Why U.S. middle-aged adults report more loneliness and poorer health than peers abroad

Midlife crisis is complicated in the US

By Arizona State University

Edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Robert Egan

Americans born in the 1960s and early 1970s report higher loneliness and depressive symptoms and show poorer memory and physical strength than earlier generations. Such declines are largely absent in peer countries, particularly in Nordic Europe, where outcomes have improved over time.

In a new study, psychologist Frank J. Infurna of Arizona State University and co-authors, analyzed survey data from 17 countries seeking to identify why U.S. trends diverge from other wealthy nations.

"The real midlife crisis in America isn't about lifestyle choices or sports cars. It's about juggling work, finances, family, and health amid weakening social supports," Infurna said. "The data make this clear."

The findings, published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, point the way to likely solutions for individuals and U.S. society.

You Don’t Really Make 200 Food Decisions a Day

Scientists say this is a misleading number

By Max Planck Institute for Human Development

What counts as a food decision? Food decisions only make sense when you know the context in which they were made. Credit: Pietro Nickl

Numbers often drive health advice. They are meant to inform, motivate, and guide behavior. But not every widely shared statistic rests on solid scientific ground. One long repeated claim says people make more than 200 food-related decisions every day without realizing it.

According to Maria Almudena Claassen, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Adaptive Rationality at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, that figure gives a misleading impression. “This number paints a distorted picture of how people make decisions about their food intake and how much control they have over it,” she says.

Claassen, along with Ralph Hertwig, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, and Jutta Mata, an associate research scientist at the Institute and Professor for Health Psychology at the University of Mannheim, published research examining how this number became so influential. Their work shows how questionable measurement methods can shape public understanding of eating behavior in inaccurate ways.

The Origin of the 200 Food Decisions Claim

The widely cited estimate dates back to a 2007 study by U.S. scientists Brian Wansink1 and Jeffery Sobal. In that study, 154 participants were first asked to estimate how many decisions they made each day about eating and drinking. The average response was 14.4 decisions.

Participants were then asked to break down their choices for a typical meal into categories such as “when,” “what,” “how much,” “where,” and “with whom.” Researchers multiplied these estimates by the number of meals, snacks, and beverages participants said they consumed in a typical day. When combined, this calculation produced an average of 226.7 daily decisions.

The difference between the initial estimate and the larger total, 212.3 decisions, was interpreted as evidence that most food choices are unconscious or “mindless.”

Vaccines CAN stop cancer, if only we could get Bobby Jr.'s anti-vaxxers out of the way

A 20-year-old cancer vaccine may hold the key to long-term survival

Duke Health

More than two decades ago, a small group of women with advanced breast cancer took part in a clinical trial that tested an experimental vaccine. All these years later, every one of them is still alive. 

Researchers say survival over such a long period is extremely uncommon for people with metastatic breast cancer, which is why the case drew renewed scientific attention.

Researchers at Duke Health took a closer look at the immune systems of the women who participated in the trial, which was led by Herbert Kim Lyerly, M.D., George Barth Geller Distinguished Professor of Immunology at Duke University School of Medicine. What they discovered surprised them. Even after many years, the women still had powerful immune cells that could recognize their cancer.

These immune cells shared a specific marker known as CD27. This marker plays an important role in helping the immune system remember past threats and respond to them again. The results, published in Science Immunology, point to CD27 as a possible way to make cancer vaccines far more effective.

"We were stunned to see such durable immune responses so many years later," said Zachary Hartman, Ph.D., senior author of the study and associate professor in the Departments of Surgery, Integrative Immunology and Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine. "It made us ask: What if we could boost this response even more?"

The real cause of skyrocketing electric bills in Rhode Island

Gov. McKee is gaslighting Rhode Island energy consumers

By Bill Ibelle, Rhode Island Current

Gov. Dan McKee and Rhode Island Energy want you to believe that the cause of your soaring energy bills is clean energy. But let me ask you a common sense question: If 10% of the state’s energy is produced by wind and solar and 87% is produced by natural gas, which one do you think is responsible for our state having the fourth-highest rates in the country?

