• FACE
  Ask the person to smile.
  Does one side of the face droop? 
• ARMS
  Ask the person to raise both arms.
  Does one arm drift downward?
• SPEECH
  Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence.
  Are the words slurred?  Can he/she repeat the sentence correctly?

• TIME
  If the person shows any of these symptoms, time is important. 
  Call 911 or get to the hospital fast. Brain cells are dying.
  More from - Stroke.org

Image source

Image source

"The thing that's killing people is inaction," said Dr. Michael Sayre of Ohio State University, who headed the association's team that drafted the new recommendations.
Sayre said people not trained in CPR should do two things when they encounter an adult who has suddenly collapsed: first, call emergency services; and second, begin pushing "hard and fast" in the center of the person's chest.
This is necessary to maintain vital blood flow, according to experts. Chest compressions should continue until emergency medical services responders arrive, Sayre said. Read Article » By Will Dunham - Reuters

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding Medical Responses to Emergencies -
  Overview | Students review their understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They then learn about other types of medical responses to common emergency situations and evaluate the importance of CPR. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - To the Rescue! -
  Overview | Students learn about the trial of an automated cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) machine. They then investigate and role play first aid responses to a variety of emergency scenarios. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The definition of Alzheimer’s is plaque plus memory loss and other symptoms of mental decline. But what is not known because no one could follow the development of plaque before a person died, was whether people with plaque and normal memories were developing Alzheimer’s.
Brain scans that showed plaque could help with some fundamental questions — who has or is getting Alzheimer’s, whether the disease ever stops or slows down on its own and even whether plaque is the main culprit causing brain cell death. » » continued after the image

Daniel Skovronsky - Image source
Top, images from the brain of a cognitively normal volunteer; bottom, results from an Alzheimer’s patient. Plaque buildup is shown in red.

Dr. Daniel Skovronsky thought he had a way to make scans work. He and his team had developed a dye that could get into the brain and stick to plaque. They labeled the dye with a commonly used radioactive tracer and used a PET scanner to directly see plaque in a living person’s brain. But the technology and the dye itself were so new they had to be rigorously tested.
The Avid study was complete, and the full data will be presented at the meeting next month. Other companies, still doing their studies, did not yet have data to examine.
“This is going to have a big impact on Alzheimer’s disease, guys,” he told his staff that day. » The full New York Times article - By Gina Kolata, Published: June 23, 2010

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• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Science of Aging -
  Overview | Student reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. Related New York Times article: » "Even more reason to get moving" - By Jane E. Brody - Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Weight Training -
  Overview | Students conduct a class-wide survey collecting, compiling, and analyzing data about fitness, weight loss, and body image issues. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
  Overview | Students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend...Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Science of Aging -
  Overview | Student reflect on the lives of older people they know, then research and debate the key issues surrounding scientific experimentation in anti-aging. (Related NYT article: » Even more reason to get moving -By Jane E. Brody) Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Mind-Body -
  Overview | Students learn about baseball players who incorporate yoga and meditation into their pre-season training. They then investigate a number of mind-body techniques to present and demonstrate to the class. Go to this Health Lesson
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Care and Feeding of Kids: Finding Information on Nutrition and Fitness -
  Overview | How healthy are children in America? Why did first lady Michelle Obama introduce a new health initiative aimed at reducing childhood obesity? In this lesson, students reflect on their knowledge of health, nutrition and exercise. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
  Overview | Students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend...Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

The cervical cancer vaccine is the first vaccine ever designed to prevent a cancer. In the United States - where cervical cancer strikes about 10,000 women a year and causes up to 4,000 deaths - the impact of the cervical cancer vaccine will be tremendous. Worldwide, the impact may be even greater. According to the World Health Organization, there were 500,000 new cases of cervical cancer in 2005. Mayo Clinic: questions and answers article.

The New York Times - Learning Network - The Vaccination Question:
Students share opinions about common vaccines, then consider facts and opinions about the HPV vaccine and hold a “fishbowl” discussion. They then survey members of the community to determine their perspectives on the issue. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The Lindners share a defective copy of a gene known as BRCA1 (for breast cancer gene 1) that raises their risk of developing breast cancer sometime in their lives to between 60 percent and 90 percent.
Deborah Lindner began to seek support elsewhere, (and contacted) Bright Pink, a group of young women who have tested positive for the BRCA genes.
Lindsay Avner, its founder, lived in Chicago, and their meeting over coffee in the hospital lounge one evening in March lasted four hours. Avner, 24, had had a prophylactic mastectomy last year.
"You've got to see my breasts," she told Deborah Lindner, escorting her into the bathroom.
Avner's surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan had used a technique that preserved the breast skin and nipples, leaving a scar only under the breast. Deborah, still in her scrubs, said, "Wow."
Deborah scheduled the double mastectomy with Dr. D.J. Winchester at Evanston Northwestern hospital for the last weekend in June, three days after her medical board exams.

The surgery and reconstruction took seven and a half hours, twice as long as the doctors had expected. The incisions were small, Winchester explained when he came out, and hidden under the breast, so it had taken a long time to scrape out all the breast tissue. - The full IHT article - By Amy Harmon.

The New York Times - Learning Network - Talking about Breast Cancer:
Overview | Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health, Science and Life's Lesson.

Bone is built of two basic components: flexible fibers of collagen and brittle chains of the calcium-rich mineral hydroxyapatite. But those relatively simple ingredients, the springy and the salty, are woven together into such a complex cat’s cradle of interdigitating layers that the result is an engineering masterpiece of tensile, compressive and elastic strength. “We only wish we could mimic it,” Dr. Ritchie said. Read the full New York Times article - By Natalie Angier.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes -
  Overview: Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Complex Significance of Bones -
  Students examine the literal, physiological and figurative significance of bones through experimentation, then create their own skeleton-related exhibits for a "Bone and Skeleton Museum." Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Kenneth Ebron, 70, has been walking the halls of the intensive care unit at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Mr. Ebron, who has lung and heart disease, chatted with Dr. Dale Needham.
Dr. Needham said, “I meet some doctors and nurses who just shake their heads.” But, he tells them, “What you think is impossible actually happens in my I.C.U.” And, he said, “Patients like it.”
Dr. Morris found in a pilot study that the patients also seem to recover faster, spending less time in intensive care and the hospital. The full Jan. 2009 New York Times article » By Gina Kolata

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Beat Goes On -
  Overview | In this lesson, students take their own pulse before and after exercise as they learn about how the heart works. They then research various ways that heart disease is treated and suggest specific treatment methods for their own imaginary patients. Go to this Health Lesson.
  Extend the Lesson:

  A provocative new study published this year in the journal Heart and Circulatory Physiology suggests, however, that there may be a novel way to test at least one element of your heart’s health right in your own living room, right in the middle of the holidays. Sit on the floor with your legs stretched straight out in front of you, toes pointing up. Reach forward from the hips. Are you flexible enough to touch your toes? If so, then your cardiac arteries probably are also flexible. The full New York Times article » By Gretchen Reynolds

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Healthy Hearts -
  Overview | In this lesson, students focus on advanced technologies used to treat disease impacting the cardiopulmonary system; they then reflect on the experiences of having and overcoming illnesses. Go to this Health Lesson.

