Hemen Bekele Wins TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2024
TIME has named Hemen Bekele TIME’s Kid of the Year for 2024 for inventing a skin-cancer fighting bar of soap. Bekele is a 10th grader from Fairfax, Virginia. Bekele’s passion for skin cancer research traces back to his early years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, before his family moved to the United States. In Ethiopia, Bekele […]
Rise in Global Measles Cases
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. This agency works to promote health, keep the world safe from health emergencies, and support countries in achieving better health outcomes for all people. Recently, the WHO issued a warning that measles is spreading worldwide. What Is […]
ICARDA Helps Farmers Worldwide Keep Crops Growing
Wheat farmers in the United States can have their entire crop wiped out by a pest. In Morocco, drought conditions have made growing food difficult. Extreme weather in Ethiopia has resulted in challenges meeting the food demands of the country’s population. The International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, or ICARDA for short, […]
Coronavirus Hits the United States
The coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis looks different for all of us, but everyone is affected. Some states have closed schools and businesses indefinitely; some states have instituted lockdowns; some states have seen a steadily climbing rate of infection, while others remain relatively untouched. The only thing certain right now is that we all need to work […]
San Francisco’s Public Pooping Problem
The city of San Francisco, California, has a problem: residents are going to the bathroom in the streets. That might sound like something out of the era of the Industrial Revolution, but it’s not. This public pooping is happening so much that it’s becoming a genuine health concern. And the fact that this is going […]
Republican Health Care Replacement Bill Passes House
For the past seven years, House Republicans have been struggling to repeal the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as the ACA or “Obamacare.” After many failed attempts, they finally succeeded on Thursday when they narrowly passed a bill that will repeal and replace large chunks of the ACA. What Does the New Plan Look Like? […]
Your Brain in a Digital World
Last week, btw brought you a story about what happens to the brain when you do more than one thing at a time. This week we go further, looking at the ways your brain responds to some of the things you are likely to be engaged in every day. Your Brain on Music Listening to […]
The Great Vaccination Debate
Last month, we brought you news of the recent resurgence of measles after more than a decade of being considered “eliminated” in 2000. This week, we dig deeper into the growing concern over the spread of the disease and look at both sides of the larger vaccination debate. A Brief History of Vaccination Smallpox, a highly […]
The Government’s Latest Actions Against Ebola
The news and rumors and misunderstanding about the Ebola disease in the United States is continuing to change. The Obama administration has been working this past week to keep informed about the story and develop the guidelines that are needed to keep citizens and health care professionals safe. On the White House blog page, a […]
Ebola: What It Is and Is Not
Back in the summer, btw brought you news of an outbreak of Ebola. In the months since, thousands have died and concern over how to both treat victims and stop the rapid spread has grown. What began in West Africa has now officially spread to the United States. A Liberian man named Thomas Duncan had […]