If you’re looking for easy, natural ways to combat cold and flu season, listen up. A study published in the journal Microbiome says that letting natural light pour into your home helps kill germs. You may remember Grandma claiming something of this nature. You may even have had an intuition. But there had not been much research to explain how or why this is the case inside, until now. Researchers at the University of Oregon set up a study of 11 dust-ridden, doll-sized rooms and observed what happened when indoor rooms were exposed to daylight through regular glass, UV light, or when the rooms were kept dark, NPR reports. Dust was collected from actual homes in Portland then the miniature room were let to collect dust from outside, all while researchers kept them at a normal room temperature. Dust can sit around your house for 90 days (even if you…
This one dietary change could help America reach greenhouse-gas emission goals
For many Americans, the idea of giving up meat is unfathomable or even alien. What’s the 4th of July without a hamburger? But a new analysis of beef consumption in the States shows that our carnivorous habit is holding us back from reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Conducted by a team of scientists from Oregon State University, the study states that if more people switched to a plant-based diet, America could still come close to meeting the greenhouse gas goals set by former President Barack Obama in 2009 — even in the face of current president Donald Trump backing the nation out of the Paris Climate Accord. If every American were to replace the beef in their diets with beans — even while continuing to eat chicken, pork and dairy products — the country could reach 46 to 74 percent of the previously set 2020 target. This is true even without any changes to the current energy infrastructure…