reyes, now 17.

*Last name withheld for privacy

Migrant Farmworker Someone who moves from one place to another to find work in agriculture. Many migrant farmworkers in the United States are immigrants and may or may not have permission from the U.S. government to be here. Others, like Reyes, were born in the U.S. and are American citizens. Nearly 20 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are migrants.

Migrant Farmworker Someone who moves from one place to another to find work in agriculture. Many migrant farmworkers in the United States are immigrants and may or may not have permission from the U.S. government to be here. Others, like Reyes, were born in the U.S. and are American citizens. Nearly 20 percent of farmworkers in the U.S. are migrants.

Globally, about 152 million kids ages 5 to 17 are child laborers. Many of them live in poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia where there are few high-paying jobs. As a result, kids have to work to help support their families. About 70 percent of child laborers worldwide work in agriculture. Some harvest sugarcane in India, cocoa in Ghana, or cotton in China.

The good news, however, is that the number of child laborers worldwide has decreased by nearly 40 percent since 2000. Experts say that's largely the result of international efforts to strengthen-and enforce-existing child labor laws.

Globally, about 152 million kids ages 5 to 17 are child laborers. Many of them live in poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa or Asia where there are few high-paying jobs. As a result, kids have to work to help support their families. About 70 percent of child laborers worldwide work in agriculture. Some harvest sugarcane in India, cocoa in Ghana, or cotton in China.

The good news, however, is that the number of child laborers worldwide has decreased by nearly 40 percent since 2000. Experts say that's largely the result of international efforts to strengthen-and enforce-existing child labor laws.

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Hundreds of thousands of kids work on U.S. farms, putting in long hours under unsafe conditions for low pay.

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Teen Passionate about Saving the Environment: Community Heroes

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Teen Passionate about Saving the Environment: Community Heroes

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“Clay McMullen, Teen Passionate about Saving the Environment: Community Heroes
2011.” by Teresa Dixon Murray. Clevenland.com. December 29, 2011

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Clay McMullen, teen passionate about saving the environment: Community Heroes 2011 (video)

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Clay McMullen, a senior at West Geauga High School, has turned his passion for the environment into a crusade. He is one of The Plain Dealer’s community heroes.

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"Education." care.org. 2023.

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Our programs provide tailored solutions to students facing multiple barriers to education to acquire relevant skills, creating opportunities for positive transitions to secondary school and dignified livelihoods. Our integrated approach is based on extensive research on what works to increase marginalized girls' learning outcomes, retention, and wellbeing.

We put girls at the center of our programs and build a supportive environment for them in the community and at school. At the individual level, CARE helps girls develop their academic competencies alongside leadership and life skills, raising their confidence and voices. At the community level, we work with parents and traditional and religious leaders to shift negative gender and social norms affecting education outcomes, increasing support for girls' education and active participation in school. We work with Ministries of Education and school staff to improve the quality of teaching, strengthen supervisory capacity, and develop gender-transformative and inclusive policies and budgeting

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Education - Improving Education for Children - CARE

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CARE eradicates education barriers to improve access to quality education. Donate today to help CARE improve education for children and women.

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For more than 50 years, NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) has studied what happens to the human body in space. Researchers are using what they learn to design procedures, devices, and strategies to keep astronauts safe and healthy throughout their missions.

NASA engineers use the lessons learned to better design spacecraft and improve the fit and functions of spacesuits. The research also aids in the development and assessment of medical standards, physical fitness programs and standards, physiological and psychological adaptation training, sensorimotor training, and nutritional health protocols.

Understanding the effects of spaceflight on humans is essential as astronauts move from the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit to deep space destinations on and around the Moon, and beyond. With the Artemis program, NASA will land the first woman and next man on the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before, gathering new data while keeping astronauts healthy and safe.

NASA is particularly interested in investigating how the body reacts to long-duration spaceflight as the agency plans for extended missions on the Moon and Mars. Scott Kelly and Christina Koch were the first American astronauts to spend nearly one year in space onboard the space station, twice the previous average. Scott, Christina, and seven other astronauts have spent more than 200 days in space during a single spaceflight.

In addition to spending almost a year in space, Scott was involved in the unique Twins Study. Scott participated in several biomedical studies onboard the space station while his identical twin brother, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, stayed on Earth as a control subject, someone who provides a basis of comparison.

The study provided valuable data about what happened to Scott, physiologically and psychologically, as compared to his brother Mark. Their contribution to science helped generate data that researchers will use for decades to come.

NASA is planning more dedicated extended-duration research on the space station. The studies are expected to shed light on how the body adapts to living in the spaceflight environment for various longer time periods, which will be pivotal for future deep space missions.

What exactly happens to the body in space and what are the risks? Are the risks the same for astronauts who spend six months on the space station versus those who may be away on a Mars mission for years?

The simple answer is: No. NASA is researching risks for Mars missions which are grouped into five human spaceflight hazards related to the stressors they place on the body. These can be summarized with the acronym " RIDGE," short for Space Radiation, Isolation and Confinement, Distance from Earth, Gravity fields, and Hostile/Closed Environments.

Space Radiation

On Earth, we are shielded by the planet's magnetic field and atmosphere from the majority of particles that make up the space radiation environment. Even so, everyone on Earth is exposed to low levels of radiation every day, from the food we eat to the air we breathe.

In space, astronauts are exposed to varied and increased levels of radiation that are different from those on Earth. Three major sources contribute to the space radiation environment: particles trapped in Earth's magnetic field, solar energetic particles from the Sun, and galactic cosmic rays.

A big challenge in reducing the risks of radiation exposure is that some space radiation particles (especially galactic cosmic rays) are difficult to shield against. Exposure to increased radiation can be associated with both short- and long-term health consequences, depending on how much total radiation astronauts experience and the time frame in which they experience that exposure.

Increased risk of cancer and degenerative diseases, such as heart disease and cataracts, have been observed in human populations exposed to radiation on Earth. Health risks for astronauts from radiation exposure in space are mainly driven by long-term impacts.

Additionally, animal and cellular research indicate that the type of radiation in the space environment has a larger impact on health outcomes compared to the radiation experienced on Earth. Not only will astronauts be exposed to more radiation in space than on Earth, but the radiation they are exposed to could pose increased risks.

The Key: The current strategy to reduce the health risks of space radiation exposure is to implement shielding, radiation monitoring, and specific operational procedures. Compared to typical six-month space station missions, later Moon and Mars missions will be much longer on average. Consequently, the total amount of radiation experienced and associated health risks may increase.

NASA is developing new radiation detectors to monitor and characterize the radiation environment, which will provide better estimates of the dose and type of radiation to which the crews are exposed. Scientists and engineers are optimizing and implementing operational procedures that use available vehicle stowage and materials to reduce radiation exposure effectively.

To investigate the health risks of space radiation exposure beyond low-Earth orbit, NASA supports research that analyzes the biological effects of simulated cosmic rays at ground-based research facilities. Research at these facilities helps NASA understand and reduce the risk of space radiation, ensure proper measurement of the doses that astronauts receive on the space station and in future spacecraft, and develop advanced materials that improve radiation shielding for future missions.

Studies of radiation-exposed human cohorts are also being conducted to estimate the health risks in populations relevant to astronauts.

Isolation and Confinement

Expedition crews selected for a stay onboard the space station are carefully chosen, trained, and supported to ensure they will be able to work effectively as a team for the duration of their six to 12-month missions. Crews for a Moon or Mars mission will undergo even more careful assessment, selection, and preparation since they will travel farther and potentially for longer than previous humans in an isolated and confined environment, with only a few other people. Additionally, crews will likely be international and multi-cultural, making cross-cultural sensitivity and team dynamics paramount to mission success.

Ensuring astronauts get quality sleep is also important; otherwise, their internal biological clocks, or circadian rhythm, might be altered by factors like different dark and light cycles, a small and noisy environment, the stress of prolonged isolation and confinement, and a 37-minute extended day on Mars.

It is important to prepare for the fatigue astronauts may experience during spaceflight, given that there will be times with heavy workloads and shifting schedules. To prevent crew boredom, NASA considers the kinds of activities in which the astronauts will participate during a multi-year round trip to Mars.

Communication and understanding among crew members are vital to the success of the mission, and changes in morale and motivation are possible as the mission unfolds. This may relate to reduced stimulation, the longing for loved ones, or feeling unable to assist with family emergencies back on Earth, regardless of how long the mission lasts.

Using spaceflight analogs on Earth, NASA's research has revealed that both the duration and type of confined and isolated experience are important to consider. The more restricted the space, and the less contact with people outside the environment, the more likely humans are to develop behavioral or cognitive conditions or psychiatric disorders.

The Key: NASA has been studying people in isolated and confined environments for years, and has developed methods and technologies to counteract possible problems.

NASA scientists are using devices, such as actigraphy, that help assess and improve sleep and alertness by recording how much people move and how much ambient light is around them. New lighting, spurred by the development of Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology, is used on the space station to help align astronaut's circadian rhythms and to improve sleep, alertness, and performance.

A 10-minute self-test of vigilance and attention assesses the effect of fatigue on performance. Astronauts write in journals as a safe place to vent frustrations and provide researchers a tool to study behavioral issues that are on the minds of crew members who are living and working in isolation and confinement.

Researchers are also looking into using virtual reality to simulate relaxing environments to help improve the mood of crews in isolation. Engaging in relevant, meaningful activities, including learning a language or learning new medical skills, could help ward off depression and boost morale. Crews may even tend to a space garden, which could have positive behavioral health benefits in addition to providing a fresh source of food and helping to purify the air.

Researchers are using Earth-based analogs to investigate how muchprivacy and living space will be needed on longer missions where crew members will be restricted in a relatively small spacecraft together. NASA is also determining strategies to formulate the best crew by studying individual and team attributes, composition, and dynamics.

