Health | Dr. Michael Wayne

Urgent Relief Efforts Needed To Help The Typhoon Haiyan Survivors

No one can fail to have been moved by the utter devastation that has hit the Philippines. Flattened cities, parents cradling the bodies of their children, survivors’ reports of loved ones washed away from their grasp – our natural human response is empathy. The people who survive devastating events such as typhoon Haiyan need assistance. Relief agencies that provide it deserve public support. Typhoon Haiyan affected a total of 9.5 million people … [Read more...]

Keeping Warm the Greener, Cleaner Way

The cold and dark months of winter are the time when we spend more time indoors and turn up our heating. It’s also the time when our energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions go sky high. We all need to keep warm, but we can do it in a greener, cleaner way. Here are top five tips for staying warm over winter. 1. Use heavy curtains to stop heat escaping from your windows Up to 40 per cent of the heat escaping from your home in winter is from … [Read more...]

Floating Bamboo House

Integrating disaster resistance along with local building traditions, Vietnamese H&P Architects' have designed an affordable bamboo house that floats when it floods. A real-life prototype of the modular design has since been constructed, using locally abundant materials like bamboo and coconut leaf, along with more engineered stuff like fiberboard. Intended to withstand floods of up to 1.5 meters (4.9 feet), the 3.3 by 6.6 meter (10.8 by … [Read more...]

Homeopathic Treatments Cures Stammer

Psychotherapists, medication and speech therapy all failed to cure a patient of a difficult stammer in Beirut. That was until he opted for homeopathic treatment with Yvonne Siblini, during which it uncovered a traumatic incident from his childhood. He was actually affected by the war. “When he was 8 he had seen dead bodies and things like that. This is what I do – I go through the whole history of his life." “He didn’t know when it started, so I … [Read more...]

Friday’s Food For Thought…

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Hormone-Altering Chemicals Inducing To Obesity

Everyone knows that obesity is a rampant problem in North America, but new research is showing that it is not just a simple matter of eating too much and moving too little. Certain hormone-altering chemicals found in water, air, and soil can induce obesity, too. By disrupting or altering hormones, which are the body’s chemical messengers released by certain glands to affect cells all throughout the body, these invasive chemicals can disrupt … [Read more...]

Living Building Challenge Has Developed The Net Zero Energy Building Certification

Net Zero Energy is quickly becoming a sought after goal for many buildings around the globe - each relies on exceptional energy conservation and then on-site renewables to meet all of its heating, cooling and electricity needs. Yet the true performance of many developments is overstated – and actual Net Zero Energy buildings are still rare. But now, the Living Building Challenge has developed the Net Zero Energy Building Certification and it is … [Read more...]

Project Peanut Butter

Most of us have it as a breakfast staple every day and don't give it a second thought. But the humble peanut butter has the potential to save millions of lives every year. Sound like a far fetched pipedream? Then consider the possibility that malnourished children could be saved from death just by eating a food source that was easily accessible and cheap. Enter Project Peanut Butter, which is aiming to save two million children by 2015. … [Read more...]