Sunday, May 19

Tag: after

What we know about MIS-C, a rare but dangerous illness striking children weeks after they get COVID-19
No Comments
HEALTH & WELLNESS

What we know about MIS-C, a rare but dangerous illness striking children weeks after they get COVID-19

While most children who get COVID-19 develop little more than a mild illness, several hundred have ended up in hospital intensive care units with alarming symptoms that begin appearing weeks after the initial infection. The view through an electron microscope shows the spikes that create the ‘corona’ effect on the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, CC BY-ND This new condition progresses rapidly and can strike multiple organs and systems, including the heart, lungs, eyes, skin and gastrointestinal system. It’s known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C. More than 790 U.S. cases had been reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of Sept. 3, and 16 of those children have died. I have been consulting on M...
Read More
A man was reinfected with coronavirus after recovery – what does this mean for immunity?
No Comments
HEALTH & WELLNESS

A man was reinfected with coronavirus after recovery – what does this mean for immunity?

A 33-year old man was found to have a second SARS-CoV-2 infection some four-and-a-half months after he was diagnosed with his first, from which he recovered. The man, who showed no symptoms, was diagnosed when he returned to Hong Kong after a trip to Spain. I am a virologist with expertise in coronaviruses and enteroviruses, and I’ve been curious about reinfections since the beginning of the pandemic. Because people infected with SARS-CoV-2 can often test positive for the virus for weeks to months, likely due to the sensitivity of the test and leftover RNA fragments, the only way to really answer the question of reinfection is by sequencing the viral genome at the time of each infection and looking for differences in the genetic code. There is no published peer-review report on this man ...
Read More
After the civil rights era, white Americans failed to support systemic change to end racism. Will they now?
No Comments
IN OTHER NEWS

After the civil rights era, white Americans failed to support systemic change to end racism. Will they now?

The first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, which crested after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, had the support of less than half of white Americans. Given that Americans tend to have a very narrow definition of racism, many at that time were likely confused by the juxtaposition of Black-led protests, implying that racism was persistent, alongside the presence of a Black family in the White House. Barack Obama’s presidency was seen as evidence that racism was in decline. The current, second wave of the movement feels different, in part because the past months of protests have been multiracial. The media and scholars have noted that whites’ sensibilities have become more attuned to issues of anti-Black police violence and discrimination. After the first wave ...
Read More
Smartphone witnessing becomes synonymous with Black patriotism after George Floyd’s death
No Comments
POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, VIDEO REELS

Smartphone witnessing becomes synonymous with Black patriotism after George Floyd’s death

A flashbulb emits a high-pitched hum. A photograph of the legendary 19th-century abolitionist and newspaperman Frederick Douglass fades in on-screen. We hear the “Hamilton” alumnus actor Daveed Diggs before we see him. “What, to my people, is the Fourth of July?” Diggs asks in a plaintive voiceover, as a police siren and the opening chords of Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” clash aurally. ‘What, to my people, is the Fourth of July?’ In just two minutes and 19 seconds, the new Movement for Black Lives short film provides a highlight reel of African American oppression that spans 400 years. The juxtapositions are jarring in the Independence Day-themed video. A historic image of a Black toddler picking cotton slams into a modern picture of a masked Black boy marching...
Read More
Porch piracy: Here’s what we learned after watching hours of YouTube videos showing packages being pilfered from homes
No Comments
IN OTHER NEWS

Porch piracy: Here’s what we learned after watching hours of YouTube videos showing packages being pilfered from homes

Deliveries of groceries and packages are soaring as physical retailers close their doors and tens of millions of Americans “shelter in place.” Moreover, the need for social distancing may encourage more delivery workers to leave packages unattended on porches rather than risk an interaction with someone who has the coronavirus. These conditions may be perfect for thieves, who prior to the pandemic were increasingly pilfering packages from homes across the country. About 11 million homeowners reported having a package stolen in 2017 – and a separate 2018 survey found that almost a fifth of Americans said they had been a victim. Three-quarters of the 2017 thefts occurred during the day, and the average cost of the stolen items was close to US$200. I led a recent study of “porch piracy” to...
Read More
Even after blocking an ex on Facebook, the platform promotes painful reminders
No Comments
SOCIAL MEDIA

