Inform Home

Inbreeding is key to bedbugs' success: study

2011-12-06T16:30:42Z

Inbreeding usually causes genetic defects that eventually kill off creatures who engage in it, but not when it comes to bedbugs who thrive by mating with relatives, researchers said Tuesday.

By starting with just one pregnant female, the wingless creatures can build up huge numbers in apartment buildings, according to studies released at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygien...

All in the family: Inbreeding key to bedbug spread

2011-12-06T16:00:25Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Inbreeding may be the secret to the bedbug's success, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.

After nearly disappearing in the United States, the bloodsucking pests have made a comeback in recent years, quickly infesting apartment buildings and stubbornly resisti...

Gender inequality persists in multitasking: study

2011-12-01T12:01:10Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Men may be helping more in the home but working women still do more multitasking in U.S. families than their partners and are finding it stressful, according to a new study.

Whether it is housework, cooking or childcare, women do about 10 hours more multitasking in the home each week -- 48.3 hours compared to 38.9 -- which researchers say constitutes an impo...

Bedbug sniffing dogs join New York housing inspection team

2011-11-17T12:01:14Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A couple of new enforcers have joined the ranks of New York City's housing inspection team -- two dogs trained to sniff out bedbugs that might otherwise elude the less-honed senses of their human colleagues.

Mickey and Nemo, two young beagles, began working for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Dev...

Value of home remodeling projects fall

2011-11-10T14:00:18Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thinking of a home renovation? Smaller might be better. Adding a sweet sunroom or luxe master suite sounds great, but don't expect to recover the costs anytime soon.

On average, U.S. homeowners who made home improvements in 2011 only picked up 58 cents in home equity on their remodeling dollar, according to the Cost versus Value survey released on Thursday...

Value of home remodeling projects fall in U.S.

2011-11-10T14:00:16Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thinking of a home renovation? Smaller might be better. Adding a sweet sunroom or luxe master suite sounds great, but don't expect to recover the costs anytime soon.

On average, U.S. homeowners who made home improvements in 2011 only picked up 58 cents in home equity on their remodeling dollar, according to the ...

US researchers study bed bugs' resistance

2011-10-19T20:30:19Z

US researchers have uncovered the genetic mechanism that bed bugs use to resist powerful insecticides, according to a study, leading to the hope of more effective ways to combat the pests.

Bed bugs, which have been largely absent from the United States since the 1950s, have returned in force in the last decade in the US, and notably other Western countries in Europe<...

Sleeping Austrian alerted to fire by cats

2011-10-14T13:30:34Z

An Austrian man was saved from tragedy in the early hours of Friday morning after his cats woke him up by repeatedly walking over his face as he slept, police said.

When the 37-year-old from Hohenems in the western state of Vorarlberg finally came to, he smelled burning and discovered the blaze in his flat.

After failing to put out the flames with an extinguisher he called the fire brigade at 3:30 am. The man wa...

Young Indonesians paint the town green

2011-09-30T03:30:28Z

Young Indonesians are breathing new life into their polluted concrete capital city with little more than buckets of soil and seeds.

A group of mostly young professionals, known as Gardening Indonesia, has joined the global urban farming movement, converting vacant patches of land between Jakarta's skyscrapers into lush green vegetable gardens.

"There's con...

Entrepreneurs scramble to create best bed bug buster

2011-09-29T07:00:38Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Some want to bake them. Others prefer to freeze them. Still others dehydrate them.

Inventors will try just about anything to kill bed bugs, those nasty, reddish-brown, blood-sucking parasites that are the worst nightmare of many hotel guests.

America's obsession with bed bugs has led to a rush of entrepreneu...

Study finds bed bug pesticides making some people sick

2011-09-22T13:00:27Z

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Bed bugs might make you itch, but the chemicals used to combat the pests are making some people ill.

As more people in the United States are feeling the bed bug's bite, there has been a spike in sickness from pesticides used to kill the insects, the <...

Oyster gardeners aim to revive ailing Chesapeake Bay

2011-08-31T13:30:29Z

NORFOLK, Va (Reuters) - After 10 years of cultivating oysters in the waters off his backyard dock, Kendall Osborne has developed something of a salt thumb.

He began gardening oysters as a way of bonding with his two daughters and, like hundreds of other Virginians, to help...

Oyster gardeners work to revive ailing Chesapeake Bay

2011-08-31T13:00:18Z

NORFOLK, Va (Reuters) - After 10 years of cultivating oysters in the waters off the end of his backyard dock, Kendall Osborne has developed something of a salt thumb.

He began gardening oysters as a way of bonding with his two daughters and, like hundreds of other Virginia...

Lowe's trims management in turnaround effort

2011-08-29T16:00:11Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lowe's Cos , the world's second-largest home improvement chain, said on Monday that three senior executives had left the company as part of a management shake-up aimed at improving its U.S. operations.

The chain's U.S. stores will now operate under three divisions -- North, Sout...

Urban gardening takes off at Berlin's fabled airport

2011-08-29T15:30:33Z

It's sunflowers instead of planes and kale instead of kerosene at legendary Tempelhof Airport, site of the Berlin Airlift and now home to one of Europe's biggest and most unusual urban gardens.

