The Korea Herald

Standing desks rise in popularity

WALNUT CREEK, California ― Last year, Kerri Campbell made a decision: She would no longer sit at her desk eight hours a day. Today, the retail broker for Daymon Worldwide in Pleasanton, Calif., stands on a couple of black pads, each about an inch think. Her keyboard is on a wooden stand built by her husband, and her monitor rests at eye level on a box, a hard drive dock and a ream of paper.It’s no

June 23, 2011

What are better treatment options for spinal stenosis?

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a degenerative spinal disorder that develops when the foramina of the lumbar vertebrae become narrowed resulting in compression of the nerve roots. This compression of the spinal canal causes back pain and neurological symptoms in the lower limbs. Spinal stenosis may be congenital (idiopathic) or acquired (degenerative). The main symptoms of the disease are limping and ba

June 23, 2011

What are better treatment options for spinal stenosis?

U.S. ups anti-smoking ante but will Korea?

USFDA OKs hard-hitting warnings on cigarettes but tobacco lobby checks similar Korean moveWith the unveiling of nine graphic images that will adorn every cigarette pack sold in the U.S. from the fall of 2012, government officials and outside experts predict there will be an initial wave of smokers seeking help in quitting. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says the graphic labels released Tues

June 23, 2011

U.S. ups anti-smoking ante but will Korea?

U.S. marine gets leg back with injection of pig bladder hormone

A U.S. marine who almost lost his right leg due to a bomb blast in Afghanistan, has become the first to see it grow back, thanks to regenerative medicine that uses a substance from a pig bladder, the Daily Mail reported.Marine Corporal Isaias Hernandez lost 70 percent of his right thigh muscles that would normally require amputation. However, rather than cutting it off, the remaining leg muscles w

June 23, 2011

Thousands of yoga lovers take on Times Square

Yoga enthusiasts practice yoga during the "Solstice in Times Square" event at Times Square in New York, the United States, June 21, 2011. (Xinhua-Yonhap News)Thousands of yoga enthusiasts filled part of New York’s Times Square to participate in a massive yoga exercise called “Mind over Madness,” U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail reported. The event was held on the solstice, which marks the longest day

June 23, 2011

Thousands of yoga lovers take on Times Square

S. Korea gets int'l support to build 2nd research base in Antarctic

A plan to build South Korea's second research station in the Antarctic has gained approval from the international community, paving the way for its construction in 2014, the foreign ministry here said Wednesday.The support came at a meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, among member nations of the Antarctic Treaty System, the ministry said in a statement. Of the 33 member states, 16 nations, includi

June 22, 2011

Apple preparing faster iPhone for September

　Apple Inc. plans to introduce a new iPhone in September that boasts a stronger chip for processing data and a more advanced camera, according to two people familiar with the plans. 　The device will include the A5 processor, the more powerful chip that Apple added to the iPad 2 earlier this year, along with an 8-megapixel camera, up from the 5-megapixel model in the iPhone 4, said the people, who

June 22, 2011

Chinese billionaire confesses affair through online message

A Chinese billionaire, Wang Gongquan, announced that he is eloping with his mistress, on Chinese Social Networking Service Sino Weibo. The renowned investor’s online message to dump his wife to leave with his new love immediately went viral, The Telegraph reported. He posted the message saying, “I am giving up everything and eloping with Wang Qin. I feel ashamed and so am leaving without saying go

June 22, 2011

SK firm opens online site on scholarships

SK Communications said Tuesday it has launched a website that provides scholarship information involving 63 scholarship foundations and 110 different academic funding programs.The country’s online portal, which runs Cyworld, said it would also hold a briefing session in Seoul and Busan this week at two universities to explain how students could easily access information on various scholarships ava

June 21, 2011

Why is a Porsche like a peacock‘s tail? And who wants to date a guy in a Honda Civic?

A Porsche 911 Black Edition is seen at the Porsche SE annual shareholders meeting in Stuttgart, Germany, on Friday, June 17, 2011. (Bloomberg-Yonhap News)Everyone knows the racier the car, the racier the hormones.Now, researchers at the University of Minnesota have brought scientific precision to that age-old observation. To wit:Sexual signalling really works _ but not necessarily the way a young

June 21, 2011

Why is a Porsche like a peacock‘s tail? And who wants to date a guy in a Honda Civic?

