Hatsuyume is a Japanese tradition about the New Year.

The Social Evolutionary

Hatsuyume - will your first dream of the year mean good luck?

Alcohol is a leading cause of cancer, a risk that should be clearly labeled on drinks Americans consume, the top doctor in the US has said.

The US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy made the proposal as research and evidence mounts about the effects that alcohol has on human health.

His suggestion for a label would require approval from the US Congress.

Americans should be better informed about the link between alcohol and cancer, in particular, Murthy argues, noting that alcohol consumption was to blame for nearly one million preventable cancer cases in the US over the last decade.

About 20,000 people die every year from those alcohol-related cancer cases, he said.

Bottles of beer, wine and liquor already carry warning labels that say pregnant women should not drink alcohol and that alcohol consumption can impair a person's ability to drive a car.

But Murthy's proposed label would go even further, raising awareness about the risk for cancer, too.

"It's pretty crazy that there's a lot more information on a can of peas than on a bottle of whiskey," said Timothy Naimi, who directs the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

"Consumers have the right to basic information about health risks, serving size and drinks per container."

Consuming alcohol raises the risk of developing at least seven types of cancer, including liver, breast and throat cancer, research has found.

Murthy said that as a person's alcohol consumption goes up, so does the risk for developing those illnesses.

However, it's unlikely that Congress would act quickly to enact a new warning on alcohol products.

It's been nearly four decades since Congress approved the first government warning label on alcohol and no updates have been made since then.

Any effort to add a cancer warning label to alcohol would face significant pushback from a well-funded and powerful beverage industry, which spends nearly $30 million every year lobbying Congress.

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US Doctor Wants Cancer Warnings on Alcoholic Drinks

Luke Littler became the youngest world champion in darts history on January 3 when the 17-year-old Englishman beat three-time champion Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the final.

"Everyone dreams of lifting this trophy," Littler said after beating van Gerwen. "I can't believe it."

The teenager has also become a sporting sensation. He's an ordinary English teenager who enjoys fast food and video games but has an extraordinary talent for throwing darts.

That talent has earned him fame and fortune. He made $1.28 million in prize money during 2024 and he added another $620,000 to that when he won the 2025 World Championship.

He has become one of the most talked about sports stars in the UK since finishing as the World Championship runner-up in 2024.

According to Google, he was the most searched sportsperson in the UK in December, and the third-most searched celebrity, behind only Donald Trump and Kate Middleton.

Littler's success has also helped bring darts back into the mainstream.

Although Littler is young, he's been working at his game for more than a decade. There are videos of him throwing magnetic darts while still wearing a diaper.

Van Gerwen was previously the youngest world champion in the elite Professional Darts Corporation competition, winning the 2014 final at age 24.

Van Gerwen said losing his record "hurt" but was full of praise for Littler.

"Every 17 years a star gets born," Van Gerwen said, "and he is one of them."

Many were already wondering if Littler can reach Phil Taylor's record of 16 world titles. Claiming a first title at age 17 will now supercharge that conversation.

17-Year-Old Becomes Youngest Darts World Champion

Walt Disney is known for creating some of the most beloved children's movies in history. But his path to success wasn't a direct one.

Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney's journey began in 1923, when he moved to California to make cartoons. He made a series of silent cartoons called Alice Comedies, which became successful and led to the founding of the Walt Disney Studio.

In 1927, Walt Disney created a new cartoon character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and made 26 short films with him in just one year.

However, when Disney asked for more money to continue making them, he discovered that his distributor had secretly hired his animators to make Oswald cartoons without him. Worse still, Disney didn't own the character of Oswald — the distributor did.

This setback forced Disney to create a new character. And that's how he came up with his most famous creation — Mickey Mouse. Mickey first appeared in the 1928 movie Steamboat Willie, and became an instant hit.

Disney then made the world's first full-color cartoon, 1932's Flowers and Trees, winning him an Oscar for Best Short Subject.

Building on these successes, Disney began working on his first full-length movie in 1934 — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Over 300 people were involved in making the movie, including animators and artists. It went four times over its budget, and some dubbed the movie "Disney's Folly," believing it would fail.

But it didn't — when it was released in 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the highest-grossing film of all time, although it lost that title two years later to Gone with the Wind.

Walt Disney passed away in 1966, but his legacy lived on. His company continued to release successful animated movies like The Little Mermaid and The Lion King, and now also creates successful computer animated films like Frozen and Moana.



From Setbacks to Success: The Story of Walt Disney

Ancient Egyptians loved and respected cats, believing they brought good luck.

Some families even dressed their cats in jewelry, and mummified them after death. They would mourn the death of their cat by shaving off their eyebrows, and continue to mourn until their eyebrows grew back.

Inspired by this ancient love for cats, the Shanghai Museum in China held a special event called Meowseum Nights.

Held 10 times during last summer and fall, the event invited 200 cats and 2,000 people to explore the exhibition On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt.

Some of the artifacts shown in the exhibition came from a temple discovered years ago in Egypt. The temple was for Bastet, an Egyptian goddess who could change into a cat. This gave the Shanghai Museum another reason to use cats as the theme for their event.

Museum director Chu Xiaobo said that the event was created to bring cat lovers to the museum, as in Shanghai, where there are over a million pet cats, cat-friendly public spaces are rare.

"There are dog parks, dog brunches, but not that much for cat parents to do with their pets," Wen Liuli, a visitor to the exhibition, told The Art Newspaper.

The museum took measures to keep all visitors and artifacts safe. Cats had to stay in strollers or bags, but there were certain areas where people could take their cats out for photos, such as in front of a statue of Bastet. All the other artifacts were kept behind glass.

The museum also had vets, doctors, and even an ambulance on-site, and over 80 animal welfare workers attended each night to help and give advice.

While the museum doesn't plan to hold another Meowseum Night, Chu hopes it might inspire other museums to try similar ideas.

"Cat people now have a special affection for the Shanghai Museum," he said.




Cats Take a Tour of Ancient Egypt at Chinese Museum

When something — or someone — is annoying you at work, you may feel that you need to share your feelings with another person.

We often call this "venting" — letting out negative emotions by talking about what's bothering us. It actually comes from the French word vent, meaning "wind" — because you're letting those feelings out of your body and sending them off into the wind!

It might feel good for a moment. But is it really healthy?

There are advantages to venting, experts say. Keeping stress inside us can increase our risks of getting things like heart problems or high blood pressure.

And sharing our problems with others can also help make us feel connected and supported, which can boost our mental health, according to Rachel Millstein from Harvard Medical School.

However, there are some studies that have found that venting can make things worse.

In fact, Brad Bushman of Ohio State University says it's the "worst thing you can do," and he believes that venting may only make us angrier.

Whether it's right or wrong, experts agree that we have to be careful when we're venting at work.

We most often feel the need to vent when our emotions are at their highest. But Michael Wiederman, writing for the Psychology Today website, says it's better to take some time to calm down before sharing anything with anyone.

Saying too much, or sharing with the wrong person, could get you into trouble and bring you much more stress!

And don't forget to think about the emotions of the person you're venting to — your venting could make them feel stressed too!