The Cause of Back and Foot Pain

People complain of back and feet problems constantly, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science has announced that his may be because of evolution. They said that humans are the only mammals that have these problems; scoliosis, an abnormally curved spine, is only seen in humans. Archeologists have said that skeletons dating from 1.5- 3 million years ago also show evidence of back problems. Walking upright and the need to carry heavy loads are associated with humans’ unique back problems. Jeremy DeSilva, anthropologist at Boston University, said “Likewise, the human foot’s structure has evolved in a way that also causes problems.” He believes that the arch in people’s feet is what causes many foot problems, but that people have them to assist in running and absorb energy when walking. This proves that evolution is not immune from imperfections.

http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/20/why-your-back-feet-hurt-blame-evolution/?hpt=hp_bn13

Cancer Caused by Even Moderate Amounts of Alcohol

In the past thirty years, 20,000 people in the U.S. have died of cancer related to alcohol consumption. Although 60% of these deaths were the result of drinking three or more glasses of alcohol a day, 35% were caused by drinking less than 1.5 drinks per day. For women, the most deaths from alcohol-related cancer fatalities were from breast cancer. Most people are not aware of the connection between alcohol consumption and cancer. Drinking less alcohol is something that experts are suggesting as a result of this study. This study proves that even drinking a little alcohol can result in cancer.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16963130-even-a-drink-a-day-boosts-cancer-death-risk-alcohol-study-finds?lite

Lance Armstrong is Being Sued

Lance Armstrong, who recently admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while he participated and won several Tour de France titles, is going to be sued by SCA, a sports insurance company. Though the lawsuit has not been filed yet, SCA is planning on it. The company wants Armstrong to return $12 million that he had received as a bonus after he had won several titles. Armstrong had previously sued the company after they had acknowledged allegations of him doping during the competition. However, they eventually settled. Mark Fabiani, Armstrong’s attorney, said that they can’t “reopen the matter.”

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/06/justice/sports-lance-armstrong-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_bn1

Another Toyota Recall

Last Wednesday, the car company Toyota recalled 1 million cars that were sold in the United States. This follows recalls in 2009 and 2010 that involved 8 million vehicles and problems that occurred during the tsunami that decimated Japan in 2011. Toyota also recalled 7.4 million cars in October of 2012 because of problems with the power windows. This latest recall for “the world’s largest automaker” is the result of issues with windshield wipers and airbags. The faulty airbags are present on 2003 and 2004 models of the Corolla and Corolla Matrix while the problems with the windshield wipers affect the Lexus IS models sold from 2006 to the beginning of 2012.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/30/autos/toyota-recall/index.html?hpt=hp_t3