cause

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, IN OTHER NEWS

Will The New COVID-19 Variant BA.2, Cause Another Wave Of Infections In The US?

A new omicron subvariant of the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.2, is quickly becoming the predominant source of infections amid rising cases around the world. Immunologists Prakash Nagarkatti and Mitzi Nagarkatti of the University of South Carolina explain what makes it different from previous variants, whether there will be another surge in the U.S. and how best to protect yourself. What is BA.2, and how is it related to omicron? BA.2 is the latest subvariant of omicron, the dominant strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. While the origin of BA.2 is still unclear, it has quickly become the dominant strain in many countries, including India, Denmark and South Africa. It is continuing to spread in Europe, Asia and many parts of the world. The omicron variant, officially known...

29Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CULTURE

Broken Mirrors Cause Bad Luck – How Did The Superstition Start And Why Does It Still Exist?

Barry Markovsky, University of South Carolina Every human culture has superstitions. In some Asian societies people believe that sweeping a floor after sunset brings bad luck, and that it’s a curse to leave chopsticks standing in a bowl of rice. In the U.S., some people panic if they accidentally walk under a ladder or see a black cat cross their path. Also, many tall buildings don’t label their 13th floors as such because of that number’s association with bad luck. The origins of many superstitions are unknown. Others can be traced to specific times in history. Included in this second category is a superstition that is between 2,000 and 2,700 years old: Breaking a mirror brings seven years of bad luck. It so happened that in both ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, reflected images wer...

Standardized Tests – Going Forth May Cause More Problems Than It Solves

5Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

Standardized Tests – Going Forth May Cause More Problems Than It Solves

Despite the many ways that COVID-19 has disrupted schools, the U.S. Department of Education will not give states a pass on giving standardized tests to students this year as it did in spring 2020. That’s according to new guidance the department issued Feb. 22. The guidance invites states to request waivers to shorten tests, give the tests in the fall or do the tests remotely. It allows states flexibility around testing depending on the particular circumstances in their state. It also urges states not to place as much emphasis on the results. Some states, such as Georgia, Michigan and New York, had already requested waivers from testing in the spring before the Biden administration’s new guidance came out. In our view, as education researchers who specialize in science education, the lea...

How can smoke from West Coast fires cause red sunsets in New York?

23Sep

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IN OTHER NEWS

How can smoke from West Coast fires cause red sunsets in New York?

If you are one of the millions of people in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. who turned your gaze toward the sky recently, you may have noticed the Sun shining through an odd, milky haze. This widespread opaque veil was caused not by clouds, but rather by smoke from wildfires in the Western U.S. The smoke was cruising by in the middle levels of the atmosphere many thousands of feet above the ground. While far too high to smell, it caused spectacularly hued sunsets from New York to D.C. to Missouri. The thin haze, easily visible in this satellite photo over Pennsylvania and New York, is smoke that traveled over a thousand miles on air currents from the fires on the West Coast. NOAA Red sky at night Lasting for about a week from Sept. 12 to Sept. 19, the smoke could be seen in satellite images ...

Stocks are plummeting – could coronavirus cause a recession?

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, COVID-19

Stocks are plummeting – could coronavirus cause a recession?

Fears are growing that the new coronavirus will infect the U.S. economy. U.S stocks are headed for their worst week since the 2008 financial crisis; companies including Apple and Walmart have been warning of potential sales losses from COVID-19 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans to prepare for the outbreak to spread to the United States, with unknown but potentially “bad” consequences. Lately, many people have asked me, as an economist, a question I haven’t heard in years: Could a virus really send the global and U.S. economies into recession – or worse? Put more pertinently, will COVID-19 trigger an economic meltdown? What a virus can do The worry is understandable; viruses are scary things. I’ve read my share of medical thrillers based on some new virus...

Employment gaps cause career trouble, especially for former stay-at-home parents

7Feb

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Employment gaps cause career trouble, especially for former stay-at-home parents

Understanding how employment gaps can affect careers is especially relevant given the recent policy discussions around paid family leave and childcare access in the U.S. I am a sociologist whose research examines what happens to people’s careers after they take time out of work. I find that gaps in employment can negatively affect future career prospects in multiple ways, particularly for those who left work for childcare responsibilities. No support for working parents Decisions to leave work often happen because working parents in the U.S. lack support. With no mandated paid parental leave, the high costs of childcare, long work hours and the spillover of work into other parts of life – for example, checking emails or being “on call” – parents in the U.S. may find themselves in a bind....

E-cig flavors may be more than alluring; they could cause damage themselves

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

E-cig flavors may be more than alluring; they could cause damage themselves

Millions of Americans are vaping, and some are getting sick. Since June 2019, 2,711 have been hospitalized and 60 have died due to EVALI (e-cigarette-associated lung injury), the devastating lung disease linked to e-cigarettes. Five million users are middle and high school students. Some are as young as 11, although it’s illegal to sell vaping products to anyone under 21. A vape shop in New York City shows a line of flavorings on Jan. 2, 2020. Mary Altaffer/AP Photo, CC BY-SA Especially for kids, much of the lure is flavor. E-cigarettes offer attractive smells and tastes. Fruit, mint, candy and dessert flavors are the favorites, and studies suggest they ignite the desire to vape. That’s why the Trump administration just banned the sale of those sweet flavors from cartridge-based e-cigs, t...

Police Shootings and Black Men – A Hidden Cause

1Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Police Shootings and Black Men – A Hidden Cause

By Steve Boston We have all had the experience of looking through a window at the surroundings outside when suddenly at some point we recognize that the window we were looking through was actually dirty, and on closer examination wonder how we had not seen all the dust and smudge marks before. Our vision was impaired without really realizing it. Often we can look through the same window countless times before coming to this conclusion. Upon cleaning it we then marvel at the clarity of the view that had been marred before and was obstructed by our own lack of attention and unknowingness. Many of us don't recognize that some of the ideas and beliefs that we hold are like the dirt and smudge on a window that we are so accustomed to looking through that they become a part of our wo...