pandemic

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT, VIDEO REELS

‘Vaccinating’ Frogs May Or May Not Protect Them Against A Pandemic – But It Does Provide Another Option For Conservation

When the COVID-19 pandemic first emerged, many wildlife disease researchers like me were not too surprised. Some were intrigued it hadn’t happened sooner; after all, it is our job to observe, describe and study pandemic dynamics in animals. Amphibians, for example, have been undergoing a global panzootic – the animal version of a pandemic – for decades. In the late 1990s, researchers identified the amphibian chytrid fungus, which causes the often-lethal disease chytridiomycosis, as the probable culprit behind frog and salamander declines and extinctions from Australia to Central America and elsewhere that began 10, 20 or even 30 years before. Scientists have found this pathogen on every continent that amphibians inhabit, and the extensive global amphibian trade has likely spread highly l...

This Fall, Those Free School Lunches That Helped Families During The Pandemic Won’t Return

5Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

This Fall, Those Free School Lunches That Helped Families During The Pandemic Won’t Return

The healthiest meal students typically receive during the day isn’t at their dining room table — it’s in their school cafeteria. That finding from Tufts University researchers is just one reason child nutrition experts have urged Congress to pass legislation that would enable schools nationwide to provide free meals for all students. Pandemic-era waivers that made universal free school lunch a reality the past two years have expired, and this fall, students will once again have to qualify for free, reduced or full-priced meals based on need. That prospect is raising concerns among child nutrition experts who predict that once the school year begins more kids will go hungry amid an uptick in food insecurity in households with children. “There are going to be many struggling families ne...

A 2020 Pandemic Story ‘Sell Me This Pen’

31Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

CELEBRITY NEWS

A 2020 Pandemic Story ‘Sell Me This Pen’

During one of my home-alone lock downs, I watched The Wolf of Wall Street for the third or fourth time and became fixated by the scene at the end of the movie. A presumably reformed Jordan Belfort is introduced to a crowd of wannabe tycoons eager for advice from the bad boy of fast fortunes. Belfort, convincingly played by Leonardo DiCaprio, walks on stage in an un-tucked dress shirt and new blue jeans to a round of applause. He stops, sighs and studies the room much like a hungry carnivore, surveying meat. He quietly steps down from the stage and approaches several anxious attendees in the front row and holds up his pen. "Sell me this Pen," he asks. As they stumble with various pedestrian responses, "Um... it's an amazing pen," "Well, it's a nice pen," and "I personally love this pe...

Gun Sales And Gun Violence In Pandemic America – An Expert Weighs In On The Latest Trends

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IMPACT, VIDEO REELS

Gun Sales And Gun Violence In Pandemic America – An Expert Weighs In On The Latest Trends

Gun sales have risen in recent years, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. On Feb. 28, 2022, SciLine interviewed Garen Wintemute – an emergency medicine physician at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center and director of the California Firearm Violence Research Center – about what’s driving this change and what gun usage and culture looks like in America two years into the pandemic. The Conversation has collaborated with SciLine to bring you highlights from the discussion, which have been edited for brevity and clarity. What does the research tell us about who owns guns in the United States and why? Garen Wintemute: The traditional population of gun owners are white, non-Hispanic men. But for several years, the demographic profile of gun owners in the United States ha...

A Pandemic Solution Left Out Of A New Federal Spending Package – Schools Will Stop Serving Free Lunch To All Students

14Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

A Pandemic Solution Left Out Of A New Federal Spending Package – Schools Will Stop Serving Free Lunch To All Students

Public schools have been serving all students free meals since the COVID-19 pandemic first disrupted K-12 education. In March 2022, Congress rejected calls to keep up the federal funding required to sustain that practice and left that money out of a US$1.5 trillion spending package that President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11, 2022. We asked food policy expert Marlene Schwartz to explain why free meals make a difference and what will happen next. How did the COVID-19 pandemic initially affect the school lunch program? In March 2020, nearly all U.S. K-12 school buildings closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the federal government’s National School Lunch Program, quickly granted waivers to increase program flexibility and accommo...

