All posts tagged: risk

Scientists debate fleeing America because of Trump — or risk their research being censored

Scientists debate fleeing America because of Trump — or risk their research being censored

Published by Sam

It was not easy for Dr. Kevin Trenberth to leave the United States. An esteemed climate scientist who has published more than 600 articles on climatology, Trenberth spent more than four decades of his life in America, first teaching at the University of Illinois before joining the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), where he eventually became a distinguished scholar. Yet by September 2019, the New Zealand native decided to return home because he’d had enough of America under President Donald Trump. Trenberth has long been a fierce critic of Trump, but now things were impacting him personally. “I cannot go to NSF [the National Science Foundation] for research funds because NCAR is base funded that way,” Trenberth wrote in a note to himself at the time. “Nor has it been fruitful to garner funds internally, and the external grants, especially with NOAA [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] dried up after 2012 when NOAA put forward a proposal for a climate service but thoroughly messed it up, and Lamar Smith [R-Texas, then-chair of the Science …

As Birth Rates Plummet, Women’s Autonomy Will Be Even More at Risk

As Birth Rates Plummet, Women’s Autonomy Will Be Even More at Risk

Published by skeptic

History tells us that all freedoms are conditional. In 1920, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to legalize abortion, as part of a socialist commitment to women’s health and well-being. Sixteen years later, that decision was reversed once Stalin was in power and realized that birth rates were falling. The pressure on all nations to keep up their population levels has never gone away. But in 2025, that demographic crunch is going to get even crunchier—and the casualty will be gender rights. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, the rate at which babies are being born has been plummeting for 15 years. In Japan, Poland, and Canada, the fertility rate is already down to 1.3. In China and Italy, it is 1.2. South Korea has the lowest in the world, at 0.72. Research published by The Lancet medical journal predicts that by 2100, almost every country on the planet won’t be producing enough children to sustain its population size. A good deal of this is because women have …

Moderate drinking linked to lower risk of death, but there’s a major catch

Moderate drinking linked to lower risk of death, but there’s a major catch

Published by Sam

A major report released this week found that compared with abstaining from alcohol, moderate drinking was linked to a lower risk of death from any cause and a lower risk of death from heart disease, but it was also linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. Far from settling the debate over whether drinking in moderation is healthy or dangerous, the report’s conclusions further muddied the issue.  The report, released Tuesday, was commissioned by Congress and carried out by a committee from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. An update to federal dietary guidelines next year could include new recommendations about how much alcohol people should drink. The current guidelines recommend people limit alcoholic beverages and say that if they choose to drink, they should do so in moderation, defined as two drinks a day for men and one drink for women.  But over the last few years, mounting evidence has questioned the health benefits of drinking. In 2022, the World Health Organization concluded that no amount of alcohol is safe. A …

Religious service attendance linked to lower dementia risk in Black older adults

Religious service attendance linked to lower dementia risk in Black older adults

Published by José

An analysis of data from the Health and Retirement Study focusing on Black participants found that older adults with higher participation in religious or spiritual activities were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. Those who never attended religious services had 2.37 times higher odds of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementias than those who attended such services more than once a week. The research was published in the American Journal of Human Biology. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the most common cause of dementia. It is characterized by memory loss, cognitive decline, and adverse behavioral changes. Alzheimer’s disease is caused by the accumulation of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, including beta-amyloid plaques and tau tangles. These accumulations disrupt neuronal function and connectivity, ultimately leading to cell death. Symptoms typically begin with short-term memory loss and gradually worsen to include difficulties with reasoning, language, and performing daily tasks. However, Alzheimer’s is not the only type of dementia. Other conditions can produce cognitive decline similar to Alzheimer’s disease but …

Historians Debate Ukraine War As WWIII Risk Mounts: Niall Ferguson Vs Scott Horton

Historians Debate Ukraine War As WWIII Risk Mounts: Niall Ferguson Vs Scott Horton

Published by skeptic

Watch the debate replay below (or on YouTube) https://t.co/Rq7jRVhabg — zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 27, 2024 * * * Despite Trump’s promises to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine by negotiating with Russia, the war has escalated to a dangerous inflection point with long-range U.S., British, and French missiles being deployed deep in Russian territory and talks of deploying NATO troops in Ukraine. That… and anonymous officials in the New York Times saying what is impossible to believe: “Several officials even suggested that Mr. Biden could return nuclear weapons to Ukraine that were taken from it after the fall of the Soviet Union. That would be an instant and enormous deterrent. But such a step would be complicated and have serious implications,” the newspaper wrote. Amid the chaos, ZeroHedge will be hosting preeminent historians Sir Niall Ferguson and Scott Horton to debate the history of the conflict and U.S. policy in the region. They will be joined by the Hoover Institute’s Peter Robinson (if you’ve seen a Thomas Sowell interview, it was probably …

