El 70% de los consumidores españoles no toma en cuenta el comportamiento social o medioambiental de las que marcas que compran, según ha revelado un estudio realizado por la Confederación de Consumidores y Usuarios (CECU).

Hormone treatment after menopause, already known to increase the risk of breast cancer, also makes it more likely that the cancer will be advanced and deadly, a study finds.

Women who took hormones and developed breast cancer were more likely to have cancerous lymph nodes, a sign of more advanced disease, and were more likely to die from the disease than were breast cancer patients who had never taken hormones.

The increased risks were relatively small and are not fully understood. But previous research has found that hormone treatment can cause delays in diagnosis by increasing breast density, making tumors harder to see on mammograms. Delayed diagnosis may increase the risk of death.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $20 million round of funding Monday for technology projects that can help boost the number of students who finish college.

The Microsoft founder has long sought to bring business-style competition to philanthropy. This time, his foundation is tackling college education, launching a competition called the Next Generation Learning Challenges that will give grants of $250,000 to $750,000 for education technology that helps students get into college and then graduate.

“We’re living in a tremendous age of innovation,” Gates said in a statement. “We should harness new technologies and innovation to help all students get the education they need to succeed.”

Unlike Other Devices, Power Packs Possibly Lack Major Economies of Scale

The push to get electric cars on the road is backed by governments and auto makers around the world, but they face a big hurdle: the stubbornly high cost of the giant battery packs, which can account for more than half the cost of an electric vehicle.

Both the industry and government are betting that a quick takeoff in electric-car sales will drive down the battery prices. But a number of scientists and automotive engineers believe cost reductions will be hard to come by.

Unlike with tires or toasters, battery packs aren’t likely to enjoy traditional economies of scale as their makers ramp up production, the scientists and engineers say.