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COVID-19 Has Brought ‘Thirdhand’ Smoke Epidemiology Back From Its Science Grave

Posted by on Sep 18, 2020 in Public Health | Comments Off on COVID-19 Has Brought ‘Thirdhand’ Smoke Epidemiology Back From Its Science Grave

With COVID-19 and worries about the SARS-CoV-2 virus keeping millions of people at home, activists and lawyers are hoping to resurrect worry about a problem dismissed by scientists as a money grab; third-hand smoke.

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Some U.S Cities Could Subsist On Locally Grown Food – If The Local Area Is Large Enough

Posted by on Sep 17, 2020 in Environment | Comments Off on Some U.S Cities Could Subsist On Locally Grown Food – If The Local Area Is Large Enough

A new estimate says that of 378 metropolitan areas, many could actually exist on locally grown food - if the local area is up to 200 miles away, which means New York City could claim farms in Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut are local to New York. 

Even then, diets would have to change, because progress has meant having diversity and choice, and if locally-grown were really necessary, the population would starve along the Eastern Seaboard and the Southwest of the U.S. And meat would only be for the rich.

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Social Media Political Ads: Less Negative, But More Partisan

Posted by on Sep 16, 2020 in Anthropology | Comments Off on Social Media Political Ads: Less Negative, But More Partisan

While it is said that around six percent of voting Americans decide elections - the truly undecided - it is more the case that getting out the vote among your own party matters most. That is why political parties will drive their own to polling places while telling the other side the date of the election has been changed.

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Climate Change: Engineering Models Hope For Best Outcomes – And Any Chess Player Knows That’s Terrible Strategy

Posted by on Sep 9, 2020 in Atmospheric | Comments Off on Climate Change: Engineering Models Hope For Best Outcomes – And Any Chess Player Knows That’s Terrible Strategy

Did you read a paper saying we can prevent ocean damage under climate change scenarios by dumping iron into water to spur phytoplankton growth? Germans did, and were so convinced they began doing illegal live experiments

The model used a best-case scenario, which any entry-level chess player knows is a bad idea - they forgot to falsify their own hypothesis in their zeal to do something. A new paper notes that many ambitious climate action plans rely on climate engineering technologies where the risks are unknown. They are more like TED talks than real plans.

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Eat A Vegetarian Diet If It Suits You, It Won’t Make You Healthier – Only Fewer Calories Will

Posted by on Aug 28, 2020 in Public Health | Comments Off on Eat A Vegetarian Diet If It Suits You, It Won’t Make You Healthier – Only Fewer Calories Will

People often adopt vegetarian or even vegan diets because they are told it will make them healthier, but the same epidemiological correlation that tried to link butter with heart disease claimed trans fats would prevent it, and now statistical links claim just the opposite. 

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Eat A Vegetarian Diet If It Suits You, It Won’t Make You Healthier – Only Fewer Calories Will

Posted by on Aug 28, 2020 in Public Health | Comments Off on Eat A Vegetarian Diet If It Suits You, It Won’t Make You Healthier – Only Fewer Calories Will

People often adopt vegetarian or even vegan diets because they are told it will make them healthier, but the same epidemiological correlation that tried to link butter with heart disease claimed trans fats would prevent it, and now statistical links claim just the opposite. 

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How Effective Will A COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be To Stop The Pandemic? There’s Bad News

Posted by on Aug 26, 2020 in Immunology | Comments Off on How Effective Will A COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be To Stop The Pandemic? There’s Bad News

Researchers are on the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine to eliminate the need for mask wearing and current limits on interpersonal gatherings (except protests), but a new model says it still may not help the world exit a lingering economic depression.

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How Effective Will A COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be To Stop The Pandemic? There’s Bad News

Posted by on Aug 26, 2020 in Immunology | Comments Off on How Effective Will A COVID-19 Vaccine Need To Be To Stop The Pandemic? There’s Bad News

Researchers are on the hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine to eliminate the need for mask wearing and current limits on interpersonal gatherings (except protests), but a new model says it still may not help the world exit a lingering economic depression.

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Alaska’s Salmon Are Getting Smaller, And The Natural Fetish For ‘Wild Caught’ Is To Blame

Posted by on Aug 19, 2020 in Evolution | Comments Off on Alaska’s Salmon Are Getting Smaller, And The Natural Fetish For ‘Wild Caught’ Is To Blame

Try to imagine a world where people though wild lettuce was a status symbol and superior to lettuce grown on a farm; a salad would cost $400.

That is the problem with salmon. Elite customers want to know a laborer sweated for it, they insist if it is farmed it must be inferior but unlike organic certified pineapples or non-GMO rock salt, the naturalist fetish has real world consequences when it comes to the sea. Salmon are getting smaller, because they are spending less time at sea before being caught.

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Alaska’s Salmon Are Getting Smaller, And The Natural Fetish For ‘Wild Caught’ Is To Blame

Posted by on Aug 19, 2020 in Evolution | Comments Off on Alaska’s Salmon Are Getting Smaller, And The Natural Fetish For ‘Wild Caught’ Is To Blame

Try to imagine a world where people though wild lettuce was a status symbol and superior to lettuce grown on a farm; a salad would cost $400.

That is the problem with salmon. Elite customers want to know a laborer sweated for it, they insist if it is farmed it must be inferior but unlike organic certified pineapples or non-GMO rock salt, the naturalist fetish has real world consequences when it comes to the sea. Salmon are getting smaller, because they are spending less time at sea before being caught.

read more