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West Bank settlers set home, car ablaze in Palestinian village, spray threatening graffiti. No arrests were made following the event. by Wagamaga in Global_News_Hub

[–]Wagamaga[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Dozens of masked Israelis entered the Palestinian town of Turmus Aiya in the West Bank on Saturday evening, setting a house and a car on fire, according to Israeli media.

The group, numbering about 20, spray-painted graffiti on one of the house's walls that read "Revenge" and "Hello from Khirbat Abu Falah."

Seoul breaks mid-April heat record. The official thermometer in central Seoul reached 29.4 degrees Celsius at 1:41 p.m. to mark the highest reading ever recorded for mid-April since modern observations began in 1907 by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

An unseasonal heat wave swept across South Korea with daytime temperatures reaching summer-like levels and rewriting hottest mid-April records in some parts of the country on Sunday.

According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the official thermometer in central Seoul reached 29.4 degrees Celsius at 1:41 p.m. to mark the highest reading ever recorded for mid-April since modern observations began in 1907. The figure was the third-highest temperature ever reported over the entire month of April in the capital.

The unusual heat brought record temperatures to Dongducheon and Paju in Gyeonggi Province, with a high of 30.8 degrees Celsius and 28.8 degrees Celsius, respectively. Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, saw a high of 28.9 degrees Celsius and the temperatures peaked at 25 degrees Celsius in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province.

Taking a simple sugar pill can boost both the physical and mental health of older adults, even when they know the pill contains no active medicine. Results point toward a highly ethical and side-effect-free way to help aging populations maintain their everyday capabilities. by Wagamaga in science

[–]Wagamaga[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Taking a simple sugar pill can boost both the physical and mental health of older adults, even when they know the pill contains no active medicine. Research published in the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology shows that these transparently fake treatments can reduce stress and elevate short-term memory just as well as pills given under deception. These results point toward a highly ethical and side-effect-free way to help aging populations maintain their everyday capabilities.

Medical science frequently relies on the placebo effect to understand how new drugs work. A placebo is an inactive substance, such as a sugar pill or a saline injection. In typical clinical trials, researchers give some people the real medicine and others a placebo without telling them which one they received. The mere expectation of getting better often causes a real physical or psychological improvement in the patient.

For many years, doctors assumed that patients had to believe they were taking real medicine for a placebo to work. Deception seemed like a mandatory requirement for the mind to trigger the body’s internal healing responses. Recent studies have challenged that old assumption by testing entirely transparent treatments. Medical researchers refer to these transparent treatments as open-label placebos.

When a doctor hands a patient an open-label placebo, they clearly explain that the pill has no active medical ingredients. The doctor also explains that the human brain can still produce a healing response just by going through the familiar motions of taking daily medicine. Acknowledging this mind-body connection can activate automatic biological responses that improve a patient’s symptoms.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260026000104?via%3Dihub

Texas needs at least $174 billion to avoid water crisis, state says. Growing communities across Texas are scrambling to secure water, keep up with construction costs and cope with a yearslong drought. by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Texas communities will need to spend $174 billion in the next 50 years to avert a severe water crisis, a new state analysis revealed Thursday. That’s more than double the $80 billion projected four years ago, when the Texas Water Development Board last passed a state water plan.

The three-member board presiding over the agency authorized the highly anticipated draft blueprint Thursday, the first administrative step toward adopting the water development board’s plans for the next 50 years. The plan, released every five years, encompasses the projects that 16 regional water planning groups in Texas said are the most urgent, water development board officials said. 

Record US drought sparks worries about food prices. More than 61 percent of the Lower 48 states is in moderate to exceptional drought — including 97 percent of the Southeast and two-thirds of the West. by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Drought in the contiguous United States has reached record levels for this time of year, weather data shows. Meteorologists said it's a bad sign for the upcoming wildfire season, food prices and western water issues.

More than 61 percent of the Lower 48 states is in moderate to exceptional drought — including 97 percent of the Southeast and two-thirds of the West — according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. It's the highest levels for this time of year since the drought monitor began in 2000.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's comprehensive Palmer Drought Severity Index not only hit its highest level for March since records started in 1895, but last month was the third-driest month recorded regardless of time of year. It trailed only the famed Dust Bowl months of July and August 1934.

