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Since their mom worked long hours to make ends meet, Dennice took on a maternal role with her little sister, even picking up extra jobs in college to pay for Ashley’s high school extracurriculars. Although Ashley and Dennice are close to their three older siblings, this period of reliance bonded them.

Even now that they’re living separately, about a 30-minute car ride apart, Ashley says the sisters are as close as ever. They talk on the phone regularly and spend weekends at each other’s places. “It’s something we envisioned,” Pro says. “That was our goal growing up, so we made sure to keep that relationship strong.”

In what may be obvious to those who have them, siblings stand to be one of the most enduring relationships of a person’s life. They’re your first roommates, your first playmates, maybe your first babysitter or charge, and probably your first fight. They’re your social guinea pigs, the first draft

of nearly every interpersonal interaction. Siblings, including half-, step-, and adoptive brothers and sisters, are thrust upon you. But as you age, maintaining those relationships is voluntary.

As siblings progress through life, these once-obligatory relationships can transition from roommate to friend or even best friend. In interviews for their 2015 book Adult Sibling Relationships, authors Geoffrey L. Greif and Michael E. Woolley found 64 percent of respondents said they were good friends with a sibling; 45 percent considered a sibling one of their best friends. But the sibling relationship can also be more fraught. Greif and Woolley found that 62 percent had mixed feelings about their siblings, feeling neither wholly lovey-dovey nor completely cold (interestingly enough, even those who are close to their siblings can have such mixed feelings).

However you feel about your siblings, it’s clear these relationships have a profound impact on well-being. Into adulthood, those who perceive parental favoritism or sibling conflict are more likely to have symptoms of depression, anxiety, hostility, and loneliness. Adult sibling relationships hold just as much weight as a person’s relationship with their mother or spouse.

But what if, for one reason or another, your relationship with a sibling is cordial at best? What if it feels like a relationship you never would have maintained if not for being connected by blood or family ties? “It’s not a bad thing that you don’t have a super close relationship with a sibling,” says Katherine Jewsbury Conger, a professor emerita of human development and family studies at the University of California Davis. “I think we sometimes put super expectations that siblings are going to be really close throughout adulthood, and I don’t think we give enough credit to how many things people experience that make them so different as they move through all the different stages of life.”

An adult sibling relationship is a choice

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Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes nearly 38,000 cancers a year, including most cervical and throat cancers. Now, recent research suggests HPV infection also increases the risk of heart disease. An analysis of seven studies with a total of nearly 250,000 participants found that those who tested positive for HPV were 33 percent more likely than those who tested negative to develop cardiovascular disease.

Now, Stephen Akinfenwa, an internal medicine resident at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and one of the lead authors of the analysis, says he would like to study whether the HPV vaccine, which can prevent 90 percent of cervical cancers, also reduces the risk of heart disease.

The vaccine, which has been recommended for adolescents since 2006, protects against infection with nine strains of HPV, including high-risk types that are the most likely to cause cervical cancer, as well as strains that cause genital warts. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that boys and girls receive a series of two HPV shots at ages 11 or 12 as part of their routine childhood vaccinations—and that people receive three shots if their first dose is instead administered between the ages of 15 and 26. The vaccine is most protective when given before people become sexually active.

The HPV vaccine has been strikingly effective. Cervical cancer deaths in women under age 25—the first generation eligible to receive the vaccine—fell by 65 percent from 2012 to 2019.

Learning that heart disease may be related to HPV is exciting because HPV infection is preventable, Akinfenwa explains. “It feels like good news,” he says. “We’re hoping that [the vaccine] will be a powerful tool for prevention.”

Akinfenwa and his colleagues presented a condensed version of their analysis in March at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology. It has not yet been published as a peer-reviewed study. The analysis included studies published between 2011 and 2024 that followed women for three to 17 years.

The largest study included in the analysis was published by researchers in South Korea in 2024 and followed apparently healthy women who were tested for 13 strains of high-risk HPV as part of a routine screening for cervical cancer. The women returned for health checks every year or two for an average of 8.6 years. Although heart disease and death were rare among these women, who had an average age of 40, those who tested positive for high-risk HPV were nearly four times as likely as those who tested negative to develop blocked arteries or die from heart disease, the study found.

