By Elaine Lies

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's whaling fleet is set to depart on Sunday for an annual hunt that this year for the first time will take humpback whales -- a perennial favorite among whale-watchers -- sparking protests from activists.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A study by an Indiana University environmental science professor and several colleagues suggests a widely planted variety of genetically engineered corn has the potential to harm aquatic ecosystems. The study is being published this week by the journal Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences.

The last article I posted about Multiple Sclerosis got quite a stir. So I'm posting this from Dr. McDougall's website drmcdougall.com. Dr. Swank reports that if this disease is detected early, and if attacks have been few and the patient adopts a low-fat diet, then he has a 95% chance of remaining in the the same condition, or even for improvement over the next 20 years.

A team of MIT students, faculty and volunteers has taken on the challenge of designing and building a house that relies entirely on solar energy to meet the electricity needs of a typical American family, from drying towels to cooking dinner.

The lazy days of summer are behind us, but that doesn’t mean we have to be swamped by school schedules or overwhelmed by other obligations. Take the following tips to live simply all year long.

Position of the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada: Vegetarian Diets
J Am Diet Assoc. 2003 Jun;103(6):748-65.

In their 2003 Position Paper on vegetarian diets, the American Dietetic Association and Dietitians of Canada state:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators warned Hain Celestial Group Inc about a potentially unsafe herb in some of its herbal teas, saying it might be dangerous to blood sugar, reproductive, cardiovascular and renal systems.

Excess amounts of proteins (especially of animal proteins) cause changes in kidney activity, resulting in large losses of calcium from the body. Experimental studies show that protein levels commonly consumed by Americans (90 grams and more--15% of the calories) will cause more calcium to be lost from the body than can be absorbed from the gut, even when the person is consuming very high levels of calcium. This is why populations around the world that eat rich diets loaded with animal proteins (as in the USA, England, Israel, Finland, Sweden etc.) have high rates of osteoporosis, while people in countries who consume small amounts of animal proteins (including dairy foods), such as those living in Asian and African countries, have strong bones and little osteoporosis.

Eighty-five percent of all teen-agers have acne at some time, and for many people the skin trouble continues into adult life. Nevertheless, acne is a preventable disease, not a normal condition. Certainly, the hormone surges that accompany puberty are related to increased sebum production and therefore to acne.

Effect of mammographic screening from age 40 years on breast cancer mortality at 10 years' follow-up: a randomised controlled trial by Sue M. Moss in the December 9, 2006 issue of the Lancet found that, “Although the reduction in breast-cancer mortality observed in this trial is not significant, it is consistent with results of other trials of mammography alone in this age-group.