Jan. 21, 2010 -- Smokers with lung cancer who have asked "Why quit now, I'm already sick?" may find new motivation in this answer: Doing so could double their odds of survival over five years.The full webmed article »

  Photo credit imageafter.com

President Obama (who signed a bill) to regulate tobacco products noted that 90 percent of smokers began on or before their 18th birthday.
“I know — I was one of those teenagers,” he said, standing beneath a punishing afternoon sun at a Rose Garden ceremony. “I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it’s been with you for a long time.” “Kids today don’t just start smoking for no reason,” he said. “They’re aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They’re exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play.”
The new law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, allows the Food and Drug Administration not only to forbid advertising geared toward children but also to lower the amount of nicotine in tobacco products, ban sweetened cigarettes that appeal to young taste buds and prohibit labels like “light” and “low tar.” The full New York Times article » By Jeff Zeleny.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Health Conscious? -
  Overview | Students reflect on and discuss their attitudes toward health and illness. They help to educate each other by researching illnesses in small groups, creating a handbook and writing response papers. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
  Overview | Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate "made to measure" treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient's own individual cancer, they claim.
Professor Mike Stratton, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leading research centre in Cambridge who carried the studies, said: "What you are seeing today is going to transform the way that we see cancer.
"This is a really fundamental moment in the history of cancer research."

All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person’s lifetime.
This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually – if unchecked – causing death.
In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight.
The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient.
They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease. The full Telegraph Uk article » By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent (Published 17 Dec 2009)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
  Overview | Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Talking about Breast Cancer:
  Overview | Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health, Science and Life's Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
  Overview | Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Promoting Awareness of Modern Addictions -
  Objectives: Students will: consider their understanding of addiction, brainstorm and research ’modern ’addictions, such as food, shopping, the Internet, and video games, create public service announcements promoting awareness of different modern addictions and resources available to help. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.
• The Learning Foundation - Simplified Mock Trial Case - "I really want to play!"

Coping with unfounded fear:
While encouraging people at risk of severe flu to seek the vaccine, the CDC is working hard to make sure people know that effective treatments are available.
People at risk of severe illness should be treated with Tamiflu or Relenza at the first sign of flu symptoms. Although the drugs are most effective if taken within 48 hours of symptoms, they still are helpful if given later. More in this WEMED article By Daniel J. DeNoon

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debunking Myths About Swine Flu Vaccine -
  Overview | What precautions should you take against the H1N1 flu? Should you get the vaccine? In this lesson, students identify and debunk some of the myths surrounding H1N1 flu, or swine flu, and the new vaccine for it. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Pandemic Panic -
  Overview of Lesson Plan: In this lesson, students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Click here for a companion lesson for Grades 3-5.Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

CT scans proved valuable Two studies published in the American Journal of Roentgenology show the need to check X-rays and CT scans for unusual features, and also point out swine flu can be tricky to diagnose in some of the sickest patients.
(in one study) CT scans of patients with severe cases of swine flu showed many had pulmonary emboli, which block the arteries in the lungs, a team at the University of Michigan found.
Anticoagulant drugs can break up these clots and save lives.
A team at the University of Michigan found..."The majority of patients undergoing chest X-rays with H1N1 have normal radiographs (X-rays)," Pulmonary emboli are also not normally seen in flu," Dr. Prachi Agarwalshe said in a statement.
"CT scans proved valuable in identifying those patients at risk of developing more serious complications as a possible result of the H1N1 virus, and for identifying a greater extent of disease than is appreciated on chest radiographs." The full Reuters article » (Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Julie Steenhuysen and Cynthia Ostemran)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

October 6 - Update: Mass vaccination campaigns against the swine flu virus are underway in China and Australia and will be starting soon in the United States and parts of Europe, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said.
It was doubly important that health care workers be vaccinated, as it protects them as well as patients, he added.
"We would hope that everyone who has a chance to get vaccinated does get vaccinated," Hartl told Reuters. The full Reuters article » (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The findings suggest that exercise itself protects against breast cancer, regardless of whether it leads to weight loss, note Michael F. Leitzmann, MD, and colleagues at the National Cancer Institute.
The researchers analyzed data on more than 32,000 postmenopausal women collected over 11 years as part of the Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project. Read the Article from WebMD » By Daniel J. DeNoon

The New York Times - Learning Network - Talking about Breast Cancer -
Students share words and associations related to cancer. They then investigate and participate in dialogues about the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Go to this Health Lesson.

The country’s top prosecutor, Keir Starmer, set out... new guidelines (which) are likely to make it easier for the terminally ill and those with degenerative diseases to receive help in committing suicide.
He listed 13 factors that could influence the authorities not to prosecute. These include the person aiding a suicide being motivated by compassion; the deceased clearly wanting to die; and the deceased being terminally ill, being severely physically disabled or suffering from an incurable degenerative disease.
Mr. Starmer said that the guidelines were an interim measure that would remain in place while his office sponsored a period of public consultation from now until Dec. 16. Final guidelines will be published in the spring, he said.

In her own statement on Wednesday, Ms. Purdy said: “I am relieved that common sense has won the day. I, and many others like me, want to be able to make informed decisions about the time and manner of our death, should our suffering become unbearable. We want to know whether someone we love will be prosecuted for helping us to die, even if that assistance is simply being with us at the end.” The full New York Times article » By Sarah Lyall

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the Quest to Protect Human Rights -
  Overview: Students explore the concept of human rights by developing and defending their own "Bills of Human Rights" and by writing a reflective essay that compares their notions of human rights and the protection of them. Go to this Building a Healthy Society Lesson.