Launched by a dozen "pioneers" in April, the Allmende Kontor plot now has about 300 people growing fruit, vegetables and flowers between the former runways of the airport, which closed...

Tim Allen searches for real men in return to TV

2011-08-08T12:00:10Z

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Tim Allen is headed back to television in his first network comedy in 12 years, feeling like the last real man in a woman's world.

Or at least, that's what his character Mike is experiencing in "Last Man Standing" -- a family man surrounded by three headstrong daugh...

Roof gardens soften hard edges of city living

2011-08-01T03:30:06Z

NEW YORK, August1 (Reuters Life!) - As the mean streets of many cities undergo a renaissance into vibrant downtown meccas, rooftop and terrace gardens, largely invisible to the public eye, are creating a verdant canopy.

Once wryly referred to as "tar beaches," hot, windswept apartment roofs have morphed into urban oases, replete with overflowing pots of annuals and perennials, herbs, vines a...

Blast at Russian garden center: report

2011-07-21T02:31:09Z

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A blast occurred at a garden center in Moscow on Thursday, possibly during welding work, state news agency RIA reported.

A spokesman for Moscow city police said the force was not immediately available to confirm if an explosion had taken place. RIA said it was unclear if there were any casualties.

Asia is chomping up US vegetable fields, orchards and vineyards, causing experts to scramble through an arsenal of weapons to try and halt this stealthy, smelly predator.

Pesticides, parasites and traps have all been tried but none have succeeded in killing off the brown marmorated stink bug, Halyomorpha halys, which first surfaced in the northeastern United States

Right-Sizing A Home Improvement

2011-06-24T07:30:19Z

Who doesn’t salivate at the thought of a sparkling new kitchen or a luxurious new bathroom? We both do! I (Sarah) even have three scrapbooks chock-full of clippings from shelter magazines like Veranda and House Beautiful with her “dream” kitchen, bathroom, and home office. A girl can dream, right?

But let’s get real about home improvements for a mo...

Cockroaches may be asthma culprit for city children

2011-06-12T20:00:09Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Cockroaches have been identified as a possible explanation for dramatic neighborhood variations in asthma rates among New York City children.

In some neighborhoods, 19 percent - nearly 1 in 5 - of children have asthma, while in others the rate can be as low as 3 percent. Heavy traffic, industria...

Crawling culprit seen in urban kids' asthma

2011-06-12T08:32:35Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Researchers have identified cockroaches as a potential explanation for dramatic variations between neighborhoods in asthma rates among New York City children.

In some New York City neighborhoods, 19 percent -- nearly 1 in 5 -- children have asthma; in others, the rate is as low as 3 percent.

London's gardens changing from green to grey: report

2011-06-09T10:00:28Z

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - London's gardens are changing from green to grey as householders are paving over front lawns, laying decking and building sheds, a wildlife charity said.

The British capital is losing the equivalent of two and half times the size of its central Hyd...

Australian robots have learnt to talk the talk

2011-05-30T00:00:09Z

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - They're not discussing the latest celebrity gossip or passing on stock tips just yet, but Australian robots have begun talking to each other -- and in a language of their own devising.

The two "Lingodroids," developed by the University of Queensland, have picked up their shar...

HK feng shui master charged with forging tycoon's will

2011-05-26T02:31:27Z

HONG KONG (Reuters) - The ex-lover and feng shui master of late Hong Kong billionaire Nina Wang was formally charged by police on Thursday with forgery of a will he claimed entitled him to the heiress's huge estate.

The move further stacks the odds against Tony Chan's...

What to Know About Memorial Day Sales

2011-05-25T10:30:26Z

You'll find discounts on seasonal items. But if you can hold out until the end of the summer, you'll get better deals.

Memorial Day is right around the corner, and that means sales, sales, sales. Most markdowns will be on summer apparel, lawn and garden items, and outdoor gear. Plus, yo...

GLORY DAYS

2011-05-18T02:31:10Z

The Sahara hotel holds a special place in all of Las Vegas' hearts, especially my husband's and mine! My husband retired from the Sahara after 31 years as a laborer and gardener. He remembers taking care of the camels out front and the gardens by the old and the new pools. He has many stories that he has shared with me about guests and stars from over the years ... He fondly remembers the Rat Pack days, each owner, and all th...

Do bedbugs carry superbugs?

2011-05-12T08:00:09Z

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Researchers in Canada have found bedbugs carrying antibiotic-resistant superbugs, a surprise finding because scientists had thought the pests were not capable of spreading infections.

The study was done by a team in a poor corner of Vancouver, Canada, said a report released by the US Centers for Disease Control an...

Fitness fruits of cultivating your own garden

2011-04-25T07:30:09Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!)- Spring is here and people everywhere are getting back to their gardens.

Experts say whether you're planting lilacs, squash or roses when it comes to the fitness benefits of all that pulling, digging, mulching and mowing, you'll reap what you sow.

"You get exercise whether you're mowing the lawn or planting a flower garden," said Bruce Butterfield,...

