Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for April, 2020

Why Can’t People Agree About Climate Change?

Posted in Climate, Psychology on 04/14/2020|

A new study at Carnegie Mellon University explores why local perceptions often differ on contentious global issues, like climate change.

The internet has brought us closer together, but it has also pushed us farther apart. On issues as far reaching as climate change and vaccinations, disparity is growing between scientific consensus and pockets of local doubt. 

New research at Carnegie Mellon University explores how a local vantage point can muddle how people understand important global issues. Stephen Broomell leverages measurement theory to reveal an incompatibility between local perceptions and actual global events in his study published in the March 25 issue of Cognitive Science. 

“Any large problem that requires consensus can be undermined by random differences between local perspectives,” said Broomell, associate professor in the Department of Social and Decisional Sciences at CMU. “In the presence of random noise, you need global evidence to understand a global issue.” 

(more…)

Read Full Post »

SO YOU THINK YOU HAVE COVID-19

Posted in Medicine, Nutrition and Health on 04/14/2020|

Your sister is calling, so you pick up. She is crying. She thinks she has the coronavirus (COVID-19). After calming her down, you find out that she called her doctor and they refused to test her. What do you do?

Who Gets Tested

In order to be tested for COVID-19, a you need to fall into one of the following two categories:

  1. History of fever (temp > 100 F) and flu-like symptoms such as:
    • new cough,
    • difficulty breathing,
    • malaise, and
    • muscle aches.
  2. Mild respiratory symptoms without fever should not be tested unless you are in an “at risk” category.

At-risk is defined as:

  1. been in close contact with someone (not in the same household) who has tested positive for COVID-19 within the last 14 days;
  2. traveled to an area with widespread community transmission within the last 14 days;
  3. are immunocompromised;
  4. are over age 65;
  5. live in a shared setting, such as a long-term care facility, homeless shelter, or correctional facility; or
  6. pregnancy.
(more…)

Read Full Post »