'EPIDEMIC OF LONELINESS'
In a New York Times op-ed, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote that the U.S. needs to focus on its "epidemic of loneliness," and that half of Americans are lonely — including himself. He pointed out that some of the health risks of loneliness, such as depression, anxiety, heart disease, dementia, and stroke, make it comparable to smoking daily. He proposed a three-step process to help with the epidemic: invest in social infrastructure, reconsider how we use technology, and strengthen our personal connections.
PREVENTING DEMENTIA
A new study shows that being bilingual can help prevent dementia. Researchers tested hundreds of older people on learning, memory, language, and decision-making and found that those who used two languages daily performed consistently better than those who knew only one language.
CANCER-DETECTING AI
Researchers and doctors at the National Health Service in the United Kingdom have built an artificial intelligence application that can detect cancer. According to new research published in The Lancet, the AI tool was developed using hundreds of lung scans from real patients, training it on the subtle differences between cancerous and non-cancerous growths that are often difficult to see with the human eye.
In the Red Sea this morning, a U.S. warship, the USS Carney responded to a distress call by a commercial vessel after it came under attack.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection in southern California announced it confiscated thousands of pounds of illegal drugs hidden in a jalapeno paste shipment.
Former family YouTuber Ruby Franke is set to enter a plea agreement on child abuse charges in a Utah courtroom, according to her lawyers. Frank and her business partner, Jody Hildebrand were arrested in August after two of Franke's children were found with injuries and evidence of malnutrition in Hildebrandt's home.
Backers are far from gathering enough signatures, but if the measure makes the June 2024 ballot and voters pass it, North Dakota would have to replace ballot scanners with hundreds of workers.
It's part of the push to remove symbols that commemorate the Confederacy from military facilities.
The company is asking customers to throw out certain types of granola bars and granola cereals to avoid infection.
It could be a cold, grim New Year for thousands of migrant families living in New York City’s emergency shelter system. With winter setting in, they are being told they need to clear out, with no guarantee they’ll be given a bed elsewhere.
Vermont is often ranked as one of the nation's safest states. But since October, it has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death, including a double homicide in Burlington.
Officials in Mexico are trying to determine what's responsible for the death of a man and injuries to a woman at a Pacific coast resort.
The Virginia mother whose six-year-old son brought a gun to school and shot his teacher is expected to be sentenced.
