February-20: AROUND THE WORLD
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in FEBRUARY
ITALY
Climate change compulsory for school students
Catch them young
Next year, Italy will become the world’s first country to make it compulsory for schoolchildren to study climate change and sustainable development, Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti said. All state schools would dedicate almost one hour every week to climate change issues from the start of the next academic year.
Many traditional subjects, such as geography, mathematics, and physics would also be studied from the perspective of sustainable development. This is with a hope that the citizens of the future need to be ready for a climate emergency.
Young crusaders
USA
Food tastes better when you are seated
Taste buds muted Â
Food tastes better when you are sitting down, say scientists who found that holding a standing posture for even a few minutes prompts physical stress, muting taste buds.
The research, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, looked specifically at how balance and posture impacts taste and flavour. According to the study involving over 350 participants, eating while standing reduces a person’s enjoyment of food, leading him to eat less than if he were seated.  Standing position leads to greater physical stress, which in turn makes the heart pump more blood. Physical stress can reduce sensory sensitivity making food not as tasty as when you are seated.
Take a seat
USA
FDA approves new pill for type 2 diabetes
No injection
The US Food and Drug Administration has approved Rybelsus (semaglutide) oral tablets to improve control of blood sugar in adult patients with type 2 diabetes, along with diet and exercise.
Rybelsus is the first glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor protein treatment approved for use in the US that does not need to be injected. In clinical trials, Rybelsus significantly lowered blood sugar. The drug has the potential risk of causing certain thyroid tumours.
Take with caution
