iPads, MakerEd and More in Education

To a remarkable degree, a single company is front and center in one of the biggest public-health crises facing the country: the sharp rise in vaping among teenagers and young adults. In 2018, 30% of the nation’s 12th-graders reported vaping nicotine at least once in the past year, according to a January 2019 study sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The study said the increase in vaping last year was “the largest ever recorded for any substance in the 44 years” that it has tracked adolescent drug use.

THE WHOLE WORLD is exhausted. And it’s killing us.

But particularly me. As I write this, I’m at TED 2019 in Vancouver, which is a weeklong marathon of talks and workshops and coffee meetings and experiences and demos and late-night trivia contests and networking, networking, networking. Meanwhile, I’m sick as a dog with a virus I caught from my 3-year-old, I’m on deadline for what feels like a bazillion stories, and I’m pregnant, which means I need coffee but can’t have too much, and need sleep but can only lay on my left side, and can’t breathe without sitting propped up with a pillow anyway, since I can’t safely take any cold medication.

According to neuroscientist Matthew Walker, I’m doing serious damage to my health—and life—by not sleeping enough.

Apparently, the keyboards of classroom computers can be germier than toilet seats. Here's some advice to keep the seasonal bacteria and viruses at bay in classrooms.

"Addictions to electronic cigarettes are derailing the dreams of promising young athletes, leaving them struggling to breathe, keep up with their teammates and find motivation to practice.

Take Cade Beauparlant, 18, of Newburyport, Massachusetts.

Beauparlant first laced up hockey skates when he was just a few years old, and fell in love with the sport. "Hockey was my life," he told NBC News.

His abilities on the ice developed rapidly. Hockey coaches and recruiters had their eyes on Beauparlant starting in middle school.

"He was such a hard-working, motivated, skillful young kid. He was our best defenseman," Paul Yameen, Beauparlant's high school hockey coach, said. "As soon as he started [vaping], everything changed."

Beauparlant said he was introduced to e-cigarettes during a sleepover with friends in eighth grade. He began "Juuling" in ninth grade, referring to the Juul brand of e-cigarettes, by far the most popular among teens.

Within a year, Beauparlant said he was "extremely addicted," to Juul pods. One pod has roughly the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes, according to Truth Initiative, a nonprofit organization that advocates for tobacco cessation."

Apple CEO Tim Cook is the latest in a series of tech entrepreneurs and c-level executives to warn of the potential risks of social media.

People who drink three to four cups of coffee a day are more likely to see health benefits than problems, experiencing lower risks of premature death and heart disease than those who abstain, scientists have said.

The research, which collated evidence from more than 200 previous studies, also found coffee consumption was linked to lower risks of diabetes, liver disease, dementia and some cancers.