Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Viral illnesses spreading across Rhode Island
Health
Department puts out alert and advises you to take precautions
 |
| Spanish Flu outbreak, 1918 |
Disease surveillance systems at the Rhode
Island Department of Health (RIDOH) have detected an increase in viral
respiratory and gastrointestinal illness over the past several days.
This is not unexpected for this time of year.
However, the Department is urging all Rhode Islanders to help prevent the
spread of viral illnesses like the flu and norovirus by practicing good
personal protection measures.
To help keep yourself and your family healthy this winter:
Dog of the Week
Meet
Tripp!
Animal
Rescue Rhode Island
Tripp
is a riot!
When
he's not catching snowflakes on his tongue, he enjoys a good round of fetch.
But
don't worry, when you get tired out he knows how to entertain himself, but will
always make sure to check in often for a few pets and some cuddles.
So
if you are looking for an active, fun and oh so funny guy, ask about meeting
Tripp today!
Tripp
is a 1 1/2 year old plott hound mix.
Mystic officially certified for its humane and ethical treatment of animals
Less than a dozen similarly
certified institutions worldwide
 |
| Rescued seal returned to the sea from Charlestown's Blue Shutters Beach (photo by Will Collette) |
After
a rigorous third-party audit based on science-based standards created by the
world’s leading animal scientists, animal behaviorists and animal ethicists,
Mystic Aquarium received the Humane Certified™ seal, confirming that “good
welfare and humane treatment of all individuals and species is provided at the
facility.”
The
American Humane Conservation certification program was created by American
Humane, the country's first national humane organization and the world's
largest certifier of animal wellbeing, overseeing the wellbeing of some 1
billion animals.
With
this honor, Mystic Aquarium joins an elite group of fewer than a dozen Humane
Certified institutions worldwide.
Monday, January 9, 2017
The biggest hurdle for conversion to green energy
Tackling climate
change is good for the economy, good for business and good for people. This is
the narrative often pushed out by campaigners, researchers and governments
around the world.
But while measures to
curb emissions and reduce the impacts of rising temperatures will be good for
the many, the few who work in industries affected by climate policies risk
losing their livelihoods as the economy leans increasingly upon renewable energy.
Around the world,
there is a growing movement demanding a “just transition” for the workforce, so
that workers are not left in the cold as fossil fuels become consigned to the
past.
Peabody and the Navajo tribe
Arizona’s Navajo tribe
is one example of a community already fighting for a just transition. This
Native American group signed a lease in 1964 allowing Peabody Energy, America’s
largest coal company, to mine for coal on reservation lands. Now, 50 years
later, many are battling against the impacts of this deal.
BONUS VIDEO: “Bring out your dead”
Death
in Medieval Europe
Back
in the Middle Ages, popes were embalmed with spices and rubbed with a good
white wine. Wealthy people were often buried in more than one place Cemeteries
turned into brothels at night.
These
tidbits come effortlessly from Joëlle Rollo-Koster, a University of Rhode
Island history professor whose collection of essays, Death in Medieval
Europe: Death Scripted and Death Choreographed, was just published by
Routledge.
“Images
of death abounded in the later Middle Ages, especially in the period after the
Black Death in the mid-14th century,’’ says Rollo-Koster, a
renowned medieval scholar. “It was part of life, ritualized and choreographed,
unlike today, where it is hidden and closeted.”
The
essays by Rollo-Koster and other scholars explore the cultural effects of death
and how it influenced everyday life, from mourning practices to commemorations.
URI chatted with her recently about her research.
In
the movie Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman has two
caskets—one with his body, the other empty. What medieval practice are we
seeing?
People
who saw the movie may not realize that they witnessed somewhat of a
traditional medieval funeral, with a double burial.
Good Carbs
Wiley
A new comprehensive
review examines the potential health benefits of resistant starch, a form of
starch that is not digested in the small intestine and is therefore considered
a type of dietary fibre.
Some forms of resistant starch occur naturally in
foods such as bananas, potatoes, grains, and legumes, and some are produced or
modified commercially and incorporated into food products.
There has been increasing
research interest in resistant starch, with a large number of human studies
published over the last 10 years looking at a variety of different health
outcomes such as postprandial glycaemia, satiety, and gut health.
The review
summarises reported effects and explores the potential mechanisms of action
that underpin them.
For example, there is consistent evidence that consumption
of resistant starch can aid blood sugar control. It has also been suggested
that resistant starch can support gut health and enhance satiety via increased
production of short chain fatty acids.
Reducing Inequality in the Trump Era
With Washington looking hopeless, it's up to local
communities to close the gap between the richest and the rest.
By Josh Hoxie
In
a lot of ways, 2016 was a big year for reducing inequality.
Five
states raised their minimum wage through citizen-led ballot initiatives. A
job-killing free trade agreement, the TPP, was blocked as a result of massive
public demonstrations against it.
More
recently, the city of Portland, Oregon passed the first ever municipal-level
check on runaway CEO compensation, a tangible step several other cities and
states will likely follow.
These
were just a few of the many victories that those who care about reducing the
gap between the richest and the rest of us can claim this year. They also point
the way forward for how we might continue this pivotal work in the age of
Trump.
Outgoing
president Barack Obama once called the need to address rising income inequality the defining challenge of our time. History books will
surely credit his administration for helping to lift the nation out of the
worst recession in recent history (one driven largely by reckless Wall Street
bankers), but much work remains.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
“Something spewed out by a fertilizer-spreader in a wind tunnel”
Journalists
have the duty to expose lies
By Dan
Rather
A lie, is a lie, is a lie.
Journalism,
as I was taught it, is a process of getting as close to some valid version of
the truth as is humanly possible. And one of my definitions of news is
information that the powerful don't want you to know.
So
this statement (see this
article) from the editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal about how his
paper will report on Donald Trump’s potential (likely?) future lies is deeply
disturbing.
It
is not the proper role of journalists to meet lies—especially from someone of
Mr. Trump’s stature and power—by hiding behind semantics and euphemisms.
Our
role is to call it as we see it, based on solid reporting.
When
something is, in fact, a demonstrable lie, it is our responsibility to say so.
Technology communication and unintended consequences
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
In democratic societies, it is considered an obligation of
researchers and politicians to inform the public about modern technologies and
their potential risks. Researchers of KIT and the University of Wollongong,
Australia, recently found that information about technologies and their risks
may have undesired side effects.
It may also cause worries where they do not seem appropriate, as
is reported in the international Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health.
"Today, technical innovations dominate our everyday life in
many areas. New technologies, however, always are associated with risks -- and
these are also seen by laymen," says Christoph Böhmert, first author of
the recently published study and researcher of the Science Communication Group
of KIT's Institute for German Studies.
"It is crucial to enable adequate communication between
science and society, which does not only consider scientific findings, but also
concerns of the population." The study clearly showed that communication
of risks may be complicated sometimes. Information on efficient precautions was
found to lead to an increased risk perception by the recipients of the
information.
In their study, the researchers analyzed communication about a
technology that has become indispensable in our life -- mobile communications
and the electromagnetic fields on which it is based.
All over the world, radiation protection authorities, such as
the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection, communicate the current
state of research into risks of electromagnetic fields as follows: Investigations made and all findings
obtained so far do not allow any conclusions
to be drawn with respect to mobile communications being a risk for human health.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)