• A Promising but Controversial New Depression Treatment Is Now More Accessible in Vermont 

    Posted on in category Local

    Published May 10, 2023

    A primary care doctor at the University of Vermont Health Network will soon start treating depression with a mind-altering drug that’s shown promise in helping people who don’t respond to traditional medicine.

    SEE THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

    The medication — known as esketamine and sold by Johnson & Johnson under the brand name Spravato — is chemically similar to ketamine, a substance that’s been used in medical settings as an anesthetic, on the streets as a party drug and, more recently, as an off-label treatment for mood disorders.

     

     

  • Small Acts of Kindness Are Universal: Global Study Finds People Help Each Other Every 2 Minutes

    Posted on in category Positive News

     

    An international study of people on five continents has found that humans help each other with small things about every 2 minutes, and acquiesce to calls for help overwhelmingly more often than reject them.

    For sociologists, understanding the root of any kind of human behavior first requires them to attempt to parse out how much influence on it comes from nurture, and how much from nature.

    SEE FULL ARTICLE HERE

  • Seven Vermont Luthiers Who Push the Boundaries of Instrument Making

    Posted on in categories Music , Positive News

    Pop quiz: Where was the first school for guitar building in North America? If you answered “South Strafford, Vt.,” you’re either a huge guitar nerd or you were probably a student of pioneering luthier Charles Fox — maybe both. In 1973, Fox opened the Earthworks School of Lutherie, which became the School of the Guitar Research & Design Center, in the tiny Orange County village where he taught an entire generation (or two) of aspiring guitar makers.

    SEE THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

  • Police Arrest Teen Suspect in Downtown Burlington Shooting

    Posted on in category Local

    Published May 9, 2023 at 9:51 a.m.

  • Man Summits Highest Peaks of England, Scotland and Wales with Fridge on his Back For Mental Health–WATCH

    Posted on in categories Hiking , Positive News , Travel & Adventure

    A man who attempted to summit the highest mountains in England, Scotland, and Wales to raise money for charity has now completed the challenge—with a refrigerator strapped to his back.

    The 38-year-old former soldier Michael Copeland conquered the three peaks challenge in just under 24 hours to raise money for the mental health charity Mind.

    SEE THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

    He started with the Scottish peak Ben Nevis at 6:54 AM last Saturday before scaling Scafell Pike in the Lake District, and then Snowdon in Wales with just 10 minutes to spare.

    The daredevil had to overcome grueling weather conditions including heavy rain, snow, and 40mph winds. He ended up running downhill with the fridge from the summit of Snowdon to complete the challenge just in time.

    “The whole challenge felt like a movie with the changing weather conditions… 30-40mph winds as we were going up Snowdon so it almost felt like a grown adult was trying to push me over,” he said.

     

  • Just a Handful of Walnuts 3x Weekly Boosts Attention and Brain Growth in Adolescents, Especially Those With ADHD

    Posted on in category Positive News

    A handful of walnuts three times a week is enough to boost attention and brain growth in secondary school kids, according to a new study of students in Spain.

    The nuts contain a type of omega-3 oil that is particularly beneficial to growing brains.

    Scientists who studied 700 kids aged 11-16 found the cognitive development and psychological maturation increased in those that ate the nuts regularly.

    Students from 12 different schools in Barcelona were randomly divided into two groups. A control group, which received no intervention of any kind and the experimental group, which received packages containing 30 grams of walnut kernels that they were told to consume every day for a period of six months.

    The research team from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, the Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), and the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, found the benefits even in those who only ate them 100 times in the 182 days.

    Walnuts are rich in alpha-linolenic fatty acid (ALA), a type of omega-3 that plays a fundamental role in brain development—especially at this life stage when kids’ bodies are changing a lot as they grow.

    “Adolescence is a time of great biological changes,” said Principal investigator Dr. Jordi Julvez from the IISPV.

    “Neurons that are well nourished with this type of fatty acids will be able to grow and form new, stronger synapses.”

    They also found an increase in functions relating to fluid intelligence, which is less influenced by learning. It is inherent to the person’s biology.

    “We assessed (fluid intelligence) with increasingly complex tests, such as having adolescents figure out what pattern a row of letters followed,” explained Dr. Julvez.

    While there have been previous studies on the effect of nuts on our health, the impact of their consumption at such a critical stage for cognitive development as adolescence has never been examined.

