AP Exclusive: Google tracks your movements, like it or not
17 August 2018 - Google wants to know where you go so badly that it records your movements even when you explicitly tell it not to. An Associated Press investigation found that many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you've used a privacy setting that says it will prevent Google from doing so. t. (more)

Getting too little sleep may 'age' the heart
16 August 2018 - Adults who sleep too little or too much may have an increased risk of heart attack or stroke, say researchers who argue that the best way to think of the harmful effect is in terms of 'excess heart age'. In a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults, those who slept seven hours a night had the lowest heart risk on average ... 'Prolonged periods of insufficient sleep have negative effects on multiple body systems including the cardiovascular system,' lead study author Quanhe Yang told Reuters Health in an email. (more)

Heavy monsoon rains kill 67 in southern India, closes airport
15 August 2018 - Torrential monsoon rains have disrupted air and train services in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where flooding, landslides, and bridge collapses have killed at least 67 people in the past week, officials said Wednesday (15 August). The international airport at Kochi, a major port city, suspended flight operations until Saturday after rains flooded the runway. Authorities asked tourists to stay away from the popular hill station of Munnar in Idukki district because of flooding. Kerala is a popular tourist destination with scenic landscapes, waterfalls, and beautiful beaches. (more)

E-cigarette vapor tied to changes in lung cells
15 August 2018 - The vapor from e-cigarettes may boost the production of inflammatory chemicals in the lungs, while disabling key cellular defenders against infection, a new study suggests. (more)

Remote China glacial lake bursts
15 August 2018 - A glacial lake in China's far western region of Xinjiang has burst though there were no casualties, state media said, while the environment group Greenpeace warned on Wednesday (15 August) that such events have increased because of rising temperatures. (more)

Worst flood in a century kills 43 in India's Kerala, more rain due
15 August 2018 - The death toll from the worst floods in nearly a century in the Indian tourist state of Kerala rose to 43 on Wednesday (15 August) as rising water stranded tens of thousands of people and forced the closure of one of its main airports. The five latest fatalities from the rain that began a week ago came when authorities in the southern state were forced to release water from 35 dangerously full dams, sending a surge into its main river. (more)

US: Toxics from manufacturing turn up in public water systems
13 August 2018 - Lauren Woeher wonders if her 16-month-old daughter has been harmed by tap water contaminated with toxic industrial compounds used in products like nonstick cookware, carpets, and fast-food wrappers. Henry Betz, at 76, rattles around his house alone at night, thinking about the water his family unknowingly drank for years that was tainted by the same contaminants, and the pancreatic cancers that killed wife Betty Jean and two others in his household. In Horsham, and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. PFAS have been in production since the 1940s, and there are about 3,500 different types. EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] testing from 2013 to 2015 found significant amounts of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in public water supplies in 33 U.S. states. (more)

Hacking the US mid-terms? It's child's play
11 August 2018 - Bianca Lewis, 11, has many hobbies. She likes Barbie, video games, fencing, singing... and hacking the infrastructure behind the world's most powerful democracy. She's taking part in a competition organized by R00tz Asylum, a non-profit organization that promotes 'hacking for good'. Its aim is to send out a dire warning: the voting systems that will be used across America for the mid-term vote in November are, in many cases, so insecure a young child can learn to hack them with just a few minute's coaching. The first competitor to break in was 11-year-old Audrey Jones. It took her 10 minutes. (more)