Vigorous exercise may not keep dementia from worsening
17 June 2018 - People with dementia who exercise regularly are just as likely to experience cognitive decline as those who don't work out, a UK study suggests. 'High-intensity exercise is unlikely to cure or reduce the symptoms of dementia,' said lead study author Sarah Lamb of the University of Oxford. ... 'Although the current study didn't show benefits to cognition, physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle is still likely to reduce the risk of other chronic diseases which can also negatively impact a dementia patients' quality of life,' Joe Northey of the University of Canberra in Australia, who wasn't involved in the study, said by email. (more)

'Catastrophic' risk of death for 300,000 Yemeni children trapped by attack
16 June 2018 - Some 300,000 children risk death, injury, and starvation as they are trapped in Yemen's main port city which is under assault from Saudi-led Arab states, aid groups said on Wednesday (13 June). The biggest battle in a three-year war, which has already created the world's biggest humanitarian crisis, centers on Hodeidah, the main route for food and aid to reach most Yemenis, 8.4 million of whom are on the verge of famine. (more)

American Indians fear U.S.-Mexico border wall will destroy ancient culture
16 June 2018 - To the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indians, the water of the Rio Grande that divides the United States and Mexico sanctifies religious rites and purifies their hunts. Indian communities living miles away use the river to send messages to fellow tribes downstream, tribal chief Jose Sierra told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. ... But now tribal leaders fear a proposed border wall ... will sever access to the river, spoiling traditions and ruining ancient culture. (more)

For the biggest group of American workers, wages aren't just flat. They're falling.
15 June 2018 - The average hourly wage paid to a key group of American workers has fallen from last year when accounting for inflation, as an economy that appears strong by several measures continues to fail to create bigger paychecks, the federal government said Tuesday (12 June). This pool of workers includes those in manufacturing and construction jobs, as well as all 'nonsupervisory' workers in service industries such health care or fast food. The group accounts for about four-fifths of the privately employed workers in America, according to BLS [the Bureau of Labor Statistics]. (more)

Dust storms drag New Delhi air quality back to dangerous levels
14 June 2018 - Air quality in New Delhi plummeted to a dangerous level on Wednesday (13 June), putting residents at risk, mainly due to dust storms from western India, a senior official at the pollution control board said. Air quality has worsened in New Delhi in recent years, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office to directly monitor measures to clean up the capital's air. (more)

Global warming set to exceed 1.5°C, slow economic growth - U.N. draft
14 June 2018 - Global warming is on course to exceed the most stringent goal set in the Paris agreement by around 2040, threatening economic growth, according to a draft report that is the U.N.'s starkest warning yet of the risks of climate change. Governments can still cap temperatures below the strict 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7° Fahrenheit) ceiling agreed in 2015 only with ''rapid and far-reaching' transitions in the world economy, according to the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). (more)

Antarctic ice loss has tripled in a decade. If that continues, we are in serious trouble.
13 June 2018 - Antarctica's ice sheet is melting at a rapidly increasing rate, now pouring more than 200 billion tons of ice into the ocean annually and raising sea levels a half-millimeter every year, a team of 80 scientists reported Wednesday (13 June). The melt rate has tripled in the past decade, the study concluded. If the acceleration continues, some of scientists' worst fears about rising oceans could be realized, leaving low-lying cities and communities with less time to prepare than they had hoped. (more)

Antarctica's ice sheet is melting 3 times faster than before
13 June 2018 - The melting of Antarctica is accelerating at an alarming rate, with about 3 trillion tons of ice disappearing since 1992, an international team of ice experts said in a new study. From 1992 to 2011, Antarctica lost nearly 84 billion tons of ice a year (76 billion metric tons). From 2012 to 2017, the melt rate increased to more than 241 billion tons a year (219 billion metric tons), according to the study Wednesday (13 June) in the journal Nature. (more)