Even after blocking an ex on Facebook, the platform promotes painful reminders

Anthony Pinter, a Ph.D. student in information science at the University of Colorado Boulder, recently completed a study on people’s experiences with upsetting and unexpected reminders of an ex on Facebook. His team’s findings are examples of algorithmic cruelty – instances in which algorithms are designed to do something and do it well, but end up backfiring because they can’t fully grasp the nuances of human relationships and behavior. How has social media made breakups more difficult? Anthony Pinter: Breaking up with a loved one has always meant making difficult choices: who gets the couch, who gets the fridge, who gets the cat. Anthony Pinter. Author provided                                ...
Read More
How Civil Rights Leader Wyatt Tee Walker Revived Hope After MLK’s Death
No Comments
IN OTHER NEWS

How Civil Rights Leader Wyatt Tee Walker Revived Hope After MLK’s Death

Four years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., the novelist James Baldwin would write on the pages of Esquire magazine, “Since Martin’s death, in Memphis, and that tremendous day in Atlanta, something has altered in me, something has gone away.” Baldwin wrote about how “the act of faith” – that is, his belief that the movement would change white Americans and ultimately America – maintained him through the years of the black freedom movement, through marches and petitions and torturous setbacks. After King’s death, Baldwin found it hard to keep that faith. Nearly two weeks after King’s funeral, in April of 1968, King’s confidant and former strategist Wyatt Tee Walker tried to renew this faith. Drawing on a tradition of black faith, Walker encouraged a grieving communit...
Read More
How Will We Rebuild The United States After President Trump Is Gone
No Comments
Journalism

How Will We Rebuild The United States After President Trump Is Gone

Can we rebuild the United States after President Trump is gone? And how would we do it? It’s a good question, and it’s looking more important as new evidence of his criminality emerges on what feels like a near-daily basis. You would be forgiven if watching the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump last week left you with the feeling that the constitutional system of government is on life support. Even acknowledging that Trump is corrupt and guilty of everything he’s charged with, it’s disheartening to watch Senate Republicans twist themselves into knots to justify a craven vote to not call any witnesses or see any evidence for a trial in which they’re supposed to be impartial jurors. But if there’s anything consistent about Trump, it’s that he doesn’t see the U.S. as an example o...
Read More
What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification
No Comments
SOCIAL JUSTICE

What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification

I’ll never forget a student’s response when I asked during a middle school social studies class what they knew about black history: “Martin Luther King freed the slaves.” Martin Luther King Jr. was born in 1929, more than six decades after the time of enslavement. To me, this comment underscored how closely Americans associate black history with slavery. Many African Americans made education a high priority after the Civil War. National Museum of African American History and Culture While shocked, I knew this mistaken belief reflected the lack of time, depth and breadth schools devote to black history. Most students get limited information and context about what African Americans have experienced since our ancestors arrived here four centuries ago. Without independent study, most adults a...
Read More
No Comments
BUSINESS

Months after IPO, Uber’s quarterly loss tops $5bn

The ride-sharing company racked up 100 million customers by July, but for every dollar brought in, it lost roughly $1.65 Uber Technologies Inc., in its financial report Thursday, failed to surpass analysts' expectations in the way its hometown rival did the day before, sparking a selloff in after-hours trading. Uber's second-quarter adjusted sales fell short of estimates, and it posted an eye-watering $5.24 billion net loss. Most of that loss was attributed to stock-based compensation associated with the initial public offering in May, a routine expense for newly public companies. The adjusted loss—a more commonly used metric for ride-hailing companies, which excludes interest, tax and other expenses—more than doubled to $656 million but wasn't as...
Read More