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Lack of physical activity – along with unhealthy diets – are key risk factors for major non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and diabetes, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Thirty to 70% of EU citizens are currently overweight, while 10-30% are considered obese,according to the WHO, which warned against an obesity crisis in Europe over the coming decades.

To counter the “epidemic”, the WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. This, it argues, would reduce the risk of ischaemic heart disease by approximately 30%, the risk of diabetes by 27%, and the risk of breast and colon cancer by 21–25%.

 The age of the Grand Canyon (USA) has been studied for years, with recent technological advances facilitating new attempts to determine when erosion of this iconic canyon began. The result is sometimes conflicting ages based on different types of data; most data support the notion that the canyon began to erode to its current form about six million years ago. Then even newer, "high-tech," data became available and questions were again raised about whether the western end of the canyon could be older. 

Two numbers are used as general time markers for these alternate hypotheses. The first suggests that the canyon may have started incising 17 million years ago. The second suggests that the canyon may have looked largely as it does today 70 million years ago. The time contrast between these hypotheses is striking, and any accurate concept of the canyon would have to be consistent with all observations. 

Dogs do not like people who are mean to their owners, Japanese researchers said Friday, and will refuse food offered by people who have snubbed their master.

The findings reveal that canines have the capacity to co-operate socially -- a characteristic found in a relatively small number of species, including humans and some other primates.

La mayoría de los estadounidenses son conscientes de que el desperdicio de alimentos es un problema, se preocupan por él, y dicen que trabajan para reducir sus propios residuos, pero casi tres cuartas partes creen que desperdician menos comida que la media nacional, sugiere una investigación reciente.

La demanda mundial de legumbres, uno de los cultivos de alimentos agrícolas más importante del mundo, es cada vez mayor; al mismo tiempo, su producción se ha visto afectada negativamente por la sequía. En un trabajo de investigación de las Universidades de Indiana, Purdue e Indianápolis, publicado hoy en la revista PLOS ONE, los investigadores proporcionan información que podría ayudar a la planificación agrícola para minimizar las pérdidas de rendimiento causadas por la sequía.