Science 2.0

Subscribe to Science 2.0 feed
Science 2.0® - Science for the next 2,000 years, Non-profit, non-partisan, independent.
Updated: 56 min 34 sec ago

Suspect Correlation: Epidemiologists Link IVF To BMI Of Kids

Jan 17 2024 - 10:01
A population-based cohort study sought to examine a controversial epidemiological claim about assisted reproductive technologies like in vitro fertilization and the body mass index (BMI) of children.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Federal Scientists Did Not Say Marijuana Is Medicine, Epidemiologists Did

Jan 16 2024 - 17:01
Marijuana industry trade groups are ecstatic that a Department of Health and Human Services report  stated there is one indication that medical marijuana is legitimate.

But news outlets reporting that federal scientists are saying medical marijuana is legitimate are doing the public a disservice; it was not scientists, it was epidemiologists, and the review was of papers where people anecdotally said it helped them feel less pain.


read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Thermodynamic Parameters Can Influence The Outcome Of An Experiment

Jan 15 2024 - 17:01
When you are making a model it is common to make assumptions about the physical systems often assume that measurable features of the system. Temperature or chemical potential can be specified. The real world is messier than that, and uncertainty is unavoidable. Temperatures fluctuate, instruments malfunction, the environment interferes, and systems evolve over time.

Statistical physics address the uncertainty about the state of a system that arises when that system interacts with its environment but a new paper says that uncertainty in the thermodynamic parameters themselves — built into equations that govern the energetic behavior of the system — may also influence the outcome of an experiment.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

The Harvard Anti-Semitism Controversy Also Revealed The Scholarship Cancer Inside Academia

Jan 15 2024 - 16:01
University of Kentucky political science Professor Stephen Voss, who was plagiarized by Harvard President Claudine Gay, said it was no big deal. It was even expected she would use his work without attribution? He seems to think so. “It would have been quite natural for her to borrow ideas from me."

He didn't tell me that personally. I instead cited the source. Like you are supposed to do. It ain't that hard. She could have done it but did not, and yet he has no issue with that. He seems to be more upset that her plagiarism is going to lead to more investigations of humanities scholars' academic work, including by people 'not qualified' to do so.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Resilience: Debunking The Debunker

Jan 15 2024 - 10:01

Sarah Green Carmichael, in a Bloomberg News item titled “You don’t need more resilience, you need friends, and money” debunks the business gurus who tell us all resilience comes from inside us. Sarah’s thesis is that our environments determine our resilience, or at least can shield us from the traumas that necessitate resilience.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Statistical Methods For Fundamental Science Course Starts Tomorrow

Jan 14 2024 - 06:01
From tomorrow onwards (once or twice a week until February 5), I will be giving an online course on the topic of "Statistical Methods for Fundamental Science" for the INSTATS organization. This is a 5-day, 15-hour set of lectures that I put together to suit the needs of students and researchers who work in any scientific discipline, who wish to improve their understanding and practice of statistical methods for data analysis.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

There’s DEI, And Then There’s DEI

Jan 12 2024 - 10:01

A job interview, some years back, at No Name University (NNU). I was the candidate. The diversity question, pitched right on schedule. The surprise was who asked it. Of the seven search committee members (plus the search firm rep) only one was a person of color, and guess who they stuck with asking the diversity question? A clear signal I would not want to work at their institution, but I gave it my best game anyway.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Forget 25% Of Their Fleet By 2024, Hertz Is Now Dumping 20,000 Electric Cars

Jan 11 2024 - 15:01
With the Biden administration throwing taxpayer money at wealthy elites, manufacturers, and companies willing to roll the dice on electric cars, Hertz enthusiastically gushed that they were going to be 25 percent electric by this year.

Instead, they have decided to sell 20,000 of them and go back to gas engines.

read more

Categories: Science 2.0

Staying On Schedule

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

Tsukuba, Japan - A team of scientists led by Associate Professor Haruka Ozaki of the Center for Artificial Intelligence Research at the University of Tsukuba in collaboration with Dr. Koichi Takahashi from RIKEN used mathematical algorithms to optimize the schedule of automated biology laboratory robots. By analyzing the needs of time-sensitive samples that require investigation using multiple instruments, the researchers were able to maximize the number of experiments that can be performed within time and laboratory resource constraints.

