Author: Ranveer Kumar

Abstract Social networks of minoritized societal groups may be exposed to a unique structural force, namely that of social exclusion. Using a national sample of people in same-sex and different-sex relationships in the Netherlands (N = 1,329), this study examines sexual orientation as stratifying factor in social networks. Specifically, it is a comparison of their size and composition. Overall, the networks are similar but a few differences stand out. People in same-sex relationships have larger networks than people in different-sex relationships, which are made up of fewer ties with the family-of-origin and more friends. This lends support to the families-of-choice hypothesis and…

Topic(s): Risk Factors and Prevention Physical Inactivity and Exercise Sophia Antipolis, 9 April 2021:  The first large study showing that leisure time physical activity and occupational physical activity have opposite, and independent, associations with cardiovascular disease risk and longevity is published today in European Heart Journal, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1 “We adjusted for multiple factors in our analysis, indicating that the relationships were not explained by lifestyle, health conditions or socioeconomic status,” said study author Professor Andreas Holtermann of the National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends physical activity…

U.S. income inequality has varied inversely with union density over the past hundred years. But moving beyond this aggregate relationship has proven difficult, in part because of limited microdata on union membership prior to 1973. We develop a new source of microdata on union membership dating back to 1936, survey data primarily from Gallup (N ≈ 980,000), to examine the long-run relationship between unions and inequality. We document dramatic changes in the demographics of union members: when density was at its mid-century peak, union households were much less educated and more nonwhite than other households, whereas pre-World-War-II and today they are…

Trees are the Earth’s lungs – it’s well understood they drawdown and lock up vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. But emerging research is showing trees can also emit methane, and it’s currently unknown just how much. This could be a major problem, given methane is a greenhouse gas about 45 times more potent than carbon dioxide at warming our planet. However, in a world-first discovery published in Nature Communications, we found unique methane-eating communities of bacteria living within the bark of a common Australian tree species: paperbark (Melaleuca quinquenervia). These microbial communities were abundant, thriving, and mitigated about one…

Senate Budget Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has called on top oil and gas executives to testify at a hearing on “The Cost of Inaction on Climate Change” before the budget committee next Thursday. The senator invited BP America President David C. Lawler, Chevron CEO Michael Wirth and ExxonMobil CEO Darren W. Woods to testify. Sanders told CBS that Lawler has already denied the request sent on Tuesday. “These guys don’t want to answer hard questions,” Sanders said. BP, Chevron and ExxonMobil are some of the biggest carbon emitters in the world. Sanders told CBS that the distortion of climate research by the oil and gas majors over…

Found Across Eastern United States, Animals Face Extinction Due to Habitat Destruction, Climate Change WASHINGTON— The Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice today of its intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the agency’s denial of endangered species protection to 21 species under the Trump administration. From MacGillivray’s seaside sparrow on the Atlantic Coast to the Kirtland’s snake in the Midwest, these species face serious threats to their survival from habitat destruction, climate change, invasive species and pollution. “The Trump administration’s anti-environmental agenda infected every decision it made, including denial of protection to these 21 species,” said Noah…

Exercise and a healthy diet in childhood leads to adults with bigger brains and lower levels of anxiety, according to new UC Riverside research in mice. Though diet and exercise are consistently recommended as ways to promote health, this study is the first to examine the long-lasting, combined effects of both factors when they are experienced early in life. “Any time you go to the doctor with concerns about your weight, almost without fail, they recommend you exercise and eat less,” said study lead and UCR physiology doctoral student Marcell Cadney. “That’s why it’s surprising most studies only look at…

Data collected from 337 cities across 18 countries show that even slight increases in ambient carbon monoxide levels from automobiles and other sources are associated with increased mortality. A scientific team led by Yale School of Public Health Assistant Professor Kai Chen analyzed data, including a total of 40 million deaths from 1979 to 2016, and ran it through a statistical model. The research, published today in The Lancet Planetary Health, also found that even short-term exposure to ambient carbon monoxide (CO) — at levels below the current air quality guidelines and considered safe — had an association with increased mortality.…

Virtual buoys and time triggered traps reduce risk to endangered North Atlantic right whale, but reactions among fishers in US and Canada are mixed Ropes that spring to the water’s surface when summoned and virtual buoys could hold the key to saving one of the world’s most endangered whale species, scientists and conservation groups have said. As the North Atlantic right whale nears the brink of extinction – amid reports of whales tangled in metres of thick fishing lines and findings suggesting 85% of the population have been entangled at least once – calls have grown for the adoption of ropeless fishing, using gear…

The winds howl in chorus across the arid plains of Central and East Asia, unimpeded by forests or mountains. Ground once peppered with the hoof prints of countless saiga antelope has increasingly grown bare as saiga have inched closer to extinction. Yet, in addition to their tubular noses, saiga are renowned for being survivors, and their latest breeding season brought long absent good fortune to this belabored species. Researchers discovered 530 saiga calves tucked beneath the tall grasses of Kazakhstan’s Ustyurt Plateau, a miraculous number of newborns found in just a single aggregation. In neighboring Mongolia, the saiga population also…