New-employee orientation at Milk Bar is a little like the first meeting of a support group devised by Tony Robbins and Willy Wonka. The 30 people sitting on folding chairs were in for a treat on this January morning in Williamsburg, Brooklyn: an appearance by Christina Tosi, who a decade ago conjured up the first…
HONG KONG — Like many across East Asia, North Koreans have been exchanging presents this month to celebrate the Lunar New Year. But rather than tea, sweets or clothing, some in this impoverished, isolated country are giving the gift of crystal meth. The gifting and use of methamphetamine, a powerful stimulant that has been blamed…
After renting a 200-year-old farmhouse on 230 acres in Stanford, N.Y., for four years, Soo Kim and Carolina Gunnarsson couldn’t imagine any better place for a weekend escape from Manhattan. “We loved it so much. It’s very secluded; the only neighbors were cows,” said Ms. Gunnarsson, 32, a founder of Fit Pregnancy Club, a prenatal…
Image New Orleans rapper Big Freedia at Neyow’s Creole Cafe.CreditEdmund D. Fountain for The New York Times If the next time you are in New Orleans, you find yourself wondering who will make you dance during your visit, local rapper Big Freedia has your answer. “I’m that queen that’ll make you bounce!” she crows on…
Mahendra Agrawal never imagined he would have a heart attack. He followed a vegetarian diet, exercised regularly and maintained a healthy weight. His blood pressure and cholesterol levels were normal. But when Mr. Agrawal experienced shortness of breath in June 2013, his wife urged him to go to a hospital. There, tests revealed that Mr.…
A large review of studies confirms that exercise can be a good way to help reduce the frequency of falls in the elderly. The analysis, in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, included 108 randomized controlled trials with more than 23,000 participants. Their average age was 76, and 77 percent were women. As controls, the…
Forget free wine hours and on-demand workout videos. An increasing number of hotels around the world are now providing guests the option to book rooms with filtration and purification systems that minimize threats of air pollution and offer cleaner air. “Interior air quality can be abysmal,” said Beth McGroarty, research director for The Global Wellness…
HONG KONG — It was after dark on a Tuesday evening in December 2017 when the vans pulled onto Island House Lane, a placid side street of residential complexes and community garden plots in the suburban Tai Po district. High-rises gave way to lush forest as the street wound down to a pebble beach. Across…
New research that features in the journal Frontiers in Neuroscience suggests that women who use oral contraceptives are less able to recognize facial expressions of complex emotions. Researchers are uncovering new psychological side effects of oral contraceptives. Over 60 percent of women aged 15–44 years are currently using a form of contraception, according to the…
VIDEO: Chickadees with better learning and memory skills, needed to find numerous food caches, are more likely to survive their first winter, a long-term study of mountain chickadees has found. view more Chickadees with better learning and memory skills, needed to find numerous food caches, are more likely to survive their first winter, a long-term study…