Think twice before savouring the mangoes currently being sold in markets across New Delhi or in India  If consumed, these mangoes, many of which are ripened artificially with harmful chemicals, can affect the neurological system and result in headache, dizziness, sleep disorder and other mental problems. For the past few weeks, markets are full of mangoes and one can get the fruit at every nook and corner of residential colonies […]

The gruesome rape and hanging of two teenage girls in the populous Uttar Pradesh state again proves how women have become the biggest victims of India’s sanitation crisis. Nearly half-a-billion Indians – or 48% of the population – lack access to basic sanitation and defecate in the open. The situation is worse in villages where, according to the WHO and Unicef, some 65% defecate in the open. And women appear […]

My name is Sarah, and I’m a reporter, so you wouldn’t think that I would hesitate at all talking to people at parties. But I’m shy, too. And I have been since I was a kid.Genes may have something to do with my shyness. People with different genotypes on average tend to have different levels of social anxiety, says Scott F. Stoltenberg, an associate professor of psychology at the University […]

A survey of thousands of young Canadian students across the country found a “concerning pattern” of teenaged boys seeking out pornography regularly, according to the non-profit organization MediaSmarts, while accounts of “sexting” were also commonplace. The Ottawa-based digital literacy outfit, which was launched as a CRTC initiative in the 1990s, worked with schools and parents in each province and territory to conduct a wide-ranging survey with 5,436 students in Grades 4 […]

Pakistan is facing international travel restrictions because of an uncontrolled outbreak of polio. But unless vaccinators gain unfettered access to North Waziristan, where the Taliban are in control and have banned the vaccine, it will be hard to stem the spread of the disease, reports Kim Ghattas. In a Peshawar hospital, two-year-old Gul [his name has been changed for safety reasons] is getting a check-up. He screams when his legs […]

I believe people come into our lives for a reason. Sometimes the reasons are obvious; other times, they’re far more subtle. Over time, however, we usually come to realize and understand why life took a certain path. From what I know now, most of our biggest life lessons come from those we allow into our hearts. When I met my ex, I was vulnerable, exposed and recently pieced back together. I welcomed […]

Modern life is stressful. From frantic careers to financial worries, caring for children to making time for your spouse, sometimes it can all seem like too much, even for the calmest of us. It’s little wonder, then, that we’re more highly-strung than ever before. Recent research found that one in five women confesses to feeling anxious most or all of the time. And some 53 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were issued […]

As thoughts turn to warm weather and gardening, it’s a good time to consider planting flowering trees, shrubs and other plants that are attractive to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. You can beautify your yard, diversify the landscape and feed and protect pollinators, all at the same time. The bees need you. Honeybee colonies are dying at frightening rates. Since 2007, an average of 30% of all colonies have died […]

 Hours after a Sudanese court sentenced his pregnant wife to death when she refused to recant her Christian faith, her husband told CNN he feels helpless. “I’m so frustrated. I don’t know what to do,” Daniel Wani told CNN on Thursday. “I’m just praying.” This week a Khartoum court convicted his wife, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, of apostasy, or the renunciation of faith. Ibrahim is Christian, her husband said. But […]

In Pic :This undated handout photo provided by NASA shows the Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctic. Two new studies indicate that part of the huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a slow collapse in an unstoppable way. Alarmed scientists say that means even more sea level rise than they figured.   The huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a glacially slow collapse in an unstoppable way, two new […]