worse

30Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Heat Waves Plus Air Pollution Can Be A Deadly Combination: The Health Risk Together Is Worse Than Either Alone

On the morning news, you see the weather forecast is for high heat, and there is an “excessive heat watch” for later in the week. You were hoping the weather would cool down, but yet another heat wave is threatening human health and increasing the chance of wildfires. On top of these warm days and nights, air quality data has been showing unhealthy levels of pollution. Sound familiar? This scenario is increasingly the new normal in many parts of the world. High heat and air pollution are each problematic for human health, particularly for vulnerable populations such as older adults. But what happens when they hit at the same time? We examined over 1.5 million deaths from 2014 to 2020 registered in California – a state prone to summer heat waves and air pollution from wildfires – to find...

Could Elon Musk’s Plans For Twitter Make Its Misinformation Problems Worse

27Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SOCIAL MEDIA

Could Elon Musk’s Plans For Twitter Make Its Misinformation Problems Worse

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, acquired Twitter in a US$44 billion deal on April 25, 2022, 11 days after announcing his bid for the company. Twitter announced that the public company will become privately held after the acquisition is complete. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission for his initial bid for the company, Musk stated, “I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy.” As a researcher of social media platforms, I find that Musk’s ownership of Twitter and his stated reasons for buying the company raise important issues. Those issues stem from the nature of the social media platform and what sets it apart from others. ...

For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism, SOCIETY, WORK

For Millions Of Out-Of-Work Americans The Pandemic Hardship Is About To Get A Lot Worse

WORK Jeffrey Kucik, University of Arizona and Don Leonard, The Ohio State University Millions of unemployed Americans are set to lose pandemic-related jobless benefits after Labor Day – just as surging cases of coronavirus slow the pace of hiring. In all, an estimated 8.8 million people will stop receiving unemployment insurance beginning on Sept. 6, 2021. An additional 4.5 million will no longer get the extra US$300 a week the federal government has been providing to supplement state benefits. But with the pandemic still raging thanks to the rise of the delta variant, particularly in Southern states, the expiration of these benefits seems ill-timed. While some claim that the aid is no longer needed and doing more harm than good, we believe that the data tell another story. Benefits lo...

Is the COVID-19 pandemic cure really worse than the disease? Here’s what our research found

8Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19

Is the COVID-19 pandemic cure really worse than the disease? Here’s what our research found

The coronavirus pandemic catapulted the country into one of the deepest recessions in U.S. history, leaving millions of Americans without jobs or health insurance. There is a lot of evidence that economic hardship is associated with poor health and can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, mental health problems, cognitive dysfunction and early death. All of that raises a question: Is the U.S. better off with the public health interventions being used to keep the coronavirus from spreading or without them? In a new working paper, I and a team of health economists from U.S. universities set out to answer that question from a humanitarian perspective. To do that, we reviewed the latest data and scientific research about the virus to evaluate the number of lives saved if public healt...

Black Americans, crucial workers in crises, emerge worse off – not better

17Jun

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Black Americans, crucial workers in crises, emerge worse off – not better

On June 19, 1865 – 155 years ago – black Americans celebrating the day of Jubilee, later known as Juneteenth, may have expected a shot at real opportunity. Freedom from slavery should have been freedom to climb up the economic ladder, helped – or at least not hindered – by a nation newly rededicated to human equality. Black Americans had served in the war, too, making up more than 10% of the Union Army, a quarter of the Union Navy and untold numbers aiding the Union effort. In many national crises since then, black Americans have also been essential workers. But serving in crucial roles has not resulted in economic equality. Government responses to economic crises have historically set black Americans back relative to whites, stripping black wealth and setting new and stronger barriers ...