US political conservatives have deep, unbudging suspicion of science

Why do right-wingers distrust science?

Mary Van Beusekom, MS

A University of Amsterdam study concludes that politically conservative Americans are more skeptical of science than previously thought, including that from fields that contribute to the economic growth and productivity they typically value.

The findings, published in Nature Human Behaviour, were based on the survey responses of 7,800 US adults on their views on 35 different scientific fields such as anthropology, biology, and atomic physics by political leaning. 

The team also tested five interventions designed to increase trust in scientists among conservative participants. The interventions addressed the reasons why people may distrust science, including its perceived misalignment with moral values or the idea that scientists are not part of their group. The interventions highlighted how scientific results aligned with conservative beliefs or showcased conservative scientists.

"Since the 1980s, trust of science among conservatives in America has even been plummeting," senior author Bastiaan Rutjens, PhD, said in a University of Amsterdam news release. "Science is also increasingly dismissed in some circles as a 'leftist hobby' and universities as strongholds of the leftist establishment."

By the letters

Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association hosts two upcoming events

 

Two Upcoming Events   All WPWA Events and Registration on Eventbrite.com, Click Here  Map and Compass Workshop Thursday May 1st 6-9pm, and Saturday, May 3rd 9am-3pm Do you like to get out and explore, but worry about your skills to find your way back? Join the Narragansett Chapter of the AMC and the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association for a two-part course to read and understand maps and use a compass correctly. Class will be on Thursday May 1, 2025 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM at Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association Campus, Hope Valley, RI. For Thursday class, dress for the weather, part of the class will be held outdoors, as conditions permit. Topics include reading map symbols and contour lines, matching the terrain to the map, taking and using bearings, orienting map and compass, declination, determining your location and planning your route. Field Practice will be on Saturday May 3, 9:00 AM - 3 PM at Arcadia Management Area in Exeter, RI. Information about Saturday’s field practice will be provided in the class notes. The morning session will allow participants to practice their new skills. After lunch they will plan and then execute a bushwhack route through the woods. Instructors include experienced AMC Narragansett Chapter Northern Hikes Leaders. Participants should bring a base-plate style compass with an adjustable declination feature and plan to attend both dates. More details on Eventbrite link below. Register Prior to April 28th. Cost: $29.00 fee, payable here on Eventbrite Register Here Birding by Kayak... During Migration! Saturday, May 3rd 10am-1pm (rain date, Sunday May 4th) Enjoy the height of bird migration on a pristine river, centrally located in Rhode Island. Expert birder from the Ocean State Bird Club pairs up with naturalist and kayaking guide from the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association. All kayaking gear is provided, this stretch of river begins as very wide and forgiving. The group may meander up a tighter stretch of river. Rare birds are often heard in this nationally designated Wood-Pawcatuck Wild and Scenic River System. Reserve both Saturday, May 3rd and rain/heavy wind date of Sunday, May 4th. Kassi@wpwa.org will send an email Thursday informing participants when the event will take place. The event is 10am till 1pm at the Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association. Bring food, a water bottle and dress for the early spring weather. Suggestions on what to bring and expect are in an email confirmation. Limited to 20 participants so that we can best hear the birds. Cost is $45 for OSBC or WPWA Members, $55 for non-members. Kayaks, life jackets and gear are included. Kayaks can often be managed by children 10 years old and up. Canoes and tandem kayaks are also available, great for an adult to share with a child under 11. Scroll down on the registration link to see this additional option. For More Information Contact: Kassi Donnelly: kassi@wpwa.org PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Register Here P.S. Lookout for Raptor Encounter Program Sunday, June 1st @ 10am Our Contact Information Wood-Pawcatuck Watershed Association 203 Arcadia Road Hope Valley, RI 02832 401-539-9017 http://www.wpwa.org

Coastal Land Conserved on Winnapaug Pond

Whether the funding actually holds up remains to be seen

Water Wizz, the land's prior use

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Senator Jack Reed, Governor Dan McKee, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM), Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC), the Town of Westerly, and Save The Bay announced the conservation of 7.31 acres of coastal land on Winnapaug Pond in Westerly. 

This project was made possible by a $2.635 million grant award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Coastal Zone Management Program, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. 

