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BBC News - Alcohol 'protects men's hearts' on 2009-11-21

Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third
Female drinkers did not benefit to the same extent, the study in Heart found.
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BBC - Earth News - 'Supercharged' heart pumps blood up a giraffe's neck on 2009-11-21
- research reveals that giraffes have a small, powerful, supercharged heart that is different to that possessed by other similar mammals.
- Most mammals have a relatively low blood pressure because their blood needs only move a short distance between head and heart.
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- - For blood to reach the head, the heart must then beat strongly enough to overcome this significant downward pressure caused by gravity.
    
    Previous studies have found the giraffe has an extremely high blood pressure that is twice that found in other animals.
    But this study is the first to unravel the true nature of the giraffe heart and cardiovascular system.
  - We established that the heart is actually quite small. It's smaller than you'd expect in similar-sized animals, but the walls are incredibly thick
First U.S. marijuana cafe opens in Portland | U.S. | Reuters on 2009-11-15
- The United States' first marijuana cafe opened on Friday, posing an early test of the Obama administration's move to relax policing of medical use of the drug.
  
  The Cannabis Cafe in Portland, Oregon, is the first to give certified medical marijuana users a place to get hold of the drug and smoke it -- as long as they are out of public view -- despite a federal ban.
- Members pay $25 per month to use the 100-person capacity cafe. They don't buy marijuana, but get it free over the counter from "budtenders". Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it serves food but has no liquor license.
Texting Can Be a Pain in the Neck - CBS News on 2009-11-14
- too much text messaging may increase the risk of neck or shoulder pain, a new study shows
- Judith Gold, ScD, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Temple University
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- - suggesting that the more college students texted, the more pain they reported in their necks and shoulders
BBC NEWS | Europe | Spanish 'self love' lessons row on 2009-11-14
- A Spanish region's new approach to sex education has provoked anger by suggesting children be taught "self-exploration and self-pleasure".
  The government of Extremadura launched a campaign based around the slogan "pleasure is in your own hands"
- The education campaign included producing leaflets, a "fanzine" and conducting workshops with children aged between 14 and 17.
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- - "It may have the most unemployed young people in Spain but they will be the best at masturbation."
  - Laura Garrido, president of Extremadura's youth council, said
  - "The lessons are based on the concepts of self esteem, confidence and male and female anatomy and physiology,
BBC NEWS | Technology | Xbox console ban is 'permanent' on 2009-11-14
- Thousands of Xbox 360 owners who have been cut off from Microsoft's Xbox Live service will have to buy a new console if they want to play online again.
  Microsoft told BBC News that banned machines will be permanently barred and "unable to connect to Xbox Live".
  A message displayed on affected consoles said there was "no recourse for terms of use violations"
BBC NEWS | Health | Overweight 'should be protected' on 2009-11-07
- Attacking someone for being fat should be a hate crime, campaigners say.
  They want so-called "fat-ism" to be made illegal on the same grounds as race, age and religious discrimination
- San Francisco
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- - law bans "fat-ism" in housing and employment and stops doctors pressing patients to slim down.
  - Sondra Solway, a San Francisco lawyer, said: "The San Francisco ordinance says you may want to mention weight to the patient but if the patient says they do not want to talk about that then you are asked to respect those wishes."
  - I have been punched, I have had beer thrown in my face, I have had people attack me on the train.
    "They say 'Move out of the way fatty! Well person coming down the aisle!'"
Bad drivers? Blame their genes | Oddly Enough | Reuters on 2009-11-07
- They found that people with a particular gene variant performed more than 20 percent worse on a driving test than people with a different DNA sequence.
- Cramer and his team tested 29 people -- 22 without the gene variant and seven who had it -- asking them to drive 15 laps on a simulator and then repeat the task a week later.
  
  To their surprise, they found that those with the mutant gene did worse, consistently.
  
  The gene controls a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which affects memory.
Ambulances start charging extra for obese patients - Yahoo! News on 2009-10-25
- ambulance crews are trying to improve how they transport extremely heavy patients, who become significantly more difficult to move as they surpass 350 pounds. And caring for such patients is expensive, requiring costly equipment and extra workers, so some ambulance companies have started charging higher fees for especially overweight people.
- Ambulance companies say it's time for insurance providers, Medicaid and Medicare, or patients themselves to begin paying the added costs
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- - Some critics say the higher fees are a form of discrimination.
  - Proponents of the extra fees say obese patients are grateful for equipment that eliminates the need for flatbed trucks and forklifts.
BBC NEWS | Business | Wal-Mart plans smaller US stores on 2009-10-25
- Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, plans to open smaller
- stores to keep winning market share
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- - The company - famous for its huge sprawling superstores - has seen the average size of its stores drop over the past five years.
  - The average size of one of its supercentres has dropped from 180,000 square feet as much as five years ago to 150,000 square feet over the past year,