The linguistic and discursive style of Donald Trump’s tweets varied systematically before, during, and after the 2016 presidential campaign, depending on the communicative goals of Trump and his team, according to a study published September 25 in PLOS ONE by Isobelle Clarke and Jack Grieve at University of Birmingham. While many journalists and academics have analysed the...
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Private Boats in the Mediterranean Have Extremely High Potential to Spread Alien Species
This is the first study in the Mediterranean to combine boat and marina sampling data with crew surveys to better understand the role these boats play in spreading alien species. The researchers from the University of Pavia, Italy found that boats traveling to new marinas were likely to be transporting alien species in the biofouling:...
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Potentially Large Economic Impacts of Climate Change Can Be Avoided by Human Actions
People are less motivated to take actions if its outcome is uncertain, and this could be true for climate-related issues. The uncertainty in climate response to the increase in greenhouse gas concentration, which is often believed to be substantially large, makes it difficult to believe the benefit of reducing emissions or the effectiveness of making...
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Secret-Shopper-Style Study Shows Online Birth Control Prescription Overall Safe, Efficient
Web-based and digital-app services that offer oral contraception appear to be overall safe and efficient, according to the findings of a secret-shopper-style study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School and UC Davis that analyzed the birth control prescription services of nine U.S. vendors. The results, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, offer...
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School Spending Cuts Triggered by Great Recession Linked to Sizable Learning Losses for Students in Hardest Hit Areas
Substantial school spending cuts triggered by the Great Recession were associated with sizable losses in academic achievement for students living in counties most affected by the economic downturn, according to a new study published today in AERA Open, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Educational Research Association. The estimated declines in student math and English language arts achievement...
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True Lies: How Letter Patterns Color Perceptions of Truth
People today constantly encounter claims such as “Advil kills pain,” “coffee prevents depression,” or “Hilary promises amnesty” as brands, news outlets and social media sites vie for our attention–yet few people take the time to investigate whether these statements are true. Researchers have now uncovered one of the subtle psychological variables that influences whether people...
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Web Tool Prioritizes Health Risks for Postmenopausal Women
A web-based calculator that helps middle-aged women predict their risks of conditions that become more likely with age has been developed by public health, medical and computer science experts from throughout the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. Led by physician John Robbins of UC Davis Health, the team’s risk-prediction calculator is unique in that it accounts...
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Reparations Are Essential to Eliminating the Substantial Wealth Gap Between Black and White Americans
Four hundred years ago, America’s first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia. Centuries later, black Americans have managed to accumulate some wealth, but it still pales in comparison to that of whites. This racial wealth gap is a result not only of the horrors of slavery but also policies – such as Jim Crow laws, redlining...
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Why Bill Maher Is Wrong About Fat-Shaming
On a recent episode of his Friday evening talk show, Bill Maher proposed that society combat obesity by body-shaming overweight individuals. He argued that “fat shaming doesn’t need to end, it needs to make a comeback” to deter people from overeating. Obesity is a national epidemic that is placing a significant burden on our health...
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A Quarter of U.S. Parents Are Unmarried – and That Changes How Much They Invest in Their Kids
Family structure in America is sharply divided by class and race. While 84% of children whose mothers have a bachelor’s degree or higher-level education live with married parents, only 58% of children whose mothers have a high school degree or less do so. And while 75% of white children live with married parents, just 38%...