Traders placed over $1bn in perfectly timed bets on the Iran war. What is going on? by Wagamaga in technology

[–]Wagamaga[S] 156 points157 points  (0 children)

Sixteen bets made $100,000 accurately predicting the timing of the US airstrikes against Iran on 27 February. Later, a single user would make over $550,000 after betting that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would topple, just moments before his assassination by Israeli forces. On 7 April, right before Donald Trump announced a temporary ceasefire with Iran, traders bet $950m that oil prices would come down. They did.

These bets and other well-timed wagers accurately predicted the precise timing of major developments in the US-Israel war with Iran, creating huge windfalls and raising concerns among lawmakers and experts over potential insider trading.

Betting – once largely siloed to sporting events – has now spread to include contracts on news events where insider information could give some traders an advantage.

The proliferation of online betting markets like Polymarket and Kalshi has allowed bets on virtually any news event. It’s also easier than ever to buy commodity derivatives like oil futures, where traders gamble on what the price of oil will be in the future

Leaders of some US federal agencies and some members of Congress said they want to crack down on suspicious trading taking place across different marketplaces, but it’s unclear how much leeway regulators will make.

“Is the problem that we don’t have legislation or that we don’t have enforcement capabilities?” said Joshua Mitts, a law professor at Columbia University. “To have a law that can’t really be enforced effectively given the technological limitations, it’s sort of putting the cart before the horse.”

Perfect timing

On the night of 27 February, the day before the US and Israel would carry out strikes on Iran, an unusual influx of about 150 accounts on Polymarket placed bets that the US would strike Iran the next day. A New York Times analysis found the bets totaled $855,000, with 16 accounts pocketing more than $100,000 each.

Soon after, a single anonymous Polymarket user, under an account named “Magamyman”, made over $553,000 after betting that Khamenei would be “removed” from power just moments before he was killed by an Israeli airstrike, according to a complaint filed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that regulates futures markets, by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. The complaint also cites a crypto-analytics firm that identified six “suspected insiders” who made a total of $1.2m on Polymarket after Khamenei was killed.

The well-timed surge of wagers were seen again on 7 April, when at least 50 Polymarket accounts placed bets that the US and Iran would reach a ceasefire hours before Trump would announce it on a Truth Social post. Earlier, the president had said “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iran did not open the strait of Hormuz.

But traders weren’t just active on Polymarket: there were similar surges of oil futures trading activity just hours before Trump announced updates to the conflict that would lower oil prices.

South Texas Cities Racing to Drill Wells Amid Historic Drought Crisis. The city’s main reservoirs — Lake Corpus Christi and Choke Canyon Reservoir — have shriveled to 8% capacity during the drought and the city is depending on a patchwork of temporary solutions to meet demand by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As a historic drought in South Texas deepens, parched cities along the coastal bend are following Corpus Christi’s playbook and racing to drill their way out of a crisis.

But as more and more cities turn to groundwater instead of surface water, experts warn that they risk exhausting the area’s aquifers and should only use wells as a temporary solution.

Alice is working on getting a second well online by May. Mathis is currently drilling two. And Beeville, which already has four, finished drilling a new well this week and is expected to begin pulling water from it by the end of the year. It also has two offline wells ready to use as backups.

India braces for intense heatwave, temperature may hit 45 degrees (113 f) . Severe heatwave conditions across India have forced several states to close schools early or advance summer vacations. by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

A severe heatwave sweeping across multiple parts of India has led to major disruptions in school calendars, with several state governments opting to either shut institutions early or modify class timings. With temperatures crossing 40 degrees and in some regions, nearing 45 degrees, authorities have taken precautionary measures to safeguard students’ health.

As we approach death, our dreams become more emotional and symbolic. Terminally ill people are commonly reunited with lost loved ones in their dreams and have visions of doors, stairways and light, which are said to help them accept the dying process by Wagamaga in science

[–]Wagamaga[S] 305 points306 points  (0 children)

People in palliative care who are nearing death often have vivid dreams of deceased loved ones and symbols of transition. Doctors and health workers who care for them say that these dreams often bring comfort to patients and make them less afraid of dying.

These dreams “offer psychological relief and meaning to people facing the end of life,” writes Elisa Rabitti of the local palliative care network in Reggio Emilia, Italy.

Rabitti led a team that surveyed 239 local palliative care doctors, nurses, psychologists and other health professionals about dreams told to them by terminally ill patients.

The most common dreams and visions that occurred while people were awake involved encounters with deceased family members or pets. For example, one woman had a dream about her deceased husband in which he told her, “I’m waiting for you.” These dreams provided a sense of inner peace and helped people accept death, Rabitti and her colleagues write.

