Health, Fitness and Style

As the nation's Republican leaders huddle to reconsider their plans to "repeal and replace" the nation's health law, advocates for universal health coverage press on in California, armed with renewed political will and a new set of proposals. Organized labor and two lawmakers are leading the charge for a single, government-financed program for everyone in the state. And Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has suggested building on employer-based health care to plug holes in existing coverage. The proposals are fueled both by a fear of losing gains under the Affordable Care Act and a sense that the law doesn't go far enough toward covering everyone and cutting costs. more »

A 2015 survey of high school students in the [California] district, which includes Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, found that 11 percent of girls and 6 percent of boys reported being the victims of unwanted kissing, touching or sexual intercourse with someone they were dating or had dated in the past year. The usual approach, which relies on teaching kids that "no means no," isn't enough, a high school senior has said. Often, when it comes to sexual activity, she said, "there is a fine line. We have to un-blur it."     more »

Unlike more cosmetic markers of aging, such as wrinkles and gray hair, sleep deterioration has been linked to such conditions as Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, obesity, diabetes and stroke, a Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience has said. Walker warns that the pills designed to help us doze off are a poor substitute for the natural sleep cycles that the brain needs in order to function well. "Don’t be fooled into thinking sedation is real sleep. It's not," he said. more »

Expedition 50 Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson is on her eighth spacewalk Thursday morning and could surpass astronaut Suni Williams’ record for the most spacewalks by a female astronaut. Whitson’s last spacewalk was on Jan. 6 with Commander Shane Kimbrough when she hooked up new lithium-ion batteries and inspected the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Meantime, the Senate Committee on Intelligence hears an expert testify: "The issue before this panel is Russian active measures and influence campaigns. It rose to the top of our national agenda in 2016, when we became aware of Russian interference in our presidential campaign." more »