As meetings shifted online during the COVID-19 lockdown, many people found that chattering roommates, garbage trucks and other loud sounds disrupted important conversations. This experience inspired three University of Washington researchers, who were roommates during the pandemic, to develop better earbuds. To enhance the speaker’s voice and reduce background noise, “ClearBuds” use a novel microphone...
By working together, economic and racial justice organizers in the last decade have brought about policy changes to address economic inequality, researchers report in a new book. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign urban planning professor Marc Doussard and his co-author, Portland State University urban studies and planning professor Greg Schrock, examine grassroots organizing efforts in six cities, including Chicago, in “Justice at Work:...
Hip-hop culture is often recognized as being born on Aug. 11, 1973. That was about seven months after Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that protected the right to choose to have an abortion. Accordingly, reproductive rights have long been part of the discourse in rap music, which has always sought to hold a mirror...
For centuries, people have been using mindfulness meditation to try to relieve their pain, but neuroscientists have only recently been able to test if and how this actually works. In the latest of these efforts, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine measured the effects of mindfulness on pain perception and brain...
Many of our everyday activities involve a certain degree of risk – whether to our work, finances or health. But how is risk perceived within a society and how do individuals think about risk? This was what Dr. Dirk Wulff and Professor Rui Mata, researchers in the Faculty of Psychology at the University of Basel,...
Sugar-sweetened beverages are a known contributor to several health issues, including poor diet quality, weight gain and diabetes. While several studies have shown that taxing sweetened beverages significantly reduces purchasing, questions have been raised about whether the taxes place a greater economic burden on lower-income households. New research from the University of Washington, published June 2...
A leading fashion designer whose accessories were used by celebrities and characters in the “Sex and the City” TV series, was arrested in her hometown of Cali, Colombia, and faces extradition to the United States on charges of smuggling crocodile handbags, Colombian prosecutors said Friday. Nancy Gonzalez faces charges in the U.S. Southern District of...
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a divisive arch-conservative and one of his nation’s most powerful and influential figures, has died after being shot during a campaign speech Friday in western Japan, according to NHK public television. Abe, 67, was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech in Nara. He was airlifted to...
Led by Ziyad Ben Taleb, assistant professor of public health in the College of Nursing and Health Innovation and director of UTA’s Nicotine and Tobacco Research Laboratory (NTRL), the team will study how the size of a hookah device—also known as a water pipe—impacts its user’s health. It’s an area of research that Ben Taleb says is...
New research reveals how climate change is likely to increase the potential for wine production in the UK – with conditions projected to resemble those in famous growing regions of France and Germany. Over the last 20 years, climate change has contributed to a growth in UK vineyard area – with more than 800 vineyards...
