Category: News

Cloud cover, plants, and a changing climate

News

“Cumulus clouds make a significant contribution to the Earth’s energy balance and hydrological [water] cycle and are a major source of uncertainty in climate projections.” Sikma, M., & Jordi Vilà‐Guerau, d. A. (2019). Substantial reductions in cloud cover and moisture transport by dynamic plant responses. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(3), 1870-1878. [PDF] [Cited by] “With an average daily occurrence of around 25% in midlatitude and tropical…

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Mental health benefits of nature, green and blue spaces, and being outdoors

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White, M. P., Pahl, S., Ashbullby, K., Herbert, S., & Depledge, M. H. (2013). Feelings of restoration from recent nature visits. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 35, 40-51. [Cited by] “Exposure to natural environments can help restore depleted emotional and cognitive resources. However, investigation of the relative impacts of different natural environments among large samples is limited. Using data from 4255 respondents drawn from Natural England’s…

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Tribalism in our society

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Tribalism is the possession of an identity (cultural, ethnic, national, etc.) that divides a member of one group from members of another group. The identity can be based on residence, membership in political parties, skin color, ethnic background, religion, occupation, income level, mental health status, gender, age, health status … all the way to support of different sports teams. There are in-groups and out-groups. We…

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How far do COVID-19 particles travel from people who are infected?

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Many governments have recommended social distancing guidelines of 6 feet (about 2 meters). A study using surface and air samples obtained in February and early March 2020 “from an intensive care unit (ICU) and a general COVID-19 ward [GW] at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China” came to a different conclusion–a maximum transmission distance of about 13 feet. “The main transmission routes for SARS-CoV-2 [COVID-19] are…

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Is it necessary to take 10,000 steps per day for good health? Part 2

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Another look at the association between the number of steps taken per day and health–as measured by the incidence of disease and death. “It is unclear whether the number of steps per day and the intensity of stepping are associated with lower mortality. Design, Setting, and Participants:  Representative sample of US adults aged at least 40 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey…

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What can we learn from history about the pace and path of a pandemic?

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What can we learn from the past about what we are facing and may face with COVID-19? An increasingly good comparison is the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic (see — 100 years later, we are even more vulnerable to an influenza pandemic). Based on that comparison, we could see a scenario like this — “As America enters this utterly unfamiliar territory, some experts have turned to history…

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