Search results

Last week Dophin Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was thrown to the ground and suffered a concussion and clear neurologic event on national television. Quarterbacks are somewhere near the middle of the pack when it comes to concussions by position. A new study looks at concussions among the Nittany Lions.

A new meta-analysis upends the belief that red meat is bad and vegetables are good. How can that be? It begins by reassessing how researchers “weigh” the impact and uncertainty of the studies they consider.

What’s Science got to do with it? - Science and policy
Luxury surveillance - we willing put on "ankle monitors" and often pay a premium

With the growing concern – especially in the Northeast – about the air pollution now coming from the Canadian forest fires, we thought it would be worthwhile to address the potential health effects, especially the difference between acute and chronic.
Most of the daily air pollution studies on health have focused on statistical significance to establish the existence of the phenomenon, which has already been shown by the Great London Fog of 1952, during which black smoke levels increased about 10-fold, and thousands died over several days. The scientific community would be better served by addressing epidemiological and physiological questions.

A ferocious debate ensued over Emily Oster's recent call in The Atlantic for COVID "amnesty." Everybody in the dispute is wrong. Should you drink Smart Water? Only if you're dumb, says our resident chemist.

Ho, Ho, Ho, etc., etc., etc. Kris Kringle, here, reporting on the State of SCE (Santa Claus Enterprises), including its subsidiaries, KKW (Kris Kringle’s Workshop), the Rudolf’s Bar and Gym Group, and Super Stocking Stuffers, sold exclusively on-circle to our subscribers. 

The data comes primarily from the CDC’s injury and mortality reports from 1990 to 2021. Here are some highlights.

Long COVID – the persistence of symptoms long past COVID’s normal recovery – remains in uncharted diagnostic waters. It’s a syndrome of symptoms rather than a specific disease. A new study from China sheds some light on who is at risk, and what symptoms they might have.

Last week there was a flurry of stories about the discovery of uranium in a shipment of scrap metal. In a highly speculative story British tabloid, The Sun mentioned that the uranium could be used to make a “dirty bomb.” Just how dangerous was the illicit uranium?

The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OSHA) was “born” in 1971. Its “mother,” the pioneer of occupational medicine in America, Alice Hamilton, was born over 100 years earlier, dying three months before the Act was signed into law. It took more than fifty years after she was named the first woman (assistant) professor at Harvard Medical School, launching their industrial medicine department, for the country to recognize the need for such legislation. So, why did it take so long?

Cops are taking their own fentanyl “copaganda” too seriously. It’s one thing when it causes panic attacks among first responders, but another thing when it causes unjust charges to be piled on drug offenders who will likely be forced to take plea deals.

The language police
The printing press
Are we working too little or too much?
Will a nap help?

For many of us, COVID vaccination reduced the severity of illness, but not our becoming infected. We have a hybrid immunity now, tempered by that injectable mRNA of the spike protein and our exposure to real-world COVID. A new study suggests that we, of the hybrid immunity, have a reshaped and more enhanced immune response.

From an evolutionary view, becoming alarmed over dangerous situations is adaptive. Our fight-or-flee response has been honed over the millennium. Now, our prompt and focused attention on alarming information has been used by media – old, main, or social – to capture our eyes and ears (and wallets). What might science tell us about our increasingly alarming media diets? For that, let's first turn to hospitals.

It's finally time to consider Safe and Just Earth System Boundaries proposals to reclaim and reset Earth Systems Boundaries. First up, the three most significant (at least in my view): climate, water, and nutrients. The authors of the paper in Nature challenged us to read their proposals and then discuss them. In the spirit of that challenge, I will let them do the talking.

Credit card purchases, unlike those made with cash, are traceable. Leaving the value of untraceability for criminal enterprise aside, do consumers choose one over the other based on traceability? A new study suggests we choose cash when we wish to “forget” a purchase.

The value of limitation
The cost of speeding
What’s to eat?
How the media portrays us

Oppenheimer and the “Gita”
Releasing the nukes
Where have all the Dinosaurs gone?
The return of the paper bag

How do we spend our time? Not individually, but globally? Channeling Frederick Taylor, the “father” of time management, a group of researchers sought to answer how the eight billion members of our species spend a mythical 24-hour day. It may not have quantitative meaning, but the qualitative findings should give us pause to reflect.

On November 11th, America honors and celebrates our veterans. November 11th was originally Armistice Day to commemorate the cease-fire of the Great War, World War I, that took place at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
I know many veterans personally. Lots of family and friends served. Most honorably left their military service unharmed. Some left the service with deep wounds and scars. And some did not make it back alive. On Veterans Day, we thank them all for their service.

Why did so many people opt not to get COVID boosters? That is a significant public health question. A newly reported survey provides some answers.

Bioaerosols generated by infected patients constitute a significant source of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and other infectious agents. COVID-19 epidemiology has been limited to large populations in which varying behavior, living conditions, and life views may influence exposures. As a result, it's difficult to distinguish personal characteristics from concomitant levels of viral exposure.

Tattoos
Photographing Art
The Legacy of Neutron Jack Welch

Some women who've been diagnosed with early early-stage breast cancer would be well advised to have genetic screening performed. But many are not, and they should be aware that genetic counseling could be crucial and to ask for it if it isn't offered — especially for those considered high risk of developing additional cancers.

There are millions of people receiving information about their DNA, as it pertains to their ancestry and/or health. A new test, for three mutations in two genes associated with higher rates of certain cancers, recently received FDA approval. But when it comes to the "information provided," what does that really mean?