Observations
Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions
They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior
Blogs
Observations
How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 1970s Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic
Phil Anderson’s article “More Is Different” describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking. And as the virus multiplies and spreads, that’s just what the human race desperately needs...
Observations
The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage
The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention
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Space station urine recycling system still on the fritz
Turning urine into drinkable water apparently isn't so easy. At least not in space. As the space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station (ISS) crews gear up for tomorrow's scheduled seven-hour spacewalk, they're still wondering what to do with their malfunctioning $250 million water-and-urine recycling system...
Talk about cyberspace: NASA's space-spanning Internet clears its first hurdle
With more nations sending up more spacecraft conducting more advanced scientific studies, how will the world's space agencies keep everyone and everything in the loop?
Titan's Rival: Enceladus
Saturn's small, snow and ice–covered moon, Enceladus, only 310 miles (500 kilometers) across, has made a big impact on astronomers. On a series of close flybys in 2004, the Cassini spacecraft revealed a great deal of unexpected activity bursting forth from this frozen world, which travels with 33 other named satellites in Saturn's domain over 740 million miles from Earth...
Most still skip HIV tests
Two years after federal health officials recommended that everyone get tested for HIV at least once, the exam still isn’t routine.
In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that all Americans between the ages of 13 and 64 should take the test, because nearly a quarter million people in the U.S...
Baby virus could be key to childhood asthma
Asthma, a respiratory disease whose prevalence skyrocketed in the latter part of the 20th century, is believed to have a genetic component, and environmental triggers—including pollution and pests— are also blamed. Now a common infant virus—respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)—is being fingered as a possible cause...
Microsoft changes direction, will offer free security software
Microsoft is changing its tune on computer security, two years after its much-heralded foray into the security space turned out to be less than spectacular.
As Somali pirates step up attacks, shippers consider technology options for defense
Piracy on the high seas is making a comeback this year, particularly off the coast of the African nation Somalia, where raiders are using increasingly more powerful and sophisticated technologies to attack ships and hold their crew and cargo for ransom...
Farmed fish can be organic, too, ag advisors say
What exactly makes a fish organic? Apparently, one that feeds on a nonorganic diet.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) advisory panel says that producers should be allowed to slap organic labels on farmed fish even if their diets include wild fish and other feed that isn’t organic itself—definitions that environmentalists say depart from the criteria for other certified organic animal food products...
Candid criminal: Undercover psychologists find bad behavior may be contagious
Attention, shoppers: If the cart you selected has a handle greased with Vaseline, you may be an unwitting participant in an undercover experiment.
Ditto if you find an envelope stuffed with cash hanging out of a mailbox...
Bush moves may endanger Endangered Species Act
The Bush Administration's push for "midnight regulations" in the last moments of office continues.
In the next 24 hours, the Bush is expected to relax requirements for federal environmental officials to sign off on building projects that pose a threat to species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)...
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