Distance from Earth

The space station orbits 240 miles above Earth. The Moon is 1,000 times farther from Earth than the space station. In contrast, Mars is on average 140 million miles from Earth. With a communication delay of up to 20 minutes one-way while on Mars, astronauts must be able to solve problems and identify solutions as a team without help from NASA's mission control.

The types of food and medicine to be packed for a multi-year trip without access to a grocery store or pharmacy are also important to consider. Unlike space station crews, which regularly receive supplies from cargo flights from Earth, astronauts going to Mars will have to bring all of the food, equipment, and medical supplies they need.

The Key: NASA is using its human spaceflight experience on the space station to figure out what types of medical events happen in space over time and what types of skills, procedures, equipment, and supplies are needed so that they will have a good idea of what to pack for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Space station astronauts already receive medical training before and during space missions that teach them how to respond to health problems as they arise. For example, astronauts learn how to use onboard space station equipment to produce an intravenous (IV) solution from purified water, which can be used for medical administration.

Crew members also perform ultrasound scans on each other to monitor organ health. If one crew member becomes sick during the mission, crews are ready to perform laboratory testing to help make the right diagnosis and guide treatment.

NASA is working on developing a medical data architecture for spacecraft that enables the capabilities of clinical decision support tools, which could use artificial intelligence and machine learning to further help diagnose and treat various illnesses. Researchers are also looking into the role that virtual assistants could play to help crews identify and respond to spaceflight anomalies quickly for more distant missions.

Additionally, the agency is studying and improving food formulation, processing, packaging, and preservation systems to ensure the nutrients remain stable and the food remains acceptable for years. Space-resilient medications and packaging systems that preserve the integrity of pharmaceuticals for long-duration missions are another significant part of NASA's research.

Gravity Fields

Astronauts will encounter three different gravity fields on a Mars mission. On the six-month trek between the planets, crews will be weightless. While living and working on Mars, crews will be in approximately one-third of Earth's gravity. Finally upon returning home, crews will have to readapt to Earth's gravity.

Transitioning from one gravity field to another is trickier than it sounds. It affects spatial orientation, head-eye and hand-eye coordination, balance, and locomotion, with some crew members experiencing space motion sickness.

Landing a spacecraft on Mars could be challenging as astronauts adjust to the gravity field of another celestial body. When shifting from weightlessness to gravity, astronauts may experience post-flight orthostatic intolerance where they are unable to maintain their blood pressure when standing up, which can lead to lightheadedness and fainting.

NASA has learned that without Earth's gravity affecting the human body, weight-bearing bones lose on average 1% to 1.5% of mineral density per month during spaceflight. After returning to Earth, bone loss might not be completely corrected by rehabilitation; however, their risk for fracture is not higher. Without the proper diet and exercise routine, astronauts also lose muscle mass in microgravity faster than they would on Earth.

Moreover, the fluids in the body shift upward to the head in microgravity, which may put pressure on the eyes and cause vision problems. If preventive or countermeasures are not implemented, crews may experience an increased risk of developing kidney stones due to dehydration and increased excretion of calcium from their bones.

The Key: By analyzing how the body changes in weightlessness and after returning to Earth's gravity, NASA is developing protective measures against these changes for a Mars mission.

Functional task testing is in place to help detect and improve balance control after landing on a gravitational surface. Fine motor skill testing is done to detect any changes in the ability of astronauts to interact with computer-based devices.

Distribution of the fluids in the body is closely monitored to help evaluate any connection to changes in vision. Compression cuffs worn on the thighs help keep the blood in the lower extremities to counteract those fluid shifts. A lower-body negative pressure device could help draw fluids from the head into the legs as well.

Back pain, which some astronauts have reported experiencing during spaceflight, is monitored by obtaining spinal ultrasounds. Muscle size and bone density are assessed for deterioration using MRI and high-resolution imaging techniques, before and after flight. Crew members perform periodic fitness self-evaluations to help researchers better understand the decline in heart function that can occur during spaceflight.

Medicines that NASA is studying, such as potassium citrate, may help combat the physiological change that could increase the risk of developing kidney stones. Bisphosphonate medications have been shown in NASA studies to be effective in preventing bone loss.

NASA has also designed an efficient way to collect and measure how much urine a crew member produces in space, which is essential to human research since it reveals key information about a person's health. For example, researchers can analyze different levels of certain substances in an astronaut's urine to determine whether they are at risk of developing a kidney stone in space, and make modifications to the diet, exercise routine, and water intake as preventive measures.

Aerobic and resistive exercise has been shown to keep the heart healthy, bones and muscles strong, the mind alert, as well as maintain a more positive outlook, and may even help with balance and coordination. Software-generated workout partners could be used to help motivate astronauts to exercise regularly for longer space missions. NASA has even completed a joint Earth-based bed rest study to determine whether centrifuge artificial gravity may be an effective way to counter the physiological effects of weightlessness.

Hostile/Closed Environments

NASA has learned that the ecosystem inside the spacecraft plays a big role in everyday astronaut life in space. Microbes can change characteristics in space, and micro-organisms that naturally live on the human body are transferred more easily from person to person in closed habitats, such as the space station. Stress hormone levels are elevated and the immune system is altered, which could lead to increased susceptibility to allergies or other illnesses.

Earth-based analogs do not perfectly simulate the spaceflight environment, making them insufficient for studying on the ground how human immune systems react in space. However, NASA-funded Antarctic analog studies could provide insight into how certain spaceflight stressors may affect the human immune system. What is known is that spaceflight changes the immune system, although crews do not tend to get sick upon returning to Earth. Even though astronauts' acquired immunity is intact, more research is needed into whether spaceflight induced altered immunity may lead to autoimmune issues, in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy cells, organs, and tissues present in the body.

Beyond the effects of the environment on the immune system, every inch and detail of living and working quarters must be carefully thought-out and designed. No one wants their house to be too hot, too cold, cramped, crowded, loud, or not well lit, and no one would enjoy working and living in such a habitat in space either.

The Key: NASA is using technology to monitor the air quality of the space station to ensure the atmosphere is safe to breathe and not contaminated with gases, such as formaldehyde, ammonia, and carbon monoxide. Thermal Control Systems function to maintain temperatures of the space station and keep astronauts comfortable.

Blood and saliva samples are analyzed to identify changes in the immune system and the reactivation of latent viruses during spaceflight. NASA uses advanced molecular techniques to evaluate the risk of microbes that may cause illness for crew members. Various parts of the body and the space station are swabbed regularly for analysis of the microbial population that inhabits the environment. Crews change out air filters, clean surfaces, and treat the water to prevent illnesses that may result from the accumulation of contaminants.

Astronauts are advised to get a flu shot to boost their immunity and are quarantined before their missions to avoid catching any sort of illness before launch. During the Twins Study and One-Year Mission, Scott Kelly administered a flu vaccine to himself while his brother received his on Earth. The immunization proved to work as well in space as it does on Earth, which is a good finding for longer missions to the Moon and Mars.

Living quarters and work environments are carefully planned and evaluated to ensure that designs balance comfort and efficiency. Lighting onboard the space station is similar to what would be experienced naturally on Earth, thanks to the new LED lighting system.

NASA is taking action on all of these risks and working to solve the challenges of human spaceflight with some of the most brilliant minds in their fields. The results garnered from laboratories, ground analogs, and space station missions will provide more insight into these adaptations and present a stepping stone for longer missions.

On upcoming Artemis missions to lunar orbit and the surface of the Moon, even more data will be collected as this work continues. On future longer duration missions to the Moon and Mars, astronauts will benefit from years of research that will ensure they will be able not just to survive, but thrive on their spacefaring missions.

Click here for an infographic summarizing the risks of human spaceflight and the safeguards against them.
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NASA's Human Research Program, or HRP, pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, and the International Space Station, HRP scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research drives HRP's quest to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as space travel expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
For a 508 Compliant PDF of this post, follow this link.

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For more than 50 years, NASA's Human Research Program has studied what happens to the human body in space.

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Unrecognizable girl playing game on tablet computer
Getty

It's perhaps one of the biggest parenting faux pas of the 21st century: letting any of our ubiquitous screens act as babysitter. But new research out of Oxford, Cardiff and Cambridge Universities finds that screen time in moderation actually seems to have a positive effect on kids.

The researchers found that children who spend one to two hours daily watching television or using digital devices had higher levels of social and emotional well-being versus those who reported no screen time.

"In light of our findings, calls for blanket technology bans and age restrictions on technology access do not constitute evidence-based or indeed ethical advice, particularly as screen usage in some cases has a net positive impact," said Professor Andrew Przybylski, Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute, in a release.

Przybylski is lead author of the new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

The research is based on survey data from questionnaires filled out by the caregivers of over 35,000 American children about their screen time and observable psychosocial functioning.

Some interesting data points include:

On average children spend one hour and 41 minutes engaged in television-based activities such as gaming and viewing films;

On average, children spend one hour and 53 minutes engaged in device-based activities using tablets and smartphones;

Children could watch over four hours of television-based activities before showing any signs of functioning difficulties;

Children could engage in over five hours of device-based activities before exhibiting significant functioning difficulties.

It's worth noting here that all this data is based on the subjective reporting of the caregivers that were surveyed, which could be prone to considerable biases given the close relationships between caregiver and child.

"We urge others to build on our findings which show the possible influence of digital screen engagement is likely to be smaller and more nuanced that many might first expect," said Dr. Amy Orben, a college research fellow at the University of Cambridge.

Still, this surprising finding, even if preliminary, challenges the popular narrative that screen time is zombie-fying our kids. Could it be the case that society has shifted in recent decades enough that functioning in society may actually require a certain amount of screen time? Or was it just never really a big problem in the first place?

