In Japan, just over a week ago, thousands of bags filled with debris from the Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown were swept into a river during the recent typhoon. The facility where the bags were stored was flooded with torrential rainfall and heavy winds caused by the storm, named “Hagibis,” one of the most powerful typhoons recorded in Japan over...
THE OPIOID WARS
Corporate drug distributors are the most profitable dealers on the street. Negligent in their duties to monitor sales and encouraging their sales team to boost volume, they are finally being called out for their role in the 400,000 American deaths from opioids. McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergan distribute roughly 90 percent of drugs in the American healthcare system....
YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT: “MEDITERRANEAN” MOOD SWING
Researchers have confirmed that a diet of more fruit, vegetables, fish, and lean meat triggers significant improvements in moods of test participants and can ease depression in as little as three weeks. The testing was part of a study conducted at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. One of the lead researchers, Heather Frances, a professor of clinical neuropsychology, stated, “We...
ANOTHER REASON TO SAVE THE WORLD’S BANANAS
The world’s banana trees are under assault by a fungal wilt. Now, in addition to saving a nice topping for cereal or addition to your fruit salad, researchers have an even stronger reason to rescue this staple crop: it can replace plastic. Banana Leaf Technology, an Indian start-up, is applying a proprietary technology to alter the cellular structure of the...
QUANTUM COMPUTER ESTABLISHES “SUPREMACY”
In an internal document, researchers at Google have reported demonstrating “quantum supremacy” – the ability of a quantum computer to outperform its state-of-the-art conventional cousins. Google claims that its’ quantum computer cranked through a calculation which stumped the most powerful of today’s supercomputers. The calculation had no practical value other than to test a computer’s ability to solve it. If...
NUTRITION: DON’T COUNT ON YOUR DOCTOR
While some patients suffering from severe depression get significant help from certain prescription drugs, the World Health Organization reports that 40 to 70 percent of patients are not responsive to antidepressant treatments. And yet, despite the growing evidence of the importance of healthy eating to ease depression and the clear statistic that 40 to 70 percent of patients are not...
ENERGY TREND: HYDROGEN IS ON THE RISE
The plummeting price of renewable energy is leaving nuclear power plants in the dust. To salvage the billions invested in these plants, the U.S. Department of Energy is giving them a new mission: making hydrogen. In a pilot program, three U.S. nuke sites are being outfitted with electrolysis systems that will split water into hydrogen molecules – two hydrogen atoms...
MORE CHEAP MONEY = MORE CHEAP TRICKS
Another week, another stream of mainstream media headlines that simplify complex economic and geopolitical facts and factors, distilling them down to a reason or two as to why markets move and economies shift. Last week, for example, after the Dow slumped on Tuesday, 8 October after reports of failing trade negotiations between the U.S. and China, markets rebounded when President...
ECONOMIC FEAR FACTOR
It was reported the week of 7 October that Kristalina Georgieva, the new Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, asked staff members to analyze the risks of a prolonged period of negative interest rates and what the “exit strategy” might be. “Prolonged low rates also come with negative side-effects and unintended consequences,” Ms. Georgieva observed. “Think of pension funds...