Fake Your Way To A Fabulous Easter Dinner

2011-04-20T07:00:21Z

Just when you felt like you finally put away all of the Christmas decorations, here comes the Easter bunny hop, hop, hopping along. He’ll be here before you know it, and while he might be bringing eggs for all of the good little boys and girls, their parents (and yours) are expecting dinner. At your house. How do you pull it all together? You fake it.

Yes, that’s right. It i...

9 Gardening Mistakes to Avoid

2011-04-15T13:30:08Z

Cultivate a gorgeous garden by following these expert tips

Putting shovel to soil and watching flowers and vegetables grow is one of the best parts about warm weather. Not only is gardening fun, it improves your well-being, too, since it gets you out and about in the fresh air and sunshine. But it can also become a costly and time-consuming hobby if you don't know what you're doing. Whether you’ve been gardening for years or are just starting out, there&#...

NY's rat problem damaging tourism: city official

2011-04-05T14:00:07Z

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Absolutely no one likes a rat, a city official said on Tuesday, demanding $1.5 million be restored to the budget to be help control what he called Manhattan's horrific rat problem.

Seeing vermin running amok on city streets and in subway tunnels is a turn-off for tourists, said Manhattan Borough preside...

New York's horrific rat problem damaging tourism: official

2011-04-05T11:30:25Z

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Absolutely no one likes a rat, a city official said on Tuesday, demanding $1.5 million be restored to the budget to be help control what he called Manhattan's horrific rat problem.

Seeing vermin running amok on city streets and in subway tunnels is a turn-off for tourists, said Manhattan Borough president Reuters) - New diets for cows and sheep could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, research funded by the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) shows.

Feeding the animals maize silage, naked oats and higher sugar grasses could reduce the amount of methane they produce, the study by Read...

New diets for cows, sheep could cut emissions: report

2011-04-01T10:00:15Z

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - New diets for cows and sheep could reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, research funded by the British government's department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) shows.

Feeding the animals maize silage, naked oats and higher sugar grasses could reduce the amount of methane they produce, the study by

2011-03-29T04:01:02Z

On "Las Vegas tops list of places job recovery has failed" from pgctg141:

"Of course the recovery has failed in Vegas and thousands of other locations, it was designed and implemented by many of the same political imbeciles who created the economic disaster in the first place ... Until we clean house in Washington the problems will continue, since those who created the mess designed its recovery to fail."

Join the...

Western DIY outlets retreat in China

2011-03-27T02:30:13Z

At a near-empty B&Q home improvement outlet in Beijing, much of the foot traffic is due to the location of a public toilet next to the entrance -- not the store's patio furniture or circular saws.

It's a sign of how foreign "do-it-yourself" big-box chains have struggled to attract customers in China, where homeowners have little experience in renovating apartments and prefer to ...

Andrew Jackson's historic dueling pistol for sale

2011-03-19T10:00:09Z

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Among the Oriental rugs and fine furniture at the annual Charleston International Antiques Show this weekend is President Andrew Jackson's dueling pistol, priced at $65,000.

"It's this one here on top, the rea...

Long-lost marble fragments found in Acropolis walls

2011-03-03T14:30:38Z

Archaeologists in Greece have located long-lost fragments from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon built into the outer walls of the Athens Acropolis, a supervising official said on Thursday.

The fragments were pinpointed after a vertical scan of the 20-metre (65-foot) walls using a camera mounted on a modified weather balloon, says Mary Ioannidou, head of the Acropolis Resto...

New York's bed bug problem spreading to London

2011-02-09T08:30:13Z

LONDON (Reuters) - Avoiding New York and boiling your suitcase might not be enough for Londoners to dodge the global bed bug pandemic - they're already here, probably in a hotel, house or cinema near you.

Apple seed-sized, flat, brownish bed bugs (also known as Cimicidae) were once rife all over the world but had been largely wiped out by the b...

Bedbug Anxiety

2010-10-25T10:32:02Z

FILE - This undated file photo provided by Orkin LLC shows bed bugs. New York City's bedbugs have climbed out of bed and boldly marched into places like the Empire State Building, Bloomingdales and Grand Rapids, Michigan. The restaurant has replaced it's landscaping with a vegetables and herb garden. (AP Photo/Adam Bird)

...

Food and Farm Restaurant Gardens

2010-10-04T01:30:16Z

A tomoato grows in the garden outside The Blue Water Grill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The restaurant has replaced it's landscaping with a vegetables and herb garden. (AP Photo/Adam Bird) *

...

Bed Bug Conundrum

2010-08-30T17:15:41Z

In this Aug. 25, 2010 photo, Delores Stewart displays bed bugs found in her home in Columbus, Ohio. A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterm...

Bedbug Cities

2010-08-30T13:30:34Z

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2008, file photo, Carl Massicott, with Advanced K9 Detectives, leads his beagle dog Radar on a demonstration of how they sniff for bed bugs, during a visit to New York. Pest control company Terminex released a list Tuesday, Aug. 24, 2010 of the 15 most bedbug-infested cities, and New York, Philadelphia and