The NOAA award enabled DEM to buy a conservation easement from the Town of Westerly for the Sorensen property, a six-acre undeveloped salt marsh, formerly the Water Wizz property in Winnapaug Pond. This protects valuable habitat, enhances coastal access, and helps buffer nearby communities from climate change and sea level rise in a highly developed area.  

EDITOR’S NOTE: Not so fast! Funding for this project may be subject to Musk-Trump blockage or even cancellation. Read HERE for some of the latest court action. While it’d be great to actually see this acquisition go through, the federal funding isn’t real yet. Far from it. Even if the funds are received and spent, Trump has been attempting to “claw-back” federal funding for a broad range of activities he doesn’t support. Trump is in a court battle over his order to clawback $20 billion in grants for climate related projects such as this. – Will Collette 

Whooping Cough Cases Are Soaring as Vaccine Rates Decline

“Not Just Measles” 

By Duaa Eldeib and Patricia Callahan, ProPublica

Reporting Highlights

• Vaccine Hesitancy: Texas’ measles outbreak has been blamed on vaccine hesitancy. But parents are not getting their children other vaccines as well.
• Not Just Measles: Vaccine rates for other childhood diseases have fallen, contributing to rising cases of whooping cough and other illnesses.
• Government Failure: The Trump administration’s cuts to public health jobs and funding make it harder for agencies to fight outbreaks and prevent disease with vaccines.

These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story.

In the past six months, two babies in Louisiana have died of pertussis, the disease commonly known as whooping cough.

Washington state recently announced its first confirmed death from pertussis in more than a decade.

Idaho and South Dakota each reported a death this year, and Oregon last year reported two as well as its highest number of cases since 1950.

While much of the country is focused on the spiraling measles outbreak concentrated in the small, dusty towns of West Texas, cases of pertussis have skyrocketed by more than 1,500% nationwide since hitting a recent low in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Deaths tied to the disease are also up, hitting 10 last year, compared with about two to four in previous years. Cases are on track to exceed that total this year.

Doctors, researchers and public health experts warn that the measles outbreak, which has grown to more than 600 cases, may just be the beginning. They say outbreaks of preventable diseases could get much worse with falling vaccination rates and the Trump administration slashing spending on the country’s public health infrastructure.

National rates for four major vaccines, which had held relatively steady in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic, have fallen significantly since, according to a ProPublica analysis of the most recent federal kindergarten vaccination data. Not only have vaccination rates for measles, mumps and rubella fallen, but federal data shows that so have those for pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B and polio.

In addition, public health experts say that growing pockets of unvaccinated populations across the country place babies and young children in danger should there be a resurgence of these diseases.

Many medical authorities view measles, which is especially contagious, as the canary in the coal mine, but pertussis cases may also be a warning, albeit one that has attracted far less attention.

“This is not just measles,” said Dr. Adam Ratner, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor in New York City and author of the book “Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health.” “It’s a bright-red warning light.”

Brown researchers help reconstruct sudden, dramatic sea level rise after last ice age

The past is prologue

Brown University

Around 14,500 years ago, toward the end of the last ice age, melting continental ice sheets drove a sudden and cataclysmic sea level rise of up to 65 feet in just 500 years or less. Despite the scale of the event, known as Meltwater Pulse 1a, scientists still aren’t sure which ice sheets were responsible for shedding all that water. 

Now, researchers from Brown University have used an updated physical model of sea-level dynamics to reconstruct Meltwater Pulse 1a. Their work, which was supported by a federal grant from the National Science Foundation, was published in Nature Geoscience.

The research team found that an initially modest melting of ice over North America set off a global cascade of ice loss extending to Europe, Asia and Antarctica. The results reveal surprising linkages between ice sheets around the world and could help scientists make better predictions of future sea level rise, according to the researchers. 

“We see a distinct interhemispheric pattern of melting associated with this catastrophic sea level rise in the past,” said Allie Coonin, a Ph.D. candidate in Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, who led the research. “That tells us that there’s some sort of mechanism that is responsible for linking these ice sheets across hemispheres, and that’s important for how we understand the stability of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets today.”

Trump signs order to block state laws, like Rhode Island's, that aim at climate change

Probably unconstitutional, but could lead to end to federal funding

By Jacob Fischler, Rhode Island Current

An executive order President Donald Trump signed April 8 to block state-level renewable-energy initiatives set off alarm bells among climate advocates.

