People who relied on conservative media or social media in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak were more likely to be misinformed about how to prevent the virus and believe conspiracy theories about it, a study of media use and public knowledge has found. Based on an Annenberg Science Knowledge survey fielded in early...
When faced with danger, humans draw closer together. Social distancing thwarts this impulse. Professor Ophelia Deroy from Ludwigs-Maximilians Universitaet in Munich (LMU) and colleagues argue that this dilemma poses a greater threat to society than overtly antisocial behavior. The corona crisis presents countries around the globe with what is perhaps the greatest challenge most have...
Health practitioners are constantly developing new ways to help those with drug and alcohol addictions wean themselves from their substance of choice. Most such programs have limited success, however. A new study finds that interventions that take a multidimensional approach – tackling the biological, social, environmental and mental health obstacles to overcome while also addressing...
Suicide is now the second most common cause of death among American youth. Fatal suicides rose 30 percent between 2000 and 2016, and 2016 alone saw 1.3 million nonfatal suicide attempts. Now, a study led by Boston Children’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrates that a predictive computer model can identify patients at risk for...
Viral. Virus. Two words that sum up our world in 2020. People in nearly every corner of the globe are dealing, either directly or indirectly, with the impact of the novel Coronavirus; and of course media outlets are reporting, analyzing, and pontificating with relish on the topic. In the United States so many other news...
A small but concerning number of former NFL players report receiving clinical diagnoses of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to new research A definitive diagnosis of the neurodegenerative brain disease, thought to be caused by repeated blows to the head, can be done only on autopsy and cannot be made based on clinical exam or...
An international team of evolutionary biologists and paleontologists have reconstructed the evolution of the avian brain using a massive dataset of brain volumes from dinosaurs, extinct birds like Archaeopteryx and the Great Auk, and modern birds. The study, published online today in the journal Current Biology, reveals that prior to the mass extinction at the...
Before being halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a relentless vaccination campaign had nearly succeeded in eradicating polio from the world. Between 2000 and 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that its campaign had reduced the burden of the disease by 99 percent, preventing more than 13 million children from becoming infected and risking potentially...
Recognition of the needs of wives and intimate partners in supporting the recovery of veterans and front-line emergency workers affected by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been highlighted in a new study led by Flinders University. Their contribution to trauma recovery, and their own need for support, are not well understood by military and emergency...
A new study from the University of Helsinki presents the current state of knowledge on the exposure and vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples to environmental pollution, reviewing the innumerable impacts that pollution poses on Indigenous communities from all over the world. “While the number of studies examining the impacts of environmental pollution upon Indigenous Peoples is...
