Science & Society News

August 20, 2016

Fluoride Consumption Linked to Diabetes?

Smoke Waves To Affect Millions in Coming Decades

Electric Vehicles Help Address Climate Change

Global Warming Surprise: Saltier Beaches

Latest Headlines

updated 11:40am EDT

Majority of Parents Support HPV Vaccination Requirements for School, but With Opt-Outs

Aug. 19, 2016 — Parents were more likely to agree that laws requiring students to be vaccinated against HPV for school entry are a 'good idea' when there is an ... read more

Rates of Early Prostate Cancer Continue Decline After USPSTF Recommendation

Aug. 18, 2016 — Rates of early prostate cancer have continued to drop since the US Preventive Services Task Force recommendation against routine prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing in all men, according to an ... read more

How Norovirus Gets Inside Cells: New Clues

Aug. 18, 2016 — Researchers have identified the protein that norovirus uses to invade cells. Norovirus is the most common viral cause of diarrhea worldwide, but scientists still know little ... read more

Ethnic Differences in Mental Illness Severity When Hospitalized

Aug. 17, 2016 — Chinese and South Asian patients in Ontario experience more severe mental illness at the time of hospital admission than other patients, according to a new study that examined the association between ... read more

Brazil's Environmental Licensing Under Threat, Suggests New Article

Aug. 18, 2016 — A new article explains how the country's environmental licensing is under threat from proposed laws and constitutional amendments. These have jumped into the forefront as anti-environment politicians ... read more

New Report Presents Bundled Payment Model for Breast Cancer Screening

Aug. 18, 2016 — Mammography may present an opportunity for the expanded use of bundled payments in radiology, suggests new research. The study reports that breast cancer screening provides a framework for ... read more

Study Highlights Importance of Regular Lung Cancer Screenings for Those at High Risk

Aug. 18, 2016 — A new study has found patients who tested negative for lung cancer by a detailed X-ray screening called low-dose helical computed tomography but ... read more

Twitter Shows Promise in Rapid Assessment of Collective Traumas' Local Impact

Aug. 17, 2016 — An alternative to using Twitter geotags and hashtags to identify community members who have experienced collective trauma, such as a school shooting, ... read more

Reducing Gas Flares, Pollution from Oil Production

Aug. 17, 2016 — Last year, dozens of major oil companies and oil-producing nations agreed to end the routine flaring of natural gas from wells by 2030. This burning off of uncaptured methane in addition to simply ... read more

Data Sharing Should Become Routine for Best Reponse to Public Health Emergencies

Aug. 16, 2016 — The recent outbreaks caused by Ebola and Zika viruses have highlighted the importance of medical and public health research in accelerating outbreak ... read more

An Alaskan Community Has Voted To Move Because Of Climate Change

Here's Why Some Big Brand Names Are Suddenly Missing A's, B's And O's

Rising Temperatures Make Most Cities Unfit to Host Summer Olympics Within 70 Years

Blind Viewers Can Now Feel a Part of Olympics

'I Miss You So Much': How Twitter Is Broadening the Conversation on Death and Mourning

Aug. 20, 2016 — Social media is redefining how people grieve, bringing conversations about death back into the public realm, sociologists found. And Twitter in particular, they say, is broadening the discourse ... read more

That's Not Fair! Managing Envy in the Workplace

Aug. 19, 2016 — In a recent study, researchers looked at envy in the workplace. The research found a strong link between an employee's feelings of envy after they perceive a supervisor has treated them worse ... read more

Why Do They Treat Me Like That? Taking the Mask Off of Envy

Aug. 19, 2016 — While overt signs of envy can often be received badly, research indicates that how that envy is perceived and attributed by the envied person makes all the difference in how it is ... read more

Study Finds Better Definition of Homelessness May Help Minimize HIV Risk

Aug. 19, 2016 — Being homeless puts people at greater risk of HIV infection than those with stable housing, but targeting services to reduce risk behaviors is often complicated by fuzzy definitions of homelessness, ... read more

Young, Gifted, First-Generation Minority Science Students Motivated by Prosocial Values

Aug. 19, 2016 — There are as many motives as there are undergraduates taking introductory science courses, but if you look closely at groups of freshmen science students such as those from underrepresented minority ... read more

