It seems that due the economy everything is being downsized.  Looking around at autos and computers, you will see smaller is the new better.  There is one industry that is taking a different view on that idea, though.  Some fashion lines are making the smart move to expand, rather than downsize, their products.

Both Forever 21 and Target, known as “cheap chic emporiums,” will be launching fashion lines exclusively targeted at plus-size teenagers.  Coming in the spring, the lines will let girls of all sizes have choices in apparel, that before were only available to those under the plus size categorization.

Faith 21, by Forever 21, will add sizes extra large to double extra large to the teen’s choices.  Target has named their new addition Pure Energy.  It will have sizes up to size thirty.

Already shoppers are expressing excitement over the upcoming changes.  They are looking forward to the chance at going to one place to shop with their friends that will have choices for all.  They also believe that this change is way overdue.  The statistics seem to be in their favor.  Most designers offer nothing over a size ten, although the average woman in the United States is a size fourteen.

We have known for many years that smoking is harmful to your health.  Many smokers try to quit but for whatever reason are unable to do so.  Even the warnings on the packages of cigarettes do little to deter smoking. 

Another warning about smoking and its harmful effects will probably do little to stop the smoker from picking up his cigarette.  However there is a simple test for one carcinogen in the smoker’s urine whose presence is related to the smoker’s likelihood of developing lung cancer. 

While this test may not cause the smoker to stop his bad habit, it may cause smokers to be screened more often.  As with any cancer, the sooner a tumor is found, the more likely it will be cured.  A person with a high level of both nicotine and of the carcinogen NNAL is eight and one half times as likely to develop cancer as the smoker with lower levels. 

The researchers still say that the best advice that can be given to any smoker is to stop smoking.  Twenty-three percent of all smokers in the U.S say that they would quit if they could.  Perhaps this test will give them the impetus that they need to quit. 

For many years now users of Macs have felt relatively safe using their computers.  While pc users have suffered though viruses, worms and Trojans,  Mac users have had virtually no such problems.  Computer security researchers warn that the protection Mac users have enjoyed may soon be changing.  These researchers feel that the immunity may have simply have been a numbers game.  There are far more PC’s than there are Mac’s.  Just as a company wants to use its advertising dollars to reach the greatest audience, designers of the computer infections have simply ignored Mac’s-until now.  This new threat is a Trojan horse.  It sneaks into your computer with anther program that the user installs into his computer.

This particular program infected only those machines which had installed a pirated version of iWork.  Once installed the program, a botnet, allows you’re the programmer to take control of you Mac.  Files can be opened and the security of your system compromised.  Although this attack affected very few Mac’s (Conflicker by contrast was infected up to 10 million computers) it shows that Mac users are no longer immune to such infections.  Although Apple is diligently seeking to prevent more compromises of user’s systems, the attacks will continue, just as the attackers have continued to work around PC virus protection.

Many of us are concerned about the amount of a carbon footprint we are leaving on the planet.  The next time you pull into your favorite gas station and fill’er up with a biofuel, thinking you are doing the best thing for the economy, the state of California says you better think again. 

In California, by the year 2010 all fuel producers will be forced to reduce their carbon intensity by 10%.  Many developing nations have found new fortunes by removing forest land and planting corn to be sold to the United States manufacturers of biofuel. 

According to the California Air Resources Board this is causing a decrease in the air quality. By reducing carbon intensity, CARB feels that air polution and global warming will be decreased.  Producers of biofuels feel the new rule is an unfair penalty to them that is based on the actions of people in other countries. 

They fear that this penalty may hinder President Obama’s plans to move this country away form our dependance upon petrolium. Other states in the US and the European Economic Union afe following this story and may make similar ruelings. California has approved aapproved this rule in order to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced in fuel production.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects thousands of children across the United States.  For the past several years there has been an ongoing argument as to the mechanism that this disorder affects the brain. 

Some have argued that the brain develops differently in children with ADHD than in other children.  Others have taken the stance that the brain develops in the same way, only slower.  A new study by the National Institute of Health suggests that the later is true.  This study was made possible through the use of a new technique that allows measurement of the thickening and thinning of the cortex of the brain through imaging. 

This study suggests that in the brain of an ADHD child develops more slowly.  All human brains develop from the back to the front.  Since the control center is located more toward the front of the brain, the delay in prevents its development by the time the child is in school.  The area will eventually develop however it may not happen until the child reaches 10.  These delays often make it difficult for children to catch up in the things they may have missed.  Often the ADHD child may not catch up in these areas until adulthood.   

It is getting harder to deal with this economic crisis in places where there at least some employment opportunities.  Imagine living an area where the businesses are just leaving or downsizing so much that the chances of getting work are nearly impossible.  Such is the case in a small county in North Carolina.  In the little town of Spruce Pine, the unemployment rate is not just a problem, it is nearing catastrophe.

One couple shared their story of struggle with CNN.  They both have lost their jobs.  He returned to school to get his GED and then got new job training.  In his new field of expertise, he got a job again, only to lose it quickly due to downsizing.  She has also taken the learning a new skill route, but has little hope of finding employment.  Their county has just over 15,000 residents, two thousand of which have lost their jobs within the last 3 years.  The mill that once employed a large number of the residents, now serves as a food pantry.  The organizer of the pantry says that it is barely meeting the needs of the community as the jobless rate skyrockets.  The town has decided to take some action, though.  They are preparing to become a tourist attraction by selling locally crafted goods.  The leaders believe that this will breathe new life into a dying community.  They only hope that the people can hold on until business starts coming in.

For generations, the Yupik Eskimos have endured the harsh winters of Alaska in the costal town of Newtok.  While one would think that after all the bitter cold, these people might enjoy, a bit of warmth, global warming is actually causing the entire town to move nine miles up the river. 

As global warming continues, the problems in this village have incresed.  Dependant upon ice shelves and the frozen subteranin soils to prevent flooding, the village has found that the warming of planet earth has melted their protection.

Recently the village of 340 voted to move the entire town upriver about nine miles because of the problems caused by golobal warming.  The village has experienced erosion and sinking due to flooding allowed by the melting.  Unfortunately, Newtok may not be the only village to have to move due to man’s empact on the palnet.  In immediate danger are 26 other villages in Alaska, with another 60 under threat during the next decade. 

According to the U.S. Army Corp of engineers the cost to move Newtok will be $130 million.  Global warming also affects other parts of the world as melting glaciers cause the shrinking of available croplands in island countires.  According the the United Nations, global warming will displace 150 million persons by mid-century.

In an argument that has been in the headlines for several years now, there has been a earth shaking ruling.  The FDA has determined that the legal age of getting the “morning after pill” will be lowered from 18 years old to 17.  The pill, also called Plan B, has been controversial before legal age for it even was a topic of discussion.  Earlier, in a district court ruling the judge declared that it should not be left up to a judge in his position to determine the cut off age for this product.  The further ruled that the decision should be left to the the Food and Drug Administration, as its experts were better qualified in this area. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, praised the decision. She said that is showed that politics did not come before women’s health and she supports the announcement enthusiastically.

Plan B is a pill that can be taken up to seventy-two hours after engaging in unprotected sex and has a ninety percent chance of preventing pregnancy.  It not only interrupts ovulation, but is able to stop an egg that has become fertilized from attaching to the lining of the uterus.