Monday, December 9

Month: October 2018

Featured News

The Journey to Cure Colorblindness

Being colorblind is a fairly common genetic variation. Color vision deficiency (CVD) affects around 1 in 12 men worldwide and 1 in 200 women; generally these individuals get along just fine. With inventions like colorblind-friendly design and glasses that allow color vision deficient individuals to see more of the spectrum, they have options. But what if we actually cured colorblindness permanently? Humans have been working on curing colorblindness for years. Back in 2009, it was announced that two squirrel monkeys who were red-green colorblind since birth were able to see red and green as if they had never been colorblind. How? Gene therapy. The researchers used an injection of a neutralized virus combined with human genes for red photopigments. The injection was placed in the monkeys'...
North Carolina School District Facing Serious Mold Issues Following Hurricanes
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North Carolina School District Facing Serious Mold Issues Following Hurricanes

It's been yet another busy Hurricane season across the southeast and communities are left focusing on damage control and cleanup. This year's storms may not have been as physically devastating as many of the 2017's hurricanes, but the flooding issues have been out of control. According to JDN News, a North Carolina school district could have to shell out millions of dollars in order to address serious molding concerns. Pender County Schools are hoping North Carolina's insurance policies will be able to assist with the majority of the mold cleanup for its school buildings, but the state is unlikely to cover it. Farmers Insurance reports that over the past decade, there has been a 1,100 increase in mold-related insurance claims. Thanks to all the flooding caused by major storms, that...
How to Become an Expert Thrift Shopper
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How to Become an Expert Thrift Shopper

Thrift shopping for clothes and housewares is a great way to save money, explore vintage fashion, and give your money to a charitable cause. However, as with any store, if you don't shop smart you could end up wasting your time and not making any useful purchases. Use these tips to become a thrifting pro: Know What You Need (and What You Don't): Thrift stores can be worlds of temptation. Finding lots of well-priced and interesting items can lead any shopper to spend more than they should for things that they don't necessarily need. Before hitting the stores, have an idea of what you're shopping for. Are you looking for funky wall art? Do you need a new coat? Creating a shopping list and a budget can keep you from getting carried away, so you don't end up donating back unnecessary p...
Stress Management Tips for New Home Buyers
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Stress Management Tips for New Home Buyers

While moving can be an exciting step, the process of buying a home can be stressful and downright exhausting. For first-time home buyers, who make up 34% of all house shoppers, finding potential properties, figuring out a budget, and making offers is an especially nerve-wracking process. Many new buyers become so stressed that they either delay the process or make hasty and unsatisfactory decisions. Follow these tips to stay cool and calm when buying your first home, so that you can find a place you'll love for years to come. Remember that You are In Charge. Some inexperienced home buyers feel overwhelmed throughout the process, especially when dealing with professional agents, lenders, and sellers. Working with experts who are incentivized to sell you something can feel as though ...
Stress: Understanding Its Impacts And Treatments
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Stress: Understanding Its Impacts And Treatments

Everyone has, at some point in their lives, experienced stress to a degree. The spectrum of its consequences varies greatly because the level of stress one can experience varies greatly: whether you've forgotten to buy an ingredient necessary for the dinner party, or have greatly miscalculated the time it would take you to complete a Very Important Project and are not able to get it done on time, you'll go through a range of reactions and repercussions: not being able to sleep, lack of appetite, jitteriness/restlessness, and exhaustion to name a few. Most Americans (82%) find one extra hour of sleep at night somewhat or extremely valuable The extreme end of the spectrum can completely disrupt day-to-day life. Some people begin picking and pulling at their hair due to a disorder cal...
Molybdenum-99 Produced In U.S. For The First Time In 30 Years
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Molybdenum-99 Produced In U.S. For The First Time In 30 Years

When you think of life-saving elements used in medicine, you probably don't immediately think of molybdenum-99. Molybdenum-99 is a radioactive isotope (also known as a radioisotope), making it extremely valuable and useful in medical imaging. Radioisotopes circulate through the body's systems easily and leave trace amounts of radiation in their wake, allowing doctors to examine blood flow to specific organs and assess organ function or bone growth. They are incredibly beneficial in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer: "In radiation therapy for cancer, the patient’s tumor is bombarded with ionizing radiation, typically in the form of beams of subatomic particles, such as protons, neutrons, or alpha or beta particles, which directly disrupt the atomic or molecular structure of th...
New York’s Signage Dispute Nearly Costs State $14 Million
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New York’s Signage Dispute Nearly Costs State $14 Million

Roughly 60% of consumers reported that a lack of signage deterred them from entering a business. But what about entering a state? People don't often think about the importance of quality signage, but without signs, there would be all kinds of issues and confusion. Signs promote businesses, services, communities, and so much more. According to a recent study, over 40% of survey respondents stated that they had first learned about a local political candidate from a sign. Without signage to influence those people, two out of five people may have voted in a different manner simply because there was no name recognition for a particular political candidate. Though not everybody is fully aware of the importance of an individual sign, some signage campaigns, like New York's "I Love N.Y." campai...
As Opioid Crises Continues, Some Argue Funds for Marijuana Suppression Should Be Redirected
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As Opioid Crises Continues, Some Argue Funds for Marijuana Suppression Should Be Redirected

In a recent news article, one New York county Supervisor board’s openly questioned how grant money should be used to manage illegal drug use. According to the Star Post, John Haff was joined by fellow Washington County supervisors Sara Idleman and Evera Sue Clary in criticizing the county’s plan to spend $6,000 federal dollars on flyovers searching for marijuana plants. Couldn’t the money be better spent, Haff argued, on stopping opiods? Clary pointed out that marijuana prevention methods seemed especially pointless when, just over the town line, the substance is legal under Vermont State law. Haff was vocal about a variety of other drug-prevention uses the money could be put towards. He said that $6,000 could buy 200 naloxone doses, which are injections used to revers...
Floodwaters From Hurricane Florence Put Dams In Danger And Residents In A Panic
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Floodwaters From Hurricane Florence Put Dams In Danger And Residents In A Panic

Across North Carolina officials are worried about potential dam failures as floodwaters from Hurricane Florence continue to rise. According to data from the National Inventory of Dams earlier this year, North Carolina already had 1,445 dams rated as high hazards out of 5,700 dams total before Hurricane Florence made landfall in early September. The high hazard classification indicates that any failure in the dams is likely to cause the loss of one or more human lives. Out of those hazardous dams, 185 had poor or unsatisfactory conditions as rated during recent inspections. This survey of dams included large, federally-owned ones as well as small, private ones. Many are in areas that are now inundated with water. The last decade has seen over a third of all the dam failures or near-fa...
Featured News

Want to Start Your Own Shipping Company? It’s Easier Than You Think With These Tips

U.S. e-commerce revenue is about $423.3 billion and is steadily climbing. Whether it's full truckload, less-than-truckload (LTL), or parcel, carriers are being forced to adjust to changes in the retail industry. As a result, there are growing opportunities to invest in the industry or even start your own shipping business. Sure, you may not become the next Amazon, but you can at least help to level the economic playing field by encouraging small business growth. If you're interested in starting your own shipping business, here are just a few tips that can help you get started. Decide on Transportation Type First, you'll have to decide on the type of delivery service you want to run -- this includes transportation type as well as package type. Keep in mind that as more and more ships deli...