Seawalls, Forests Show Mixed Effectiveness at Reducing Deaths, Damage from Tsunami

Aug. 19, 2016 — The Pacific coast of the Tohoku region has been struck by four large tsunamis in just over a century - in 1896, 1933, 1960 and 2011. Many critics claim that seawalls are detrimental because they ... read more

Researcher Provides Recommendations to Stop Violence Against Clinicians in China

Aug. 19, 2016 — Responding to the number of violent attacks on physicians in China, researchers organized an initiative to rebuild patient-physician trust with recommendations published in a new ... read more

Are Urban Black Males Shortchanged in Classroom?

Aug. 18, 2016 — Giving special treatment to young urban black males in the high school classroom runs the risk of shortchanging these students academically once they get to college, indicates a new ... read more

Scientists Combine Satellite Data, Machine Learning to Map Poverty

Aug. 18, 2016 — The availability of accurate and reliable information on the location of impoverished zones is surprisingly lacking for much of the world. Applying machine learning to satellite images could identify ... read more

Faster Method of Rebuilding Destroyed Homes

Aug. 18, 2016 — Texas legislators are investigating the benefits of RAPIDO, a pilot program that dramatically reduces the time it takes to rebuild homes destroyed by natural ... read more

Survey Shows Broad Support for National Precision Medicine Study

Aug. 17, 2016 — In a recent survey designed to measure public attitudes about the Precision Medicine Initiative Cohort Program, a majority of respondents expressed willingness to participate in the nationwide ... read more

Buying High Vs. Bargain Hunting

Aug. 17, 2016 — Purchasing and pricing has always been a dance between buyers and sellers. Before deciding to make a purchase, buyers spend varying amounts of time and effort searching for price information. These ... read more

Can Cell Phones Make You Feel Less Connected to Your Friends and Family?

Aug. 17, 2016 — Researchers surveyed 493 students, ranging in age from 18-29, to see whether cell phone use, including texting and talking, was associated with feeling socially connected to their parents and peers. ... read more

Homeowners Value Property Value Boost Brought About by City Trees

Aug. 17, 2016 — If a city plants trees near a residential area, most homeowners value the likely subsequent increase in their property values, a new study shows. And they’re willing to pay an average of $7 more ... read more

Low-Income Kids Less Likely to Receive Strabismus Diagnoses

Aug. 17, 2016 — Back to school eye exams may not be the norm for all kids. A large study shows strabismus is diagnosed much less in poor communities which puts kids at risk for permanent vision ... read more

Poaching Patrol: New Ranger Methods Decrease Illegal Activities

Aug. 17, 2016 — Ecologists have tested a new method to detect and decrease wildlife poaching, using data to better predict where illegal activities occur in protected ... read more

Combating Traffic Congestion With Advanced Data Analytics

Aug. 17, 2016 — Researchers are investigating how cell phone data could benefit traffic planning by carrying out a study to determine whether data from cell phone networks could offer a reliable source of ... read more

Newspapers, Digital Subscription Services Can Optimize Profits With New Model

Aug. 17, 2016 — Researchers have developed a model that will enable newspapers to maximize their revenues from advertisements and subscriptions by offering a variety of subscription plans. The researchers' test ... read more

Biodiversity Begins at Home: Saving Old Villages Helps Save Farmland Birds

Aug. 17, 2016 — Preserving old villages and farm buildings – and being more creative in designing new rural homes – could help halt the decline in European farmland bird populations, according to new ... read more

Scientists Explore Oil Clean-Up Properties of Aquatic Ferns

Aug. 17, 2016 — Certain varieties of aquatic floating weeds demonstrate an impressive ability to selectively absorb oil from contaminated water. These plants, which are often regarded as a nuisance, could in fact ... read more

Saturday, August 20, 2016

'I miss you so much': How Twitter is broadening the conversation on death and mourning

Friday, August 19, 2016

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Monday, August 15, 2016

Friday, August 12, 2016

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Unsafe levels of toxic chemicals found in drinking water for six million Americans

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Stowaway frogs being stopped by border security

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Monday, August 8, 2016