Categories: Science 2.0

The Lancet: One In Two Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Develop A Complication

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

Study is most comprehensive of its kind and included more than 70,000 adults in the UK hospitalised with severe COVID-19 disease. Of these, half (36,367 of 73,197) developed one or more health complication during their hospitalisation.

Most common complications included renal, complex respiratory, and systemic complications, but cardiovascular, neurological, and gastrointestinal and liver complications were also reported.

Categories: Science 2.0

Diversity Of US Health Care Workers

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

What The Study Did: Researchers examined the diversity and representation by race/ethnicity and sex in select health care occupations in the United States from 2000 to 2019.

Authors: Anupam B. Jena, M.D., Ph.D., of Harvard Medical School in Boston, is the corresponding author.

To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/

(doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.17086)

Categories: Science 2.0

Sociodemographic Characteristics, Inequities Associated With Access To In-person, Remote Elementary Schooling During Pandemic In New York State

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

What The Study Did: Among the few New York state public school districts providing full-time in-person elementary school instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, most districts served predominately white students, rural/suburban students and children who were not disadvantaged (children who were not from a low-income family, were not English language learners, did not have homelessness, and did not have a disability).

Authors: Ashley M. Fox, Ph.D., M.A., of the University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY), is the corresponding author.

Categories: Science 2.0

Among Spotted Hyenas, Social Ties Are Inherited

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

Social networks among animals are critical to various aspects of their lives, including reproductive success and survival, and could even teach us more about human relationships.

Categories: Science 2.0

Association Of Remdesivir Treatment With Survival, Length Of Hospital Stay Among US Veterans Hospitalized With COVID-19

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

What The Study Did: In this observational study using data from the Veterans Health Administration for 2,344 U.S. veterans hospitalized with COVID-19, remdesivir treatment was associated with prolonged hospitalization but wasn't associated with improved survival.

Authors: Michael E. Ohl, M.D., M.S.P.H., of the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, is the corresponding author.

Categories: Science 2.0

Black, Latinx Community Perspectives On COVID-19 Mitigation Behaviors, Testing, Vaccines

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

What The Study Did: This community-engaged qualitative study describing Black and Latinx participants' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic found that fear, illness and loss experienced during the pandemic motivated information seeking and mitigation behaviors, while vaccine skepticism was high, as was the demand for clearer information. Among Black participants, racism and medical experimentation were associated with distrust.

Authors: Manuel E. Jimenez, M.D., M.S., of the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is the corresponding author.

Categories: Science 2.0

Body Mass Index As A Risk Factor For Diabetes Varies Throughout The World

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

BOSTON - The unprecedented increase in overweight and obesity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has led to an alarming rise in diabetes in these regions. Of the estimated 463 million people with diabetes worldwide, 79% live in LMICs.

Categories: Science 2.0

ED-administered High-dose Buprenorphine May Enhance Opioid Use Disorder Treatment Outcomes

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

High-dose buprenorphine therapy, provided under emergency department care, is safe and well tolerated in people with opioid use disorder experiencing opioid withdrawal symptoms, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) through the Helping to End Addiction Long-term Initiative, or the NIH HEAL Initiative.

Categories: Science 2.0

Study Finds Adolescent Girls And Young Women In Africa Will Use HIV Prevention Products

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

Adolescent girls and young women can and will use HIV prevention products with consistency, according to interim results of a study of two different methods: daily use of the antiretroviral (ARV) tablet Truvada® as oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and the monthly dapivirine vaginal ring, a new HIV prevention product currently under regulatory review in several countries.

Categories: Science 2.0

Study Shows Strong Association Between Perceived Risk, Availability And Past-year Cannabis Use

Jan 11 2024 - 14:01

Combined perceptions of the risk and availability of cannabis influence the risk of cannabis use more than perceived risk and perceived availability alone, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Researchers observed that those who perceived cannabis as low-risk and available were more likely to report using the drug in the past year and almost daily compared to those individuals who perceived cannabis as high-risk and unavailable. This is the first study to consider the joint effects of perceived risk and perceived availability.

Categories: Science 2.0