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Special Reports

Monday, 09 May 2016 05:58

Scientists using app to track patterns warn of global sleep crisis

Scientists have warned that social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a 'global sleep crisis'. The new study by scientists from the University of Michigan was based on research collected through a smartphone app which enabled them to track sleep patterns around the world. The app gathered data about how age, gender and the amount of natural light to which people are exposed affect sleep patterns in 100 countries to help better understand how cultural pressures can override biological rhythms. The study by scientists from the University of Michigan was based on research collected…

Sunday, 08 May 2016 00:53

Mobile phones DON'T increase the risk of brain cancer, study claims

There is no link between mobile phones and brain cancer, a landmark study has revealed. Researchers found no increase in tumours over the last 29 years, despite an enormous increase in the use of the devices. In Australia, where the study was conducted, 9 per cent of people had a mobile phone in 1993 - a number which has shot up to 90 per cent today. But in the same period, cancer rates in people aged 20 - 84 rose only slightly in men and remained stable in women. There were 'significant' rises in tumours in the elderly, but the…

Saturday, 07 May 2016 01:33

High blood pressure? Drinking cherry juice is 'as good as medication'

Drinking cherry juice is as good as taking drugs at reducing blood pressure, researchers have found. People who drank 60ml of cherry concentrate, diluted with water, saw their blood pressure drop by 7 per cent within three hours. This was enough to slash the risk of a stroke by 38 per cent or heart disease by 23 per cent. Patients who take blood pressure medication see a similar impact, scientists at Northumbria University said. Scientists believe cherry juice has such a strong impact on blood pressure because it is rich in phenolic acids – a type of naturally-occuring antioxidant High…

Friday, 06 May 2016 00:42

Five reasons why buildings collapse

After a building collapsed in Kenya last week, killing at least 33 people, experts look at some reasons why such incidents occur in Africa. The six-storey residence in Kenya's capital Nairobi came down in heavy rain, with more than 80 people still missing. While investigations are still underway into the cause of this collapse, we look at some common problems. 1. The foundations are too weak Adequate foundations can be costly. They can cost up to half the price of a building, observes professor of civil engineering Anthony Ede at Covenant University in Ota, Nigeria. He says two things should…

Thursday, 05 May 2016 01:33

The world's top grammarian fears that this punctuation error is becoming standard English

Does this sentence read OK to you? It's the way I'm wired, I'm not about to change. If you said no, you're right. It's a kind of run-on sentence or "run-together sentence." It's an example of a comma splice. That's when you join two sentences with a comma. And that's wrong, at least in standard English. Each of those two independent clauses can stand alone because each has a subject and a verb: It's the way I'm wired. I'm not about to change. In standard English, instead of using a comma to join those two sentences, it's better to use…

Wednesday, 04 May 2016 01:10

Forget phones, your car RADIO is just as distracting

Listening to traffic reports on the radio can be bad for your driving - so much so it could cause you to miss an elephant standing by the side of the road. Researchers studying people's driving ability while listening to traffic reports found that almost three quarters missed hazards when distracted by the radio. The experts said road safety campaigns are so focused on telling people to keep their eyes on the road, and this research reveals that this isn't enough. Researchers studying people's driving ability while listening to traffic reports found that almost a quarter missed hazards when distracted…

Tuesday, 03 May 2016 00:20

What cocaine does to your body and brain

Whether it's snorted, smoked, or injected, cocaine enters the bloodstream and starts affecting the brain in a matter of seconds. Once there, it interferes with the brain's normal process of absorbing and recycling certain hormones, including those that play key roles in pleasure, desire, and drive. Users feel this excess as intense euphoria. But the high is short-lived, and in most cases lasts anywhere from five to 30 minutes. Regular, heavy use can have negative consequences, from nose bleeds to permanent lung damage and even death. One part of the brain that appears to be most acutely affected by cocaine…

Monday, 02 May 2016 02:08

Bin Laden was in dispute with brothers looking after him

As the fifth anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden approaches, President Barack Obama has said that he hopes the terror mastermind understood in his final moments that the ‘American people hadn’t forgotten’ and wanted revenge for the atrocities of September 11, 2001. Obama spoke to CNN’s Peter Bergen about the raid that killed the Al-Qaeda leader on May 2, 2011 – almost 10 years after the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. During the interview, Bergen said that ‘the last person bin Laden saw on Earth was an American.’ And Obama replied: ‘And hopefully, at that moment,…

Sunday, 01 May 2016 02:09

The 9 reasons why people snap, according to a neurobiologist

R. Douglas Fields, a very calm government scientist in his 50s, was emerging from a Barcelona metro stop with his daughter when a man tried to rob him. The next thing Fields knew, he had the guy in a choke hold on the ground. "Now I'm on the ground in a street fight, realizing that this signal never went to my cerebral cortex. There was no consciousness involved," Fields, a neurobiologist at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said at a talk at New York University on April 20. "And then I realized that if there's something…

Saturday, 30 April 2016 01:43

How Rolex became the king of watches

Play a simple word association game with anyone — say "watches" and the reply you get will most likely be "Rolex." The Rolex brand is so ingrained in the minds of much of the world, it's hard to believe watches even existed before Austrian national Hans Wilsdorf started the company in the early 1900s. It now stands as the most powerful watchmaker in the world, consistently ranking at the top of lists of the globe's most reputable companies. Rolex does not actually release sales numbers, but experts estimate that it makes roughly 1 million watches a year, presumably more than…

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Friday, 29 April 2016 02:12

Amazing true story of Muslim playboy who joined Islamic State

One morning in mid-January 2015, a small, furtive-looking man in a black hooded parka stood alone on the Turkish side of the Akçakale border crossing with Syria. The man glanced around uneasily, and finally approached a street sweeper in a blue jumpsuit. 'I want to cross to the other side,' he said. 'What can I do?' The street sweeper demanded 75 Turkish lira and pointed to a small hole in the fence, not far from the main gate. The man paid him but hesitated. He had come a long way, and was now barely 10 metres from his destination: the…

Thursday, 28 April 2016 02:09

How healthy is YOUR diet? Take this test to find out

Want to put the spring back into your step and get set to sizzle in summer? Then now's the time to take stock of your diet and make sure you're getting all the nutrients you need for maximum health and vitality. In an earlier era, when our diet was dictated by the seasons, spring brought an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables after the long and gloomy winter, and an opportunity to replenish reserves of important nutrients. Back then, there was a clear link between nutritional status and the availability of fresh foods. But even now, when food miles mean…

Tuesday, 26 April 2016 01:48

Nigeria's missing girls: Infiltrating the forest Boko Haram calls home

As night falls, the curfew comes into effect. Nobody is allowed on the streets. Anxiety hangs in the air. Those unable to make it home before sunset are shepherded to roundabouts to wait until day breaks. This is Maiduguri -- a city on the edge. The capital of Borno state, it is at the heart of the Nigerian Army's battle to retake Boko Haram territory. A place where no one is above suspicion. Where young girls, packaged as suicide bombers, are sent by militants to realize the group's brutal jihad. Boko Haram using kidnapped girls as bombers 03:00 Teenagers outside…

Monday, 25 April 2016 02:37

Cannabis leads to early death

Smoking marijuana heavily during teenage years may lead to an early death, a new study has revealed. The study analyzed more than 45,000 men who underwent mandatory military training in Sweden between 1969 and 1970. Scientists from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm followed them on the National Cause of Death Register until 2011. During the 42-year study, around 4,000 of the men died. Research published by the American Journal of Psychiatry found that the men who used marijuana heavily in their late teens were 40 per cent more likely to die by the age of 60 than those who never…

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