“The Obama effect has been that women of all ages have been inspired to take responsibility for their health and their body,” said Rylan Duggan, a personal trainer who runs Go Sleeveless, a blog that instructs women how to tone up flabby arms.
“As the first lady of the United States, at 44 years old, and with two young children, Mrs. Obama has shown the world that you are never too busy to take care of yourself and look good doing it too,” Duggan said. The full online weekly health article »

Original image

5 easy steps to living long and well The behaviors are abstaining from smoking, weight management, blood pressure control, regular exercise and avoiding diabetes. The study reports that all are significantly correlated with healthy survival after 90.
A second study in the same issue of the journal suggests that some of the oldest of the old survive not because they avoid illness, but because they live well despite disease. Read more about the study in this article » By Nicholas Bakalar - NYT

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating “Life Lists” of Personal Goals -
  Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life's Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Health Resources for Students -
  Overview: Students consider the role of the nurse at their school and create informational pamphlets on health topics relevant to adolescents. Go to this Health and Life's Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating Teens' Sources of Health-Related Information
  Overview: Students students research the answers to their own health-related questions, and evaluate the various sources from which this information comes. Go to this Health and Science Lesson. - Related information: "Teen Health Website" - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

Today's advice, (August 21) published on the WHO website, said most patients were experiencing typical flu symptoms and would get better within a week.
It said Tamiflu (also called oseltamivir) and another antiviral Relenza (also called zanamivir) should not be given to healthy people who have only mild symptoms.
However, the drugs should be given quickly to patients in a serious condition or who appear to be deteriorating.
Those in at-risk groups - such as people with an underlying medical condition like diabetes - should also receive the drugs promptly.
Looking at children, the WHO experts recommended ''prompt antiviral treatment for children with severe or deteriorating illness, and those at risk of more severe or complicated illness.''
They went on: ''This recommendation includes all children under the age of five years, as this age group is at increased risk of more severe illness.
''Otherwise healthy children, older than five years, need not be given antiviral treatment unless their illness persists or worsens.''
The WHO guidance says doctors, patients and carers "need to be alert to danger signs that can signal progression to more severe disease." The full Telepgrah.co.uk article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic -
  Overview: Students engage in an inquiry into influenza A (H1N1), considering the virus and the pandemic from multiple perspectives and acting as advisers to share factual information they learn with their classmates and school communities. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Update:
Seven prominent organizations representing 450,000 doctors and medical
students are urging Congress to act on health-care reform.
Dr. Javette C. Orgain, president of the Illinois Academy of
Family Physicians, called 2009 "a monumental year for health care."
Orgain said she sees firsthand the effects of a "broken" health-care
system.
"Something is fundamentally wrong when my patients must choose
between the health care they need and deserve -- or food on the table,"
Orgain said.
Other medical organizations backing reform are the American College of
Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Student
Association, American Osteopathic Association, Doctors for America and
National Physicians Alliance. More in the full Chicago Sun Times article » By Mary Houlihan

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Measuring the Impact of the Recession on Families and Communities -
  Overview: Students consider the loss of health care coverage among the unemployed and other ways that the recession affects the U.S. economy and families. They then examine and collect evidence of its effects on their own communities. Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Developing Public Awareness Campaigns About Health Issues Affecting Life Expectancy -
  Overview: Students investigate the relationships between health care, socioeconomic class, racial background and life expectancy in America and create public awareness campaigns designed to inform people about specific health risks that are known to lower life expectancy.
  Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson.

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported yesterday.
The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention calculated. Read Article » By Rob Stein - The Washignton Post

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Hand Washing and Communicable Disease -
  Overview: Students will learn about the latest study on routine hand washing practices. They will then research some of the possible communicable diseases that can be transmitted by having lax hygiene. Add this article: "Good Hygiene key to fighting (2006) bird flu" - from the Hong Kong Government site, then Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the History of Twentieth Century Pandemic Flu Outbreaks -
  Overview: Students will examine the different types of pandemic flu viruses and virus “scares” that have occurred over the past hundred years by creating a master chart that displays the origins, transmission, symptoms, and socio-historical impact of each virus. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The enterprise has steadily borne fruit. The detection rate in Bangladesh inched up to more than 70 percent in 2006, according to the World Health Organization, and the cure rate to 89 percent. Among the 22 countries that are considered to be heavily burdened by tuberculosis, few have reached those levels, the health organization says. Go to the article

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring the Impact of Disease on the Global Population -
  Overview: Students investigate the nature, causes and statistics of diseases in lesser developed countries and explore ways in which disease impacts the global population. Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson
• Related Lesson New York Times - Learning Network - Nothing to Sneeze At -

  Enlisting (Thai) villagers in 2006 flu battle - set a global example  "Thailand has mobilized about 750,000 volunteers (under the Thaksin government) one for every 15 rural households." 'This is something that all over the world we've been trying to promote. And this is probably the best example that I've ever seen.' said William Aldis, the representative of the World Health Organization in Thailand." Go to the article - By Thomas Fuller - International Herald Tribune

  Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson

With its thrillerlike pacing and scenes of sexual coercion and teenage backbiting, the novel appeals to young readers, who say the book also gives them insight into peers who might consider suicide. “I think the whole message of the book is to be careful what you do to people, because you never know what they’re going through,” said Christian Harvey, a 15-year-old sophomore at Port Charlotte High School in Port Charlotte, Fla. “You can really hurt somebody, even with the littlest thing.” Read more about "Thirteen Reasons Why," - By Motoko Rich

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Reflecting on Teen Depression and Suicide
Overview: Student reflect on teen depression in the context of the bestselling book "Thirteen Reasons Why," then create proposals for improving mental health in their school community. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Discussing Strategies for Coping with Emotional Stress. -
Overview: Students reflect on the increase in self-injuring, specifically "cutting," among teens and then participate in a written discussion to identify and discuss healthy methods of coping with emotional stress. Finally, they conduct further research and write a mock dialogue. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

Although doing many things at the same time — reading an article while listening to music, switching to check e-mail messages and talking on the phone — can be a way of making tasks more fun and energizing, “you have to keep in mind that you sacrifice focus when you do this,” said Edward M. Hallowell, a psychiatrist and author of “CrazyBusy: Overstretched, Overbooked, and About to Snap!” (Ballantine, 2006). More in this NYT Article »

Try this fun Zen exercise.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Multitasking -
Overview: Students examine the effects of multitasking and evaluate its impact on their own efficiency.  Go to this Science and Health Lesson.

