Imagine this scenario: you're making dinner one night and your 4-year-old, who has just finished putting together a puzzle with their older sibling, looks up and asks, "Where do babies come from?"

Individuals of all ages can be anxious about needles, although this fear is particularly prevalent among children. Distraction tools, such as toys, can help reduce feelings of anxiety and pain among infants undergoing needle-based procedures. And now, new research finds that virtual reality (VR) devices may be an even more effective distraction aid, leading to greater positive outcomes.

“It started in sixth grade: First, it was a stomachache. Then it was problems with other kids.” That’s how a New York City mom (who requested anonymity) recalls the start of her daughter’s descent in what’s known among mental health professionals as “school refusal” — or “anxiety-based school absenteeism,” according to the country’s pioneering expert in the field, psychologist Christopher Kearney.

Well before the pandemic, Raymond Renshaw knew the danger of letting students get into the habit of avoiding school.

When Aubrey Garcia’s daughter was in the third grade, she suddenly stopped attending school.

When UNLV senior Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio looked out the window of her Airbnb in Irvine, Calif., she saw flames rising in the nearby mountains and scorch marks on the ground. A wildfire was approaching the apartment, where she had moved from Las Vegas during the pandemic to be closer to family.

A 2020 study from UNLV’s Brookings Mountain West and The Lincy Institute on the urban heat island effect found that Las Vegas “ranked as the most intense urban heat island in the United States in both daytime and nighttime metrics between 2004 and 2013.”

Alexas are changing their names because of Amazon’s voice assistant.