Aerosol reflectors in space proposed as climate change solution

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC speaks during the opening of the Nansen Conference on Climate Change and Displacement in the 21st Century in Oslo Monday June 6. 2011. (AP-Yonhap News)An U.N. body plans to develop a radical geo-engineering technology to blast aerosol "mirrors" in the space to tackle climate change, the Telegraph reported.The Int

June 21, 2011

Aerosol reflectors in space proposed as climate change solution

Prepaid mobile service to debut in S. Korea next month

SEOUL, June 19 (Yonhap) -- Eyesvision Co., a new entrant to the South Korean mobile phone market, said Sunday that it plans to launch prepaid wireless service through a leased network in the country next month.Eyesvision, which sells prepaid cards for international phone calls, said that it has agreed with SK Telecom Co. to lease the top mobile carrier's network and to roll out prepaid mobile phon

June 19, 2011

Games company Sega becomes latest hacking victim

LONDON (AP) _ Video game developer Sega said that its online database has been hacked, making it the latest in a string of games companies to be attacked. The company sent an email to users of the Sega Pass system on Friday to warn them that email addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords had been stolen from online database. The email stressed that no financial information was at r

June 19, 2011

Japanese lab makes meat from excrement

Mitsuyuki Ikeda, a researcher from the Okayama Laboratory has developed beef based on proteins from human excrement, the Huffington Post reported Friday. His idea was inspired when Tokyo sewage plant asked him to explore possible uses for the sewage and Ikeda found that the sewage contained a great deal of protein. The final product is made up of protein (63 percent), carbohydrates (25 percent), m

June 19, 2011

Scientists ID mysterious flash in distant galaxy

This artist's image provided by the University of Warwick shows a star being distorted by its close passage to a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. (AP-Yonhap News)LOS ANGELES (AP) _ Astronomers think they have solved the mystery of an extraordinary flash spied in a faraway galaxy, saying it came from a massive black hole that devoured a star after it wandered too close.The awesom

June 17, 2011

Scientists ID mysterious flash in distant galaxy

Facebook users more trusting, engaged

NEW YORK (AP) -- Facebook, it turns out, isn't just a waste of time. People who use it have more close friends, get more social support and report being more politically engaged than those who don't, according to a new national study on Americans and social networks. (Bloomberg)The report comes as Facebook, Twitter and even the buttoned-up, career-oriented LinkedIn continue to engrain themselves i

June 17, 2011

Obesity surgery fails to extend life in older men

CHICAGO (AP) ― Very obese older men hoping to live longer may be let down by a new long-term study that found weight-loss surgery didn’t increase survival for people like them ― at least during the first seven years.Prior studies have found stomach stapling and other obesity surgeries improved survival rates after two to 10 years. The new study in mostly older male veterans suggests one of two thi

June 16, 2011

Sunscreen for infants ‘necessary’

The American Academy of Pediatrics advised mothers to use an adequate amount of sunscreen on babies less than six months old. It said the general notion that infants do not sunburn is false and that UV-induced pigmentation, starting with baby’s first exposure to summer sun, may contribute to the development of skin cancer later. According research conducted by Dr. May Paller, skin on the backs or

June 16, 2011

National insurance to cover diabetes test

Blood-sugar-level measuring kits for diabetes patients will be covered by national health insurance from July, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday. According to a ministry official, it costs about 50,000 won a month ($46) if one uses six kits every day. The new plan will cover 30,000 won of the monthly cost. This will help 40,000 patients nationwide save 15 billion won a year, the mi

June 16, 2011

SMC opens Twitter account

Samsung Medical Center opened a Twitter account (@mySMC for Samsung Seoul Hospital and @myKBSMC for Kangbuk Samsung Hospital), commencing direct interactive communications with online users. The account will provide information about the hospitals and healthcare tips. The SMC will give out “gifticons” to 500 followers to mark the launch. (baejisook@heraldm.com)

June 16, 2011