The tongue is more flexible, sensitive and tireless. And like other facial muscles, its functions tend to be spared in accidents that can paralyze most of the rest of the body, because the tongue is attached to the brain, not the spinal cord.
Read this NYT article » By Su-Hyun Lee

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring State-of-the-Art Medical Technology -
Overview: Students explore new medical technologies to exhibit in an "Amazing Medical Machines" technology fair. Go to this Health and Science lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding and Diagramming the Power of the Brain to Cause Motion -
Overview: Students test and reflect on how the brain receives, interprets and translates contradictory verbal and auditory cues into movement. Then, after learning about a new innovation in brain research and robotics, they diagram the brain and nervous system activities involved in voluntary motion and incorporate this knowledge into a creative work of science fiction. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Discussing Strategies for Coping with Emotional Stress. -
Overview: Students reflect on the increase in self-injuring, specifically "cutting," among teens and then participate in a written discussion to identify and discuss healthy methods of coping with emotional stress. Finally, they conduct further research and write a mock dialogue. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - The Life You Save...
Overview: Students identify common warning signs of depression that, if not addressed, could lead to suicidal behavior. They then write skits and create booklets in which they document appropriate suicide prevention techniques. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

"I think the leukemia taught me to think step by step," Van der Weijden said. "When you're laying in the hospital bed and feeling so much pain and feeling so tired, you don't want to think about next week or next month, you're only thinking about the next hour."You just be patient. You lay in your bed and just wait. It's almost the same strategy I've used here, to stay in the pack, to be patient, and stay easy just waiting for your chance." Read IHT Article » - The Associated Press

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating “Life Lists” of Personal Goals -
Overview: Students consider what it means to live a life well-lived by creating life lists of goals they would like to accomplish and analyzing patterns in the lists of their peers. Go to this Life's Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning How Stem Cells Can Repair the Body -
Overview: Students research stem cells to learn how they function, the distinguishing characteristics of types of stem cells, and how stem cells may be manipulated by scientists to help bodies heal and regenerate unhealthy or damaged cells.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
Overview: Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Health Resources for Students -
Overview: Students consider the role of the nurse at their school and create informational pamphlets on health topics relevant to adolescents. Go to this Health Lesson.

Now new research suggests a link between that initial reaction to smoking and a specific gene variant that has also been linked to a greater likelihood for becoming addicted to nicotine.
Findings could have implications for the discovery of new, targeted therapies that are much more effective than current treatments for smoking cessation.
Ovide Pomerleau, PhD, of the University of Michigan says such treatment could be a reality within a few years.
"Things are moving really fast in this field,"he says. "We are making new discoveries all the time." Read this Web Med Article » By Salynn Boyles

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
Overview: Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Anti-Smoking Ad Campaigns Geared Towards Kids -
In this lesson, students explore the many causes and effects of cigarette smoking in order to create anti-smoking campaigns geared towards other students. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

The new cells come from patients with 10 incurable genetic diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's, the paralyzing disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, juvenile diabetes and Down's Syndrome.
"They allow researchers ... to watch the disease progress in a dish, to watch what goes right or wrong," said Harvard's Dr. Doug Melton, who will head up the distribution of the cells. "I think we'll see in the years ahead that this opens the door to a new way of treating degenerative diseases."
Every cell in the human body contains the same genetic instructions, and in people with inherited genetic diseases, every cell carries the same mistakes, Daley and Melton said. More in this Article » By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor - Reuters

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning How Stem Cells Can Repair the Body -
Overview: Students research stem cells to learn how they function, the distinguishing characteristics of types of stem cells, and how stem cells may be manipulated by scientists to help bodies heal and regenerate unhealthy or damaged cells.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Cell Renewal Throughout the Body -
Overview: Students learn about the latest research on cell and tissue renewal. They then explore the various internal body parts and systems examined in these studies.  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The Institute of Medicine recently noted that you can meet your body’s need for liquids in many ways, including drinking coffee and tea (with or without caffeine) and eating fruits and vegetables with a high water content. Two clues that you may need to drink more are thirst and the color of your urine, which should be clear like, well, water.

If you are physically very active, especially in hot weather, repeatedly sipping cold water is helpful. But beyond two quarts, you may need to also replace the salts lost in sweat — for example, by drinking a diluted sports drink or eating foods with salt and potassium. More about health myths in this Article » By Jane E. Brody - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Finding Evidence to Support or Refute Commonly-Accepted Scientific Claims -
Overview: Students investigate commonly-accepted scientific claims and gather evidence that supports or refutes them. They synthesize their learning by writing their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in The New York Times’s weekly Science Times section. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Chicago — Addressing a packed congregation at one of the city’s largest black churches, Senator Barack Obama on Sunday invoked his own absent father to deliver a sharp message to black men, saying "What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child. Any fool can have a child. That doesn’t make you a father. It’s the courage to raise a child that makes you a father.” Read Article » By Julie Bosman - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Examining Options for Teen Parents Now and in Previous Generations - Overview: Students discuss the hardships of teen parenting today and throughout history and interview someone of an older generation about how attitudes, behaviors and options relating to teen pregnancy and parenting have changed over time. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

For people hospitalized with advanced heart disease, it is better to have visitors than to lie quietly alone. But one type of visitor seems to be especially beneficial, researchers reported on Tuesday. That visitor is a dog. Read Article » By Lawrence K. Altman - New York Times

• New York Times - Learning Network - Researching the Roots of Our Attitudes Toward Animals -
Overview: Students will reflect on their attitudes toward pets and use animal images to design an experiment identifying factors that influence humans’ attitudes, feelings and ambivalence toward animals. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Bacteria are by far the most active ice nuclei in nature," said Brent C. Christner, an assistant professor of biological sciences at Louisiana State University.
Christner and colleagues sampled snow from Antarctica, France, Montana and Canada's Yukon and found that as much as 85% of the nuclei were bacteria, he said. The bacteria finding was most common in France, followed by Montana and the Yukon, and was even present in Antarctica.
The most common bacteria found were Pseudomonas syringae, which can cause disease in several types of plants including tomatoes and beans. Read this LA Times Article »From the Associated Press

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating a Book of Seasonal Riddles -
Overview: Students use descriptive language to write riddles on their favorite seasonal subjects; they then illustrate the "answers" to their riddles using the medium of their choice, and compile both riddles and illustrations to create a book. Go to this Science and ESL Lesson.