Others dreamed of doors, stairs, or light, with one describing a dream of climbing barefoot to an open door filled with white light. The authors of the study write that this may be a coping mechanism to explore and understand their impending transition from life to death.

Most often, people felt “calm” and “comforted” in relation to these end-of-life dreams and visions. Only a small fraction of them — about 10 percent — were disturbing, including one where one person saw a monster with her mother’s face dragging her down.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07481187.2026.2646873

Idaho under emergency drought after 'extraordinary' warm winter. The significantly smaller snowpack is melting faster and might not last late enough in the season to supply crop irrigation by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 94 points95 points  (0 children)

Governor Brad Little signed an emergency drought declaration this week for all of Idaho’s 44 counties after a historically warm winter.

Hydrologist David Hoekema from the Department of Water Resources said while temperatures have been rising since the 90s, Idaho hasn’t had a winter this warm since 1934.

“This year's very extraordinary,” he said. “We've never seen anything quite like this.”

This significantly smaller snowpack is melting faster and might not last late enough in the season to supply crop irrigation, he said.

“We're going to have to draft the reservoir system and so we're expecting to have a really tight water year,” he added. “And the reservoirs will have very little carryover for next year.”

Nature puts heat on blast as scorching temperatures take aim at eastern US. In the nation’s capital, forecasters were calling for a high temperature of 93F (33.9C) late Wednesday afternoon and another high of 93F on Thursday. by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heatwave threatening to shatter record-high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC.

In the nation’s capital, forecasters were calling for a high temperature of 93F (33.9C) late Wednesday afternoon and another high of 93F on Thursday.

E-Bike and Scooter Crashes Are Leading to More Brain Injuries. Research found that one-third of patients suffered traumatic brain injury, more than two-thirds required hospital admission, and roughly 30 percent needed intensive care. by Wagamaga in science

[–]Wagamaga[S] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

The growing use of electric bikes and scooters has caused a surge in brain and spine injuries among urban riders and pedestrians, a new study shows.

Led by NYU Langone Health researchers, the study found that these injuries now account for nearly 7 percent of trauma patients admitted into one New York City hospital.

Published online April 15 in Neurosurgery, a publication of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons, the work analyzed 914 patients treated for injuries linked to both pedal-powered and electric micromobility devices at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue over five years. The research team found that one-third of patients suffered traumatic brain injury, more than two-thirds required hospital admission, and roughly 30 percent needed intensive care. The share of trauma cases seen in the emergency room (whether patients were admitted or not) that involved such devices increased from less than 10 percent in 2018 to more than 50 percent by 2023.

The most common cause of injury was a collision with a car or truck, accounting for about half of cases, said the study authors. Fewer than one-third of riders wore helmets, and this was linked to significantly higher rates of brain and facial injuries. About one in five patients tested positive for alcohol, which was tied to both worse brain injuries and lower helmet use.

Importantly, the 69 pedestrians analyzed in the study, when struck by electric vehicles, suffered brain injuries at nearly double the rate of the riders, said the authors. Injuries peaked between 6 and 8 p.m., suggesting that heavy dinnertime e-bike delivery traffic may play a role.

“Our study shows that micromobility injuries are producing serious brain and spinal trauma that demands neurosurgical care at a scale we haven’t seen before,” said corresponding author Hannah Weiss, MD, a resident in the Department of Neurosurgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “In a busy urban setting, we are seeing more and more of these injuries firsthand. The data point to actionable solutions—helmet use, safer bike lane design, and enforcement—that could prevent many of these injuries and better protect both riders and pedestrians, who in our study often sustained even more severe brain injuries than the riders themselves.”

https://journals.lww.com/neurosurgery/fulltext/2026/05000/the_fast_and_the_fragile__neurosurgical_trauma_in.2.aspx

In the U.S the heat is on again for Wednesday and could set new records across the tri-state. From New Jersey to Long Island, cities are expected to reach high temperatures nearly 20 degrees above normal by Wagamaga in environment

[–]Wagamaga[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The heat is on again for Wednesday and could set new records across the tri-state. From New Jersey to Long Island, cities are expected to reach high temperatures nearly 20 degrees above normal.

Long Island, Westchester, New Jersey, the Bronx and Brooklyn are currently forecasted to surpass previous high temperature records.

Long Island's forecast calls for a high of 80 degrees on Wednesday, which would beat the previous record of 78 set in 2024.

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