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Safe Drinking Water Remains Out of Reach for Many Californians
An estimated 370,000 Californians rely on drinking water that may contain high levels of the chemicals arsenic, nitrate or hexavalent chromium. Researchers say that Californians impacted by unsafe drinking water from other compounds for which data are not as widely available.
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For Accurate Health Information: Mainstream News More Reliable Than Social, Alternative Media
New study finds that accurate and truthful health-related information has been found by individuals who rely more on mainstream news. Meanwhile, people who depend on social media or less-established forms of “alternative” health media are more likely to subscribe to false beliefs about health.
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German Police Unlawfully Accessed Data on Contact-Tracing App
Police investigators in the German city of Mainz used the Luca app to search for witnesses in a case they were working on. To get around federal and state laws banning such use of the contact-tracing app, the city’s prosecutor office simulated a COVID-19 infection originating near the scene of the incident under investigation.
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How Our Outdated Privacy Laws Doomed Contact-Tracing Apps
Last spring, when the disease first started its rapid spread, contact-tracing apps were heralded as a promising way to control it by tracking diagnoses and exposure through self-reporting and location tracking. Jessica Rich writes that these apps have had mixed success worldwide, but “they’ve been a huge failure in the United States.” He adds: “A key reason for this failure is that people don’t trust the tech companies or the government to collect, use, and store their personal data, especially when that data involves their health and precise whereabouts.”
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What Prevention and Treatment of Substance Dependence Can Tell Us About Addressing Violent Extremism
Hate, violence, and their co-occurrence—violent extremism—represent increasing threats to society. Experts say that in order to deal effectively with extremism, there is a need for new approaches and frameworks that go beyond the counterterrorism approach that has dominated the battle against global jihadism. They suggest is applying a public health model to understand and counter violent extremism. Specifically, research shows that there is a striking resemblance between attachment to violent extremism and addiction.
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The Battle of the SARS-CoV-2 Variants
In order to fight the pandemic in the long term, it is crucial to understand why one variant prevails over another. A new study has provided important answers by comparing the spread and transmission of different emerging variants in parallel.
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Experts Call on Biden Administration to Change Pandemic Plan
On Thursday, members of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 pandemic transition team called on the president to shift his approach to the virus, accepting that it will be endemic and that new variants could emerge and arguing that the country needs a new strategy for living with the virus two years after it was first identified in Wuhan, China.
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More Trusting Societies Have Been More Successful at Reducing Coronavirus Cases and Deaths
Countries where people have more trust in each other have been more successful in bringing down waves of coronavirus cases and deaths, a new study shows.
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Early Israeli Findings Show Fivefold Boost from Fourth COVID Vaccine Dose
Researchers in Israel, who monitored the results of fourth COVID-1 vaccine shots, report that these second booster shots produce a fivefold increase in antibody levels.
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COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in the Military Is a Manageable Challenge
The military has vaccinated the vast majority of service members, but pockets of hesitancy remain. What’s driving the reluctance, and what should be done to overcome it?
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The Big Promises and Potentially Bigger Consequences of Neurotechnology
Neurotechnology is an umbrella term for a range of technologies which interact directly with the brain or nervous system. This can include systems which passively scan, map or interpret brain activity, or systems which actively influence the state of the brain or nervous system. There are growing excitement and growing concern about the potential applications of neurotechnology for everything from defense to health care to entertainment.
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Social Capital and COVID-19 Response
Social capital measures how well connected we are to our families, communities, workplaces and religious groups. Researchers found that early in the COVID-19 pandemic, high levels of social capital were associated with a slower spread of the virus.
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Radioactive Contamination Is Creeping into Drinking Water Around the U.S.
As mining, fracking and other activities increase the levels of harmful isotopes in water supplies, health advocates call for tighter controls.
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U.S. Guns Sales Have Been Surging: Study
An estimated 7.5 million U.S. adults became new gun owners over a recent 28-month span, sharply increasing the prospects for home accidents or people taking their own lives, according to new research.
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Train Engineer Inspired by Covid-19 Conspiracy Theory to Intentionally Derail Locomotive
A train engineer at the Port of Los Angeles pleaded guilty last week to a federal terrorism charge for intentionally running a locomotive at full speed off the end of railroad to “wake people up” to a government plot to use Covid-19 as a pretext to “take over” the country.
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The long view
U.S. Needs New Drought Assessment Framework as Droughts Become More Severe and Unpredictable
Droughts in the United States are becoming more intense and unpredictable, and the nation needs to develop a new drought assessment framework to better understand and address them. A new framework should be developed which distinguishes between short-term operational needs, such as drought monitoring and emergency response, and long-term planning for water management, infrastructure, and climate adaptation.