Update: The United Nations estimates that 2.4 million people were severely affected by the cyclone and said last week that 1.4 million of those remained in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter and medical care. The government says 134,000 people died or are missing.
International relief agencies have complained strenuously that the junta is barring foreign aid and foreign relief workers from the worst-affected areas and that it is endangering survivors.
“I think the generals are doing what they do best, taking charge of everything, trying to keep themselves in complete control,” said U Aung Naing Oo, a Burmese political analyst who lives in Thailand. » Read this New York Times article.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Following News Coverage in the Aftermath of the Myanmar Cyclone - Overview: Students analyze and summarize news coverage on the aftermath of the May 2008 Myanmar cyclone from a number of different perspectives, focusing specifically on problems and responses. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

• Related lesson: The Learning Foundation - "It's my country/I can do what I want!" - Simplified Mock Trial Lesson Plan.

Lee was injured on July 2, 2006, during a geological field trip in the desert of California, when the car he was driving overturned. He emerged from a coma three days later, but his fourth cervical vertebra had been fractured.
Nevertheless, he was back to work in early 2007.
Every time he tested out a new device and adapted it for his own use, Lee said, he felt a little thrill, as if he had solved a scientific problem.
During lunch with colleagues recently, Lee amazed onlookers as he touched a headset microphone attached to his wheelchair with his right cheek to move the chair backward, and so prevent bedsores.
On his way back to his office from the cafeteria, Lee used his right cheek again to shift the wheelchair into cruise control mode. That mode buffers the shock when he uses his head to steer the wheelchair on a bumpy road.
"It's like downhill skiing," he said. - Read this NYT article » By Su-Hyun Lee

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding and Diagramming the Power of the Brain to Cause Motion - Overview: Students test and reflect on how the brain receives, interprets and translates contradictory verbal and auditory cues into movement. Then, after learning about a new innovation in brain research and robotics, they diagram the brain and nervous system activities involved in voluntary motion and incorporate this knowledge into a creative work of science fiction. Go to this Health, Science and Building Society lesson.

The key to understanding E. coli's fingerprints is to recognize that the bacteria are not simple machines. Unlike wires and transistors, E. coli's molecules are floppy, twitchy and unpredictable. In an electronic device, like a computer or a radio, electrons stream in a steady flow through the machine's circuits, but the molecules in E. coli jostle and wander.
When E. coli begins using a gene to make a protein, it does not produce a smoothly increasing supply. It spurts out the proteins in fits and starts. One clone may produce half a dozen copies of a protein in an hour, while a clone right next to it produces none. Read Article » By Carl Zimmer - IHT

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Making Board Games About Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotics -
Overview: Students reflect on and research drug-resistant bacteria and the use of antibiotics. They then use their research to make board games that focus on the microscopic interactions among bacteria, antibodies, antibiotics and the cells of the immune system. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debunking Common Misconceptions about Germs -
Overview: Students consider some common beliefs about germs and then create public service announcements that debunk (correct) a particular misconception. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

"The thing that's killing people is inaction," said Dr. Michael Sayre of Ohio State University, who headed the association's team that drafted the new recommendations.
Sayre said people not trained in CPR should do two things when they encounter an adult who has suddenly collapsed: first, call emergency services; and second, begin pushing "hard and fast" in the center of the person's chest.
This is necessary to maintain vital blood flow, according to experts. Chest compressions should continue until emergency medical services responders arrive, Sayre said. Read Article » By Will Dunham - Reuters

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding Medical Responses to Emergencies -
Overview: Students review their understanding of cardiopulmonary resuscitation. They then learn about other types of medical responses to common emergency situations and evaluate the importance of CPR. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The problem was that the location of (63-year-old Brooke Zepp's) cancerous tumor was so deep that (surgeons) would not be able to get to it to remove it without damaging organs.
The organs, including her small intestine, liver, spleen, pancreas, as well as parts of her large intestine, were outside of her body for about an hour-and-a-half and were kept chilled.
Zepp is now recovering and is doing quite well, as the surgery was a success. Read Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Doctor's Dilemma -
Overview: Students consider the bioethical dilemmas faced by doctors and write case studies about relevant issues within a particular medical decision. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• A Learning Foundation Lesson - Compare and Contrast the Florida case to the New York Times "Doctor's Dilema case" - Go to this ESL and Health Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debating the Merits of School Restrictions on Food and Drink -
Overview: students explore the concepts and content necessary to debate whether or not schools should regulate the quantity or type of food and beverages students consume, and develop position papers. Go to this Health Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends (and parents of kids) with Eating Disorders -
Overview: students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend. Go to this Health Lesson.

But Henry Scowcroft, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "The jury's still very much out on whether vitamin and mineral supplements can affect cancer risk.
"Some studies suggest a benefit, but many others show no effect and some, like this one, suggest they may even increase risk."
He added: "Research repeatedly shows that a healthy, balanced diet can reduce your risk of some cancers while giving you all the vitamins you need.
"Quitting smoking remains the most effective way to avoid many cancers. There's no diet, or vitamin supplement, that could ever counter the toxic effects of cigarette smoke." Read BBC Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Changing Perceptions of Cigarette Smoking -
Overview: Students learn about the changing public perception of cigarettes over the century. They design a survey on people's views on cigarette smoking for homework. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

For decades, researchers believed that if people with diabetes lowered their blood sugar to normal levels, they would no longer be at high risk of dying from heart disease. But a major U.S. study of more than 10,000 middle-aged and older people with Type 2 diabetes has found that lowering blood sugar actually increased their risk of death, researchers reported.
The results do not mean blood sugar is meaningless. Lowered blood sugar can protect against kidney disease, blindness and amputation. But the findings inject an element of uncertainty into what has been dogma: that the lower the blood sugar the better, and that lowering blood-sugar levels to normal saves lives.
Read Article » By Gina Kolata - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Finding Evidence to Support or Refute Commonly-Accepted Scientific Claims -
Overview: Students investigate commonly-accepted scientific claims and gather evidence that supports or refutes them. They synthesize their learning by writing their own "Really?" columns modeled after those found in The New York Times’s weekly Science Times section. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Identifying the Key Issues Concerning Home- and Hospital-Based Health Care -
Overview: Students share opinions about where patients might be treated for a range of ailments. They then investigate the key issues related to home- and hospital-based health care and write a reflection paper. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

About 2 million of the 10 million deaths annually in children under age 5 worldwide are caused by pneumonia -- an inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection. The researchers envision medicine distribution to children with pneumonia by health-care workers in local communities. Read Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Identifying the Key Issues Concerning Home- and Hospital-Based Health Care
Overview: Students share opinions about where patients might be treated for a range of ailments. They then investigate the key issues related to home- and hospital-based health care and write a reflection paper. Go to this Health Lesson.

Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) say that teenagers who take sex education classes are more likely to abstain from sex until they're older.
The government study found that boys are 70 percent more likely to delay in sexual behaviour until the age of 15 if they participate in sex education.  Female students were 91 percent less likely to have sex before age 15. Researchers say that giving teens the knowledge on sex, gives them the power to make better decisions. Read eCanadaNow Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Brochures Explaining Health Issues Relating to Sex
Overview: Students learn about federally funded abstinence-only sex education. Then, in groups, students create age-appropriate, informational brochures examining health topics relating to sex. Go to this Building Society and ESL Lesson.

Note: Holding a forward bending yoga posture for a minute or longer will stimulate and restore energy levels when you are tired. Regular practice of this yoga posture will gently stimulate the nervous system, improving memory and concentration...More about this posture and Yoga.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Mind-Body
Overview: Students learn about baseball players (golfers and football players) who incorporate yoga and meditation into their pre-season training. They then investigate a number of mind-body techniques to present and demonstrate to the class. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - (Add these articles from the BBC ) Scientists 'reverse' memory loss
Overview: Students students test and discuss their ability to remember events in their recent and past history and reflect on cases of dissociative fugue and amnesia  Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Swiss chocolatiers, having long ago conquered markets in Europe and North America, are now aiming at the vast expanses of Russia, India and China. driving the chocolate makers of Zurich to new heights of innovation, with dark chocolates flavored like hot chili peppers, grappa or saffron. Read Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Health Benefits of Chocolate:
Students share opinions about nutrition. They then compare the nutritional values of a snack product claiming health benefits with a candy product. Learning is synthesized by reflecting on the responsibility of companies, individuals and the government in determining whether a product lives up to its claims. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Conversations that Address and Alleviate Conflicts
Overview: Students create top ten lists of reasons why people argue, and develop written dialogues that explore how conflicts can often be effectively resolved through compromise. They then create guidelines explaining how to get along with different types of people. Go to this Building Society and ESL Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Considering Addiction as a Chronic Medical Illness and Learning to Treat Addicts Accordingly
Overview: Students learn about how addiction can have both physiological and behavioral effects. They then synthesize their knowledge by creating a sensitivity training session for counselors working with teenagers who are addicted to drugs. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating Teens' Sources of Health-Related Information
Overview: Students students research the answers to their own health-related questions, and evaluate the various sources from which this information comes. Go to this Health and Science Lesson. - Related information: "Teen Health Website" - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

These children, ages 11 to 14, have their own pressures. The Millburn schools have been recognized nationally and ranked among the best in the state. "It's very competitive here," Mrs. Palmieri says. "Struggling academically means getting a B. Some kids thrive on it, but it takes a toll on others. The kids are stressed out with phantom illnesses, endless headaches and stomachaches. I see a lot of the school-avoidance ones here, especially on Mondays ...They’re so dramatic! But you can still tell them to go to class. And they’ll go!" Read Article » By Jan Hoffman - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating Health Resources for Students
Overview: Students consider the role of the nurse at their school and create informational pamphlets on health topics relevant to adolescents. Go to this Health Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating Teens' Sources of Health-Related Information
Overview: Students students research the answers to their own health-related questions, and evaluate the various sources from which this information comes. Go to this Health and Science Lesson. - Related information: "Teen Health Website" - Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

What is new is the emerging consensus that the way to combat antibiotic resistance may not be bigger, better, stronger antibiotics but, rather, no antibiotics at all. Instead, other molecular weapons with the ability to disable bad germs without bothering good ones are the key, although for the most part these molecules remain on the drawing board. Read Article »

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Making Board Games About Drug-Resistant Bacteria and Antibiotics
Overview: Students reflect on and research drug-resistant bacteria and the use of antibiotics. They then use their research to make board games that focus on the microscopic interactions among bacteria, antibodies, antibiotics and the cells of the immune system. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Debunking Common Misconceptions about Germs
Overview: Students consider some common beliefs about germs and then create public service announcements that debunk (correct) a particular misconception. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating How Behavior Modification Can Curb Stress
Overview: Students explore the difference between hypochondriasis and somatization syndrome. Students also create scenarios and design experiments to learn about how behavior modification can curb stress in the daily lives of teens. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Using Writing to Explore the Importance of Pastimes for Personal Growth
Students take part in a variety of writing exercises about the most important pastime or activities in which they participate and the personal growth gained through this participation. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson.

A dangerous germ that has been spreading around the country causes more life-threatening infections than public health authorities had thought and is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus, federal health officials reported yesterday.
The microbe, a strain of a once innocuous staph bacterium that has become invulnerable to first-line antibiotics, is responsible for more than 94,000 serious infections and nearly 19,000 deaths each year, the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention calculated. Read Article » By Rob Stein - The Washignton Post

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Learning About Hand Washing and Communicable Disease
Overview: Students will learn about the latest study on routine hand washing practices. They will then research some of the possible communicable diseases that can be transmitted by having lax hygiene. Add this article: "Good Hygiene key to fighting bird flu" - from the Hong Kong Government site, then Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

He argues that the insecticide-filled nets, when used by 80 percent or more of a village, create a barrier that kills or drives off mosquitoes, protecting everyone in the area, including those without nets. Individual nets tended to just drive mosquitoes next door, to bite someone else. As such, he said, nets ought to be treated as a public good, like the measles or polio vaccines, which the world does not charge the poor for.

On successive stops (today), she dresses a suppurating sore on the remaining foot of a genteel amputee; instructs a psychotherapist with a hip replacement to elevate his leg; and bluntly greets a "frequent flyer," a repeat patient with diabetes: "What’s with this box of doughnuts?” (The next week, the patient’s blood sugar levels were so elevated that Ms. Purdie immediately sent her to the hospital.) After each visit she hunkers down in her car, typing notes on her patients’ conditions for insurance companies, ear soldered to her cellphone. Read the article » Go to this Health, Science and ESL Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Identifying the Key Issues Concerning Home- and Hospital-Based Health Care
Students share opinions about where patients might be treated for a range of ailments. They then investigate the key issues related to home- and hospital-based health care and write a reflection paper. Click on the pictures to go to the Lesson.

