The Spark

One of the bright spots of the COVID-19 pandemic is that more Pennsylvanians went outdoors for recreation. There's no reason to believe they'll stop either. At a time when many were home from work and didn't want to be stuck indoors, adults and children visited state parks, hiked on trails, camped, swam or explored.

And they spent money according to the U.S. Department of Commerce -- almost $12 billion on outdoor recreational activities.

State government took notice and hired the state's first Director of Outdoor Recreation Nathan Reigner, who was on Tuesday's Smart Talk to discuss his new role and the outdoors in Pennsylvania.

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Three people were killed and a fourth critically injured when lightning struck a tree they were standing under last week in Washington D.C. Fatalities from lightning strikes don’t happen often – sometimes up to two dozen people a year are killed and multiple fatalities are even more rare. Scientists say there could be more lightning strikes as the climate changes. Chris Vagasky, Meteorologist, Lightning Data and Safety Specialist, National Lightning Safety Council.

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Most would assume that back pain is an issue that older people deal with but back pain in young people has been very common due to poor posture, heavy back packs, exercising improperly, technology habits, and more.

According to the good body, 30% of children and young people experience back pain, beginning in childhood.Dr. Andrie Joseph, primary care sports medicine physician at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, joins us today to provide us with some insight on the issue.

Dr. Andrie, thank you for being with us today.

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2022 – but especially the summer of 2022 – has been marked by major disruptions in air travel. More than 120,000 flights have been cancelled since Memorial Day and one in five flights have been delayed. There are several reasons for the problems and other air travel topics that we’ll discuss today with Tim Edwards, Executive Director at Harrisburg International Airport

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Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or STEM. In today’s economy and especially with a view toward the future, STEM is and will be much more important and even essential for the jobs and careers that will make up what is now the information economy. STEM Learning Ecosystems brings together several partners from education, business and others to improve STEM opportunities. There will be a STEM workforce development connector event tomorrow at Lebanon Valley College.

STEM Outreach Liaison for the Penn State’s Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS)

Julie Stolzer, Director of STEM Learning Ecosystems Global and Senior STEM Consultant

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January 2020 was the last time the United States declared a public health emergency and that to Covid-19.

Now there’s a new virus on the scene, Monkeypox, that has caused the United States to have the largest outbreak in the world.

At the end of last month, the Biden Administration declared Monkeypox to be a public health emergency, as there are more than 6,600 confirmed cases of Monkeypox in 48 states as of June 28th, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus is known for forming rashes and raised pustules on the skin.

Dr. John Goldman, Infectious Disease Specialist with UPMC Harrisburg, said because the disease can only spread through direct skin to skin contact to a lesion or fluid from a lesion, it spreads much slower than COVID-19.

"I expect that we're going to see more cases in the United States, we're going to see more cases in central Pennsylvania, but we're not going to see anything like what we saw with COVID-19." said Goldman. "We're not going to have mask in public, go to remote learning, have colleges shut down their classrooms. It's a totally different level of transmission. There are just simply fewer cases."

Most Moneypox cases have been transmitted through sexual and predominantly among the gay and bisexual men community.

Some of the symptoms for the disease are:

If you experience any of these symptoms call your doctor for further instructions.

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A rare 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle baseball card from the superstar’s rookie season is expected to sell for more than $10 million at auction later this month. It would be the top price ever paid for a card. 20 years ago, there were a lot of people who dreamed of getting rich from the cards they collected. The market was flooded with cards and card collecting as a hobby seemed to lose its popularity. But it has made a comeback. Tomorrow is Tops National Baseball Card Collectors Day. Chris Dreisbach, co-owner of Red Rose Cards.

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245 years after the Battle of Red Bank, along the Delaware River in New Jersey, remains of soldiers from the Revolutionary War have been found. So, the skeletal remains of up to 12 believed to be German Hessian soldiers have been uncovered. To tell us more about this unusual find is Dr. Jan Janofsky, Red Bank Battlefield Park Director

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Pregnant women are warned not to drink alcohol or smoke because it may harm their babies. Unfortunately, there are too many that don’t heed the warnings or drink when they don’t know they’re pregnant. Sometimes, it does have an impact on the baby’s brain and development. Drinking can result in fetal alcohol syndrome. It’s estimated that up to five percent of the babies born are on the fetal alcohol syndrome spectrum. Some medical professionals say it is underdiagnosed. Others have gone as far as saying one third of those incarcerated may have been born with fetal alcohol syndrome. What is it? Tammy Corr, Neo-natologist at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

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Did you know that there is a popular myth that America’s favorite dessert, the chocolate chip cookie, was invented and became popular on accident? In the 1930s Ruth Wakefield invited the Chocolate Crunch Cookie recipe in the Toll House Inn, which was a popular restaurant in Massachusetts that she owned with her husband.

There are popular myths from Wakefield unexpectedly ran out of bakers’ chocolate or nuts for a regular ice-cream cookie recipe and, in desperation, replaced them with chunks chopped out of a bar of Nestle bittersweet chocolate, to chocolate accidentally fell into cookie batter to a rushed last-minute replacement ingredient miracle, to Ruth strategically developed the recipe.

Whatever the real story is, the Chocolate Chip cookie’s popularity soared as soon as it hit the scene, as the richness and comfort it provided during the Great Depression and World War two was needed for American soldiers and civilians alike.

According to the Kitchen Project, seven billion chocolate chip cookies are eaten annually and toll house produces 33 thousand cookies a day.

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