Women aren’t the only ones at risk, Akinfenwa says. In one paper included in the analysis, a 2017 study of people undergoing radiation therapy for head and neck cancer, 75 percent of patients were men. (Head and neck cancers are more than twice as common in men as they are in women, according to the National Cancer Institute.) The 2017 study found that people who tested positive for HPV were more likely to have strokes compared with those who tested negative.

HPV is ubiquitous and the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. Among sexually active people, more than 90 percent of men and more than 80 percent of women are infected with HPV during their lifetime. About half of HPV infections involve high-risk strains that cause the bulk of cancers of the cervix, throat, vagina, vulva, anus and penis.

Vaccine hesitancy and lack of awareness about HPV has kept many parents from vaccinating their children against the infection, research shows. Some parents are reluctant to vaccinate their kids against HPV because they don’t think their children will have sex as teenagers. Only 61 percent of adolescents are up to date on all HPV vaccines.

Even without a study that has specifically analyzed the effect of HPV vaccination on heart disease, the link between HPV and heart disease suggests that “vaccination is a good idea, and our study definitely supports that,” Akinfenwa says.

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Almost from the time my daughter Elizabeth could speak in sentences, she whined when she didn’t get what she wanted: my attention, a snack, a repair job on a faulty toy. When she turned 3—and suddenly seemed like such a “big girl”—her continued whining started to drive me crazy. I’d mutter angrily under my breath, clench my teeth, and even whine back. Once, I even lost control and yelled so vehemently that she burst into tears. But more often than not, I’d just give in to whatever she wanted, simply to make the shrill sound stop.

Like nails on a chalkboard, whining—an irritating blend of talking and crying—has the ability to make almost any parent either lose their temper or cave. And preschoolers are pretty smart. They know that pleading in that pitch gets a strong reaction from their parents, and if whining has worked in the past, they’ll be even more likely to try it again.

Why Kids Whine

While whining may seem like manipulation, it’s often more helpful to consider why kids whine in the first place. A whiny child isn’t being annoying or spoiled deliberately. Whining is usually the default way that young kids can express themselves when they’re tired, cranky, hungry, uncomfortable, or just don’t want to do something.

Although 3- and 4-year-olds’ language skills are rapidly improving, they still don’t have the vocabulary to describe all of these feelings, explains Michele Borba, EdD, author of Parents Do Make a Difference.

What Not to Do When Your Child Whines

Even when a child can articulate that they’re hungry for lunch or hate sitting in the car seat, they might still whine—because they’ve learned that whining gets your attention. “For 3- and 4-year-olds who are testing the limits of their independence, whining makes them feel very powerful,” says psychologist Carolyn Crowder, PhD, co-author of Whining: 3 Steps to Stopping It Before the Tears and Tantrums Start.

“If you can’t stand whining, your child will do it even more, simply because it gets a reaction,” agrees Jane Nelsen, EdD, co-author of Positive Discipline for Preschoolers. Even scolding can reinforce the behavior. “Kids just want a response. When they don’t know how to get a positive response, they’ll go for a negative one,” Nelsen explains. And needless to say, giving in (“OK, you can have one piece of candy, but promise you’ll eat your lunch?”) doesn’t work either. You might get a respite from the whining, but you’ll perpetuate the problem.

5 Ways to Tackle Whining

Fortunately, you can break this pattern—in a way that encourages your child’s development rather than punishes them. “When you stop getting frustrated by the whining, your child will stop too,” insists Nelsen. At first, this laissez-faire approach seemed completely unrealistic to me. But because my daughter was a whine connoisseur, I decided to try it.

It wasn’t easy—often I was tempted to yell or just give her what she wanted—but I was determined to be firm and consistent. “You have to exercise a lot of self-control,” acknowledges Dr. Crowder. But remember: You’re asking your child to do the same.

To my amazement, within a few weeks, Elizabeth had gotten into the habit of asking nicely instead of nagging. To help turn your whining experiences around in a similar way, here are five strategies you can try next time the whine comes to town.

1. Refuse to let it bother you

Pick a calm, quiet time to tell your child that there’s a new rule: If they whine, you won’t respond.

“From then on, whenever they whine, keep your facial expression absolutely neutral,” Borba says. Calmly remind them that you’re there to listen and help when they use their regular voice.

You might even work together to choose a gentle signal you can give when you notice whining creeping in—like tugging on your ear, suggests Nelsen.