What Works And What Doesn’t With Affordable Housing In Pandemic Times

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS, IN OTHER NEWS, VIDEO REELS

What Works And What Doesn’t With Affordable Housing In Pandemic Times

Two years of pandemic disruptions have put a spotlight on shortcomings in the U.S. housing market. Some of these shortcomings have their origins in federal and local policy decisions made decades ago. But there are also positive examples of cities making zoning decisions that work to create affordable housing. On Feb. 10, 2022, SciLine interviewed Emily Hamilton, an economist and senior research fellow and director of the Urbanity Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, about housing policy and how it affects who can afford to live in American cities. Emily Hamilton talks to SciLine about housing policy. Below are some highlights from the discussion. Please note that answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. How have pandemic-linked economic shifts affected hous...

Small Towns And The Global Pandemic How They Are Responding

19Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

POLITICS, SOCIETY

Small Towns And The Global Pandemic How They Are Responding

Before the global pandemic hit, small towns across America were dealing with struggling economies, aging roads and bridges, and declining populations. The coronavirus added new challenges, like additional demand for limited hospital beds for an aging population, many of whom have chronic health conditions. Fortunately, as I’ve seen in my work at the Small Town Center at Mississippi State University, small towns have the advantage of being more nimble and responsive to crisis than cities, largely because they have fewer regulations and more opportunities to be creative about problem-solving. The pandemic has increased local leaders’ attention to their residents’ health – not just in terms of doctors and hospitals but also identifying new ways to help people get fitter, spend more time ou...

During The Pandemic Surveys Of Scientists Show Women And Young Academics Suffered Most And May Face Long-Term Career Consequences

16Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

During The Pandemic Surveys Of Scientists Show Women And Young Academics Suffered Most And May Face Long-Term Career Consequences

Surveys of scientists show women and young academics suffered most during pandemic and may face long-term career consequences. On March 6, 2020, universities across the U.S. announced systematic laboratory closures, social distancing policies and travel bans to cope with the growing coronavirus epidemic. These actions, while prudent and necessary, had immediate negative impacts on the academic enterprise of science in the U.S. and around the world. We are a team of researchers who study the role of science and technology in society. We are also part of a collaborative, multi-university project, called SciOPS, that seeks to improve how scientists communicate with the public. As the pandemic wore on, researchers began telling us about the work stoppages, data losses and other hardships they...

How To Stay Honest When Filing Taxes In A Pandemic Year

9Dec

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

MONEY

How To Stay Honest When Filing Taxes In A Pandemic Year

Many in the U.S. will be filing their personal income tax returns in the next few months. With almost half of those in the U.S. having lost at least some employment income due to the virus, the 2022 tax season may bring more personal and financial stress than usual. As a result, there could also be a moral struggle going on about whether to be honest about one’s taxable income. Exaggerating one’s donation to Goodwill, for example, or failing to report freelance earnings could lower a taxpayer’s burden. Each year many people do cheat on their taxes. According to findings released by the Internal Revenue Service in 2016, tax evasion costs the federal government over US$450 billion each year. The IRS estimates that for every $6 owed in taxes to the federal government, one dollar is not pai...

During The Pandemic, The Number Of Firearms In Households With Teenagers Went Up – Most School Shooters Get Their Guns From Home

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

IMPACT

During The Pandemic, The Number Of Firearms In Households With Teenagers Went Up – Most School Shooters Get Their Guns From Home

Patrick Carter, University of Michigan; Marc A Zimmerman, University of Michigan, and Rebeccah Sokol, Wayne State University Four days before a 15-year-old sophomore killed four students and wounded others at a high school shooting in Michigan, his father purchased the firearm used in the attack. That the teenager used a weapon from home during the Nov. 30 attack is not unusual. Most school shooters obtain the firearm from home. And the number of guns within reach of high school-age teenagers has increased during the pandemic – highlighting the importance of locking firearms and keeping them unloaded in the home. Since the onset of the public health crisis, firearm sales have spiked. Many of these firearms have ended up in households with teenage children, increasing the risk of acciden...