"Very few children, if any, routinely use television and device-based screens enough, on average, to show significantly lower levels of psychological functioning," Przybylski says. "Instead these findings indicate that other aspects of digital engagement, including what is on screens and how caregivers moderate their use, are far more important."

Follow me on Twitter or LinkedIn. Check out my website.

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Screen Time May Actually Be Good For Kids, New Oxford Study Finds

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New research out of Oxford, Cardiff and Cambridge Universities finds that screen time in moderation actually seems to have a positive effect on kids.

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New CGI of How Titanic Sank | Titanic 100

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"How 4 Teens Took On Bullying- And Won." by Rebecca Ruiz. mashable.com. September 2, 2018.

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Bullying often makes people feel helpless, but teens have the power to help change the culture at their school.

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"This teen makes adorable bow ties to help get shelter dogs and cats adopted." by Caroline Catherman and Justin Lear. cnn.com. February 24, 2020.

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This teen makes adorable bow ties to help get shelter dogs and cats adopted | CNN

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A 13-year-old from New Jersey has embarked on the cutest mission ever. He sews tiny bow ties for cats and dogs to help them get adopted.

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“Wunderkinder.” Newint.org

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An Inconvenient Lawsuit: Teenagers Take Global Warming to Courts

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An Inconvenient Lawsuit: Teenagers Take Global Warming to Courts

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“An Inconvenient Lawsuit: Teenagers Take Global Warmingtothe Courts” by Katherine
Ellison. The Atlantic. May 9, 2012

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Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World through Education

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Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World through Education

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“Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World Through Education.” by
schoolgirlsunite.org. May 2009.

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Edited by Joanne Conelly, Gaëlle Dessus, Anna Diarra, et al.
Youth Activism Project, School Girls Unite
118 pages. $16 paperback. Free full-color PDF download.

A few years ago, a small group of seventh-grade girls in Maryland were shocked to learn that their peers in developing countries must pay to attend school. Families in poverty can barely afford their sons' education; daughters as young as 9 get married instead of going to school. Founding School Girls Unite, an organization "to let the whole world know," these girls formed a mission: "Tackling prejudice against girls worldwide and expanding their freedom and opportunities through education."

They found partners in the French-speaking West African nation of Mali, where only 15 in 100 females know how to read. A few of the rare girls attending high school and college in Mali formed a sister organization, Les Filles Unies pour l'Education.

The American group raises money to send 75 girls in Mali to school each year, while the group in Mali visits the sponsored girls' villages to see how they are doing. Both groups inspire others to address the worldwide education problem. They also lobby their national leaders to hasten efforts to fulfill the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration, which promises that gender disparity will be eliminated by 2015, with every child around the world receiving primary schooling.

In her foreword, Wendy Schaetzel Lesko, a leader in civic engagement through her Youth Activism Project, discusses how this collaboration began, with brainstorming among girls she brought together with young African women in the Washington, D.C., area. Lesko is a guiding force as coordinator of School Girls Unite.

In this action guide, 13 contributors from Les Filles Unies and 28 from School Girls Unite explain why educating girls is a key to solving such global problems as poverty, HIV/AIDS, hunger, war and sexism. The book features text in English on the left-hand pages and in French on the right. Black-and-white photographs show both groups in action, along with the children in Mali whom they support. Bulleted lists, bold type and inset quotes from youth make the pages easy to digest.

Clear instruction in basic skills of activism include public-speaking tips; a pep talk on being assertive in promoting your cause; communications etiquette, such as asking the school principal for permission to campaign; fundraising ideas, from selling pencils to putting on an elaborate dance soirée in Mali; getting media attention, like the photo-op the American girls scored with Hillary Clinton; and lobbying.

This treasury of encouragement and strategies can serve as a handbook for any youth-led cause. Videos and links on the girls' website offer more tools for helping others join them in making this girls' education movement global. (800) 543-7693, http://www.schoolgirlsunite.org.

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Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World Through Education

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Edited by Joanne Conelly, Gaëlle Dessus, Anna Diarra, et al. Youth Activism Project, School Girls Unite 118 pages. $16 paperback. Free full-color PDF download. A few years ago, a small group of seventh-grade girls in Maryland were shocked to learn that their peers in developing countries must pay to attend school.

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How big is space? Interactive infographic

Our top 12 stories of 2014 - #3: Fancy riding a rocket through our Solar System?

Then check out our amazing interactive infographic.

To celebrate our second anniversary, we've created an interactive version of a previous infographic, which is so big, it's too big for this page.

This time round you get to pilot a rocket through the Solar System. There's even more information packed into this graphic: you'll see how close comets have come to our planet; what is the farthest travelled by a human being; how long the trip will take if you were on the Starship Enterprise... as well as a few surprises too.

So buckle up and scroll (and scroll... and scroll) through our interactive infographic of space to explore our cosmic neighbourhood.

If you would like to comment on this, or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook or Google+ page, or message us on Twitter.

Copyright 2023 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.

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In case of conflict between these Beta Terms and the BBC Terms of Use these Beta Terms shall prevail.

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Buckle up and ride a rocket through the Solar System to explore our cosmic neighbourhood.

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Andrew Przybylski of the Oxford Internet Institute thinks that's way off base. In a controversial new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, he and colleagues don't just swipe at the predominant thinking that kids should be exposed to as little screen time as possible-they argue that moderate screen time is actually good for kids.

The study set out to test two ideas. "The first was to test if there were 'optimal' levels of screen time in young people," Przybylski said via email. "The second was to look for a critical value, or tipping point, at which screen engagement was significantly related to well-being outcomes."

Przybylski, along with his colleagues, found "modest positive relations" when kids used devices and/or watched television for up to two hours a day. Contrary to medical recommendations, the team reported that kids would need to be using screens "for more than five hours a day" before parents would notice any differences.

The study's findings are based on data from more than 35,000 American children and caregivers and reported by the National Survey of Children's Health via the US Census Bureau between June 2016 and February 2017. Przybylski says his analysis suggests that children who are using a digital device-a television, video game console, tablet, laptop, smartphone, or any other gadget with a screen-have better social and emotional skills than kids who don't use this technology.

The research overturns dominant thinking about screen time, which has overwhelmingly pointed to worrisome increases in rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies.

Jean Twenge is one of the most prominent critics of letting children have screen time and the author of the book , which argues that technology is making kids less happy. She said in an email she found the study "very strange," particularly because she and her colleagues used the same census data as Przybylski in a paper last year and found the opposite results: heavy screen use led to almost three times the rate of psychosocial issues in kids. Przybylski's interpretation of the same data was that the differences between heavy and light use were small, a discrepancy Twenge said was puzzling.

Przybylski stood firmly by his team's results despite the criticism, even going so far as to suggest that previous research in the area has been statistically suspect. "Nearly all the studies on this topic are very poorly done; most don't share their data, code, or conform to best research practices," he said. "More than results, what sets our research ... apart is an emphasis on empirical rigor."

Twenge conceded that her statistical methods were up for debate, but she stood by her overall conclusion that screen time was unhealthy for children. The data "do not show benefits for moderate use," she said. "Instead, the best outcomes appear at light use for teens. For younger children, the best outcomes are at no use or very light use."

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Here's what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about screen time for kids: children between 2 and 5 should be limited to "one hour a day of high-quality programming" infants between 18 and 24 months can have screen time so long as it's high quality and with a caregiver babies shouldn't be exposed to screens...

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In the 1990s, a bunch of gene jockeys brought the first genetically engineered food to market.  The business crashed but biotech science has flourished far beyond the produce aisle.

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Life aboard the Titanic - source 5 - The National Archives

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Telegram received by the Russian liner Birma (MT 9/920c)

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Bangladeshi Teen Wins Award for Anti-cyberbullying App

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Bangladeshi Teen Wins Award for Anti-cyberbullying App

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"Bangladeshi Teen Wins Award for Anti-cyberbullying App." bbc.com. November 13, 2020.

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Bangladeshi teen wins award for anti-cyberbullying app

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Sadat Rahman, 17, created an app to help young people learn about and report cyberbullying.

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"PETA Awards Teen Who Raised $17,000 for Animal Shelters." by Michelle Feinberg. February 4, 2021

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PETA Awards Teen Who Raised $17,000 for Animal Shelters

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Despite battling cancer, this 14-year-old has dedicated her time and energy to raising money for animals. Her work is an inspiration.

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Bolivia Wrestles with Protecting Child Workers as Young as 10

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Bolivia Wrestles with Protecting Child Workers as Young as 10

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“Bolivia wrestles with protecting child workers as young as 10.” by Tracey Eaton.
nbcnews.com. January 26, 2018.

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COCHABAMBA, Bolivia - Benjamin Obando is surrounded by death.

The 11-year-old boy works at a cemetery, praying, singing and fetching water for relatives of the dead.

"I bring money home for my family, to give them food," said Obando, who earns about $3 a day.

He isn't afraid to work among departed souls, but said he hurries to leave the graveyard before 7 p.m. because that's when "little ghosts appear."

In 2014, Bolivia lowered the age children could work for themselves or their families to 10, the lowest minimum age for labor. Children can work for others when they are 12. Previously, Bolivia's minimum working age law in all cases was 14.

The United Nations, the International Labor Organization and other groups have urged Bolivia to repeal the law, arguing it lacks strong protections for the young child laborers.

But in a country with a 39 percent poverty rate - despite an economic turnaround in recent years - the children's wages can be a lifeline for their families, pitting their safety against their own survival or that of their families.

Bolivian President Evo Morales has resisted calls for repeal, saying children have the right to work.

Last week, he reiterated his support for children and adolescents and unveiled new decrees to protect them.

