For parasitic worms of the genus Anisakis, life typically goes like this: after floating through the ocean in an egg, they hatch as wriggling larvae with a peculiar desire—to be eaten. Small crustaceans like krill gobble up the larvae, and those infested krill are then eaten by squid or small fish, which are devoured by bigger fish until they finally earn their nickname, whale worms, and end up in the bellies of whales or dolphins where they complete their life cycle by laying eggs that are subsequently ejected in the hosts’ feces.

But sometimes, those big fish full of the worms—like salmon or herring—get intercepted by fishers and end up in markets. Although fish suppliers and sushi chefs diligently remove parasite-infected fish from their wares, occasionally one of those little buggers may wind up in your sushi roll.

Now, new research finds the global population of those parasitic worms, commonly found in sushi and other kinds of uncooked fish, has exploded in recent decades. The worms are 283-times more common than they were roughly 40 years ago, according to a new paper published in Global Change Biology.

In a televised address, Duterte said it was vital everyone cooperates and follows home quarantine measures, as authorities try to slow the coronavirus contagion and spare the country's fragile health system from being overwhelmed.

The Philippines has recorded 96 coronavirus deaths and 2,311 confirmed cases, all but three in the past three weeks, with infections now being reported in the hundreds every day.

"It is getting worse. So once again I'm telling you the seriousness of the problem and that you must listen," Duterte said late on Wednesday.

"My orders to the police and military ... if there is trouble and there's an occasion that they fight back and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead."

"Is that understood? Dead. Instead of causing trouble, I will bury you."

The results of a major study exploring the masturbation habits of men and women around the world have just been revealed. Sexual pleasure brand TENGA, in conjunction with pollsters PSB, conducted the masturbation study and polled 13,000 men and women, aged 18 to 74, in 18 countries. This included the United States, India, United Kingdom, Australia, Japan, Russia and Germany.

It identified a handful of differences between LGB people and straight people. These include gay/bi people saying they started masturbating, on average at age 13, compared with 15 for heterosexuals.

Some major takeaways from that study included:

Globally, on average, 78% of people masturbate. This figure tends to be higher for men than women.

The top 5 male celebrities American fantasize about while masturbating are: ..., ..., Chris Hemsworth, ... and ...

An analysis based on mathematical statistics more precise than those previously carried out uncovered the reason why powdery mildew fungi on Åland are most abundant in roadsides and crossings. Identified as the specific cause was that traffic raises the spores found on roadsides efficiently into the air.

The researchers are interested in disease transmission, as it helps explain the occurrence and biology of diseases. There are plant diseases that spread along riversides, bird migration routes, ocean currents or, for example, air traffic networks, much like human diseases that spread through social networks.

The transmission process determines the abundance and location of occurrence, while the method of transmission determines how the diversity of the disease branches off temporally and spatially, and, in the end, how the disease evolves through natural selection.

President Donald Trump already wants to pull back social distancing policies and guidances implemented in response to the coronavirus pandemic. But we know, based on the nation’s history with past outbreaks, what will happen if we do this too early: People will die.

In 1918, the world was ravaged by a horrible flu pandemic, which was linked to as many as 100 million deaths globally and about 675,000 deaths in the US. In response, cities across America adopted a variety of social distancing measures to combat the pandemic. Based on several studies of the period, these measures worked to reduce the death toll overall.

But many cities, also worried about the effects of social distancing on normal life and the economy, pulled back their social distancing efforts prematurely. When they did, they saw flu cases — and deaths — rise again.

It took Rudy Gobert's positive test for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to spark much of the action we've seen take place across the sports world.

The NBA suspended its season, which was followed by the NHL, MLS and MLB doing the same. The NCAA canceled March Madness altogether.

Yet, Gobert faced plenty of criticism for how he carried himself in the days leading up to his diagnosis. He jokingly touched recorders and phones after a press conference to make light of the coronavirus outbreak and tested positive two days later – something he apologized for in his first health update.

Now that Gobert is nearing the two-week mark since he tested positive for the coronavirus, he took to Twitter to offer another update. And he's experiencing a side effect that hasn't been widely associated with COVID-19.