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Hmmmmm…

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Isaiah 65:13-16

New Living Translation

13 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“My servants will eat,
but you will starve.
My servants will drink,
but you will be thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
but you will be sad and ashamed.
14 My servants will sing for joy,
but you will cry in sorrow and despair.
15 Your name will be a curse word among my people,
for the Sovereign Lord will destroy you
and will call his true servants by another name.
16 All who invoke a blessing or take an oath
will do so by the God of truth.
For I will put aside my anger
and forget the evil of earlier days.

 

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CLIMATEWIRE | Climate-warming carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere grew at a record-breaking speed in 2024, surging by 3.7 parts per million, a recent NOAA data analysis has found.

It’s one of the agency’s biggest scientific findings of the year — yet the research largely has flown under the radar after NOAA officials took steps to minimize the announcement.

Instead of publishing a press release or a featured article online, the agency described the findings only in social media posts on Facebook and on X. And the posts failed to highlight the dataset’s most important finding: that last year’s CO₂ concentrations jumped by an unprecedented amount.

That’s a departure from the agency’s historical approach to public communication. NOAA typically releases a public report each spring, prominently featured on its website, describing the previous year’s greenhouse gas concentrations. It also usually sends a press release to members of the media.

Last year’s report, for instance, noted that carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide concentrations all continued to climb in the atmosphere in 2023.

According to a source with knowledge of the 2024 analysis, NOAA staff prepared a public web story this year as usual. But officials nixed the report at the last minute, instead releasing the findings only on social media. The source was granted anonymity because they feared reprisal from the Trump administration.

A NOAA communications officer did not respond to a request for comment.

The move is part of a broader assault on NOAA science and public communications by the new administration.

Last month, the agency confirmed it was ending its regular monthly climate briefings, in which NOAA scientists presented climate and weather data to the media. That’s on top of widespread layoffs this year at the agency. And a recent proposal from the White House Office of Management and Budget would dramatically reorganize the agency and terminate much of its climate work — eliminating its entire Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.

A NOAA official suggested that downplaying the new CO₂ data has dampened media attention on what otherwise would have been a major climate headline. The scientific findings were reported earlier this month by The Washington Post, and the suppressed web story was reported by CNN earlier this week. There’s otherwise been little news reported on the subject.

But scientists say it’s a finding that’s worth more attention — and more worry. Some researchers believe last year’s CO₂ spike is evidence that the Earth system itself is becoming more vulnerable to the impacts of rising temperatures.

Natural landscapes, such as forests and wetlands, historically have acted as a carbon sink — soaking up excess CO₂ emissions and helping to offset some of the impacts of climate change. But some of these ecosystems may be breaking down under the stress of continued warming, with the added side effects of droughts and wildfires. And they’re storing less carbon in the process.

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A California research collective known as Noah’s Ark Scan says it will begin the first controlled excavation of the Durupınar Site on Mount Ararat’s southern flank once a preservation framework is in place with local universities.

“After securing additional information in cooperation with local universities in Turkey, we will establish a site-preservation plan and confirm whether the structures discovered through radar scans are artificial or natural,” the team told the Korean outlet FN News.

Ground-penetrating radar carried out by the group has revealed what members describe as “a rectangular structure” lying several metres below the surface. The anomalous shape sits inside a flat, oval hill some 160 metres long—almost exactly the length assigned to Noah’s Ark in Genesis.

Soil samples taken during earlier seasons by Turkish and American geologists contained clay, marine sediments and mollusk fragments dated to between 3,500 and 5,000 years ago. Those results, published last year, placed the material in the Copper Age, a horizon some historians link to large flood traditions.

The Durupınar hill first drew attention in May 1948, after earthquakes and torrential rains stripped away overburden. Turkish Army Captain İlhan Durupınar re-examined the site in 1959 while mapping the region for NATO and forwarded his photographs to Ankara, giving the outcrop its current name.

Many geologists who visited in the 1960s called the feature an unusually eroded rock formation, yet the ark hypothesis has persisted. The new project marks the first attempt to open trenches at the locality since systematic sampling began in 2021.

Mount Ararat, a dormant volcano topping 5,137 m, dominates a border zone shared by Turkey, Iran and Armenia. A small visitor centre stands a few hundred metres from the site, but guides advise foreign travellers to use caution in the politically sensitive area.

Excavation permits are still pending. Noah’s Ark Scan says fieldwork will not begin until protective measures are agreed with Turkish authorities and regional universities.