One decree gives free legal aid to victims of violence. Another mandates paid leave for parents if their children are critically ill. A third order requires the news media to spread - free of charge - "messages of love, affection, respect, appreciation and dignity toward children and adolescents and against violence."

Morales, who herded llamas at 6, told reporters that the government has a duty "to protect the greatest treasure that is the future of Bolivia. We have to take care of future generations."

Critics said Morales' additional rules aren't enough.

"Many laws are written that aren't followed," said Marcos Gandarillas, a sociologist in Cochabamba in central Bolivia.

The debate is taking place in a economically improved Bolivia, which government supporters say Morales has helped make better for children since taking office in 2006.

Poverty has declined over the past decade. And in 2017, the Bolivian economy grew by 4 percent, higher than any other South American nation, according to the World Bank.

"Bolivia is experiencing the longest period of democracy in its history - 35 years," said Hernan Rico who helps enforce the laws to protect children.

Rico is the leader of the government's Delegation on Children and Adolescents in Cochabamba. He said child workers helped write the 2014 law, which established harsh penalties for bullying, harassment, sexual violence and infanticide.

The law also called for registering child workers as a way of tracking and protecting them, but that system isn't yet in place.

Rico acknowledged the law has faced "administrative difficulties," but said the government is progressing.

"The most difficult part is not the children, but the openness of adults" toward allowing children to work, said Peter Strack, a sociologist in Cochabamba. "The law has lost momentum," he said.

According to UNICEF, some 850,000 children work in Bolivia. Keeping them safe is a daunting task, child advocates say. Crime, violence and other perils threaten many young people, especially the poor.

Natalia Calahumana said she sold candy and gum on the streets at age 7 after her father abandoned the family.

"I learned to shine shoes at 8," she said. "At 9, I started to weave."

She said she didn't like living at home because it was painful to see her mother cry all the time over money troubles. So at night she curled up in a cardboard box on the street.

Back then, she said she ate whatever she could find, including restaurant leftovers.

At 11, Calahumana said a stranger drove up and asked her to come work for her. "I believed everything the señora said. I would be fine. I would have something to eat. I would have clothes."

So she climbed into the woman's car.

"I didn't want to be on the streets anymore," Calahumana said. "I took care of a little girl she had. I cleaned all the bedrooms. I cooked."

And it was fine - at first. But the job turned into a nightmare when the woman locked the child in her house and forced her to work for no pay.

"The señora disconnected the phone so I couldn't call anyone. The only thing I wanted was to escape. She told me, 'You were on the streets. You'll steal from me. You have to be shut in with a key.' I told the señora, 'Yes, I was on the street, but I would never rob you.'

'No,' she told me, 'you'll steal everything. I have jewels. Everything is gold.'"

One day, Calahumana said, she accidentally broke a plate. The woman picked up a shard of glass and cut her with it.

"She would cut my hand to say 'you'll never break anything again.'"

Calahumana finally escaped after the señora forgot to lock the door.

Now, more than two decades later, she has three children of her own.

"My dream is that my children be something in life, not like me," said Calahumana, 34, who lives in El Alto, Bolivia's second-largest city. "That's why I work. I wash clothes. I shine shoes. I sell newspapers, gum, candy. I do everything so my children don't have to do what I do."

Some experts question whether Bolivia has the resources and capacity to protect child workers. Bolivia had only 12 child labor inspectors in 2016 and up to a fifth of country's municipalities lacked a child protection advocate, U.S. officials said.

Bolivia reported that it carried out "250 targeted child labor inspections" in 2016. That was "inadequate to address the scope of the problem, particularly in rural and hard to reach areas," the U.S. Labor Department said.

The Bolivian government did not disclose statistics on child labor investigations, violations, prosecutions or convictions, according to the department.

Bolivia's Ministry of Labo r had been expected to release the results of a child labor survey in 2017, but publication was postponed over disagreements about how to interpret the data, a source told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

Child advocates hope the results will help identify workers most in need of protection.

In 2008, 60 children died in accidents and caveins at Bolivia's Cerro Rico mine, National Public Radio reported in 2013.

The number of Bolivian children working in mining and construction, another hazardous occupation, rose from 2001 to 2012, Bolivia's National Institute of Statistics reported in May.

The average monthly wage for children and adolescents was $201 in 2014.

Many Bolivians shun low-wage earners, workers say. Shoe shiners often wear ski masks so they won't be recognized.

A masked shoe shiner who goes by the nickname "Universal Soldier" said he started working at age 7. His family needed the money after his parents divorced.

At 9, he worked for a carpenter, making and sanding chairs. But he said he wasn't paid a wage for five months.

"He only gave me lunch," Universal Soldier said. "But I worked all day - 14 or 15 hours per day. It wasn't fair."

After he told the employer he was going to report him, the carpenter threatened to kill his brothers.

"Since we were just children, we were afraid we'd never see our younger brothers again," said Universal Soldier, now 20.

So he kept his mouth shut.

Despite such episodes, he has no regrets.

"A child who starts working very young appreciates what he earns with the sweat on his brow," he said. "You learn to appreciate life, to appreciate every cent that you earn."
This report was produced with support from the Pulitzer Center.
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Bolivia wrestles with protecting child workers as young as 10

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Boliva President Evo Morales added new protections to a law that lets children as young as 10 work, but critics say existing safeguards aren't well enforced.

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"How Kids are Saving the Planet." by Lori Brown. Awaken.com. September 11, 2020

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by Lori Brown: Mary McLeod Bethune once said, "We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends..."

These children, teens and young adults have done more than their fair share for their communities and the environment, proving that age doesn't coincide with the amount of potential impact.

If this group is any indication of what to expect in the future, rest assured we're in good hands.

Alex Lin, Teen Activist

To call the work of Rhode Island teen Alex Lin impressive would be an understatement. This 16-year-old first learned about the environmental problems associated with e-waste after stumbling upon a 2004 Wall Street Journal article on the subject.

Since then, he and his student-led community service team, Team WIN, have overseen the recycling of 300,000 pounds of e-waste, successfully lobbied the Rhode Island state legislature to pass a statewide bill banning the dumping of e-waste, created media centers in developing countries using refurbished computers, secured grants to fund the projects and created a national PSA on the subject of e-waste.

The 2006 bill banning the dumping of e-waste set the stage for a more stringent extended producer responsibility (EPR) bill passed in 2008.

"Now Rhode Island requires manufacturers to take back their computers and televisions and to pay for the collection and recycling of them," Sheila Dormody of Clean Water Action told

Connections that Lin made in international conferences and competitions made it possible for the WIN Network to go global, with satellite WIN Teams in Cameroon, the Philippines, Mexico, Kenya and Sri Lanka.

When asked what he would like the Earth911 readers to know, Alex responded, "I would like to tell your readers reuse whatever you can, and upgrade instead of buying something new. Every little bit counts towards helping the environment!"

Greg Woodburn, Nonprofit Founder and President

Greg Woodburn had been a competitive track and cross country runner since elementary school, competing in multiple national championships, when an injury suddenly derailed him his freshman year of high school.

Unable to race, he realized in its absence just how much he loved the sport. In his words, "while running is hard, running is harder."

While injured, he began to think of underprivileged kids who couldn't enjoy the great sport of running- not because of injury, but because they couldn't afford running shoes.

At just 15-years-old, he started Give Running in 2006, a nonprofit organization that collects and donates used running shoes, in good condition, to underprivileged youth and orphans.

By the end of the first year, he was able to collect and clean-up more than 500 pairs of running shoes, which were sent to kids in inner-city Los Angeles, as well as oversees to Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

"The feedback from youth in Africa has been especially moving for me. Not only were these the first running shoes any of them had owned, but they were the also first [pair of] shoes many of them had ever had," writes Greg.

The organization has donated shoes to additional countries including Liberia, Mali, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. More than 6,000 pairs of shoes have been donated as of March 2010, exercising the reach of reuse at its finest.

Adeline Tiffanie Suwana, Environmental Educator

Twelve-year-old Indonesian student Adeline Tiffanie Suwana had great care and concern for the environment after seeing the effects of natural disasters and flooding on her country.

She learned about the importance of mangroves in preventing damage during natural disasters and decided to do something to improve mangrove conditions.

She began by forming a community of young people called Sahabat Alam , which means "Friends of Nature." The community is now comprised of 1,700 members throughout Indonesia.

Adeline organizes students to plant coral reefs, help with fish breeding and turtle protection, plant mangrove trees and engage in environmental cleanups and education activities.

Adeline and Sahabat Alam also operate the Electric Generator Water Reel project where they connect remote villages to an electric grid, providing potential economic growth to villagers and improving health and education facilities.

They use clean renewable energy (hydro) to power these villages.

Her ideas have been presented in schools, with cooperation of governmental agencies and have led to the production of a television program on the subject. She was invited as a delegate by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to the 2009 Tunza International Children's Conference and awarded the 2009 Action for Nature International Young Eco-Hero award for her efforts.

Merit Leighton and Marlowe Peyton, The Plastic Patrol

Seven-year-old Merit Leighton and five-year-old Marlowe Peyton of California were watching Oprah's Earth Day show when they learned about the impacts of plastic pollution on the planet's oceans.

After hearing about the mass of trash that's twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean, they created The Plastic Patrol, beginning their global effort to make a difference, one kid at a time.

"I couldn't believe the look on their faces," their mother, Suzette, told Earth911 in reference to their reaction to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The kids asked her, "That actually exists on my planet? What can we do? Someone has to do something. We have to tell kids all around the world so they can help."

And so began the work of the Plastic Patrol.

In the words of Marlowe, "We want to help kids clean up the planet by themselves."