It is hard to say whether rage is now more common than it used to be or we are simply now more aware of it, given high-profile cases like mass shootings by children and evidence that chronically angry people endanger their health, their jobs and their personal relationships. - The full New York Times article By Jane E. Brody

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring the Causes and Effects of Anger and Effective Anger Management Techniques
Overview: Students learn about the various factors leading to anger, the health risks involved in anger, and the techniques people can use to cope with it. Go to this Health Lesson.

Sometimes the combination of parenthood and big-event pressure does not work. Rawlinson and her husband and coach, Chris, agonized over the decision but ultimately chose to send Cornelis to Australia with his grandparents before the 400-hurdle final in Osaka.
The idea was for Rawlinson to have more time to conserve energy and for the other Australian athletes to have a chance to sleep without fear of being awakened in the team hotel by a screaming baby. But Rawlinson credited Cornelis's birth with helping her psychologically and for increasing her already high tolerance for pain in one of the most grueling events in athletics.
"The truth is: There's no pain like childbirth," she said in Osaka. The full IHT artcle By Christopher Clarey -IHT

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Profiles in Progress
Overview: students consider the role of women in sports, particularly the Olympic games. They then research and write a profile about a woman who has competed in the Olympics. Go to this Health and Life's Lesson.

No country in history has emerged as a major industrial power without creating a legacy of environmental damage that can take decades and big dollops of public wealth to undo.
China’s problem has become the world’s problem. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides spewed by China’s coal-fired power plants fall as acid rain on Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo. Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research. The full International Herald article - By Joseph Kahn and Jim Yardley

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Human Costs of Global Trading
Overview: Students create a standard of living profile for a developing nation, and compare it to the same measure for a developed nation. They then evaluate the pros and cons of industrialization in a developing nation and the responsibilities developed nations have to their trading partners. Go to this Economy and Society Lesson.

Benefits of the Standing Forward Bend:
• Increases the flexibility of the hamstrings, calves and lower back
• Increases blood flow to the brain
• Helps relieve stress and mild depression
• Stimulates the liver and kidneys
• Strengthens the thighs and knees
• Reduces fatigue and anxiety
• Relieves headache and insomnia
• Therapeutic for asthma, high blood pressure, infertility, and sinusitis.
Image and description of the forward bend from Online Yoga classes.

• Spring Tuneup: The Basics of Stretching with Guidelines and strategies for a successful yoga experience - by Katherine Roberts
(Note: Katherine is back for the THIRD season with the San Diego Padres as their yoga conditioning coach.)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating the Mind-Body
Overview: Students learn about baseball players (golfers and football players) who incorporate yoga and meditation into their pre-season training. They then investigate a number of mind-body techniques to present and demonstrate to the class. Go to this Health Lesson

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Overview: Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Although the findings do not change the relationship of Homo erectus as a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens, scientists said, the surprisingly diminutive erectus skull implies that this species was not as humanlike as once thought. Article source: A pair of fossils shakes up the human family tree By John Noble Wilford - International Herald Tribune

 "Creation or Evolution?" by David Ross
• World Wise School - Learning to identify and modify generalizations. This activity introduces students to the difficult concept of generalization so that they will challenge generalizations made about people... Go to this Lesson Worksheet.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Investigating and Discussing Darwinism ... (Explaining Life’s Complexities)
Overview: Students learn about theories of ’intelligent design’ in evolutionary science...  Go to this Science Lesson.  

The dreaming imagination does not just harvest images from remembered experience, Roger Knudson, director of the Ph.D. program in clinical psychology at Miami University of Ohio, said. It has a "poetic creativity" that connects the dots and "deforms the given," turning scattered memories and emotions into vivid, experiential vignettes that can help us to reflect on our lives. The full article.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding the Scientific Methods used in Dream Research
Overview: Students reflect on their opinions and new scientific theories about dreams. Then they qualitatively and quantitatively analyze a selection of recorded dreams. Finally, they apply these techniques to write personal analyses of their own memorable dreams. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Creating a Health and Wellness Exhibit on the Science of Sleep
Overview: Students share opinions about facts related to sleep. They then create a health and wellness exhibit that addresses topics related to sleep, including interactive elements that exhibit visitors can experience. Learning is synthesized through the analysis of their own experiences and observations. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The enterprise has steadily borne fruit. The detection rate in Bangladesh inched up to more than 70 percent in 2006, according to the World Health Organization, and the cure rate to 89 percent. Among the 22 countries that are considered to be heavily burdened by tuberculosis, few have reached those levels, the health organization says. Go to the article

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring the Impact of Disease on the Global Population
Overview: Students investigate the nature, causes and statistics of diseases in lesser developed countries and explore ways in which disease impacts the global population. Go to this Health and Building Society Lesson

• Related New York Times - Lesson - Nothing to Sneeze At

Enlisting (Thai) villagers in flu battle  "Thailand has mobilized about 750,000 volunteers (under the last elected government) one for every 15 rural households." 'This is something that all over the world we've been trying to promote. And this is probably the best example that I've ever seen.' said William Aldis, the representative of the World Health Organization in Thailand." Go to the article - By Thomas Fuller - International Herald Tribune

A carefully designed study released Thursday in The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, shows that a variety of common food dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate — an ingredient in many soft drinks, fruit juices, salad dressings and other foods — causes some children to become more hyperactive and distractible than usual. The full article - By Claudia Wallis - Time Magazine

Related Lesson:

The New York Times - Learning Network - Understanding Social and Emotional Issues Surrounding Attention Deficit -
Overview: Students reflect on how attention deficit disorders affect people’s lives in the areas of home, school, and friendships by reading and discussing a blog post and reader’s comments. Students will brainstorm ways to increase tolerance and understanding of individual differences and write about a personal experience related to the idea of “being different.” Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The New York Times - Learning Network - Evaluating the Pros and Cons of a New Type of Toxicity Test
Overview: Students evaluate the pros and cons of a new approach to food, chemical, and drug testing which utilizes 'DNA chips' to test the toxicity of chemical compounds. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

The New York Times - Learning Network - Researching Alternatives to Trans Fats
Overview: Students will consider the fat content of a wide variety of foods. They will then examine their own diets, find healthier alternatives, and make charts that illustrate before and after menus for a typical day. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

