Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Last winter, more than 5,600 Canadians ended up in the hospital with an injury from hockey, skiing or another winter sport.
That information comes from a new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Most of the injuries were from skiing and snowboarding. More than 2,300 Canadians went to the hospital after they had an accident in either of those sports.
Hockey (1,114 injuries) and snowmobiling (1,126) were next on the list of injury-causing sports.
India made history this month when it announced that there were no more cases of polio in the country.
The victory came after years of work by India’s public-health workers. They travelled to the most remote places and the poorest areas in the country. They gave vaccines—medicine that prevents diseases—to 172 million children.
Polio is a viral infection that can paralyze (stop movement in) the body, especially in people’s arms and legs. It can also make people’s breathing difficult is if they have very bad asthma. It can even be fatal.
Curve Lake is a First Nations community half an hour north of Peterborough.
People who live there no longer have to go all the way into the city when they run out of their medicine and need a prescription filled.
They can get their medicine from a machine, similar to a bank machine – except that what comes out isn’t money, it’s pills.
Curve Lake gets a lot of snow in the winter.
In bad weather, it can be difficult for the community’s residents to get to the nearest pharmacy if they run out of their medication.
The population of the world is about to hit a new milestone.
As of Oct. 31, demographers say there will be seven billion people living on earth.
Back in 1804, we hit the one-billion mark. It took another 123 years to reach two billion.
By 2083, the population rate could be much faster or slower, depending a few factors including average life expectancy.
It is the poor who are always hit hardest by population increases, researcher John Bongaarts told The Globe and Mail newspaper.
There are more people drawing on the earth’s resources—food and energy, for instance.
More than 900 million people in the world don’t get adequate nourishment.
In 1980, Terry Fox started a Marathon of Hope.
His hope was to raise money for cancer research and eventually help to find a cure for the disease.
After losing a leg to bone cancer, Terry Fox wanted to help other people. To raise money, he began a fundraising run across Canada. His famous run-hop stride is well known to Canadians and people around the world.
Terry Fox ran more than 5,300 kilometres – half-way across Canada – when the cancer spread to his lungs. He died at the age of 22, in 1981.
Most people agree that doing schoolwork, puzzles, math and reading help kids get smarter. But did you know that a good workout can also help you learn more easily?
Scientists say that physical exercise gets more blood flowing through a person’s brain, and helps them think better.
It also causes the brain to release a protein (called brain-derived neurotrophic factor) which makes new brain cells grow.
Researchers say kids who are active and fit perform better on memory tests. It affects certain areas of the brain, like the hippocampus and the basal ganglia.
Children who aren’t as active are more likely to become easily distracted.
Besse Cooper is the oldest person on earth. Last month, she turned 115 years old.
She was born on August 26, 1896… seven years before the invention of the airplane.
Cooper has held the title of “oldest person on earth” twice. She lost it once, when the Guinness Book of World Records discovered Maria Gomes Valentin in Brazil. She was about a month and a half older than Cooper.
Valentin passed away in June, and Cooper regained the title. The Gerontology Research Group and the Guinness Book of World Records each verified her age and her status as the world oldest living human.
Cooper’s son, Sidney, is 76 years old. He says his mom is in good physical health.
Gaelan Edwards is a special kid. He’s 12 years old and lives in Campbell River, BC. He has three siblings, Gage, Rhianna and Rowan.
But it’s his newest brother whose birthday he’ll probably never forget. That’s because on Aug. 21, Gaelan delivered his brother.
Around 2 a.m., his pregnant mother woke up and shouted for Gaelan. She said she was going to have the baby.
Gaelan wondered what to do, and worried that if he didn’t catch the baby as it came out it might get hurt.
So he went into action. He pulled the baby out by the shoulders. Then, without being told, he ran to the kitchen and got a pair of scissors.
There has been a serious outbreak of E. coli in Europe.
At least 2,200 people have gotten sick or shown symptoms and 22 people in Germany have died.
E. coli is short for Escherichia coli. It is a type of bacteria normally found in the body.
Most kinds (or “strains”) of E. coli are harmless and even help the body.
The strains included in the outbreak, however, are a harmful kind, causing food poisoning.
Food poisoning from E. coli usually happens when people eat unwashed vegetables or undercooked meat.
Big cities like Toronto and Ottawa have a lot of traffic.
All of those cars, taxis, trucks and buses create a lot of pollution. They also make getting around the city very difficult. There are a lot of traffic jams in big cities.
Some people ride bikes in the city. However, lots of bikes get stolen. Also, it can sometimes be difficult to find an empty spot in a bike rack when you want to store your bike downtown. Those things can discourage people from riding their bike around a big city.
But because biking is a much healthier way to travel than using a car, the City of Toronto and the City of Ottawa wanted to encourage people to ride a bike.
This summer, Toronto and Ottawa partnered with a company called Bixi to offer a new program which lets people rent a bike for short trips. People can ride to from one place to another downtown without having to own, use or lock up their own bicycle.