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by Lori Brown: Mary McLeod Bethune once said, "We have a powerful potential in our youth, and we must have the courage to change old ideas and practices so that we may direct their power toward good ends..." These children, teens

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“Learn the Issue: Girls’ Education.” campaignforusa.org

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Global Campaign For Education United States Chapter

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Worldwide, 132 million girls are out of school (2016). Of that 132 million, 34.3 million girls are of primary school age. Girls are more likely to have to stay at home and tend to younger siblings and other household chores, and 1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18. Ultimately, their earnings are often tied to men--from fathers, to brothers, to husbands to sons.

Even though they are marginalized throughout the world, investing in women and girls makes the difference. It is estimated that if every girl worldwide received 12 years of quality education, lifetime earnings for women could increase by US$15 trillion. One additional school year can increase a woman's earnings by 10% to 20% toward her future annual income, and adults girls are more likely to invest a far larger percentage of her income back into her family.

By investing in girls you are investing in their future, their family's future and their country's future.
More resources on girls' education:
12 Years of Quality Education for All Girls: A Commonwealth Perspective (2019), The University of Cambridge

Missed Opportunities : The High Cost of Not Educating Girls Report (2018), The World Bank, Global Partnership for Education
Gender and EFA 2000-2015 Achievements and Challenges EFA Global Monitoring Report
Gender Education Monitoring Report Gender Review 2018, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), UNESCO

Evidence Review: Mitigating threats to girls' education in conflict affected contexts - current practice, The United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), Overseas Development Initiative (ODI)

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Girls' Education | Global Campaign For Education United States Chapter

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Girls around the world are often left out of the conversation. In 2000, girls accounted for nearly two thirds of children out of school. Now it stands at half and work is continuing.

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20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel

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20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel

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Space travel has given us a wealth of knowledge which has in turn helped us create inventions and technologies that have made human life easier and helped us learn more and explore further into the universe.

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20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel

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Space travel has given us a wealth of knowledge which has in turn helped us create inventions and technologies that have made human life easier and helped us learn more and explore further into the universe.

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Screen Time and Parents: Quality over Hours Logged

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Screen Time and Parents: Quality over Hours Logged

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Screen time and kids: Parents need to worry less about hours logged | CNN

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When it comes to screen time, parents should start worrying less about the amount of time their teenagers are online and instead focus on the quality of the content.

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wheat photograph ©h. david sewell/corbis
new content copyright ©2001 pbs online and wgbh/frontline/nova

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Why and How the Titanic Sank (Infographic)

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A remarkable variety of elements came together to sink the famed steamship Titanic.

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Kailash Satyarthi Plans to End Child Labor in His Lifetime

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Kailash Satyarthi Plans to End Child Labor in His Lifetime

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"Kailash Satyarthi Plan to End Child Labor in His Lifetime." by Ryan Prior. cnn.com. March 13, 2019.

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international relations and national security

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Kailash Satyarthi plans to end child labor in his lifetime | CNN

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Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi is on a mission to end child labor. He says we have the means - we just need to find the compassion.

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What does it take to be an environmental activist (personal opinion)?

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What does it take to be an environmental activist (personal opinion)?

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“What does it take to be an environmental activist (personal opinion)?” by Gustavo
Nascimento. voicesofyouth.org

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There's a lot of discussion in the environmental community around the question of being an activist, and what the roles of this "position". In whatever way people decide to consider who is an environmental activist and who is not, the intention is usually the same: protect the environment in order to achieve a balance between the human-made world and the natural world. Basically, achieve a sustainable way of living to provide a healthy future for next generations. Although the intentions are pretty much the same, the ways to get at these levels are pretty different. It is not like political currents, where there are fights between the different sides. It is more of different approaches and point of views around the same goals.

So, I want to present my personal opinion on how these different points of views are established if you are an environmental activist. And remember, this is just my opinion and feel free to disagree with me. Also keep in mind that I will not talk about the scale of it, that is, the amount of work you need to do to be considered an environmental activist. It will be just about the concept, based on my personal experiences. And I don't convince anyone about anything, I just want to present my point of view in order to help others.

The common image we have about an environmental activist is that person who goes to environmental strikes, in order to protest about problems related to climate change in general. Or that speaks in events, or even in social media. The reason why I don't consider them as environmental activists is because, during the time of protests, they are doing nothing for the environment. Only speaking up doesn't bring anything good for the environment. It's just a bunch of conversation that doesn't take action into account. The word "activist" should be about the sustainable actions you are doing, not the amount or words you speak. So, in my opinion, environmental activists are people who act in face of problems, not just speak. And it doesn't matter if you are cleaning a beach or planting some trees, because the "what" is not the point here. The point is to do something, so pretty much everything that aligns with sustainability and nature conservation can count as action. But, I don't include protests into action.

I know that the main goal of protests is to call people to join the action, and this might happen a lot. But, I don't agree with the way they do so. They have an objective of scaring people by presenting the "cruel truth" about our current damage to the environment. They attack almost everyone, taking a political side in a fight. They want to shame politicians about their disregard for the environmental agenda. They want to attack farms and industries about their harming methods. They want to criticize civil society about its lack of consciousness around the topic. But, that's not the most effective way to change our current world. I'm not saying that I agree with what politicians, farmers, industries and the general population do (and not do) for the environment. In fact, I do have a lot of claims about them and think that the vast majority of environmental issues come from these people. But, I also don't think that attacking is the right way to convince them in regards to sustainability.

Using anger and fury towards this topic just causes more conflicts, not awareness. Fighting for the environment is not what we should have been doing. We need to protect and restore nature, not fight. Fight always presupposes there are two sides, but there shouldn't be such a thing because we need everyone in the same direction if we want to improve our lives on this planet. It is just one side, and is the side of survival. Taking care of the environment is not a political act, it is an act of survival. To achieve our environmental goals we need to bring everyone to the same table, willing to do what we need to do. For that to happen I believe we should rely on appreciation and not on rage.

Appreciation of the beautiful things that nature created and continue to create. Appreciation for our food, water and atmosphere that come from nature and gives us the ways to live on this planet. Appreciation for a single flower or a whole forest, recognizing its importance to us. It's more than just a carbon-capture tool, it's a whole living creature that sustains us. If we were able to appreciate nature in the first place, we will be able to pass forward this knowledge and show other people the greatness of nature and why it has to be secured. The way you convince politicians, farmers, industries and civil society is by showing them how important nature is to us in a way that highlights the beauty of the natural world, not the environmental problems. To do so, you need to talk to them to gather everyone on a topic. Sustainable infrastructure plans for a factory, agroforests for farmers, mobility solutions to urban population, etc. are also great ways to convince these groups. Oh, and if they don't want to talk or don't want to change their views? I didn't say it would be easy. You need to continue, without giving up, until you find someone that is willing to help you, then you find another person, then another person and this goes on and on. There are people out there that want to help you through the sense of appreciation. And I believe that these people exist even in the most hated groups, like farmers and industries.

To give you an example on what I've been writing about, I will share some of a project that exists here in Brazil. The free translation is "Jaguar Institute", a tribute to an animal that is a symbol of Brazilian fauna and which has some relatives throughout the Americas, such as the cougar in North America. It's a feline that looks like a leopard or cheetah (in some ways, it also looks like a snow leopard or a lynx). Search on the internet for Brazilian jaguar and you'll see it. This institute preserves the local fauna of Cerrado (brazilian vegetation), especially jaguars, and to do that they need to engage all the people of the region. So, they build partnerships with local farmers and political figures (the founder said that the biggest partners of the institute are actually the farmers that want to preserve the area and the animals). Thus they can achieve their goals of preserving endangered species, and become a national reference in preservation. Through what? Through the positive convincement, by showing their appreciation of nature.

The intention of this article is not to say that the people that are doing protests are wrong. It's just my opinion that they could be doing something more practical and based on the actual action. And, as I said before, I'm not protecting those groups (politicians, farmers, industries and civil society). I know they are the major contributors to environmental problems.

But, let's say you participate in protests and also take practical actions in your community. Awesome! You are on the best track possible. The only thing you could do, if you want to, is to try to change your speeches. But, how? Try to engage your parents, relatives, friends, peers, anyone in a positive conversation about the things that nature does for us. I'm sure they will listen and, gradually, come closer to help your efforts around protecting the environment. Now, imagine if the people that attack on social media, or protests, or any other communication channel use their voice to highlight the beauty of nature. They would have a giant platform to create a community that acts, not just talk. And they could use it to solve whatever issue they want to.

In conclusion, I think that what defines an environmental activist is someone who tackles environmental problems by getting a lot of people together in a common line that enhances nature and creates a positive community, willing to take practical actions. There's no need to attack anyone or be angry with something. This doesn't bring anything useful for anyone, and even less for the environment. It's the famous quote: "the activist is not the person who says the river is dirty. The activist is the person who cleans up the river"

As final thoughts, I just want to mention that this is my own opinion, based on my own life experiences, and should not be treated as a statement. And I'm not trying to convince anyone about my ideas, I just want to share them with the world. I do that because I want to inspire others to be happy and preserve the environment at the same time. Whatever you choose to do, I wish you all the best with your efforts.

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What does it take to be an environmental activist (personal opinion)?

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There's a lot of discussion in the environmental community around the question of being an activist, and what the roles of this "position". In whatever way people decide to consider who is an environmental activist and who is not, the intention is usually the same: protect the environment in order to achieve a balance between the human-made world and the natural world.

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Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

In 2002, Oprah Winfrey and South African President Nelson Mandela were talking about combating poverty. Winfrey, who was staying at the President's home, said she believes education is the key to leveling the playing field-and revealed she intended to one day build a school for girls in the country. Mandela immediately jumped into action to make sure that day was as soon as possible. Just five years later, the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) opened its doors. Each student has had to overcome childhood poverty and trauma during their lives, yet also possesses a resilience, courage and spirit seldom that make them stand out among their peers. Winfrey, who was born into poverty in the Jim Crow south, says, "I wanted to build a school for girls like me." She describes an OWLAG girl as having "an indefinable quality of tenacity, charisma and smarts."

