Huffpost Impact

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood, veterans and mental health advocates stressed the importance of reducing the stigma around mental health issues in the military.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ivan Lopez, 34, opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas, killing three and injuring 16 before turning the gun on himself. The violence was particularly disheartening because Fort Hood was the site of the worst mass killing at an American military installation, which left 13 people dead and more than 30 injured in 2009.

So when word emerged that Lopez, who served a four-month tour of duty in Iraq in 2011, was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, a familiar firestorm erupted.

Huffpost Women

In 2007, London-based photographer Ben Hopper started “Natural Beauty,” a photo series designed to challenge what he described as the societal “brainwashing” done by the beauty industry.

Now, nearly seven years later, Hopper released his first official set of these photographs to The Huffington Post. Using an eclectic group of models, actresses, designers and friends, Hopper’s pictures highlight a woman’s beauty, her armpit hair, and the timely reminder that those two things are in no way mutually exclusive.

The images play on the fact that armpit and body hair have been stigmatized both here in the United States and abroad. Rarely, if ever, do you see a woman in the public eye who isn’t conscious of removing much of her body hair.

Huffpost Arts

While heart disease almost always strikes in middle or old age, Americans are starting down the road very young — as children and young adults, several studies released Friday show. But prevention might be as easy as eating more fruits and veggies.

One study showed that nearly a third of kids screened at pediatric clinics in Houston already had unhealthy cholesterol levels by age 9 to 11. Another team found young women who reported eating the most fruits and vegetables in their 20s were 40 percent less likely to have dangerously blocked arteries in their 40s.

Taken together, they show that while heart disease starts early, good eating habits early in life might be able to prevent it.

Huffpost Crime

A Georgia teen says he was the victim of a savage beating during which his classmates cheered on his attacker.

CBS Atlanta reports that, last Tuesday, 16-year-old David Egan, who attends Parkview High School in Gwinnett County, was beaten so badly his nose was detached from his skull.

“I turn back and I felt something hit me,” Egan said. “I didn’t even see him move. The first hit everything went blurry. Next thing I know I was on the ground. I didn’t even see it coming.”