Friday, March 7

VIDEO REELS

5 Buddhist teachings that can help you deal with coronavirus anxiety
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Religion, VIDEO REELS

5 Buddhist teachings that can help you deal with coronavirus anxiety

Buddhist meditation centers and temples in coronavirus-hit countries around the world have been closed to the public in order to comply with social distancing measures. But Buddhist teachers are offering their teachings from a distance in order to remind their communities about key elements of the practice. In Asia, Buddhist monks have been chanting sutras to provide spiritual relief. In Sri Lanka, Buddhist monastic chanting was broadcast over television and radio. In India, monks chanted at the seat of the Buddha’s enlightenment, the Mahabodhi Temple in the eastern state of Bihar. Monks praying at the Mahabodhi Temple in India. Buddhist leaders argue that their teachings can help confront the uncertainty, fear and anxiety that has accompanied the spread of COVID-19. This is not the fir...
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National Guard joins the coronavirus response – 3 questions answered
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

National Guard joins the coronavirus response – 3 questions answered

As a military organization divided into 50 distinct parts that can be commanded by either the president or state governors, the National Guard is perhaps the least understood branch of the U.S. armed forces. Despite its complexity – or perhaps because of it – the National Guard is taking the lead role in the military’s response to the coronavirus outbreak crisis. As many as 10,000 National Guard members have already been activated to help communities around the country, with many more expecting a call-up soon. People may know, from TV ads or other brief appearances in the media, that National Guard members are part-time citizen-soldiers, but not much else. As a longtime National Guard attorney and military law professor, I can explain a bit more about how the National Guard works. Ads l...
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10 ways to spot online misinformation
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VIDEO REELS

10 ways to spot online misinformation

Propagandists are already working to sow disinformation and social discord in the run-up to the November elections. Many of their efforts have focused on social media, where people’s limited attention spans push them to share items before even reading them – in part because people react emotionally, not logically, to information they come across. That’s especially true when the topic confirms what a person already believes. It’s tempting to blame bots and trolls for these problems. But really it’s our own fault for sharing so widely. Research has confirmed that lies spread faster than truth – mainly because lies are not bound to the same rules as truth. As a psychological scientist who studies propaganda, here is what I tell my friends, students and colleagues about what to watch out fo...
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Video: Why social distancing is one of the best tools we have to fight the coronavirus
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Video: Why social distancing is one of the best tools we have to fight the coronavirus

Social distancing is a tool public health officials recommend to slow the spread of a disease that is being passed from person to person. Social distancing is a tool public health officials recommend to slow the spread of a disease that is being passed from person to person. The Conversation US, CC BY This video is based on an article written by Thomas Perls, professor of Medicine at Boston University. Simply put, it means that people stay far enough away from each other so that the coronavirus – or any pathogen – cannot spread from one person to another. It helps us reduce the rate of new infections, so that new cases are spread over time and the medical care system does not get overwhelmed. Watch the video to find out more about what social distancing is, and why it’s one of the best ...
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Online learning and the digital divide will make it even harder for some kids
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COVID-19, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Online learning and the digital divide will make it even harder for some kids

More than 10,600 of the nation’s public and private schools were closing at least temporarily by March 12 as communities scrambled to protect themselves from the COVID-19 viral disease pandemic. With little or no time to prepare for this disruption, families from Seattle to the New York City suburbs are suddenly having to figure out how to help their kids learn at home. This is an unprecedented effort that so far involves at least 7 million children. The total is rising fast with closures in entire states like Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico and Kentucky. Indiana University, where I teach, recently announced that we’ll stop offering in-person classes and move all instruction online after spring break ends on March 22. On top of setting up live-streaming channels for the 250 ...
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5 ways life would be better if it were always daylight saving time
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LIFESTYLE, VIDEO REELS

5 ways life would be better if it were always daylight saving time

In my research on daylight saving time, I have found that Americans don’t like it when Congress messes with their clocks. In an effort to avoid the biannual clock switch in spring and fall, some well-intended critics of DST have made the mistake of suggesting that the abolition of DST – and a return to permanent standard time – would benefit society. In other words, the U.S. would never “spring forward” or “fall back.” They are wrong. DST saves lives and energy and prevents crime. Not surprisingly, then, politicians in Washington and Florida have now passed laws aimed at moving their states to DST year-round. Congress should seize on this momentum to move the entire country to year-round DST. In other words, turn all clocks forward permanently. If it did so, I see five ways that America...
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Why public health officials sound more worried about the coronavirus than the seasonal flu
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COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, VIDEO REELS

Why public health officials sound more worried about the coronavirus than the seasonal flu

The spread of the new coronavirus, which has infected over 80,000 people worldwide and resulted in the death of more than 3,000, has raised alarms around the world. At the same time, the seasonal influenza, known as the flu, causes severe illness in between 3 million and 5 million people, with hundreds of thousands of deaths every year worldwide. With so many fewer cases than the flu, what explains the dramatic response to COVID-19 and worry around the globe? And how would a person know whether seasonal influenza-like symptoms are COVID-19? As an epidemiologist, here’s how I look at these questions. Difficult to distinguish The first thing to realize is that the emergence of the novel coronavirus isn’t a rare “black swan” event. Rather, this is a product of evolution; there have been ab...
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Blacks are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s, but why?
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Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Blacks are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s, but why?

Blacks are at higher risk for several health conditions in the U.S. This is true for heart disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and stroke, which are often chronic diseases. And it is also for Alzheimer’s disease, in which blacks have two times higher incidence rates than whites. So, why do these disparities exist, especially in Alzheimer’s disease, which isn’t typically considered a chronic disease but a progressive one, or one that worsens over time? Some researchers attribute the gap to both societal and systemic factors related to inequities in education, socioeconomics, income and health care access. Other factors such as stress, diet, lifestyle and genetics may also contribute. However, there’s a less-explored question in Alzheimer’s that could contribute to this disparity: Is ...
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Why do people believe con artists?
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Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Why do people believe con artists?

What is real can seem pretty arbitrary. It’s easy to be fooled by misinformation disguised as news and deepfake videos showing people doing things they never did or said. Inaccurate information – even deliberately wrong information – doesn’t just come from snake-oil salesmen, door-to-door hucksters and TV shopping channels anymore. Would you buy medicine from this man? Carol M. Highsmith/Wikimedia Commons Even the president of the United States needs constant fact-checking. To date, he has made an average of 15 false or misleading public claims every day of his presidency, according to a tally from the Washington Post. The study of business history reveals that people everywhere have always had a sweet tooth for the unreal, enthralled by what should be taken as too good to be true. Cogn...
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Even very young children can become prejudiced but schools can do something about it
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VIDEO REELS

Even very young children can become prejudiced but schools can do something about it

Racism has negative consequences for children’s health. It harms the kids who experience it personally and those who witness it, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, an organization that represents 67,000 doctors who treat children. I’m a developmental psychologist who studies the origins of prejudice in children, including teenagers. The research team I lead investigates the kinds of experiences that can help make kids become less prejudiced. We help local school districts with their efforts to encourage all children to get along well with others, including their classmates and teachers. What makes it hard to have friends? Getting along well with others in childhood is about making friends, respecting others’ viewpoints, and thinking about what’s fair when resolving conflic...
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