The gleaming 52-acre campus has 21 state-of-the-art classrooms, six labs, a 10,000-volume library, manicured grounds, a 600-seat theater, and modern dorms equipped with features hand-picked by Winfrey herself. "I wanted to create an environment that I would want to be a part of," she says. Since then, over 525 young women, who affectionately call Winfrey Mom O, have graduated from the academy, attended top universities in South Africa, the United States and Europe, and have begun on their mission to change the world. "This school is my greatest legacy," says Winfrey.

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Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy For Girls - Oprah Winfrey Charitable Foundation

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Read about the impact of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa, which Oprah has called her "greatest legacy."

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What are the Benefits of Space Exploration?

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What are the Benefits of Space Exploration?

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What Are The Benefits Of Space Exploration?

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Why explore space? It’s an expensive arena to play in, between the fuel costs and the technological challenge of operating in a hostile environment. For humans, a small mistake can quickly become fatal — something that we have seen several times in space history. And for NASA’s budget, there are pro…

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Screen Time Guidelines for Babies and Toddlers

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Screen Time Guidelines for Babies and Toddlers

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Most of a baby's brain development happens in the first 2 years of life. That's why it's so important for babies and toddlers to explore their environment and experience many sights, sounds, tastes, and textures. Interacting and playing with others helps children learn about the world around them.

So experts recommend limiting the amount of time that babies and toddlers spend in front of a screen. That's good advice - but in today's world, it can be tough to keep babies and toddlers away from all the TVs, tablets, computers, smartphones, and gaming systems they'll see.

How Much Is Too Much?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends that babies younger than 18 months get no screen time at all. The exception to this rule is video chatting with grandparents or other family members or friends, which is considered quality time interacting with others.

Toddlers 18 months to 24 months old can start to enjoy some screen time with a parent or caregiver. Children this age can learn when an adult is there to reinforce lessons.

By ages 2 and 3, it's OK for kids to watch up to 1 hour a day of high-quality educational programming.

Media Use Tips

When introducing media to toddlers:

Be with young kids when they use electronic devices. That can mean playing an educational game or talking about something you see together in an age-appropriate TV show or video.

Research games and apps before getting them for your child. Thousands of apps and games claim to be educational, but not all of them are. Search online to see which ones educators and doctors consider the best. Common Sense Media has information about age and content appropriateness of video games and other media. When possible, preview the media before sharing with your child.

Schedule plenty of non-screen time into your child's day. Playtime is important for learning and building creativity. Schedule lots of time for hands-on learning and interacting with caregivers and friends. Also, encourage your child to be physically active every day.

Turn off devices during meals and at least 1 hour before bed. Keep TVs and other electronics out of the bedroom.

Set a good example. Turn off TVs and other devices when not in use. Don't leave screens on in the background and turn off your phone when you are with your child. This can distract from your interactions and your child's play.

Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about managing your child's media use.

Date reviewed: August 2022

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Not sure how much screen time is appropriate for your baby or toddler? Get advice here.

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There's No Getting Around It - the New Chipotle Ad is Amazing

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There's No Getting Around It - the New Chipotle Ad is Amazing

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There's No Getting Around It: The New Chipotle Ad Is Amazing

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It's being called "the most beautiful, haunting infomercial you'll ever see."

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Titanic, the so-called "unsinkable ship," struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 of the 2,220 people onboard.
The ship's designers, paid well by the White Star Line, went out of their way to tell the world that the construction was safe and sound for the voyage across the northern Atlantic Ocean, from Southampton, England, to New York. The designers were so convinced of the infallibility of their design that they included only 20 lifeboats, enough for one-third of the people onboard to vacate the ship if necessary.

On April 10, the giant ship left port. After four days, the unthinkable happened and the unsinkable ship sank, having struck a large iceberg that ripped large enough holes in the lower decks to split the ship in half.

The collision occurred 375 miles south of Newfoundland and caused several of the ship's watertight compartments to open, allowing water to rush in and trapping many people on the lower decks.

Only 18 of the 20 lifeboats were launched, and none of them were filled to capacity. Some had only 20 or 30 people onboard, and the population of lifeboats was top-heavy in terms of class, with many more first-class passengers than anyone else. (This eyewitness account from a survivor says that only 36 people were in her lifeboat.)

In many ways, the Titanic passenger list reflected the wide class divide of the times. Of the 1,296 total passengers onboard the massive ocean liner, 319 were labeled as first class, 269 were termed second class, and 699 were called third class, or steerage.

A closer look at the casualty figures reveals that of the 319 first-class passengers, 200 survived and of the 269 second-class passengers, 117 survived. Only 172 of 699 third-class passengers survived. A similar percentage can be found among crew and staff: 215 of 918 survived.

This happened for a few reasons, most notably that the first-class passengers were, by and large, the first ones into the lifeboats. Of the 20 lifeboats onboard, 18 were set afloat. All but three of the lifeboats had a capacity of 65 (the others could carry 40), but very few lifeboats began their journeys away from the sinking ship with 65 people aboard.

First-class passengers only were allowed on the first several lifeboats. Second-class passengers were on the eighth lifeboat to launch, and third-class passengers were not on a lifeboat until the 12th one to go.

Another contributing factor to the death of so many third-class passengers was the public health law that required the locking of gates that separate these lower-deck passengers from the "higher" classes.
More in-depth statistics
The Titanic had struck the iceberg at 11.40 p.m. on the night of April 14. About 2:20 a.m. the next morning, the boat broke apart and sank, bow-first, with more than 1,000 people still onboard. The water was freezing, and hundreds of people died quickly from hypothermia.

Survivors were eventually rescued by crew aboard another large ship, the Carpathia.

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The Titanic, the so-called 'unsinkable ship,' struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912, and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, claiming the lives of more than 1,500 of the 2,220 people onboard.

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Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished some pretty spectacular feats of science. Our country has landed humans on the Moon six times. We've successfully put laboratories onto the surface of Mars, and we've flown by every single planet in our solar system, including the recently promoted asteroid-turned-dwarf planet, Ceres.

Despite decades of scientific and technological achievements, some people still think that funding NASA is a waste of money. However, when you do the calculations, it turns out we are actually getting a great value from this government-run agency.

What NASA Gives Us

We can thank the Cold War for NASA's existence in the first place. After the launch of Sputnik in 1957, President Eisenhower realized we were losing the space race. So, on July 29th, 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was born. Upon signing the Space Act, Eisenhower said this about the new program: "There are many aspects of space and space technology which can be helpful to all people as the United States proceeds with its peaceful program of space and exploration. Every person has the opportunity to share through understanding in the adventures which lie ahead."

For 57 years NASA has provided the world with new perspectives on our species and our place in the cosmos. After the Apollo 8 mission sent back the famous "Earthrise" image, we were able to see ourselves for the first time. There we were, a beautiful blue ball, where everyone lives. Then on Valentine's day in 1990, the Voyager 1 spacecraft turned around on its way out of our solar system, and took the ultimate family portrait. This time, from a distance of 3.7 billion miles away, we were tiny, just a speck among the stars. It was because of moments like these that for decades when children were asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, they answered, "an astronaut!" This dream only existed because of NASA.

Gorgeous, super hi-res image of Pluto

The colors have been enhanced to highlight Pluto's variety of compositions.

Recently, the world was united once again in the spirit of space exploration as the New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto. Always the underdog of the solar system, and discovered only in 1930, we never really knew what Pluto looked like; it is 3 billion miles away, after all. On July 14th it seemed as though the world stopped; people tweeted, Facebooked, and cheered on the streets while humankind accomplished something great. And while no one could see the spacecraft, we all watched in awe as the nine-year journey came to a close and we flew past Pluto, only to find out it was more interesting than anyone could have ever imagined.

The Price Of Awe And Amazement

Getting inspired by science and discovery is one of the most rewarding parts of being a human. But exploring isn't free, especially not in the space case. What is the price of awe and amazement?

Since the end of the Apollo program in 1972 NASA has operated with an average 0.5 percent of the total US budget. That's not even a percent of the total 3 trillion dollars allocated to the U.S. in 2014. Although that may still seem like a lot of money, let's compare it to the beginning of the Apollo program.

In 1961, President John F. Kennedy decided that NASA would send humans to the Moon before the end of the decade. At that time, each U.S. citizen was paying $20 per year to NASA. JFK needed that number to go up to $26 a year to help get our astronauts to the Moon. In 2015 dollars, the Apollo era budget would have been equivalent to each American paying over $200 a year to the space administration. If NASA still had that sort of funding in 2015, that would make its budget a whopping $65 billion dollars per year, compared to its actual budget of $17.5 billion. Instead, in 2014 each American paid an average of $54 per year to NASA.

That money gets spread out over many different projects. So even though the Curiosity rover had an astounding $2.6 billion price tag, each citizen only paid about about $0.41 per year to put the SUV-sized robot on Mars.

The Real Cost Of NASA Missions

Since 1972, NASA's budget hasn't increased, but has been cut by roughly 75 percent, and it's stayed that way for 42 years. While the Apollo era budget was arguably not sustainable, it raises questions as to what might be possible if NASA once again had access to more financial support.

NASA has made a little bit of money go a long way. In addition to organizing science missions, the space agency employs over 60,000 people including private organizations. But NASA can't do it all. Budget cuts are delaying the development of the Commercial Crew program, which would get astronauts launching from American soil again. In the meantime, we'll be forced to continue buying tickets on the Russian Soyuz.

NASA's budget has flatlined in recent decades

What Lies Ahead

Despite its ongoing budgetary battles, NASA continues to do good science.