Right. It’s the elephant in the room that’s going to trample you, not the gerbil. 

But the governor and our for-profit utility want you to pay attention to the gerbil, even though the real problem is our overdependence on natural gas. 

Save now, pay later: Critics warn McKee’s plan to ease energy bills comes with a tab

Why?

The governor is in the fight of his political life and needs a quick fix to win back support. That’s why he wants to roll back state renewable and energy efficiency programs to save ratepayers money on their monthly bills. It doesn’t matter that his quick fix doesn’t fix anything. It just has to save you a few dollars this election year. 

Sparky for President

Trump STEALS credit for retirement savings plan from 2022 Biden proposal passed by Congress. Classic Trump

ICE Barbie's rare occasion of speaking the truth about the 2026 election

 

Takeaway coffee cups release thousands of microplastic particles

Try using a stainless steel go-cup

Xiangyu Liu, Griffith University

It’s 7:45am. You grab a takeaway coffee from your local cafe, wrap your hands around the warm cup, take a sip, and head to the office.

To most of us, that cup feels harmless – just a convenient tool for caffeine delivery. However, if that cup is made of plastic, or has a thin plastic lining, there is a high chance it’s shedding thousands of tiny plastic fragments directly into your drink.

In Australia alone, we use a staggering 1.45 billion single-use hot beverage cups every year, along with roughly 890 million plastic lids. Globally, that number swells to an estimated 500 billion cups annually.

In new research I coauthored, published in Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics, we looked at how these cups behave when they get hot.

The message is clear: heat is a primary driver of microplastic release, and the material of your cup matters more than you might think.

What are microplastics?

No plastics

Microplastics are fragments of plastic ranging from about 1 micrometer to 5 millimeters in size – roughly from a speck of dust to the size of a sesame seed.

They can be created when larger plastic items break down, or they can be released directly from products during normal use. These particles end up in our environment, our food, and eventually, our bodies.

Currently, we don’t have conclusive evidence on just how much of that microplastic remains in our bodies. Studies on this subject are highly prone to contamination and it’s really difficult to accurately measure the levels of such tiny particles in human tissue.

Furthermore, scientists are still piecing together what microplastics might mean for human health in the long term. More research is urgently needed, but in the meantime, it’s good to be aware of potential microplastic sources in our daily lives.

Rhode Islanders REALLY don't like Dan McKee

Two major polls released Monday and Tuesday show high dissatisfaction with McKee among likely voters

Two articles by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

University of New Hampshire poll shows Foulkes leading McKee 34% to 18%

Almost twice as many likely voters would back Helena Buonanno Foulkes over Gov. Dan McKee if the Democratic gubernatorial primary were held today, according to a new poll published on February 24 by the University of New Hampshire. 

The survey of 703 residents, including 364 likely Democratic primary voters, marks a new low in voters’ long running dissatisfaction with McKee. Less than one in five likely Democratic voters (including registered Democrats and independents) had a favorable view of the incumbent governor, while more than three-quarters viewed him unfavorably. 

If asked to mark their primary ballots today — six months out from the September primary — 18% of likely Democratic voters would reelect McKee. Foulkes, a former CVS executive viewed as McKee’s main primary competitor, was the pick for 34% of likely primary voters. The margin of error overall was 3.7%, with a 5.1% margin of error for questions specific to likely Democratic voters. 

The poll was conducted online between Feb. 12 and 16.

More bad news for McKee’s reelection prospects in latest AFL-CIO poll

Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew

Live longer and better: Get your shots

Paula Span 

Check with your health care provider to see which shots you need to get

Let’s be clear: The primary reason to be vaccinated against shingles is that two shots provide at least 90% protection against a painful, blistering disease that a third of Americans will suffer in their lifetimes, one that can cause lingering nerve pain and other nasty long-term consequences.