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The Durupınar hill. © (photo credit: Kasbah. Via Shutterstock)

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Our bodies produce all kinds of substances, and people have different tolerance levels for them. One that can be really bothersome is earwax. But believe it or not, this substance actually serves a purpose ― and you need to be careful when it comes to removing it. Below, experts break down what you need to know about dealing with earwax and cleaning out your ears.

First of all, you probably don’t need to clean out your ears

“Most people do not need to remove their ear wax,” said Dr. Erich P. Voigt, an associate professor in Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. “It is a protective coating of the ear canal. It is a waterproofing agent and has anti-microbial properties. It helps prevent outer ear infections.”

In addition to protecting your ears from water damage and infection, earwax also lubricates the ears, preventing the area from feeling dry and itchy. And like other parts of the body, ears are “self-cleaning,” so you don’t really need to wash the inside area.

“Think from an evolutionary standpoint,” said Dr. Lawrence R. Lustig, chair of the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “If Mother Nature designed an ear that had to be cleaned, that would be a poor design. We didn’t have ear cleaners 500,000 years ago.”

He described the system as a “conveyer belt of skin.”

“Earwax is a combination of skin and oil,” Lustig said. “Skin migrates out from the eardrum to the outside of the ear canal, and as those migrating dead skin cells mix with the oil glands of the ear canal on the way out, that’s where you get earwax.”

Some people have a migration problem, produce too much wax or wax of an abnormal consistency. They might be prone to wax infections and require medical intervention to remove their earwax, which can block the ear and impair hearing. But for most of us, the wax clears out naturally as we go about our daily lives.

“The body has a system for creating wax and pushing it out,” said Dr. Bradley B. Block, an otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeon and host of the “Physician’s Guide to Doctoring” podcast. “As you chew and talk, the ear canal skin moves, and this pushes the wax out. Interfering with this system can lead to wax getting pushed in and accumulating, clogging the ear canal, so cleaning the ears can have the paradoxical effect of clogging the ear.”

But if you insist on doing it, don’t use Q-tips

When you ask people what Q-tips are meant for, their answers will likely include cleaning out earwax. This practice has become so commonplace that Kevin James’ character in “Hitch” has a dance move that mimics cleaning out the ears with a Q-tip.

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For more than half a century planetary exploration and space science have been a hallmark of American achievement and excellence. From Mercury to Pluto and beyond, we have gained enormous understanding about planetary origins and evolution. We have learned about the atmospheric, surface and interior dynamics of other worlds. All those discoveries have carried implications for what’s happening here on Earth. In classrooms around the world, exploring new worlds and probing the mysteries of the universe is an emblem of America.

But that may now end; the Trump administration is poised to take the chainsaw to space science, just as it has to almost everything else in the U.S. science portfolio. Trump officials are planning huge, destructive cuts for space science, according to news reports, likely killing all new mission plans for this decade, including the long-sought, all-important Mars Sample Return mission. This flight was meant to return now-waiting samples from the red planet.

China is already leading the way to the moon and Mars with robotic vehiclelike rovers and sample returns and is also likely to do so with human missions. The U.S. human space program, meanwhile, is bogged down with a stumbling Artemis program, built with a convoluted architecture marked so far by failures and delays in nearly every major component. The latest is the repeated failure of SpaceX’s Starship, which twice now has exploded in flight. Reminiscent of the 1980s, when we paused planetary exploration after the success of Viking and launch of Voyager 1 and 2, the U.S. has iced new Mars missions, with plans to cancel Mars Sample Return, and redirected our once great lunar capability to small experimental landers built by inexperienced new companies. Beyond specific missions, the loss of space science research capability will be a generational calamity.

So what? Does it matter if the U.S. is No. 2 on other worlds? Space is a pretty distant arena—even more distant if it is the moon, Mars and beyond you are thinking of. Compared with the “America First” emphasis on AI chips, rare earth metals, tariffs and trade wars, promoting Teslas and cutting foreign aid, space is a minor political and economic player. But we are becoming No. 2 in such areas of focus too (see China’s advances in DeepSeek AI, BYD electric cars and developing hydropower in Africa). Our failures on Earth are not unrelated to our narrow and shortsighted vision for the moon and Mars, and the broader dismissal of science.

