News Roundup 10/01/19
Does Drinking Affect Fertility At All? Here’s Your Answer Now.
For both men and women, there are an infinite amount of factors that affect the process of conceiving a child. Evidence shows that heavy drinking can affect fertility significantly. For women, binge drinking can cause changes in their regulation and ovulation cycle as well as lead to a low quantity of eggs. For men, studies have shown that binge drinking causes a decrease in the hormones that assist with sperm production. If a couple is wanting to conceive, they are advised to cut back on their consumption of alcohol or stop drinking altogether. Alcohol consumption while pregnant can lead to a number of complications, such as FAD (fetal alcohol disorder), miscarriages and stillbirths.
One Violent Crime in the U.S. Keeps Trending Up While Others Drop: Rape
The rate of violent crimes is beginning to fall while the number of rape victims continues to grow. For the sixth year in a row, the rate of rape rose from 41.7 out of 100,000 people to 42.6. In 2018, law enforcement received around 139,380 reports of rape, which included attempted rape as well as assault with the intent to rape. It is said that the number of reports should be significantly higher, but many victims are refusing to come forward. Kristen Houser, a spokesperson for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, explained,
“Victims don’t report because they don’t trust anything will be done about it and that they will not be responded to appropriately."
Until the justice system begins to take these victims seriously, the U.S. will continue to see the rate of rape grow significantly.
Australian High School Students Clueless About Emergency Contraception
Researchers in Queensland, Australia are calling for better sex education programs after discovering that two-thirds of high school graduates were unaware that they could obtain emergency contraception without a prescription. In 2017, a survey published in the Journal of Pharmacy Practice and Research showed that only 18.5% of teenagers knew that the “morning-after pill” could be taken between 72 and 120 hours after intercourse. Emergency contraception is described as a topic that must be taught as part of a broader safer sex education curriculum. Due to factors such as sexual assault and contraceptive failure existing, teenagers need to be aware of how to obtain other various types of emergency contraception.
Your Tea Bags Could be Releasing Billions of Microplastics in your Mug: Study
Plastic tea bags are said to release approximately 11.6 billion microplastics as well as 3.1 billion nano plastics when it is steeped in a cup of hot water. Researchers from Montreal’s McGill University were shocked they made this discovery because they were expecting a much smaller number. Nathalie Tufenkji, a professor of chemical engineering at the university, explained,
“We thought maybe plastic tea bags maybe release a couple hundred plastic particles”.
As of right now, there are no known negative effects that come along with ingesting these microplastics, but people are still being encouraged to stop using single-use tea bags until more evidence is discovered.
Want To Grow Cannabis? University of Guelph Offering Online Course
Ontario, Canada’s University of Guelph is now offering online courses that will teach people how to grow their own cannabis. This course, which is being directed towards home growers as well as those who have an interest in joining the evolving industry, costs around $545. It will cover various cannabis regulations as well as quality assurance. University of Guelph’s online course will also cover basic growing tips such as setting up proper lighting and irrigation systems, pest control, post-harvest curing, and even packaging. The description of the course explains that it will also include different discussions on medical uses of marijuana.