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NASA captured this image of a massive solar flare erupting Tuesday.
(Credit: NASA)

A massive solar storm is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to disrupt communications, GPS, power grids, and airline flights.

A solar flare last night (see video below) created a coronal mass ejection, or the release of a burst of charged particles, from the sun's atmosphere. The storm--the largest in five years--is expected to rain a torrent of charged particles on the Earth early tomorrow morning, mostly in northern areas, according to forecasters at the federal government's Space Weather Prediction Center.

The storm, which has produced a radiation event that rated an S3, or strong, designation on the NOAA's five-level space weather scales, is growing as it moves away from the sun. When it strikes the Earth, the particles are expected to be moving at 4 million mph.

"It's hitting us right in the nose," Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the BBC. "Space weather has gotten very interesting over the past 24 hours."

Solar flares often create radio emissions at decimetric wavelengths that interfere with devices operating at those frequencies. This solar storm's magnetic, radio, and radiation emissions are the strongest since 2006, Kunches said.

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NASA's models predict that the CMEs will pass by several of the agency's spacecraft, including Messenger, Spitzer, and STEREO-B. However, it appears that astronauts aboard the International Space Station will not be affected, a NASA spokesman told the AFP news agency.

Tuesday's flare was the second largest since the sun segued in 2007 into a period of relatively low activity called a solar minimum.

"The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the sun's normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013," the space agency said in a statement.

In addition to possible communications and power disruptions, NASA said one very visible impact from plasma ejected during the geomagnetic storm is the occurrence of aurora at low latitudes.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57392927-76/massive-solar-storm-headed-toward-earth/#ixzz1oVKJwXNK

ADHD Diagnoses More Common in Younger Children - American study...

A recent study has found that of every child in the same school grade level, the younger children are more likely to be diagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) than children months older.

Although these children are noticed and targeted first — undoubtedly for their less mature behavior, the increase in prescriptions for ADHD medications over the years shows that the psychiatric and pharmaceutical industry are continually lessening the conditions upon which a child can be diagnosed with ADHD.

In British Columbia, the cutoff date for entering school in any year is December 31st, making children born in January the oldest in their grade, and children born in December the youngest. Researchers looked at approximately 1 million children ages 6-12 diagnosed with ADHD and found that those born in December were 39 percent more likely to be labeled as having ADHD, and 48 percent more likely to be treated with ADHD medication, than those born in January.
'Our study suggests younger, less mature children are inappropriately being labeled and treated…it is important not to expose children to potential harms from unnecessary diagnosis and use of medications,' study researcher Richard Morrow, of the University of British Columbia, said.

As rates of ADHD escalate each year, more and more children are stricken by not the ‘disorder’, but the medication that is prescribed to fix it.

ADHD has become one of the most commonly diagnosed childhood disorders today, with an average of 9 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 17 being diagnosed with the disease each year. Over 18 million prescriptions were written for Adderall in 2010, up 13.4 percent from 2009. The massive increase has actually led to ADHD medication shortages, where pharmaceutical companies are actually struggling to acquire enough of the active ingredient used in the drugs to ‘treat’ the ADHD label.

Children are prescribed these behavior altering drugs, which alter their brain chemistry and lead to more serious problems like depression and drug dependencies later in life. Pharmaceuticals are only a temporary fix that do not address the fundamental issues behind ADHD, or any disorder for that matter. The lack of necessity regarding these pharmaceuticals has even sparked outcry against antipsychotics by mainstream health officials.

Aside from an epidemic of misdiagnoses, an improper diet has everything to do with children expressing what would be viewed as ADHD-like behavior. For parents with children labeled with ADHD, try the simple test of helping to alter your child’s diet.

http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/adhd-diagnoses-more-common-in-younger.html