In many ways, public health can't afford to ignore gamification. Addiction is already gamified-and it's winning. As one example, "smart" vapes now feature screens, rewards, animations, and puff tracking. These high-tech devices have become top-selling products, with 32% of youth and 33% of young adults reporting using vapes with screens, games, or Bluetooth connectivity in the past month. These products are applying the same engagement strategies used in consumer tech to drive repeat use and ultimately sustain addictive behavior.
But as the city's Department of Public Health follows Mayor Daniel Lurie's directions to make cuts, they wanted to make one thing clear: safety in the city's medical facilities requires more than just the presence of security personnel. It requires widespread training in de-escalation, working with patients with complex needs, and crisis response, they said. These programs are on the chopping block.
The United States-imposed fuel crisis in Cuba is also turning into a waste and health crisis, as many collection trucks have been left with empty fuel tanks, causing refuse to pile up on the streets of the capital, Havana, and other cities and towns. Only 44 of Havana's 106 rubbish trucks have been able to keep operating due to the fuel shortages, slowing rubbish collection, as waste piles up on Havana's street corners, the Reuters news agency reported on Monday, citing state-run news outlet Cubadebate.
If you're one of the thousands of people who call Glen Cove, New York home, there are plenty of things to do both at home and in the community - but if you're looking to take up pickleball without leaving your house's yard, you might encounter a bump in the road. As the Long Island Press's Casey Fahrer reports, the city's government recently implemented a three-month ban on new pickleball facilities on private property.
We come to you with this breaking news: the condoms have officially run out in the Olympic Village. I repeat, the condoms have run out!!! We knew this day would inevitably come. We just didn't think it would come this early. (Pun intended.) An anonymous source told the Italian newspaper La Stampa that the condom supply at the Milan-Cortina Olympic Village (around 10,000 condoms) has run out in just three days. Three Days. You guys, when we said we wanted world peace, this is not what we meant.
This week on Talking Headways we're joined by Dr. Lawrence Frank to talk about how the built environment and the way we get around connect to public health outcomes. We also discuss the work that led to Walk Score, the shortcomings of transportation cost benefit analysis, and the systematic externalization of health benefits. Once again, at Streetsblog, we give you three ways to connect to the spirited discussions of Talking Headways:
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to scrap the agency's landmark 2009 global warming endangerment finding, breaking with the long-standing scientific consensus that global warming poses a risk to human health. The finding has played a critical role in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. The transportation sector accounted for 28 percent of all U.S. emissions in 2022.
US researchers found that engaging in intellectually stimulating activities throughout life, such as reading, writing or learning a new language, was associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, and slower cognitive decline. The study author Andrea Zammit, of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, said the discovery suggested cognitive health in later life was strongly influenced by lifelong exposure to intellectually stimulating environments.
Wildfires are no longer a once-a-year emergency in Canada. In 2025, fires burned more than 8.3 million hectares across multiple provinces (roughly the size of New Brunswick), making it the second-worst wildfire season in the country. Some experts warn this could become the new normal. At The Walrus Talks Wildfires, expert voices from the health, climate, policy, and technology sectors come together to explore the impact of the wildfire crisis.
The contentious decision came as part of a "National Strategy for Food, Nutrition and Climate," setting out the government's aims until 2030 on balancing a healthy diet while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was supposed to be published in 2023, the culmination of a direct-democracy initiative that immediately raised the hackles of agriculture lobbies that accused the government of threatening their livelihoods.
A law banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2009 could see smoking in young people drop below 5 per cent decades earlier than expected. The government plans to introduce the smoke-free generation" law as part of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, which would progressively raise the age of sale so that anyone born in 2009 or later can never legally be sold tobacco, starting from 2027.
In a statement sent to DW News, the World Health Organization (WHO)stressed that cooking with biomass fuels is one of the "most overlooked public health emergencies" in Africa. "The smoke generated contains extremely high levels of fine particulate matter (PM.), carbon monoxide, black carbon, benzene, and other toxic pollutants that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream," the WHO statement warned, adding that these exposures could lead to pneumonia in children, chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease, adverse pregnancy outcomes, and preventable mortality.
A Code Orange air quality alert has been issued for thousands on Tuesday due to high levels of air pollution. The alert covers the Liberty and Clairton area in Pennsylvania, including Clairton, Glassport, Lincoln and Port Vue, as well as the Susquehanna Valley, including Dauphin, Lebanon, Cumberland, York and Lancaster counties. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) warned that pollution levels may become unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children, the elderly, and people with asthma, heart disease, or other lung conditions.
The study, published in Addictive Behaviors Reports and titled "The effect of television advertising on gambling behaviour: a quasi-experimental study during the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup," analyzed betting behaviour among 365 men aged 18-45 in England during the 2022 tournament. According to the paper's abstract, "Frequency of betting on football was 16% to 24% higher during games televised on a channel with gambling advertising compared to one without."
The United States publishes the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) every five years. These guidelines have historically been established by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The new DGA for the years 2025-2030 focuses on the overall message of "eating real food." By shifting to a stronger emphasis on limiting added sugar intake in the diet, this marks a pivotal shift in the guidelines that drive American nutrition.
When Matt Hillier was in his 20s, he went camping with a friend who was a nurse. In the morning she told him she had been shocked by the snoring coming from his tent. She basically said, For a 25-year-old non-smoker who's quite skinny, you snore pretty loudly,' says Hiller, now 32. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.
The logic behind electric vehicles benefiting public health has long been solid: More EVs means fewer internal combustion engines on the road, and a reduction in harmful tailpipe emissions. But now researchers have confirmed, to the greatest extent yet, that this is indeed what's actually happening on the ground. What's more, they found that even relatively small upticks in EV adoption can have a measurably positive impact on a community.
The analysis of nearly 500 varieties of tinned and chilled soups sold in supermarkets found that 23% contained too much salt. Of the 481 soups Action on Salt and Sugar (AoSS) tested, nearly half (48%) of branded soups and 6% of supermarket own-brand soups still exceeded the government's voluntary salt target of 0.59g per 100g serving. The saltiest was Soup Head's Tom Yum soup, with 3.03g in a 300g pack more than half an adult's recommended total daily limit and saltier than eating two McDonald's cheeseburgers.
Smoking, being overweight, and exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun and sunbeds are the top preventable causes of cancer, experts have warned. Researchers from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and its International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) analysed 30 risk factors that cause cancer, such as smoking, drinking alcohol and air pollution. Using data from across 185 countries, they estimate that about 7.1 million of the 18.7 million new cancer cases diagnosed globally in 2022 were preventable.
Dr Lucie Nield, co-lead investigator from the University of Sheffield, said: People deserve greater transparency about the food they are ordering online, and these businesses must be held to the appropriate regulatory standards. Without this, dark kitchens risk falling through the gap, with potential consequences for public health, particularly by encouraging increased use of online takeaways, greater availability and therefore greater consumption of high fat, salt or sugar food.
