There’s a planet just next door that could explain the origins of life in the universe. It was probably once covered in oceans (SN Online: 8/1/17). It may have been habitable for billions of years (SN Online: 8/26/16). Astronomers are desperate to land spacecraft there.

No, not Mars. That tantalizing planet is Venus. But despite all its appeal, Venus is one of the hardest places in the solar system to get to know. That’s partly because modern Venus is famously hellish, with temperatures hot enough to melt lead and choking clouds of sulfuric acid.

Read the whole story at ScienceNews

It’s a medical discovery you’d hate to be part of: A 26-year-old Oregon woman is believed to be the first human ever reported to be infected with a certain species of eye worm.

The woman’s case, reported in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Monday, began in the summer of 2015, soon after she returned home from a ranch in Gold Beach, Oregon, where she had been horseback riding. She first felt a irritation in her left eye, along with the nagging feeling that something was stuck in it. Eight days in, she made the sort of find you’d expect to see in a meandering, boring spin-off to Cloverfield—a small, translucent worm in her eye.

Read the whole story at Gizmodo

When anxiety starts to take over, it can feel impossible to gain perspective and get out of the spiral of worries.

But next time you feel overwhelmed with anxious thoughts, a simple mindfulness trick may offer some relief.

Shared by Boston University clinical psychologist Ellen Hendriksen, author of new book How to Be Yourself: Quiet the Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety, this hack can help you stay in the moment when anxiety arises.

Read the whole story at Cosmopolitan UK

There’s a reason why many people opt for yogurt as their choice breakfast food. Yogurt is filled with probiotics, a “good” bacteria, namely lactobacillus, that has amazing health benefits, especially for digestive health and weight loss. According to Healthline, “Probiotics may reduce the number of calories you absorb from food. They also affect hormones and proteins related to appetite and fat storage. They may also reduce inflammation, which can drive obesity.”

Here are a few of our favorite probiotics that may help you get rid of dreaded belly fat

Read the whole story at SheFinds

Can you be fit and healthy even if you're overweight? That's the question researchers at York University's Faculty of Health set out to answer in a new study that shows physical activity may be equally and perhaps even more important than weight for people living with severe obesity.

Read the whole story at Science Daily

For 20 million Americans, staying home sick is a luxury. Every year, that many people go to work with a virus or infection because they don’t have paid sick leave, even though research shows that staying home prevents the flu from spreading. And during a nasty flu season like this one—we’re now likely in for a record-setting year—doctors and public health officials urge Americans to take every precaution they can to avoid spreading the potentially deadly virus.

Read the whole story at Popular Science

More than one out of every 10 deaths in the U.S. during the third week of 2018 was from influenza or pneumonia, according to data released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs caused by an infection, is a common flu complication that can result in hospitalization and even death.

CDC acting director Anne Schuchat, M.D., said in a media briefing on Feb. 9 that with flu-related hospitalization rates approaching record numbers, flu and pneumonia deaths are expected to continue to rise over the next few weeks.

Read the whole story at Consumer Reports

The small business mentality is great because you’re light, nimble, and agile. You can make a pivot that a bigger competitor wouldn’t dream of, and make decisions without having to run an idea up and down a long line of executives. At the same time, there are benefits to being big. Like it or not, people trust institutions that have grown to a certain size and been around for awhile. It gives them a feeling of stability and confidence that they might not otherwise have.

The good news here is that there is a lot you can do with technology to make your small business look bigger. With the right tech, you can convey the sense of stability and scale that get people to trust you while maintaining your small business’s nimbleness and agility. Here are four ways you can make your small business look big.

Read the whole story at Cox BLUE

Identify theft is a topic that has attracted many headlines over the past few years, with individuals, large corporations, and government organizations falling victim to identify theft and data breaches. Identity theft and data breaches are always a risk, but can be even more prevalent during tax season, when information is at a premium, and business owners are already under extra pressure.

This is a topic that definitely should be taken seriously, but it shouldn't result in paralysis by analysis--there are things you can do today to protect yourself and your business from identify theft.

Read the whole story at Inc.

Hackers are always coming up with new sophisticated phishing schemes to steal any personal information they can.

Hackers want to gain access to your email because so much of valuable personal information can be found there.

Read the whole story at Small Business Trends