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16. Rock ’ n’ roll legend Leon Russell has died at the age of 74 in Nashville. In July he had heart bypass surgery and was "recovering from that at the time of his death". Russell wrote, sang, and produced some of the top records in rock ’ n’ roll history and was well known for his "striking appearance" , with "wispy white hair" that "covered much of his face". In 2011 , Russell was indicted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored him with the Award for Music Excellence. In the early 2000s, he also started his own record label, Leon Russell Records.
17. A powerful earthquake struck the Pacific’s Solomon Islands, prompting tsunami warnings for its neighboring island nations. But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center added there was no threat to Hawaii. According to the U. S. Geological Survey, the earthquake measured at a magnitude of 7. 7 with an epicenter 120 miles away from Honiara, the Solomon Island’s capital. The survey added it also measured at a depth of 30 miles below the surface. But that did not stop the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center from alerting Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, New Caledonia, Tuvalu and in Kosrae. Instead, the center added hazardous waves were possible.
18. According to health officials, cases for the contagious disease mumps have hit a 10-year high in the United States. Officials add that the disease is especially common on college campuses. Before a mumps vaccine became widely available back in 1967 , nearly every child in the U. S. would get infected. Since then, cases have declined over 99 percent. Symptoms for mumps typically begin 16 to 18 days after infection. They then last around 7 to 10 days. Up to 40 percent of people with mumps have mild symptoms and may not even realize they are sick. However, they can still spread the disease to others.
19. The tech companies of Silicon Valley are standing up against Donald Trump’s travel ban. The Silicon Valley Leadership Group says immigrants make up about 58% of the area’s engineers and other high-skill employees. 97 companies from the area, including Google, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Facebook and Twitter, joined in on a court filing against the ban. Carl Guardino, the CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group told the Associated Press, " Immigration and innovation go hand in hand. This cuts so deeply into the bone and marrow of what fuels the innovation economy that very few CEOs feel the luxury of sitting on the sidelines. So people are going to stand up and speak up. "The court filing, which was submitted Sunday, spoke of the entrepreneurial spirit of " people who choose to leave everything that is familiar and journey to an unknown land to make a new life".
20. Joseph LeDoux, a scientist who studies fear and anxiety in humans, recently announced that fear and anxiety do not occur in one area of the brain but many. LeDoux’s new theory is that fear and anxiety are completely separate and happen in different parts of the brain. When someone detects a threat in their environment and gets into defense mode, that’s when fear and anxiety happen simultaneously. LeDoux also criticized how anti-anxiety drugs only focus on the part of the brain called the "fear circuit" , rather than focusing on the actual fear and anxiety a person experiences.