Shauna Wright
US Teen Birth Rate Hits a 70-Year Low — Health Check
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday that the teen birth rate in the United States dropped to an all-time low in 2010.
One Good Thing About the Recession, People Are Smarter Shoppers — Survey of the Day
The recession may have left unemployment rates a mess and killed the housing market, but if you’re looking for a silver lining, here it is: we’re all better shoppers now because of it.
Shocking Number of Americans Suffer From Hearing Loss — Health Check
Data examined over a seven-year period revealed 48 million Americans — about one in five — aged 12 and older suffer from some form of hearing loss, far exceeding previous estimates of 21 to 29 million people.
Why We Eat What We Eat – Stories Behind Traditional Thanksgiving Foods
If you're like most Americans, your Thanksgiving dinner table will include at least a few basic items — turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the like. But have you ever thought about why we eat those foods on Thanksgiving? Or, for that matter, why turkey is called “turkey”?
In order to answer these ha
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Video Games Might Be Warping Our Minds — Health Check
Is your kid hooked on video games? New research says simple brain-wiring may be to blame.
Brain scans conducted on 154 teenagers who played video games at least nine hours per week found the structure and activity in the part of the brain associated with reward processing was larger than in those who played less often.
Need More Veggies? Congress Says, ‘Have Some Pizza’ — Health Check
Members of Congress love pizza as much as any of us. So, when the United States Department of Agriculture threatened to take it off public school lunch menus, they did what many of us would have done in their position — they officially declared it a vegetable.
Earlier this year, the USDA proposed new standards that would’ve limited both sodium and potatoes for school lunch lines — moves some conse
Excited About Midnight Black Friday Sales? Well, Workers Aren’t
This year, stores like Target, Macy’s and Kohls plan on beginning their Black Friday sales at midnight on Thanksgiving in order to claim a piece of the retail pie. While this may be beneficial for the company and customers, the workers seem to be getting the short end of the stick.
Target employees in particular are not happy about the change, with one even starting an online petition called ‘Tell
Women Who Exercise More and Watch Less TV Tend to Be Happier — Health Check
A study of almost 50,000 women over a 14-year period found older women who exercised more and spent less time watching television were the least likely to be diagnosed with depression.
UPDATE – Andy Rooney’s College Roommate Suffers Heart Attack at Memorial Service
UPDATE — Despite a previous report by TMZ on the death of Andy Rooney’s college roommate Bob Ruthman at the memorial service of the ’60 Minutes’ icon, Ruthman was later revived.
Rooney’s son Brian stood up on a chair and pronounced Ruthman dead after the man suffered a heart attack. However, FDNY was able to resuscitate Ruthman once at New York hospital and he is currently in intensive care.
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This Day in History for November 9 – Berlin Wall Opens and More
Here’s a look at some interesting events that took place on this day in history:
1620 – Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sight land at Cape Cod, Massachusetts (More info)
1906 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first sitting US President to make an official trip outside the country, traveling to inspect progress on the Panama Canal (More info)
1965 – A switch at a station near Niagara Falls fails, plun