The most important reason for older adults to be vaccinated against the respiratory infection RSV is that their risk of being hospitalized with it declines by almost 70% in the year they get the shot, and by nearly 60% over two years.

And the main reason to roll up a sleeve for an annual flu shot is that when people do get infected, it also reliably reduces the severity of illness, though its effectiveness varies by how well scientists have predicted which strain of influenza shows up.

But other reasons for older people to be vaccinated are emerging. They are known, in doctor-speak, as off-target benefits, meaning that the shots do good things beyond preventing the diseases they were designed to avert.

The list of off-target benefits is lengthening as “the research has accumulated and accelerated over the last 10 years,” said William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.

Some of these protections have been established by years of data; others are the subjects of more recent research, and the payoff is not yet as clear. The first RSV vaccines, for example, became available only in 2023.

If you criticized ICE or Trump on-line, Homeland Security wants your name and personal information

Trump regime wants to pursue those who commit Thought Crime

By Mario Trujillo, The Electronic Frontier Foundation 

We are calling on technology companies like Meta and Google to stand up for their users by resisting the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) lawless administrative subpoenas for user data. 

In the past year, DHS has consistently targeted people engaged in First Amendment activity. Among other things, the agency has issued subpoenas to technology companies to unmask or locate people who have documented ICE's activities in their community, criticized the government, or attended protests.   

These subpoenas are unlawful, and the government knows it. When a handful of users challenged a few of them in court with the help of ACLU affiliates in Northern California and Pennsylvania, DHS withdrew them rather than waiting for a decision. 

These subpoenas are unlawful, and the government knows it.

But it is difficult for the average user to fight back on their own. Quashing a subpoena is a fast-moving process that requires lawyers and resources. Not everyone can afford a lawyer on a moment’s notice, and non-profits and pro-bono attorneys have already been stretched to near capacity during the Trump administration.  

 That is why we, joined by the ACLU of Northern California, have asked several large tech platforms to do more to protect their users, including: 

1.  Insist on court intervention and an order before complying with a DHS subpoena, because the agency has already proved that its legal process is often unlawful and unconstitutional;  
2. Give users as much notice as possible when they are the target of a subpoena, so the user can seek help. While many companies have already made this promise, there are high-profile examples of it not happening—ultimately stripping users of their day in court;  
3. Resist gag orders that would prevent companies from notifying their users that they are a target of a subpoena. 

 We sent the letter to Amazon, Apple, Discord, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Reddit, SNAP, TikTok, and X.  

Busy boy

Father, not like son

Have some fun if you plan to watch Trump's speech.

 Here's a punch list for things he's going to say:

Here's another one:

Humberto the Bomb Cyclone beats the Blizzard of '78's snowfall record

Next question: Will Trump approve request for federal assistance?

By Christopher Shea and Alexander Castro, Rhode Island Current

Snowed in for the duration (photo by Will Collette)

Stay off the roads (at least until noon today).

That was Gov. Dan McKee’s message to all Rhode Islanders as a nor’easter with “peak blizzard conditions” shut down the state Monday. 

The National Weather Service office in Norton, Massachusetts, announced at 7 p.m. that total snow accumulation of 37.9 inches was at Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport in Warwick. Before Monday, the greatest single snowstorm on record was 28.6 inches on Feb. 6-7, 1978.

The daily snowfall of 35.5 inches broke the record one–day snowfall, which was 19.0 inches set during the blizzard of Jan. 8, 1996.

“I was around in the Blizzard of ’78  — this is a remarkable difference,” McKee told reporters gathered at the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency’s Cranston headquarters Monday afternoon. “This is the biggest snowstorm that we have ever seen.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: According to one website offering snow estimates by address, Humberto dumped two feet, eight inches of snow on my backyard. Cathy and I rode out the Blizzard of '78 in Providence and will no doubt ride this one out, too. - Will Collette