Industries can harm health in many ways: Here are 3 that aren’t so obvious

Some products and practices are directly linked to avoidable ill health, planetary damage and social and health inequity, especially by large transnational corporations

Sameera Mahomedy

Down To Earth | March 30, 2023

 Research confirms the adverse effects of social media on mental health. Photo: Shutterstock

A recent ground-breaking series of reports in the science journal The Lancet unpacks what commercial determinants of health are, and how they affect public health. It uses a new, broader definition of the determinants:

the systems, practices and pathways through which commercial actors drive health and equity.

Some commercial entities contribute positively to health and society. However, research shows that some commercial products and practices are directly linked to avoidable ill health, planetary damage, and social and health inequity. Large transnational corporations are especially to blame.

Interrupting sleep after a few minutes can boost creativity

Clare Wilson

New Scientist | December 08, 2021

Salvador Dali thought an unusual sleep state could boost creativity
Photo12 / Alamy

Where does creativity come from? According to people such as the US inventor Thomas Edison, our inventiveness surges during an unusual state of mind as we drift into sleep.

New support for this idea comes from a study that finds people gain insight into a tricky maths problem if they are allowed to enter the initial stages of sleep, then woken up.

When people fall asleep they may spend a few minutes in a state called hypnagogia or “N1”, often characterised by vivid dreams – although usually people progress into deep sleep and forget the dreams when they wake.

US Sanctions Venezuela Again to Prove Socialism Doesn’t Work

Real News Network | February 10, 2020

Shortly after Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaidó got a standing ovation at Trump’s State of the Union address, United States officials promised more sanctions on Venezuela. Why?

Workers collect 300,000 plus Missouri signatures to stop right to work for less

by TIM ROWDEN and PRESS ASSOCIATES INC.

Hundreds of union members and volunteers crowded into IBEW Local 1 Hall in St. Louis to hear the news that volunteers had collected more than 300,000 signatures on petitions to repeal Missouri’s phony “right-to-work” law by placing it on the Nov. 2018 ballot for voters to decide. | Labor Tribune

ST. LOUIS (PAI) — Workers and their allies capped a successful petition drive by collecting more than 300,000 notarized signatures of voters to put repeal of Missouri’s controversial so-called “right to work” law on the referendum ballot in November 2018.

The petitions, turned in to Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft weeks ahead of the mandatory late August deadline, also automatically stopped implementation of the anti-worker, anti-union law, which the GOP-dominated state legislature approved this year – despite worker, business and union lobbying – and right-wing GOP Gov. Eric Greitens eagerly signed.

Women in the Changing World of Work

FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW

UN Women | 08 March, 2017

Source: Internet

Globalization, digital innovation and climate change, among other factors, continue to change the world in which we work — posing both challenges as well as opportunities in realizing women’s economic potential for a better tomorrow. Below, explore just some facts on where women stand today in the changing world of work.

Work: Pleasure or Drudgery

Increasingly in Britain, with the mushrooming of warehousing, call centre and service industry work, the workplace has been turned into a virtual slave plantation, asserts JOHN GREEN

Morning Star | 31 December, 2015

When Britain’s last deep pit at Kellingley closed just before Christmas the men told journalists that what they would miss most would be the comradeship of their workmates. Without that, few would chose to work deep underground as a coal miner; the work is arduous, dangerous and unhealthy. What made it tolerable was the work atmosphere, the sense of belonging to a close-knit community, of solidarity and friendship.