whether

27Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ, POLITICS, TOP FOUR

LGBTQ Advocates Are Split On Whether Biden Is Doing Enough To Protect The Community As Pride Month Closes

For more than a year, as more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced into state legislatures and eight states have signed anti-LGBTQ bills into law, LGBTQ+ advocates have been waiting on President Joe Biden. “In the LGBTQ community, it is clear that our house is on fire,” said Mayra Hidalgo Salazar, deputy executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force. Advocates have been asking Biden — often hailed as a champion of LGBTQ+ equality— to put that fire out. But the response to the president’s Pride month executive order has been mixed: Many groups praised it. Others said nothing. A few publicly criticized it, saying it lacked teeth. During a reception with advocates on June 15, Biden signed the order aimed at curbing LGBTQ+ discrimination. The 13-point plan tasks the Depar...

Some Researchers Question Whether Synthetic Dyes In Colorful Sweets May Pose Health Risks To Your Colon And Rectum

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Some Researchers Question Whether Synthetic Dyes In Colorful Sweets May Pose Health Risks To Your Colon And Rectum

Early-onset colorectal cancer incidence among the young, defined as those under age 50, has been rising globally since the early 1990s. Rates for colon and rectal cancers are expected to increase by 90% and 124%, respectively, by 2030. One suspected reason behind this trend is increased global consumption of a Westernized diet that consists heavily of red and processed meats, added sugar and refined grains. Sixty percent of the Standard American Diet, also known as “SAD,” is made up of ultra-processed food such as industrial baked sweets, soft drinks and processed meat. SAD is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer. One aspect of ultra-processed foods I’m concerned about is how colorful they are. This characteristic is on full display in many delicious foods and treats pr...

Whether Students Cheat – Motivation Is A Key Factor

5Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Whether Students Cheat – Motivation Is A Key Factor

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic caused many U.S. colleges to shift to remote learning in the spring of 2020, student cheating has been a concern for instructors and students alike. To detect student cheating, considerable resources have been devoted to using technology to monitor students online. This online surveillance has increased students’ anxiety and distress. For instance, some students have indicated the monitoring technology required them to stay at their desks or risk being labeled as cheaters. Although relying on electronic eyes may partially curb cheating, there’s another factor in the reasons students cheat that often gets overlooked – student motivation. As a team of researchers in educational psychology and higher education, we became interested in how students’ motivati...

Whether Mice Get Fatter Or Thinner Depends On The Fungal Microbiome That Lives In Their Gut

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

TECHNOLOGY

Whether Mice Get Fatter Or Thinner Depends On The Fungal Microbiome That Lives In Their Gut

Mice with certain communities of fungi living in their gut gained more weight when eating processed food than mice whose gut microbiomes hosted different communities of fungi, according to our study published March 5 in the journal Communications Biology. Fungi make up a small but important part of gut microbiomes. Mogana Das Murtey and Patchamuthu Ramasamy via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA Microbiomes are communities of microorganisms. In this study, we explored whether the fungal members of the gut microbiome – called the mycobiome – changed their host’s metabolic reaction to processed food. To do this, we obtained genetically identical mice from four different companies – each with different fungal microbiomes – and then fed the mice either standard mouse food or processed food resemblin...

Deciding how and whether to reopen schools is complex – here’s how rocket scientists would develop a plan

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Deciding how and whether to reopen schools is complex – here’s how rocket scientists would develop a plan

Dealing with the social and economic upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic will require the skills and talents of many types of professions – medical personnel, public health experts, parents, students, educators, legislators, enforcement authorities and many others. Until now, though, the U.S. has struggled to mount a coordinated national response to effectively stamp out COVID-19, even as other countries in Europe and East Asia have shown that the disease can be controlled. In the past, the United States has successfully mobilized to address deeply complex challenges and I believe one of those – sending astronauts to the Moon – can be instructive today, even though a pandemic is a very different challenge. Twelve years after the famed Project Apollo to land men on the Moon in 1969, Ge...

Why It’s Unclear Whether Private Programs For ‘Troubled Teens’ Are Working

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIETY

Why It’s Unclear Whether Private Programs For ‘Troubled Teens’ Are Working

I first became interested in what I’ve learned is called the “troubled teen industry” more than 20 years ago, when my parents sent me away to a program they thought would help me finish high school. At that point I was skipping a lot of school and running away. Simply put, I was seeking emancipation, community and safety – albeit in a headstrong way. The troubled teen industry is a mostly unregulated collection of for-profit programs that claim to rehabilitate out-of-control youth. Between 50,000 and 100,000 adolescents currently spend at least part of the year in these facilities. Their enrollment – or confinement, depending on the arrangement or their perspective – can prevent these relatively privileged kids from joining the 48,000 youth caught in the U.S. juvenile justice system. I’m...