halloween

Sweets are peeking at us from every grocery and drug store aisle. Chocolates, gummy bears, little fun-sized bars of sugar and fat in 20-pound bags. These will give you calories, but not a lot of anything else — except maybe health problems. Eating too much candy can increase your risk of diabetes, cavities, and obesity. […]

Ghosts and skeletons aren’t the only thing that makes the Halloween season spooky; the waste generated from trick-or-treat candy, Halloween parties, costumes, pumpkin carving, and decorating should all be cause for fright. A UK study found that 2,000 metric tons of waste are produced every year from Halloween costumes and clothes alone, which unfortunately isn’t […]

What has leathery wings and needle-sharp teeth, feeds at night, and drinks blood? Vampire bats! “What people are most concerned about with vampire bats is them feeding on livestock and then passing rabies virus,” says bat ecologist Mark Hayes. Using climate data and records of bat sightings, he worked with USDA researchers to model where […]

By Phillip Yuhas Your appearance won’t be the only frightening thing about wearing costume contact lenses this Halloween. Your eyes might look like a lizard’s for an evening, but the risk of permanent vision loss may not be worth the temporary thrill. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 40 million, or […]

By Dawn Undurraga, Nutritionist and Nicole Ferox, Manager Foundations Relations and Sydney Swanson, Associate Database Analyst Parents are trapped in the Halloween guilt vortex: going full-scale green mom, handing out whole walnuts or pennies or dental floss to avoid loading kids with sugar and additives but thereby making their kids cringe and giving them stories […]