When a Pomeranian in Hong Kong tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 last week, pets quickly became part of the coronavirus conversation. The case raised the alarming possibility that pets could become part of the transmission chain for the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which could potentially harm both them and us. But many questions remain about this possibility and how best to respond.

Q: Can pets serve as a reservoir of the virus and pass it back to us?

A: If pets can become infected—and we don’t know if they can—then yes, they could serve as a reservoir. And in that case, we’d need to deal with them the same way we’re dealing with human cases. We’d need to figure how to treat them. Like human hospitals, vet hospitals would have to be prepared for a surge in the number of cases.

Q: Would we quarantine our pets too?

A: Yes, just like humans, some might be quarantined at a hospital. Or a shelter. Or even a doggy day care. If they had the virus but weren’t sick, you could quarantine them at home. You’d want to limit your contact with them. Perhaps keep them in a bedroom away from other people and animals. You’d want to wash your hands frequently, and perhaps wear a mask when you entered the room.

The Department of Education is about to release new rules about how schools must deal with sexual harassment, stalking, and sexual assault. There's a lot that's disastrous about this interpretation of Title IX, which is supposed to promote equal access to education for women.

But what's largely missing from both the rules and the flood of public criticism they are generating is a discussion about prevention. This is typical of the national discourse about sexual assault on campus and beyond, and of the broader conversations in this era of #MeToo. The singular focus on adjudication reflects two assumptions.

The first is that victims frequently fabricate claims of sexual assault; all the evidence suggests that false accusations are rare. The second is that sexual assaults happen because of "bad" or "sociopathic" people. The only way to deal with them is through punishment harsh enough to strike sufficient fear into those who commit or want to commit assaults.

But what if the most sexual assaults were “normal”? Not in the sense that it’s acceptable, but in the sense that it’s often something that everyday people do— a predictable, if awful, a consequence of how society is organized. In doing the research for our book, Sexual Citizens, that’s exactly what we found. And there’s an important consequence to this finding: we’re not going to punish our way out of these normal assaults.

Parents may object that talking about sex is awkward, or that it's the children themselves who shut down the conversations. But many parents are frequently the source of much discomfort.

When they choose words like "hoo-hoo" or "pee-pee" instead of vulva and penis, they are communicating that some body parts are unspeakably shameful. Children learn very early that sex is not something they can talk about, especially with their families.

If those who don't know history are destined to repeat it, then we should pay close attention to the last time that life on Earth almost ended. That's according to a team of scientists who have found compelling evidence that another mass extinction is underway.

At first glance, their work might seem obscure, meant only for other specialists. It involved comparing modern corals to their ancient counterparts. But like an urgent encrypted message from the past, the data revealed eerie parallels between the fate of today's species and those that disappeared with the dinosaurs.

"When we finally put all this together and saw the result, for me it was that moment when the hair on the back of your neck stands up," said marine biologist David Gruber, of The City University of New York. "It was like, Oh my goodness, [the corals] are doing exactly what they did back then."

Some creatures are particularly well suited to withstand harsh conditions. Jellyfish polyps can go into a cyst phase and endure for years without food. Tardigrades can dry out completely, then revive with a drop of water. Humans are not as flexible. "Even though we think we're so strong and resilient, we're actually very delicate compared to other species," Gruber said.

We call it "falling in love," as if we have no control over how we topple into that dreamy state of emotional bliss.

But those sweetly warm feelings we connect to our heart are actually chemicals and hormones flooding an organ higher up -- our brain.

Jumping from neuron to neuron, dopamine travels an ancient avenue called the mesolimbic pathway, priming the brain to pay attention and react to expected rewards from food, drugs, hugs, sex or other equally pleasant actions.
This network is so ancient even worms and flies, which evolved about two billion years ago, have a similar reward highway in their primitive systems.

Increasing levels of dopamine = euphoria and desire = greater attraction to the object of your affection. You're "high" on love, just as a drug addict is "high" on cocaine -- and you're going to want more and more.

Dare we say you're addicted?

