(Hemera Technologies) According to Robert Phipps, a homeowner in England, his neighbor’s sunlight-harnessing, power-saving solar panels are so bright, they’re literally blinding. Phipps says his home has been lit up like a “tanning salon” for several hours a day ever since his neighbor, Trevor Chase, installed the panels, according to the The Daily Mail. Phipps says his family has had to resort to think curtains and blackout blinds to prevent what he says could be permanent eye damage. And he...

May marks more than the beginning of long-awaited warm spring weather; it’s also the beginning of ozone season, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ABOVE: The Most Polluted Cities in America Ozone season is the time when warm, sunny weather helps form smog from power plant emissions, cars and trucks, factories and even some consumer products, like hair spray, spray paint and insecticide, damaging both population health and the environment. Increased ozone levels can cause coughing, wheezing, chest pain,...

(Thinkstock) For some families, the start of the summer season means trips to the amusement park. Although twisting, spinning and flipping your way through a day in the sun can deliver a serious adrenaline rush, for more than 4,400 kids a year, it also results in injury, according to new data from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio. Theme park injuries spike in the summer when amusement parks and fair grounds are open...

(Thinkstock) Living near a noisy, busy road might increase a child’s risk of hyperactivity or ADHD, according to a new German study. Traffic noise is the latest in a laundry list of environmental factors thought to contribute to the condition. Other environmental triggers include lead exposure, mothers who smoked or drank during pregnancy and diet, according to the National Institutes of Health. Children in the most recent study who were exposed to the highest noise levels at home showed 28...

Smoking (Credit: Stockbyte) From eating the latest superfood to avoiding scary environmental health risks, everyone wants to know how to protect their long-term health forecast. But whether you want to prevent heart disease, cancer or deadly blood clots, including pulmonary embolism, protecting your body really comes down to seven simple lifestyle steps, according to several long-term studies from the American Heart Association. Skip these lifestyle steps, and you could be cutting your life short. The first thing on the list:...

A teensy skeleton with a squashed alienlike head may have earthly origins, but the remains, found in the Atacama Desert a decade ago, do make for quite a medical mystery. Apparently when the was discovered, some had suggested the possibility it was an , though the researchers involved never suggested this otherworldly origin. Now, DNA and other tests suggest the individual was a human and was 6 to 8 years of age when he or she died. Even so, the...

Top 10 Spring Allergy Myths and Mistakes (Credit: Thinkstock) April showers bring May flowers – and pollen and grass, which trigger seasonal allergies for an estimated 50 million Americans, according to the latest numbers from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Thanks to record snowfall in some parts of the country this winter and a fast warm-up this spring, plants in some regions released all their pollen at once, making allergy symptoms particularly awful for most people, says...

Washington, a state known for coffee, outdoor sports and a temperate climate, is the most bike-friendly state in the nation, according to a new ranking from the League of American Bicyclists, released in honor of May’s National Bike Month. The Evergreen State took the top spot for the sixth year in a row because it meets nine of the league’s top 10 signs of bike safety and ranks high across five overall categories. The full list of pro-bike factors includes:...

The sky turned orange in Scottsdale, Ariz. during the Haboob. iWitness/Mikelp82 FRESNO, Calif. -- California and federal public health officials say valley fever, a potentially lethal but often misdiagnosed disease infecting more and more people around the nation, has been on the rise as warming climates and drought have kicked up the dust that spreads it. The fever has hit California's agricultural heartland particularly hard in recent years, with incidence dramatically increasing in 2010 and 2011. The disease - which...

Here’s a scary stat: One in five Americans will develop some form of skin cancer in their lifetime. Even scarier: Cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, have been rising steadily for the past 30 years, according to the American Cancer Society. It’s also the most common cancer among 25- to 29-year-olds. Genetics, age and skin and hair tone can all up your risk for developing melanoma. But exposure to the sun’s harmful UV rays remains the biggest...

Summer fun in the sun has long been tempered by the threat of skin cancer – it’s the most common cancer in the United States, after all, killing thousands of Americans each year. ABOVE: The Worst States for Your Skin But sun exposure might help reduce blood pressure, cut the risk of heart attack and stroke and even prolong life, according to preliminary research from the University of Edinburgh. This means that the benefits of sunshine could trump the potential...

Get outside and take your dog for a walk – you’ll be doing your pet and your heart a favor, researchers from the American Heart Association say in a new scientific statement published in the association’s journal Circulation. In fact, owning any kind of pet, not just a dog, can have heart-health benefits, researchers found. After reviewing several previous studies on the influence of pets and heart health, researchers concluded that: Pet ownership reduces heart disease risk factors and increases...