Cheryl Strayed: Dear readers, we have news: This will be the final Sweet Spot column. Steve and I have felt deeply privileged to answer letters from those of you who sought our advice here, but after much reflection we have decided that it’s time to shift our focus to other creative endeavors — namely, our…
DetailsA prospective analysis of back pain and rates of disability may help explain the association between back pain and mortality. Back pain is common and often debilitating. Back pain is very common, affecting millions of people worldwide. It is also a major cause of disability and missed work days. Risk factors such as posture, sedentary…
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A few years ago, scientists conducted a real-world experiment at a ThyssenKrupp steel factory in Germany. They assigned the day shift to early risers and the late shift to night owls. Soon the steel workers, many of whom had been skeptical at the outset, were getting an extra hour of sleep on work nights. By…
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Image The sustainability advocate Venitia Falconer models the Cipher Skirt by Samantha Pleat, £150. There are online marketplaces for luxury brands, secondhand fashion and street wear. Why not for sustainable style? So wondered Agatha Lintott from her remote farmhouse nestled in the green rolling hills of the South Devon countryside in England. Ms. Lintott, a…
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The Marburg virus, a deadly cousin of Ebola, has been isolated in fruit bats in Sierra Leone, marking the first time it has been found in West Africa. Five bats caught in three health districts tested positive for the virus, according to two teams of scientists. One was led by the Centers for Disease Control…
DetailsIce skating, chocolate making, and dinner in a 15th-century cellar; as always, the Medical News Today annual winter party was an event to remember. But it wasn’t the activities that made our party special. It was the company. The MNT team had a fabulous dinner in a 15th-century cellar for the annual winter party. Life…
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courtesy Once upon a time, sweatpants were an abomination. Even Karl Lagerfeld, creative director for Chanel and Fendi, once balked at the leisure garment, saying, “Sweatpants are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life so you bought some sweatpants.” But as trends ebb and flow, the comfy piece has moved outside of…
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Good morning. Gabrielle Hamilton has the single-best idea for a Christmas Eve feed I’ve ever considered, and it’s the subject of her latest “Eat” column for The Times: a caviar sandwich (above) on buttered white toast, with scallion crème fraîche and chopped hard-boiled eggs. It’s a “luscious and haute, lowbrow sandwich,” Gabrielle told us. “All…
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Image A fellow worker (at a store in the greater metro Manila area) checks her spam.CreditErik De Castro/Reuters It was 8:03 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 12, and my body had sent me a notification, via my throbbing skull: You’re probably getting the flu. Facebook, too, had just notified me, via an alert on my phone, of…
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Stepping outside Termini station, the gateway to Rome for many visitors, my tour guide asked me what I saw. “Graffiti?” I said. “Trash?” “Exactly,” he said. “A Roman would not see this. The Roman is so beaten down by the filth in which he lives that he can no longer recognize or see the sad…
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