Next on the horizon for NASA's space exploration agenda is a flyby of Europa. The mission to Jupiter's icy moon has created a lot of excitement for astrobiologists. Because Europa has more water in its oceans than all of the water combined on Earth, it has the potential to harbor life.

There won't be another "Apollo moment" for our space program.

The quest to land humans on Mars in the 2030's is also something scientists at NASA are trying to plan for.

It's widely accepted that there won't be another "Apollo moment" for our space program. NASA will probably never receive the amount of funding it did when JFK set his sights on the Moon. There also probably won't be another Cold War, but there will always be this question: What else is out there?

We've barely scratched the surface of the solar system-there are so many more questions, and many more questions we don't even know we have. The price of understanding is small, and for people around the globe to feel connected over a rocket launch, a rover landing, a photo, or a spacewalk is priceless. Let's not stop. Let's keep pushing forward and as NASA says, let's continue to "dare mighty things."

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What do we really know about kids and screen time?

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What do we really know about kids and screen time?

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By the time research on screen time reaches the public, it's often framed in black-and-white terms: guidelines setting out strict time limits, or news reports with titles like "Are Screens Bad for Kids?"

In reality, though, screen time research has been less than definitive, mainly owing to a lack of strong longitudinal studies to date. That's now beginning to change as psychologists and other child development experts take a deeper and increasingly nuanced look at children's and teens' use of tablets, phones and other screens. Researchers are now paying close attention to the kinds of content kids are consuming via digital devices. They're looking at the environment that surrounds screen time, including parenting and socioeconomic status. And they're buckling down for the long haul, building new longitudinal studies that will help answer complex questions about kids, teens and screens.

In particular, they're studying both the potential benefits of screens-if they can be used as teaching tools-and the potential physical and mental health drawbacks.

The picture that has emerged suggests that the youngest children don't learn well from screens. As kids get older, they can learn meaningful information from screens, but the ubiquity of digital devices also means that children can easily spend far too much time being sedentary. Nevertheless, total abstinence from recreational screen time may backfire for older kids and teens.

Meanwhile, many questions remain about how much screen time is too much and about the effects of different types of activities that involve screens.

"As psychologists, it's really important for us to have scientific-based evidence behind what we're recommending. We're not there yet," says Jerri Lynn Hogg, PhD, a media psychologist at Fielding Graduate University. "We have ideas, but the problem is that the technology is getting more and more sophisticated and more ubiquitous."

The challenges of screen time

In all the popular-media hubbub and scientific debate over screen time, it's easy to forget how quickly these issues have evolved: The first-generation iPhone was introduced only 13 years ago, in 2007, the same year Netflix introduced streaming services. The iPad just saw its 10th birthday. Television and video games have been around for decades, of course, but never so portably and easily accessed.

Amid this rapid change, professional organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have stepped in with recommendations. AAP calls for no screen time at all for children until 18 to 24 months, except for video chatting, and says kids ages 2 to 5 should get an hour or less of screen time per day. It has also developed the Family Media Use Plan for older kids, in which parents and children negotiate limits and boundaries around screen usage. In its guidelines on physical activity, sedentary behavior and sleep for young children, WHO similarly recommends no screens for kids under 2, and less than an hour a day for kids 2 to 5.

However, some critics charge that much of the research backing up the guidelines is correlational, cross-sectional or based upon self-report-though there are longitudinal studies in the mix, too. And not all research effectively differentiates between different types of screen time. Many studies lump all screen time together into one category, though it seems unlikely that video chatting with Grandma, for example, would have much in common with playing "Grand Theft Auto V."

Isolating the effects of screens from all the other experiences kids are exposed to is a challenge as well. It would be difficult indeed to run a long-term, randomized study in which children were assigned to different amounts of screen time each day and then tracked over their life spans to measure well-being outcomes. Imagine the look on a parent's face when told their child would be required to watch six hours of television every day-or that they could never watch a screen at all.

What is clear is that many parents often don't enforce the screen time limits suggested by the guidelines. For example, a study led by economist Weiwei Chen, PhD, of Florida International University, found that, as of 2014, children age 2 and under in the United States averaged 3 hours, 3 minutes a day of screen time, up from 1 hour, 19 minutes a day in 1997. Three- to 5-year-olds got 2 hours, 28 minutes a day of screen time, on average, during that time period (JAMA Pediatrics , Vol. 173, No. 4, 2019).

Qualitative studies suggest several reasons for the widespread screen use. One survey of 133 parents of preschool-age kids led by Rutgers University professor of nutritional sciences Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, PhD, for example, found that many parents reported lacking affordable alternative entertainment for their kids. Others cited factors such as their own exhaustion, the need to get things done around the house and bad weather for excess screen time (Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior , Vol. 47, No. 4, 2015).

Babies, toddlers, preschoolers and screens

Research has, however, turned up evidence to support limiting screen time for babies and young children. One longitudinal study of 2,441 mothers and children, led by University of Calgary psychologist Sheri Madigan, PhD, found that more time per week spent on screens at ages 24 months and 36 months was linked with poorer performance on screening tests for behavioral, cognitive and social development at 36 months (JAMA Pediatrics , Vol. 173, No. 3, 2019 ). The opposite association (poorer development leading to more screen time) was not seen, suggesting that the linkage wasn't a matter of parents leaning on screen time to handle a challenging child. Instead, the excessive screen time seemed to precede the developmental difficulties.

Despite experts' concerns, media for babies and toddlers has been on the market for years, often with promises of stimulation and education-the "Baby Einstein" videos are one prominent example. But the evidence is strong that screens aren't an effective teaching tool for the baby and toddler set, and they could displace the kinds of face-to-face interactions that actually help young kids learn. A 2005 review led by developmental psychologist Daniel Anderson, PhD, now a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, found that television viewing consistently failed to teach kids age 2 and younger as much as live interaction (American Behavioral Scientist , Vol. 48, No. 5, 2005 ). This "video deficit" was seen in simple imitation tasks, in language learning and in emotional learning.

"The basic pattern that has been found in dozens of studies is that children learn better from a person who is with them face-to-face than from a person on a screen, even if it's the exact same person doing the exact same thing," says Georgene Troseth, PhD, a psychologist at Vanderbilt University.

More recently, researchers like Troseth are trying to understand why this screen learning gap occurs in toddlers. That toddlers struggle to learn from videos does not seem to be perceptual, Troseth says, but conceptual: Until they're around age 3, kids seem to view video as irrelevant to real life. In numerous studies, toddlers shown video of an experimenter hiding a toy in the room next door are terrible at finding that toy in the real room immediately afterward. In one study co-authored by Troseth, however, toddlers who watched a toy being hidden on a screen disguised to look like a window were much better at finding the toy than toddlers who saw the toy hidden on a regular screen (Child Development , Vol. 69, No. 4, 1998 ). "When they were told they were watching through a window, they were willing to take in the information," Troseth says. "The idea when they're watching on TV seems to be, 'You're not going to fool me, I know that's not real.'"

Though screen time recommendations for the youngest kids now make exceptions for video chatting, the evidence also suggests that toddlers find this medium confusing and that they struggle to make sense of video chat unless they have help from an adult who is physically present. In one study by Troseth and her colleagues, for example, 2-year-olds were assigned to either watch a prerecorded video intended to teach them new words or to engage in a word-learning video chat session with an experimenter. In half of the cases, the child's parent simply sat with the child. In the other half, the parent followed the experimenter's directions, modeling interactions with the video screen. A live video chat kept the kids' attention better than a prerecorded video, but only kids whose parents participated alongside them were able to learn new words from the screen (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology , Vol. 166, 2018 ).

Three- to 5-year-olds, on the other hand, are a bit more savvy. Since the early days of "Sesame Street," research has found that this age group can learn from slow-paced, thoughtfully designed children's media. For example, in tests of prereading skills such as alphabet recognition and letter sounds, kids who were randomly assigned to watch a 20-episode run of the literacy show "Super Why!" outperformed kids who were assigned to watch an educational science series, according to a study of 171 preschoolers conducted by Deborah Nichols, PhD, the director of the Children's Media Lab at Purdue University ( International Journal for Cross-Disciplinary Subjects in Education , Vol. 6, No. 1, 2015 ). Children from low socioeconomic backgrounds generally saw greater gains than children in the wealthiest families, possibly because the more privileged children were already exposed to more literacy enrichment than the less-advantaged group.

Television's educational potential isn't limited to academic skills: A study of the PBS show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" led by Texas Tech University media researcher Eric Rasmussen, PhD, found that kids who were randomly assigned to watch the program showed greater emotion recognition, empathy and self-efficacy-if those children also came from homes where parents consistently talked to their children about their TV viewing ( Journal of Children and Media , Vol. 10, No. 4, 2016 ). As with toddlers, preschoolers seem to benefit from adults co-viewing their media.

Co-viewing may seem a steep price to pay for parents who are desperate to use their child's screen time to make dinner or pack tomorrow's lunch, but it doesn't have to be a full-time job, Hogg says. Rather, she recommends parents should aim to scaffold their child's screen time, first watching a few episodes with them and talking about the content, then stepping back and checking in as the child becomes familiar with how media works.

Growing up digital

As children mature, they're exposed to more screens, with more diverse content via television, video games and social media. A report released in October 2019 by the nonprofit organization Common Sense Media found that 8- to 12-year-olds in the United States now use screens for entertainment for an average of 4 hours, 44 minutes a day, and 13- to 18-year-olds are on screens for an average of 7 hours, 22 minutes each day (The Common Sense Census: Media Use by Tweens and Teens , 2019). These numbers don't count time using screens for schoolwork or homework.