    Ariadna Pinar, a doctoral student from IISPV and first author of the study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, said their findings demonstrate that following a healthy diet is as important as maintaining these habits over time.

    “Adolescence is a period of great brain development and complex behaviors that requires a significant amount of energy and nutrients.

    “If boys and girls would heed these recommendations and actually eat a handful of walnuts a day, or at least three times a week, they would notice many substantial improvements in cognitive abilities and it would help them face the challenges of adolescence and entering adulthood.”

  • Dave Grohl cooks barbecue for 500 at Los Angeles homeless shelter

    Posted on in category Positive News

    Published by By Joe Goggins; Rolling Stone

    The Foo Fighters frontman fired up an enormous meat smoker.

    Dave Grohl helped feed 500 people when he stopped by a Los Angeles homeless shelter.

    SEE THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

    The Foo Fighters frontman reportedly spent 16 hours at Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission last week, rocking up at around midnight on Wednesday (February 22) with an overnight bag and an enormous meat smoker in tow.

    Per TMZGrohl helped to rustle up ribs, pork, brisket, cabbage, coleslaw and beans, handling the expenses himself. 14 hours were spent cooking, with the meat left to rest for a further two. Photos obtained by the site showed the rocker taking a hands-on role in all aspects of the preparation; he reportedly slept in the parking lot whilst the meat was being smoked.The shelter’s CEO, Rowan Vansleve, meanwhile, took to Instagram to share a clip of himself and Grohl, who claimed to be “all in” on his work for the Mission. “What’s up, you guys?” he said as he congratulated volunteers for the charity on a 350-mile run they were completing for the charity. “Fifteen miles today, congratulations, tomorrow’s another beautiful day, keep it up. We’re out here all night cooking, so come back soon so we can feed you.” The Mission works to end homelessness between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

    Grohl’s visit came just days before his adopted hometown was battered by freak storms that left the Hollywood Hills covered in snow earlier this week. Meanwhile, Foo Fighters announced details yesterday (February 28) of their first headlining concerts since the death last March of drummer Taylor Hawkins. In additional to a slew of previously announced festival appearances in the US, Germany, Japan and Brazil, the band will play three standalone gigs in their homeland in May and June, in New Hampshire, Arkansas and Alabama.

    They had previously confirmed their intention to continue without Hawkins in a statement issued on New Year’s Eve 2022. “Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward,” they said. “We know that when we see you again – and we will soon – he’ll be there in spirit with all of us every night.”

     

  • Russian Photojournalist Dmitri Beliakov Brings His Images of War in Ukraine to Vermont Copy

    Posted on in category Local

    Published February 24, 2023 at 11:23 a.m.

    For 25 years, Dmitri Beliakov covered armed conflicts and photographed countless soldiers, refugees, casualties and atrocities. His searing battlefield images, often shot in the reflections of windows and through holes in mortar-scarred buildings, have appeared in some of the world’s most prestigious publications, including the New York Times, the Washington PostForbesDer Spiegel and the Sunday Times of London. Yet Beliakov bristles at the label “war photographer.”

    SEE THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

    “I’m an anti-war photographer,” he said. “I hate war because I’ve seen what war does.”

    For the Russian-born photojournalist, the capacity of fanatics to inflict suffering on innocent civilians was forever burned into his memory beginning on September 1, 2004. That morning, Beliakov had just dropped off his son at school for the first time when he heard from a source within the Russian military. Counterterrorism units were deploying to Russia’s North Caucasus region to a school hostage crisis in the town of Beslan. Beliakov immediately joined them.

     

  • Andrew Tripp Is an All-Star Union Organizer — and a Kick-Ass Cross-Country Coach, Too

    Posted on in categories Local , Skiing & Snowboarding

    Published February 22, 2023 at 10:00 a.m. | Updated February 23, 2023 at 10:33 a.m.

    Running coach Andrew Tripp greeted the high schoolers who trickled into Norwich University‘s field house with a hearty warning: A brutal workout was in store, starting with three laps around the indoor track — 600 meters at full speed.

    Referring to the final turn, the U-32 coach said, “It’s going to hurt very badly, but only for 15 seconds, OK?”

    SEE FULL ARTICLE HERE

    Normally, Tripp, who is 52, would have been running with them. But he had a cold, so he reverted to his race-day role of sideline encouragement, which he delivers in an emotional register that will stay imprinted in their amygdalae into adulthood.

    “Amy, let’s go, girl! Faster!”

     

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