In Thailand, Peerapong Suksaweng, an official with the country's Food and Drug Administration, runs spot checks on street vendors, supermarkets and farmers' markets. Each day, his mobile inspection unit -- one of 26 throughout the country -- checks produce for insecticides and chemical additives such as borates and formaldehyde.
"Human ignorance as well as greed knows no bounds," says Gerald Moy, manager of the World Health Organization's office that monitors chemicals in the global food supply. Unsafe Food Additives Across Asia Feed Fears By Nicholas Zamiska - The International Herald Tribune

How to avoid food with formalin? - BIMC Medical Center

• Fish, especially sea fish. Press the fish, if it feels tender, it should be free of formalin. Choose fish which still has its fishy smell. It is best to buy live fish.
• Avoid dried salty fish.
• Tofu. Choose one with smooth surface and consistency. It is safer to consume egg tofu or water tofu (also known as japanese tofu), though this product cannot last long and is very brittle.
• Wet noodles. Try the less attractive coloured ones.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Food, chemical, and drug testing which utilizes 'DNA' chips
Overview: Students evaluate the pros and cons of a new approach to food, chemical, and drug testing which utilizes 'DNA' chips to test the toxicity of chemical compounds. Go to this Health and Society Lesson

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Overview: Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Six months of acupuncture provides more relief for back pain than conventional treatments, according to a large new study. But surprisingly, fake acupuncture works just as well as the real thing.

The German study of nearly 1,200 patients, published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine, is the largest and most rigorous analysis yet of the use of acupuncture to treat back pain. - The New York Times Article.

More about Back Pain
It won't necessarily be one event that actually causes your pain. You may have been doing many things improperly -- like standing, sitting, or lifting -- for a long time. Then suddenly, one simple movement, like reaching for something in the shower or bending from your waist, leads to the feeling of pain.

Most back problems will get better on their own. The key is to know when you need to seek medical help and when self-care measures alone will allow you to get better. - This Health Center Report - WLWT.com Cincinnati

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
  Overview | Students gain a greater understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the muscular system, the skeletal system and connective tissue by researching joints in the body. They also reflect on the effects of injuries on their joints and learn about new treatment methods. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

Hamburgers, french fries, chicken nuggets, and even milk and carrots all taste better to children if they think they came from McDonald’s, a small study suggests. From: If It Says McDonald’s, Then It Must Be Good - By Nicholas Bakalar - New York Times

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Analyzing Factors That Influence Interest Levels in Fast Food
Overview: Students investigate the influence of fast food brand names on food choices and analyze the factors that contribute to branding preferences. Then they write an opinion essay on the corporate responsibility to influence food choices. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

• The New York Times - Snapshot Teachers Page:Working It Out

TODAY'S QUESTIONS WHO do you know who regularly goes to a gym to exercise or take classes?
For WHAT reasons are exercise and a healthy diet important for children?
WHERE do you get exercise?
WHEN and how often do you exercise?
WHY are some parents sending their teenagers and even younger children to gyms tailored just for kids their age?

News Snapshot   Ask students to use their knowledge of current events, the picture and the quotation as clues to answer the questions on the page.
Overview: News Snapshot helps students with the basic set of questions answered by journalists when relaying the news-- who, what, where, when, why and how. Go to this Health and ESL Lesson

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Exploring Driver Safety for Teenagers
Overview: Students use the Internet to investigate safe driving practices and technologies, and then "publish" a manual of safe driving for teenagers. Go to this Building Society Lesson.

• Have students read and discuss the: Parent-Youth Safe Driving Contract.  

’'It is the beginning of a new, courageous life," she said. ’Relationships today depend not only on education or wealth alone. It is wise to have a blood test done before marriage.’ Dikshya was infected by her husband, an injecting drug user, and wants every girl not to take marriage for granted.- By Manish Gautam Chitwan, Nepal (Asia Media Forum)

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Only Skin Deep? -
  Overview | Students examine and compare notions of beauty in cultures around the world and explore the connection between what is deemed ‘beautiful’ and cultural history. Go to this Life's Lessons.
• The New York Times - Learning Network - Outbreak! -
  Overview | Students will evaluate their own knowledge about H.I.V. and AIDS by researching various countries and creating specific media campaigns to promote H.I.V./AIDS. Go to this Health and Science Lesson.

"It's amazing when you are speaking to a group of people and you can look out at them. Some of them are on the edges of their seats, some of them are looking very uncomfortable, but they are all paying attention and I know they are all thinking. I am glad that my story does that. " Read more about Mark Sterner's school visits.

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Raising Awareness About the Risks of Driving While Intoxicated
Overview: Students simulate the effects of alcohol on their vision and motor skills. Then, after doing additional research on the dangers of driving while intoxicated, students create an educational activity that might convince a particular target audience not to use alcohol and/or drink and drive. Go to this Building Society Lesson 

• The New York Times - Learning Network - Supporting Friends with Eating Disorders
Overview: students role-play scenarios in which they encounter a friend or acquaintance who may have an eating disorder. Students brainstorm ways to help the friend.Go to this Health Lesson.

• The Learning Foundation - "Loud Music" - A Simplified Mock Trial

(which) uses a different capability of the eye - its natural knack for navigating, for instance, when walking down the street, driving a car, or, in the case of Dasher, playing what often looks and feels like an onscreen game.
The direction of their gaze is then captured by a computer equipped with an eye-tracking system.

Go to this Health Lesson

• The New York Times - Learning Network -

Exploring the Causes and Cures of Diseases Affecting the Cardiopulmonary System

Overview: Students will:
1. Take their pulse and identify parts of the human cardiopulmonary system.
2. Learn how ventricular assist devices can assist heart ailment recovery by reading and discussing the article "When Her Heart Failed, a Pump Gave Her Life."
3. In groups, research and create presentation posters about the causes and cures of diseases associated with failure of the cardiopulmonary system.
4. Reflect in writing on the experience of having and overcoming an illness. Go to this Health Lesson

Understanding How Eyes Function and the Use of Technology to Aid Vision Problems and Diseases

Overview: Students first identify the parts of the eye and their functions... then investigate vision problems and diseases, focusing on their causes, effects on the human eye, and how abnormal vision can be aided with technology. Go to this three-day Health Lesson Plan.

• Expand the lesson by discussing the article: Primates developed close-up eyesight to avoid a dangerous predators:

"A snake is the only predator you really need to see close up. If it's a long way away it's not dangerous," Isbell said.Venomous snakes evolved about 60 million years ago, raising the stakes and forcing primates to get better at detecting them."
Based on research and hypothesis of Dr. Lynne A. Isbell.