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For those of you out there who don't believe in climate change, may you get kidney stones . I have them, and they're no fun. That's because a new study has found, as daily temperatures increase, so does the number of patients seeking treatment for kidney stones. In a study that may both reflect and foretell a warming planet’s impact on human health, a research team found a link between hot days and kidney stones in 60,000 patients in several U.S. cities with varying climates, according to newswise.com. We found that as daily temperatures rise, there is a rapid increase in the probability of patients presenting over the next 20 days with kidney stones,” said study leader Gregory E. Tasian, M.D., M.Sc., M.S.C.E., a pediatric urologist and epidemiologist at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), who is on the staff of the Hospital’s Kidney Stone Center as well as the Hospital’s Center for Pediatric Clinical Effectiveness (CPCE). The study team analyz...

Many of us suffer from (mild) depression -- some situational (breast cancer), some not -- from time to time. But did you know that April is the month people feel depressed the most?  Or that North Dakota is the most depressed state in the nation?  Or that today, August 11, is the day people feel happiest all year? According to a story by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz at nytimes.com, a Google search produced these facts, based on how often -- and where -- the word "depression" is searched online.  Not everyone searching the word, of course, is depressed, but Stephens-Davidowitz says it's enough for "meaningful patterns" to "emerge." The state with the lowest rate of depression?  Surprisingly, Virginia (with all those D.C. people living there?!).  The city with the highest rate is Presque Isle, Me.; the city with the lowest, not surprisingly, San Francisco. I'm always happy when I'm there! "Depression is, unsurprisingly, highest on Mondays...