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For a few people—those who are terminally ill, in severe pain and determined to die—suicide may be the least terrible option. In such circumstances, and with firm safeguards, doctors should be allowed to assist. But many of the 800,000 people who kill themselves each year act in haste, and more could be saved with better health services, labour-market policies and curbs on booze, guns, pesticide and pills. America, in particular, could spare much pain by learning from the progress elsewhere.


Urbanisation, fewer forced marriages and more curbs on the means of self-destruction.

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The bathroom is arguably the last bastion of privacy, but soon a new high-tech lavatory could be tracking your every movement.

Researchers at the European Space Agency (ESA) and MIT have teamed up with sanitation specialists to create the ‘FitLoo’ which screens human waste for early signs of disease.

Data gathered by the sensors in the toilet bowl could be beamed to the users mobile phone so they can see how their health is changing or even directly to the GP so they could keep a remote eye on patients.

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Taking Health Into Your Own Hands – Is Biohacking the Wellness Solution You’ve Been Searching For?

https://www.vitacost.com/blog/home-family/wellness/what-is-b…r-NKrcmFZ0

Women who trekked across Antarctica in the first-ever all-female expedition broke more than gender norms — they also busted the gender myth that, when it comes to extreme endurance exercise, women are weaker than men.

Sorry men, that’s not the case.

“Our findings contain some potentially myth-busting data on the impact of extreme physical activity on women,” lead study author Dr. Robert Gifford, of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science, said in a statement. “We have shown that with appropriate training and preparation, many of the previously reported negative health effects [of extreme exercise on women] can be avoided.”

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ASHEVILLE, North Carolina — A chickenpox outbreak at a private school now ranks as North Carolina’s largest since a vaccine for the virus became available more than 20 years ago, health officials say.

As of Friday, 36 students at Asheville Waldorf School had contracted the varicella virus, known to most as chickenpox. The school has one of the highest vaccination religious exemption rates in the state.

The viral infection manifests in an itchy rash in most cases and is not typically life-threatening. But the outbreak at Asheville Waldorf should cause concern, said Dr. Jennifer Mullendore of Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services.

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