Have you ever wondered why your new love can do no wrong (at least at first)? Yup, that's all chemicals too. First, the brain on love deactivates the amygdala, which controls the perception of fear, anger and sadness.

NASA has found it to be ‘extremely likely’ that the cause of climate change is down to human activity – our current carbon dioxide concentration levels stand at 412 parts per million which is an increase of over 45% on pre-industrial levels.

Due to this, Les believes the best thing we can do for the planet is ‘live long and die out’, which is the movement’s motto.

It’s evident humans are the leading cause of climate change. According to Les, it would take the Earth 3-10 million years to recover from our actions.

Because of this, Les feels humans should die out so the earth can begin to restore itself, and to do that, we need to stop procreating.

Wherever we go, extinctions occur and we [humans] are causing the sixth mass extinction. We may not be able to stop that from happening, but the sooner we go extinct and the more species that are left – the pasture and the biosphere can return to biodiversity.

Gay and bisexual men have elevated rates of skin cancer compared to heterosexual men, according to an inclusive study from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.

The data was culled from 2014 to 2018, with respondents in 37 states. Researchers found that rates of self-reported skin cancer were 8.1 percent among gay men and 8.4 percent among bisexual men — higher than the rate of 6.7 percent among straight men. Skin cancer rates were 5.9 percent among lesbians, lower than the 6.6 percent rate among heterosexual women; bisexual women were found to have some of the lowest rates of skin cancer at 4.7 percent.

The causes of the elevated rates among gay and bi men — whether because of factors like HIV, health disparities, or lifestyle decisions — were not made clear in the study. A study published last year found that tanning salons often operate in neighborhoods where many gay and bisexual men live. Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital hope to next study causation factors.

A data analysis of 129 million messages sent to Crisis Text Line over the course of six years shows which states are most affected by anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicide.

Counselors for the 24/7 support network field more texts about suicide from people in the Western states of Colorado, Idaho, and Utah than anywhere else. People from the South more often send texts about depression. Anxiety rates are particularly high on the coasts, and in both Dakotas.

North Dakota had the highest rates of texters writing about depression, as well as anxiety and stress. Many southern states, including Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, had higher rates of depression than other areas.

In 44 states, at least 20% of texters reported feelings of isolation, while Montana saw the highest rate (15%) of texters writing about feelings of self-harm. People on the coasts reported the highest rates of anxiety.

About 50,000 years ago, ancient humans in what is now West Africa apparently procreated with another group of ancient humans that scientists didn't know existed.

There aren't any bones or ancient DNA to prove that theory, but researchers say the evidence is in the genes of modern West Africans. They analyzed genetic material from hundreds of people from Nigeria and Sierra Leone and found signals of what they call "ghost" DNA from an unknown ancestor.

Our own species — Homo sapiens — lived alongside other groups that split off from the same genetic family tree at different times. And there's plenty of evidence from other parts of the world that early humans had sex with other hominins, like Neanderthals.

That's why Neanderthal genes are present in humans today, in people of European and Asian descent. Homo sapiens also mated with another group, the Denisovans, and those genes are found in people from Oceania.

Marketing that organic food is cleaner is all around us. Just take a look at the campaign “Skip the Chemicals.” It encourages consumers to fear the scary-sounding names of chemicals and adopt a better-safe-than-sorry attitude toward their food. Ultimately, though, it steers consumers toward more costly organic foods, although there is no evidence that organic foods are more nutritious.

The “Dirty Dozen” list is another marketing ploy. Not only did I have this list stuck to my fridge at home, I also encouraged my clients to download and share it. Using pesticide residue data from the USDA, it ranks food by the levels of detected pesticides to generate a list of the top 12 fruits and vegetables consumers should avoid in their conventional versions.

Take strawberries, which topped the list in 2018. The USDA published test results on tens of thousands of nonorganic fruit and vegetable samples across the country. Most of the samples of strawberries showed residues of at least one kind of pesticide and, in one sample of strawberries, 22 different pesticide residues were detected — but that doesn’t mean the pack of strawberries you buy at the grocery store will have 22 pesticides.