Entrepreneur Marc Lore on ‘founder mode,’ bad hires, and why avoiding risk is deadly

Entrepreneur Marc Lore on ‘founder mode,’ bad hires, and why avoiding risk is deadly

Published by skeptic

Entrepreneur Marc Lore has already sold two companies for billions of dollars, collectively. Now he plans to take his food delivery and take-out business Wonder public in a couple of years at an ambitious $40 billion valuation. We talked with Lore in person in New York recently about Wonder and its ultimate aim of making meal planning effortless, but we also touched on Lore’s management philosophies. Below is some of what he had to say on the latter front, edited lightly for length and clarity. Lore on so-called founder mode, wherein founders and CEOs actively work with not only their direct reports but with “skip level” employees, too, in order to ensure that small challenges do not become big ones (Brian Chesky operates this way, as does Jensen Huang of Nvidia, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman, among many others): Yeah, the founder mode thing didn’t really resonate with me, because I operate differently. I really focus on this idea of vision, capital, and people. We have a meeting every week with the leadership team, and we …

Risk algorithm used widely in US courts is harsher than human judges

Risk algorithm used widely in US courts is harsher than human judges

Published by skeptic

Judges can use algorithms to help make their decisions Frances Twitty/Getty Images A US courtroom experiment suggests a popular risk assessment algorithm makes harsher recommendations than human judges – possibly because it is worse than people at anticipating which defendants will violate pretrial agreements. “Some jurisdictions wanted to work with us to evaluate whether these recommendations are actually helping judges make a better decision,” says Kosuke Imai at Harvard University. In the US criminal justice system, judges determine whether defendants will await trial at home or in… Source link

Six healthy lifestyle habits linked to slower memory decline and lower dementia risk

Six healthy lifestyle habits linked to slower memory decline and lower dementia risk

Published by skeptic

Memory naturally declines with age, affecting life quality and work productivity. However, not all memory loss signals dementia. Often, it’s a sign of senescent forgetfulness—a condition more common in older adults, which can stabilize or even improve. Understanding the factors behind memory decline and how to mitigate them is crucial in maintaining cognitive health. A groundbreaking study by researchers at Capital Medical University offers new insights. Published in the British Medical Journal, the study identifies six key lifestyle habits that significantly slow memory decline and reduce the risk of dementia, even for individuals with a genetic predisposition. Conducted over a decade from 2009 to 2019, the study involved more than 29,000 participants aged 60 and older across China. Visual abstract of the study. (CREDIT: The BMJ) Lifestyle Habits That Protect Memory Participants were grouped based on their adherence to six healthy habits: Regular Physical Activity: At least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise weekly. Balanced Diet: Daily consumption of at least seven out of 12 recommended food items, including fruits, vegetables, …

Biden meets South Korea, Japan leaders for pre-Trump huddle on risk

Biden meets South Korea, Japan leaders for pre-Trump huddle on risk

Published by Sam

LIMA: US President Joe Biden met with Japanese and South Korean leaders on Friday (Nov 15) as they sought to cement their diplomatic progress ahead of a new Trump administration that many fear could upend alliances worldwide. The meeting between Washington and two of its closest Asian allies came as US relations with Beijing are expected to grow more confrontational after Donald Trump’s Jan 20 inauguration, given his promises of sharp tariff hikes that could hobble China’s economy. North Korea’s deployment of troops to Russia to support Russia’s war in Ukraine, as well as North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and dimming prospects for a peaceful resolution to a decades-long conflict with South Korea are also raising tensions in Asia. “Japan, the ROK, and the United States strongly condemn the decisions by the leaders of the DPRK and Russia to dangerously expand Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine,” said a joint statement, referring to South Korea and North Korea by their official names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The meeting on …

Primary Ofsted reports show Labour’s plans are at risk

Primary Ofsted reports show Labour’s plans are at risk

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles School accountability reform and the planned introduction of report cards in 2025 are keeping Ofsted and the DfE busy. But while progress might feel pacey in Whitehall, my analysis of the first 200 primary reports published this term shows there’s still a lot to do to meet this ambition – and meet it well. Sadly, it’s clear that removing the overall effectiveness grades has made no real difference due to the retention of the four subcategory grades. Schools formerly judged to be ’Outstanding’ overall are still instantly recognisable, because the section in the report on what a school needs to do to improve is omitted. Meanwhile, the 80 per cent of schools which are clearly ‘Good’ overall mainly have that same grade for all sub-categories. The few schools requiring overall improvement are also self-evident, and none have yet been given the lowest grade. Moreover, the widespread criticisms that ultimately led to these reforms extended well beyond the grades and into the realms of dissatisfaction with the substance of the …