Cancer Prevention

Stop! Don’t run out to the store and get that bottle or jar of a chemical-laden product for that household chore. There’s a good chance the box of baking soda you’ve already got can do the job. It’s a versatile deodorizer and cleaning product that comes in handy for so many situations around the house. And that means you don’t have to have a whole shelf full of (potentially toxic) products for different jobs. If you’re curious about the science behind baking soda, check out the video from the American Chemical Society for a simple explanation of how and why it works.

Many girls are beginning puberty at an early age, developing breasts sooner than girls of previous generations. But the physical changes don't mean the modern girls' emotional and intellectual development is keeping pace.

Two doctors have written a book called The New Puberty that looks at the percentage of girls who are going through early puberty, the environmental, biological and socioeconomic factors that influence when puberty begins, and whether early puberty is linked with an increased risk of breast cancer.

The public playground in Bandon, a small town on the blustery coast of Oregon, has everything a kid could want. Swings and an orange, twisting slide, even a bright blue boat.

But after the playground was installed in 2009, some mothers became concerned about the springy black stuff beneath their children's feet. In addition to the new equipment, the playground was outfitted with the latest in safety surfacing: a pool of shredded rubber from old tires, also known as "rubber mulch," which can cushion kids' falls better than gravel or wood chips.

With chilly weather settling in and darkness arriving before most people’s workdays end, many of us are shifting our workouts indoors, a practice that is much better for us than abandoning exercise for the winter. But a new study of air quality in gyms raises some interesting questions about whether the places in which we work out are as healthy as they should be.