Focusing inward is what China’s Ming dynasty did in the 15th century and the Portuguese and Dutch did in the 18th. Our step back from exploration of new worlds is one deep into mediocrity or even obscurity. It’s tied together—the Apollo program was not about a race to the moon; it was about a race between geopolitical powers to prove their economic and technological superiority to the world. So too now. Africans will feel the U.S. retreat as we withdraw humanitarian and infrastructure aid. They will also feel the U.S. retreat from science and exploration just as China goes forward with theirs.

I don’t think it matters to Africans if it is Chinese or Americans there, engaged and helping them. I also don’t think it matters to the moon or Mars whether it is China or the U.S. building things there. But if we accept mediocrity and turn our focus inward, it will matter to us, especially to our children. The isolationist or island mentality expresses to our children and to the world that we have given up on ambition and growth and understanding the universe, that we will be satisfied with being less than we can be.

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Hmmmm…

As the famous saying goes, “The brightest flame burns the quickest“.  There are plenty of successful entrepreneurs who quickly rise to financial success, only to lose everything just as abruptly.

Life in the fast lane is not without its speed bumps, and here are some of the people who went from rags to riches – and then vice-versa.

The Millionaires & Billionaires Who Lost It All

1. Jordan Belfort

The once was Multi-Millionaire stockbroker had it all. Yachts, planes, women, midget throwing parties & drugs where just a few of the high life activities on Jordans agenda. Jordan was reported to be making $250 Million at the age of 25 through his stockbroking firm Stratton Oakmont which functioned like a boiler room and later served  as inspiration for the creation of the film also known as ‘Boiler Room‘, starring Vin Diesel & Giovanni Ribisi. Jordan Belfort’s multi millions where stripped from him when the FBI pinned him for securities fraud and money laundering.

After Jordan Belforts release from jail and paying back the 100 millions of dollars he owed other stock brokers Jordan decided to turn his life around releasing the New York Best Seller ‘Catching The Wolf Of Wall Street‘ which was written by Jordan himself about his Wall Street sagas and his run ins with the law. This Book has been developed into a movie which will be directed by Martin Scorsese starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort. Jordan also has toured the world discussing how to achieve success without sacrificing integrity and ethics.

The lesson here is that there is always room for change, if Jordan can change his life for the good, you can too.

2. Kim Dotcom

This German internet millionaire is most popularly known as the founder of Megaupload, an online file sharing service. Kim Dotcom’s fall from grace isn’t really because of bad business decisions as much as he was involved in a lot of suspected criminal activities.  While his website is being accused of copyright infringement, he’s also been charged with insider trading, embezzlement, and computer fraud. The problem with Kim is not only that he couldn’t handle his rock star lifestyle, but also the fact that he amassed his fortune through suspected illegal means.

UPDATE: Kim Dotcom has returned with a more legit way of sharing with his new online company MEGA. We will keep you updated with his progress. Good on you Kim for having another go and doing things right.

3. Allen Stanford

Currently in jail and awaiting trial, this former billionaire was charged with running a multi-billion dollar Ponzi Scheme.  Having acted as the Chairman of Stanford Financial Group, he’s been accused of masterminding a financial conspiracy to rob investors out of their hard-earned money and misused their funds to sustain his extravagant lifestyle. Like Kim Dotcom, he tried living the good life at the expense of others and is now reaping the consequences of his actions.  As of today, Allen Stanford is taking a number of medications for his depression and is even partially blind after an inmate assaulted him.

4. M.C. Hammer

MC Hammer rose to fame in the 1990s and earned around $30 Million during the peak of his musical career.  Shortly after his success, M.C. Hammer wasted no time squandering his fortune on mansions, sharing money with friends and expensive toys. Before the decade was over, he filed for bankruptcy due to an enormous debt.  He’s a classic example of someone earning his wealth too fast and too soon, which made it hard for him to handle his finances. Now living as a pastor in California, he learned the hard way that one should learn from their mistakes and consider the consequences of a decision before making it.

5. Sean Quinn

Only a few years ago, this Irish businessman was worth $6 Billion.  However, he quickly lost it all after he invested twenty five percent (25%) in Anglo Irish Bank.  However, his mistake was to use money he borrowed from his own insurance company.  When a financial crisis swept his country, his Anglo Irish shares suffered and caused him billions in debt.  What people can learn from Sean Quinn’s example is that itís alright to take risks only if youíve done your homework to avoid getting burned after taking the plunge.

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