[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]October 15th is Global Handwashing Day. And public health officials are hoping to highlight hygiene concerns across the globe. One country that needs a hand with washing up is Britain. A new study has found that, in the Queen's England, the further north you go, the dirtier the hands. [More]

Rain forests and tundra, deserts and savannas, mountaintops and undersea reefs. No spot on the planet is too remote for the movement that has changed the face of leisure travel. Ecotourism, in all its various guises--green tourism, sustainable tourism, adventure travel--has gained traction as enthusiasts seek to experience the earth’s wonders while treading lightly on them.Lately a new subset of this boom has emerged. “Voluntourism” ramps the ecological impulse up a notch, providing ways for vacationers to help save the world’s sustainable resources. The trend has been described as a kind of mini version of the Peace Corps. Depending on your interests, you could find yourself repairing trails leading to Old Faithful, tracking sharks in the Atlantic, or mixing cement for housing in the Andes. Voluntourism is becoming a significant growth sector of the travel industry. Online trip planner Travelocity, for example, now partners with tour operators such as GlobeAwar

Oxygen is vital for life--without it, severe brain damage may ensue in as little as three minutes. So doctors routinely treat traumas such as heart attack or stroke by providing victims with more oxygen. Mounting evidence suggests, however, that resuscitating with too much of the gas may actually have a harmful effect. The culprit in brain damage may not be a lack of oxygen but rather its reintroduction into the body.Researchers at the university of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas reported in the Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism on March 12 that resuscitating baby mice with pure oxygen caused more brain damage and cerebral palsy–like coordination problems, as compared with mice that breathed air during resuscitation. [More]

A study in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a significant predictor of insomnia in women with breast cancer and confirmed that longer nocturnal wake episodes were associated with a flatter diurnal cortisol slope

A study in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine shows that unrelated to obesity, people with severe SDBs consume a more unhealthy diet, which may be a factor contributing to greater cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. These findings were most evident among women.

Scientists believe the UK ranges of the plague-carrying non-native crayfish and voracious Chinese mitten crab are beginning to overlap.

Environmentalists fear an EU summit will see climate change plans hit by cost concerns, as financial uncertainty persists.

AP - Tests on leading brands of bottled water turned up a variety of contaminants often found in tap water, according to a study released Wednesday by an environmental advocacy group.

The well-preserved bones of a 9000-year-old woman and child give up DNA that indicates they had the human form of the disease

Female lab mice can respond quite differently to male mice when it comes to anxiety, a new study has found, a discovery which could have important implications for scientific research.