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Young military men who are shorter or taller than the average male may have a higher risk for depression than their fellow servicemen, a new study suggests. Although being shorter or taller than average can have an impact on anyone's self-esteem, this effect may be amplified in the military where physical prowess ranks high in importance, said Valery Krupnik, a clinician at the mental health department of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California. [Read More]

The simulations don't paint a pretty picture for Seattle or the coastal areas of Washington, Oregon, British Columbia and Northern California, but the locations of some epicenters were a bit more forgiving than others. "People have done simulations like this in the past, but they only did one or two," said study lead researcher Erin Wirth, who did the project while a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington. [Read More]

Occupational therapy is often mistaken for something having to do with career counseling. In fact, occupational therapists aren't worried about jobs; they're focused on the activities that give daily life meaning. Occupational therapy helps patients recover or develop skills needed for the activities of daily living, including self-care, leisure, independent living and work. Therapists work in hospitals, in schools, in nursing homes and with patients in their own homes. Patients who benefit from occupational therapy, or OT, include people who have had strokes, people with autism and other developmental disorders, people recovering from certain surgeries (including hip replacements), people who suffer from depression or anxiety, as well as veterans and the elderly, according to Virginia Stoffel, president of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. [Read More]

Brad Pitt is an award-winning actor, philanthropist … and now a doomsday weatherman. On the debut episode of Comedy Central's "The Jim Jeffries Show" on June 6, Pitt offered a to-the-point forecast explaining the effects of climate change. The skit was in response to President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, which called for nations to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in " [Read More]

Four new species of shimmery, beautifully colored jewel beetles have been discovered in southeastern Asia. "All new species belong to the genus Philanthaxia," said Oto Nakládal, author of a study on the discoveries. "Before the publication of this study, 61 species had been known from this genus. Currently it comprises of 65 species, with a primarily Southeast Asian distribution, except for two species extending to the Australasian region." The new members of the Buprestidae family, known as jewel beetles for their gleaming colors, include Philanthaxia pseudoaenea, which was found in Thailand. [Read More]

This story was updated at 11:23 a.m. ET on Oct. 24 to reflect the most recent number of deaths at this time. Seven children at a New Jersey healthcare facility have died in an outbreak of adenovirus, a virus that can cause cold and flu-like symptoms, according to health officials. An additional 11 children at the facility, called the Wanaque Center for Nursing and Rehabilitation in Haskell, New Jersey, have also fallen ill with adenovirus, according to a statement from the New Jersey Department of Health. [Read More]

The body of a man without hands, thought to have been buried hundreds of years ago, has been found by archaeologists on a rocky islet off the coast of Guernsey, one of the British Channel Islands — just a few feet from where a mysterious medieval skeleton of a dolphin was found last year. Phil De Jersey, a Guernsey government archaeologist, said the skeleton of the handless man appeared to have been buried much later than the baffling burial of that dolphin skeleton on the same islet, and therefore the two burials probably aren't related. [Read More]

Chagas disease, also known as American trypanosomiasis, is caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The illness is named after Brazilian physician and researcher Carlos Ribeiro Justiniano Chagas, who diagnosed the first known case of the malady in 1909, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). An estimated 6 million to 7 million people worldwide are thought to be infected with T. [Read More]

Cheese can help preserve and enhance the immune system of the elderly by acting as a carrier for probiotic, or "good," bacteria, a new study finds. The research, published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, reveals that daily consumption of probiotic cheese helps to tackle age-related changes in the immune system. "The increase in the proportion of aged individuals in modern society makes finding innovative ways to thwart the deterioration of the immune system a priority," [Read More]

Scientists may have unraveled the mystery of what triggered decade-long droughts during medieval times in the American Southwest. These so-called megadroughts were so devastating that entire civilizations may have collapsed in their wake. These findings suggest the risk of megadroughts may rise due to global warming, scientists added. From the 800s to the 1400s, about a dozen megadroughts struck the American Southwest, and all lasted longer than a decade. "There weren't a whole lot of people there compared to today, but prior work has suggested that a number of native societies in the Southwest experienced megadroughts that were tied to the collapse of their civilizations," [Read More]