The Korea Herald

Dispute arises again over whether to fluoridate tap water

The nation is abuzz once again over whether the fluoridation of tap water should be expanded to the entire country for the sake of public health.The issue came to a head as the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on Tuesday that adding fluoride to tap water at a density of 0.8 ppm has proven effective in preventing dental cavities in children. A research team from Wonkwang University studied 9,000 elementary school students divided into two groups ― one group living in areas with fluoridate

Jan. 12, 2012

Dispute arises again over whether to fluoridate tap water

Medical fees to go down at designated clinics

The government has decided to discount medical fees for people who designate neighborhood clinics as their primary care facilities, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday. The new system comes into effect starting in April.Currently, 70 percent of outpatient medical expenses are covered by the national health insurance program, but for those who register a nearby clinic as their primary care unit the coverage will be increased to 80 percent, leaving only 20 percent up to the patients,

Jan. 12, 2012

Milky Way teeming with 'billions' of planets

This handout picture from the European Southern Observatory is an artist`s impression on how planets are more common than stars in the Milky Way. The new study provides evidence that there are more planets than stars in our own stellar neighbourhood. (AFP)PARIS (AFP) -- The Milky Way is home to far

Jan. 12, 2012

Milky Way teeming with 'billions' of planets

Red wine researcher accused of falsifying data

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) -- A U.S. university says a researcher known for his work on red wine's benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances. (Bloomberg)Nearly a dozen scientific journals are being warned of the potential problems after publishing the Unive

Jan. 12, 2012

Red wine researcher accused of falsifying data

Your home’s age important for child lead exposure

WASHINGTON (AP) ― If you’ve been putting off repairing a peeling windowsill, or you’re thinking of knocking out a wall, listen up: Check how old your house is. You may need to take steps to protect your kids from dangerous lead.The risk of lead-based paint from older homes is back in the news, as the government considers tightening the definition of lead poisoning in babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Lower levels than previously thought may harm their developing brains.That’s a scary-sounding m

Jan. 12, 2012

Your home’s age important for child lead exposure

Mobile app provides instant nutrition information

If you are at a supermarket, wondering if a food item will make you fat, a new smartphone app by Korea Food and Drug Administration can tell you.The newly released application, New High-fat and Less Healthy Food Alert-e, contains information about the nutritional value of nearly all popular snacks, candies and ice creams. By simply scanning the barcodes on snack packages, the app will automatically tell whether the food is healthy or not. And by inputting a product name or a main ingredient, con

Jan. 12, 2012

Women with larger breasts suffer backaches: hospital

Women with larger breasts are more likely to suffer backaches than those with smaller breasts, TnTn Hospital said Monday. According to Cho Tae-yeon, chief of the network hospital specializing in spinal health, larger breasts could pull the torso forward and in the worst case cause a herniated disk. A herniated disk is a condition when the disk between two bones in the spine presses on the nerves around the backbone.“One additional kilogram on the torso, especially in the chest area, could amplif

Jan. 12, 2012

Alcohol releases addictive endorphin: study

Drinking alcohol helps to release endorphins in areas of the brain that produce feelings of pleasure and reward, a study found.According to the study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, endorphin release in the nucleus accumbens and orbitofrontal cortex in response to

Jan. 12, 2012

Alcohol releases addictive endorphin: study

Samsung eyes 15% growth in TV sales this year

(Yonhap News)Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's tech behemoth, said Thursday it aims to increase its sales of televisions by around 15 percent this year by boosting its entire lineup of TVs.Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung's TV business, was quoted as saying at a consumer electronics show in

Jan. 12, 2012

Samsung eyes 15% growth in TV sales this year

Company announces low-cost DNA decoding machine

NEW YORK (AP) _ A biotechnology company announced it has developed a machine to decode an individual's DNA in a day for $1,000, a long-sought price goal for making the genome useful for medical care.Life Technologies Corp. said Tuesday it was taking orders for the technology, which it expects to del

Jan. 12, 2012

Company announces low-cost DNA decoding machine

Tablets, ultrabooks hot items at CES

LAS VEGAS ― The chief of the Consumer Electronics Association said Wednesday that tablet PCs are becoming a tremendously competitive field in the industry, since the device has turned into an office item for many firms. “Tablets are transformational products and something that has developed really quickly,” said Gary Shapiro, president and chief executive of CEA, a U.S. trade association that has over 2,000 members in the consumer electronics industry. This year’s Consumer Electronics Show in La

Jan. 11, 2012

El Gordo: A 'fat' distant galaxy cluster

An extremely hot, massive young galaxy cluster -- the largest ever seen in the distant Universe -- has been studied by an international team using ESO's Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile along with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The new

Jan. 11, 2012

El Gordo: A 'fat' distant galaxy cluster

Samsung Electronics’ 2011 sales rank first in world

Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of memory chips and No. 2 handset maker, posted the largest revenue among global tech firms last year on the back of strong sales of smartphones, a financial information provider said Tuesday.Samsung Electronics’ 2011 sales reached $148.6 billion when its yearly revenue was converted into the dollar, according to data compiled by FnGuide Inc. The company estimated on Friday that it posted a record operating profit of 5.2 trillion won ($4.5 billi

Jan. 10, 2012

Government to keep watch on falling satellite

As a Russian Mars probe that stalled in orbit may fall to the Earth sometime next week, the government announced Tuesday that it would broadcast its location real time on the websites of related agencies and via Twitter until its crash.The 13.2-ton probe named Phobos-Grunt, launched last November, w

Jan. 10, 2012

Hawking: Mankind must colonize space

(AP)British physicist Stephen Hawking says mankind faces the threat of nuclear annihilation and should build colonies on Mars and beyond.Hawking made the remarks on a radio program to mark his 70th birthday, responding to questions submitted by listeners, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday."It is p

Jan. 10, 2012

Nicotine could ward off memory loss: study

Older adults who are starting to have problems with memory may benefit from small amounts of nicotine therapy, according to a US study published on Monday.The research in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, included 74 non-smokers with an average age of 76. Half were

Jan. 10, 2012

Apple CEO Tim Cook could top pay list in 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Tim Cook could well end up being the highest paid CEO in America in 2011, after Apple Inc. granted him a million restricted stock units last August for taking the reins shortly before cofounder Steve Jobs died. An Associated Press review of a securities filing shows Cook's pay pac

Jan. 10, 2012

Apple CEO Tim Cook could top pay list in 2011

Global warming delays natural patterns of glaciation, researchers say

Unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are disrupting normal patterns of glaciation, scientists said.The Earth's current warm period that began about 11,000 years ago should give way to another ice age within about 1,500 years, according to the study published online Jan.

Jan. 10, 2012

Healthy eating may help ADHD kids: U.S. study

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Simply eating healthier may improve the behavior of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder if therapy and medication fail, said a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.Researchers, however, said that their review of recent controlled scientific studies had shown conflicting evidence on the impact of supplements and restricted diets ― in some cases they were no better than the placebo effect.Nutritional interventions should therefore be considered an

Jan. 9, 2012

Red wine may reduce breast cancer risk

Red wine may reduce one risk factor for breast cancer, challenging the widely-held belief that alcohol increases breast cancer, U.S. researchers say.Bottles of wine are displayed on a shelf at the Capercaillie Wine Co. cellar in Lovedale, in the Hunter Valley region of Australia, on Tuesday, O

Jan. 9, 2012