Common Sense Media's data also reveal a substantial disparity in media use based on socioeconomic status, with 8- to 12-year-olds from high income families using 1 hour, 50 minutes less of media each day than kids of the same age from low income families. Teens show a similar gap. Previous research has suggested that increased screen time in poorer families may be an attempt by parents to protect their children; studies in multiple countries have found that parent anxiety about neighborhood safety and actual neighborhood safety are linked to more screen time and less physical activity. For example, health researchers Valerie Carson, PhD, of the University of Alberta, and Ian Janssen, PhD, of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, found that kids who lived in neighborhoods with the highest social and physical disorder (such as crime, graffiti and gang activity) had a 40% to 60% higher likelihood of high screen use (International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity , Vol. 9, No. 66, 2012). Higher-income families may also have more alternatives to screen time available, in the form of extracurricular activities and safe recreation areas.

As with young children, there are reasons for concern over large amounts of screen time in tweens and teens. Correlational studies have shown that 8- to 11-year-olds who exceed screen time recommendations scored lower on cognitive assessments, with compliance with recommendations explaining about a fifth of the overall variance in cognitive scores (The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health , Vol. 2, No. 11, 2018). A combination of screen time and too little sleep has also been associated with heightened impulsivity in the same age group (Pediatrics , Vol. 144, No. 3, 2019).

These studies weren't designed to show causal relationships, though, says Gary Goldfield, PhD, a psychologist at the University of Ottawa who coauthored both studies. It could be that increased impulsivity or struggles with cognition drive the excess screen time. Nevertheless, in numerous studies, Goldfield and his team have consistently found the best mental health and cognitive outcomes in teens who do one hour of physical activity each day, sleep eight to 10 hours a day and use screens recreationally less than two hours a day.

Researchers have also found links between screen time and various health outcomes in teens, though again, establishing definitive causal relationships is difficult. The firmest associations are between screen time and obesity and screen time and depressive symptoms, according to a systematic review of reviews published by University College London (UCL) psychologist Neza Stiglic, PhD, and Russell Viner, PhD, a professor of adolescent health at UCL (BMJ Open , Vol. 9, No. 1, 2019). Most research on obesity focused on television viewing and found that more time spent watching TV was associated with a higher body mass index or body fat composition. Multiple studies also found that screen use of more than two hours a day was correlated with depressive symptoms. The reviewers found moderate evidence linking screen time to poorer quality of life, higher caloric intake and less-healthy diets. Evidence linking screen time to other problems, such as behavior issues, anxiety, and low feelings of well-being and self-esteem, was weak, with studies on these outcomes returning mixed results.

A study led by psychologists Amy Orben, PhD, of the University of Cambridge, and Andrew Przybylski, PhD, of the University of Oxford, found that screen time as measured by time-use diaries (as opposed to retrospective self-reports, which many studies use) in large did not have noticeable effects on teen psychological well-being, according to nationally representative data sets in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland (Psychological Science , Vol. 30, No. 5, 2019). But other research points to complicated relationships between screen time and well-being. For example, a study led by physician Pierre-André Michaud, MD, of the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine in Lausanne, Switzerland, found a U-shaped relationship between internet use and adolescent mental and physical heath, such that moderate users were the best off (Pediatrics , Vol. 127, No. 2, 2011).

"A lot depends on how kids are using media, how much their parents are monitoring their use, how much time they're spending and what exactly they're watching and using," says Victor Strasburger, MD, a pediatrician and professor emeritus at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Future research and recommendations

Fortunately, a new longitudinal data set may help illuminate some of the outstanding questions about adolescents and screen time. In 2015, the National Institutes of Health began funding the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the largest ever longitudinal study on teen brain and behavioral development in the United States. More than 10,000 9- to 10-year-olds have been recruited and are being followed to young adulthood. Screen time data are among the information being collected, and researchers are already using the first wave: Goldfield's cognition and impulsivity studies drew from ABCD data. "We're pretty excited about this database," he says.

In the meantime, some experts recommend a mindful approach to media. Simply banning screens may backfire, says Jon Lasser, PhD, a psychologist at Texas State University and co-author, with Mike Brooks, PhD, of the 2018 book "Tech Generation: Raising Balanced Kids in a Hyper-Connected World."

"It's important for kids to develop the capacity to self-regulate," Lasser says, "and parents who try to micromanage screen time may inadvertently interfere with that self-regulatory development."

Lasser and Brooks include a tool in their book called the Family Assessment of Screen Time, or FAST, which family members can use to gauge their feelings about screen time-their own and each other's. The tool is similar to AAP's Family Media Use Plan, in which parents and children, 5 years and older, negotiate limits and boundaries around screen usage.

Finally, parents should keep co-viewing media with their kids. Keeping an open line of communication around media helps protect kids when they inevitably run into content they aren't ready to see, Strasburger says. A healthy, nonrancorous relationship around media also makes it easier to enforce boundaries when required.

"The number one recommendation that we give to parents is [to] spend time engaged with their kids," Lasser says. "It's simple, it's good parenting and it promotes a healthy relationship."

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What do we really know about kids and screens?

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Researchers are now paying close attention to the kinds of content kids are consuming via digital devices as well as the environment that surrounds screen time, including parenting and socioeconomic status.

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Mandatory labels for genetically modified foods are a bad idea

By The Editors

This past June, Connecticut and Maine became the first states to pass bills requiring labels on all foods made from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). In November 2012 California voters rejected the similar Proposition 37 by a narrow majority of 51.4 percent. "All we want is a simple label/For the food that's on our table," chanted marchers before the elections. The issue, however, is in no way simple.

We have been tinkering with our food's DNA since the dawn of agriculture. By selectively breeding plants and animals with the most desirable traits, our predecessors transformed organisms' genomes, turning a scraggly grass into plump-kerneled corn, for example. For the past 20 years Americans have been eating plants in which scientists have used modern tools to insert a gene here or tweak a gene there, helping the crops tolerate drought and resist herbicides. Around 70 percent of processed foods in the U.S. contain genetically modified ingredients.

Instead of providing people with useful information, mandatory GMO labels would only intensify the misconception that so-called Frankenfoods endanger people's health [see " The Truth about Genetically Modified Food "]. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, the World Health Organization and the exceptionally vigilant European Union agree that GMOs are just as safe as other foods. Compared with conventional breeding techniques-which swap giant chunks of DNA between one plant and another-genetic engineering is far more precise and, in most cases, is less likely to produce an unexpected result. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has tested all the GMOs on the market to determine whether they are toxic or allergenic. They are not. (The GMO-fearing can seek out "100 Percent Organic" products, indicating that a food contains no genetically modified ingredients, among other requirements.)

Many people argue for GMO labels in the name of increased consumer choice. On the contrary, such labels have limited people's options. In 1997, a time of growing opposition to GMOs in Europe, the E.U. began to require them. By 1999, to avoid labels that might drive customers away, most major European retailers had removed genetically modified ingredients from products bearing their brand. Major food producers such as Nestlé followed suit. Today it is virtually impossible to find GMOs in European supermarkets.

Americans who oppose genetically modified foods would celebrate a similar exclusion. Everyone else would pay a price. Because conventional crops often require more water and pesticides than GMOs do, the former are usually more expensive. Consequently, we would all have to pay a premium on non-GMO foods-and for a questionable return. Private research firm Northbridge Environmental Management Consultants estimated that Prop 37 would have raised an average California family's yearly food bill by as much as $400. The measure would also have required farmers, manufacturers and retailers to keep a whole new set of detailed records and to prepare for lawsuits challenging the "naturalness" of their products.

Antagonism toward GMO foods also strengthens the stigma against a technology that has delivered enormous benefits to people in developing countries and promises far more. Recently published data from a seven-year study of Indian farmers show that those growing a genetically modified crop increased their yield per acre by 24 percent and boosted profits by 50 percent. These farmers were able to buy more food-and food of greater nutritional value-for their families.

To curb vitamin A deficiency-which blinds as many as 500,000 children worldwide every year and kills half of them-researchers have engineered Golden Rice, which produces beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A. Approximately three quarters of a cup of Golden Rice provides the recommended daily amount of vitamin A; several tests have concluded that the product is safe. Yet Greenpeace and other anti-GMO organizations have used misinformation and hysteria to delay the introduction of Golden Rice to the Philippines, India and China.

More such products are in the works, but only with public support and funding will they make their way to people's plates. An international team of researchers has engineered a variety of cassava-a staple food for 600 million people-with 30 times the usual amount of beta-carotene and four times as much iron, as well as higher levels of protein and zinc. Another group of scientists has created corn with 169-fold the typical amount of beta-carotene, six times as much vitamin C and double the folate.

At press time, GMO-label legislation is pending in at least 20 states. Such debates are about so much more than slapping ostensibly simple labels on our food to satisfy a segment of American consumers. Ultimately, we are deciding whether we will continue to develop an immensely beneficial technology or shun it based on unfounded fears.

This article was originally published with the title "Fight the GM Food Scare" in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 309 No. 3 (), p. 10
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0913-10

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Mandatory labels for genetically modified foods are a bad idea

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Could We Survive Prolonged Space Travel?

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Could We Survive Prolonged Space Travel?

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Could we survive prolonged space travel? - Lisa Nip

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Prolonged space travel plays a severe toll on the human body: microgravity impairs muscle and bone growth, and high doses of radiation cause irreversible mutations. As we seriously consider the human species becoming space-faring, a big question stands: even if we do break free f…

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Getting the right to vote didn’t come easy for women. Here’s how they got it done.

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CommonLit _ Jaguars Burned by Deforestation

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Welcome to Britannica School, a safe, up-to-date, and age-appropriate information resource for Elementary, Middle, and High School.

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

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What is the Women's Rights Movement? (book)

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What is the Women's Rights Movement? (book)

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.

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Mother Jones and her Army of Mill Children (book)

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Mother Jones and her Army of Mill Children (book)

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Open a world of reading. Try Sora, the new reading app for students, by OverDrive.