But experts and state policy groups said constitutional protections will blunt any effect the order would have on state operations.

The order, one of four Trump signed April 8 aiming to revitalize the coal industry, directs the U.S. Justice Department to investigate and block enforcement of state laws that restrict fossil fuel production. It specifically targets state and local policies involving climate change, environmental justice and carbon emissions reductions — popular among blue states.

By attempting to strip states of their own authority to make and enforce laws, the order violates basic constitutional principles and would likely be struck down in court, environmental law experts said Wednesday.

Brad Campbell, the president of the New England-based environmental advocacy group Conservation Law Foundation, said in an interview with States Newsroom the order does not cite any federal law or interest the administration is seeking to protect — though the order does mention interstate commerce and an objective to improve national security — revealing it is more about messaging than policymaking.

And after the rally...

Stand up to King Donald in Westerly this Saturday

URI to host Rhode to Regenerative: From Land to Sea conference May 19-20

First agenda item: what is regenerative agriculture?

 Anthony_laroche@uri.edu

A horned pineywoods bull watching a white and
black spotted pig in a shadowed pasture.

Farmers, researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and community leaders will gather at the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Biological and Life Sciences on May 19-20 for the inaugural Rhode to Regenerative: From Land to Sea conference. 

This two-day event, organized with the agricultural network Why Regenerative, will explore regenerative agriculture, an approach to food production and ecosystem management that restores and enhances soil health, water systems, and biodiversity from forests and farms to kelp beds and coastal fisheries. The conference will focus on a regenerative future rooted in science, community, and collaboration. 

Grab your hankies, pollen sufferers!

Charlestown pollen forecast 

The Hidden Death Toll Fueled by COVID-19’s Ripple Effect

COVID is the gift that keeps on giving

By University of Oxford

Researchers from the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, Australian National University, and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analyzed cause-of-death data from 24 countries before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their findings showed that life expectancy dropped in 2020 in all but four of these countries. The United States saw the steepest decline, with a 2.1-year reduction for males. In 2021, life expectancy continued to fall in most countries, with the biggest losses recorded among females in Bulgaria and males in Latvia, both exceeding two years.

Pandemic’s Lasting Effects on Mortality Rates

Lead author Antonino Polizzi, a DPhil student at the Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science, said, “This study explores the direct and indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality across the world and highlights that life expectancy losses had still not returned to pre-pandemic levels in several countries by 2022.”

The study found that, in addition to COVID-19 deaths, increased mortality attributed to cardiovascular disease was a major contributor to life expectancy losses during the first two years of the pandemic, particularly in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 2020, cardiovascular disease-related losses were greatest in Russia which experienced losses of 5.3 months. Bulgaria experienced cardiovascular disease-related losses of 5.5 months in 2021. The authors suggest that this could have been due to lapses in prevention or treatment of cardiovascular disease, or undercounted COVID-19 deaths.

American Public Health Association wants Bobby Kennedy Jr. to either resign or be fired

Dangerous disregard for science

Lisa Schnirring

In the wake of dramatic cuts to US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) staff, cutbacks for state public health efforts, and mixed messages on battling measles and other infectious diseases, two public health groups called for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign or be fired.

Also, a group of biomedical developers and investors sent a letter to a top Senate health leader, raising concerns about the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) ability to function under Kennedy’s watch and the severe staff cuts that followed.

APHA cites dangerous disregard for science

In a statement yesterday from the American Public Health Association (APHA), its president, Georges Benjamin, MD, said concerns raised during Kennedy's confirmation hearings have been realized.

He referenced, for example, massive cuts to programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the FDA, and the Health Resources and Services Administration, which undermine the work of public health agencies to keep Americans safe.

Benjamin also listed several instances since Kennedy’s confirmation that suggest that the secretary has a disregard for science, such as a haphazard reorganization of HHS, forcing the ouster of the FDA’s top vaccine official, refusing to strongly endorse vaccination in the wake of two children's measles deaths, promoting unproven measles treatments, and clawing back $11 billion in state and local public health funding.

Understanding the A to Zs of this mess

Here's a fun fact