Ebola is a very serious disease and obviously a very serious public health issue. It’s something that should be taken very seriously, and as we’ve seen even the CDC makes mistakes.

But there are way too many people out there trying to gin up fear and hysteria over this issue. That includes media members trying to generate clicks or eyeballs, and politicians trying to capitalize on the fear.

The reaction to this photo is just one example. Read this article, and hopefully you’ll be able to keep calm while taking this seriously.

The media is doing an awful job explaining Ebola, and #ClipboardMan is proof http://t.co/X3GJB0ziRw pic.twitter.com/1KZMvyizty

— Media Matters (@mmfa) October 17, 2014

In a stunning announcement today, the largest soda companies in the United States have agreed to find ways to have consumers drink less soda loaded with sugar. Coke, Pepsi and Dr. Pepper/Snapple have entered into a voluntary agreement with the Clinton Global Initiative to cut beverage calories consumed per person in the US by 20% by 2025. This is a stunning development and it’s an acknowledgement that these beverages contribute to the obesity crisis in this country and around the world.

The approach will be through a variety of tactics, involving marketing, packaging and distribution. Of course, the companies will do this in large part by marketing low-calorie or zero-calorie beverages that they own. The trends away from sugary soft drinks have become more pronounced, though in poorer areas not much has changed. Still, by changing the sizes of soft drinks and encouraging consumption of water and low-calorie drinks, this move can have a huge impact on public health over the years.

So if you have your own bad habit of consuming sugary soft drinks every day, now is the time to stop!

Here’s one of the new health care influencers to keep an eye on – Elizabeth Holmes. Her company, Theranos, is on the cutting edge of an exciting new trend in medicine involving instant diagnosis. The key is the ability to analysis tiny blood samples in real time and use sensors to communicate that information to health care professionals.

Elizabeth is already a billionaire at the age of 30 as her company has the potential to revolutionize the diagnostic lab industry.

Learn more about her and this trend in the video above, and check out some of the articles written about her and her company here, here and here.

Stretch marks have traditionally been one of the most difficult challenges for cosmetic surgeries, even those as esteemed as Cosmos Clinic led by Dr Joseph Ajaka. Due to the fact that they are caused by abnormal collagen formation in the first place, most long term treatments focus on stimulating new collagen production as a means to treating this condition. There are more solutions these days than there used to be and thanks to the introduction of laser skin treatment, stretch marks may soon be a thing of the past. Below are five ways to get rid of stretch marks that use only minimally invasive procedures and avoid long periods of downtime.

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Free digital image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/By Naypong

Are you still drinking soda regularly? If so, look in the mirror and understand the fat you see can be traced back to the amount of sugar and simple carbs you consume, and soda is one of the worst things you can have as part of your regular diet.

If you want to eat healthier, soda is the low-hanging fruit in terms of easy changes you can make. Just try substituting options that don’t have all the sugar. Water is best, but if you need some flavor, try juice mixed with water.

The video below talks about the “war on soda” and the many efforts to get soda out of schools or to eliminate huge soda drinks in places like New York in light of our obesity crisis. Some of you might not like the notion of anyone telling you what to drink, but if you have a brain and care about your long-term health, you should realize that drinking this sugar water is bad for you of you do it regularly. You don’t have to ban it from your life, or the lives of your kids, but use some common sense and stop drinking it on a daily basis.