Topic: News - Archives

Announced by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services National Health Observances Calendar and the American Public Health Association's Calendar and proclaimed officially by Governors, Senates, and Mayors of many US States and nations, World Tai Chi & Qigong Day 2007 is about to occur on April 28th. Past event locations included the United Nations and the Nobel Peace Center.

Recent discoveries about the role of stem cells in cancer have altered the landscape of cancer research, says Medical News Today. There is, however, a long-running philosophical rift over stem cell research at both the state and federal levels. Some groups would rather focus on adult stem cell research, avoiding the moral and ethical questions about research involving embryos. While ethical debate on human embryonic stem cells will continue, much more is occurring on the rings surrounding this bull's-eye issue, including research in both drug development and adult stem cells.

Self-improvement is a one-way ticket to misery, says author Jennifer Louden. Instead, the path to happiness and fulfillment starts with acceptance of who and where you are. As a result, Louden is announcing the first annual “Freedom from Self-Improvement Day,” this May 15, 2007.

20 Women For Darfur (TWFD), a coalition of 20 women from various sectors of the entertainment field, is teaming up with the Darfur Action Committee at UCLA (DAC) for A Cup Of Coffee For Darfur. In recognition of Global Days For Darfur, TWFD and DAC are asking students, faculty and local citizens to donate the cost of at least one cup of coffee to The International Rescue Committee. The donations will provide crucial aid to refugees and displaced people in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Amid growing concerns over global warming, Green Mountain Power today announced "choose2bgreen," a program that provides customers with a mechanism to neutralize their carbon footprint through renewable power and home heating and driving offsets. Simultaneously, the company announced that it is now carbon neutral in its operations, which includes its offices, facilities, trucks and all business travel.

Research released on Monday by Envision Solutions, LLC, a healthcare marketing communications consultancy, reveals that many are deeply skeptical of drug firms' motivations for supporting non-profit organizations. According to a nationwide online survey, 43% of US adults believe that pharmaceutical companies fund groups like the American Heart Association and the National Kidney Foundation in order to get more people to buy their products or medicines. The poll is featured in a new Envision Solutions report titled "Preserving the Power of Pharma-Non-Profit Cause Alliances."

With 30% of America's children at risk for obesity and two-thirds of their parents already overweight; with only 29% of mothers nursing at six months postpartum; and with breastfeeding in public still considered criminal in some corners of the U.S.; National Action Against Obesity demands Suave Shampoo pull its anti-breastfeeding TV ad.

First Nation Church, the oldest traditional religious organization in the Western Hemisphere and the largest membership-based Native American religious society in the United States, has announced that it will no longer ban marriages among same-sex members of its national congregation.

The unification of gravity and quantum mechanics is considered the holy grail of physics. Einstein's Theory of General Relativity describes celestial orbits and gravitational attraction, but the theory is incompatible with quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is well-verified experimentally, but the theory does not account for, or describe, gravity. Many theories have been offered over the years to unite the two, but all, thus far, have failed. The most recent (and most popular), Superstring Theory, suffers from just one problem: it doesn't work.

Only a few months ago, San Francisco Residents were facing the end of a long standing tradition of beach bonfires. Now, thanks to the efforts of concerned citizens and local non-profits such as the Ocean Beach Foundation, the bonfires are here to stay.