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A constitutional right to health care

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2013Health, Politicsaccountability, adele cassolab, affordable care act, amy raub, canada, canada foundation, congress, constitutional right, global public health, global recognition, half empty, half full, health care, health protection, innovation, jody heymann, latvia, lipi mishrab, mcgill university, medical care, moral right, senegal, transparency, ucla, united nations, united states, uruguay, us supreme court

UCLA-led study shows that many countries have it, but not the U.S.

Uruguay has it. So does Latvia, and Senegal. In fact, more than half of the world’s countries have some degree of a guaranteed, specific right to public health and medical care for their citizens written into their national constitutions.

The United States is one of 86 countries whose constitutions do not guarantee their citizens any kind of health protection. That’s the finding of a new study from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health that examined the level and scope of constitutional protection of specific rights to public health and medical care, as well as the broad right to health. (more…)

Amazon Book Editors Announce the Big Fall Books Preview

By Guest PostJuly 29, 2013Literature, Technologyamazon books editors, books preview, fall books preview, season for books

Amazon customers can get an early look at fall’s most anticipated reads, as well as editors’ picks for great under-the-radar releases (more…)

NASA’s WISE Finds Mysterious Centaurs May Be Comets

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2013Sciencecelestial bodies, cometary origins, comets, mysterious centaurs, outgassing comets

PASADENA, Calf. — The true identity of centaurs, the small celestial bodies orbiting the sun between Jupiter and Neptune, is one of the enduring mysteries of astrophysics. Are they asteroids or comets? A new study of observations from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) finds most centaurs are comets. (more…)

SMART scholar

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2013Education, Environmentaccretion, brandon boyd, christopher sommerfield, coastal marshes, department of defense, doctoral work, dod, dredging operations data, drone, factors, lake pontchartrain, lidar, louisiana state university, map making technology, new orleans, oceanography graduate student, plant growth, rising sea level, sediment flow, sedimentation, shore erosion, smart scholar, sophisticated, university of delaware, vicksburg, way of life, wetland research

Oceanography graduate student lands scholarship supporting wetland research

Growing up along Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Brandon Boyd spent a lot of time hunting for waterfowl and fishing for speckled trout in marshes and swamps. There, wetlands are a way of life.

“Ever since I was in high school, I knew I really wanted to do something to help protect wetlands,” said Boyd, a graduate student in oceanography in the School of Marine Science and Policy within the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. (more…)

Global study stresses importance of public Internet access

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2013Technologyaraba sey, Bangladesh, bogota, botswana, brazil, Chile, chris coward, Colombia, computer users, computers and internet, ghana, global study, information school, learning internet skills, lithuania, mobile phones, Philippines, public computer, public internet access, source of internet, South Africa, technology skills, university of washington

Millions of people in low-income countries still depend on public computer and Internet access venues despite the global proliferation of mobile phones and home computers. However, interest in providing such public access has waned in recent years, especially among development agencies, as new technologies become available.

But a five-year, eight-country study recently concluded by the Technology & Social Change Group at the University of Washington Information School has found that community access to computer and Internet technology remains a crucial resource for connecting people to the information and skills they need in an increasingly digital world. (more…)

From art book to iPad app: Josef Albers’ classic work undergoes a ‘magical’ transformation

By Guest PostJuly 28, 2013Sciencealbers methodology, color app, color philosophy, interaction of color, josef albers, teaching methods

“Interaction of Color” — Josef Albers’ iconic book that taught legions of students and professionals alike how to think creatively about color — has been given a modern makeover as an iPad app, just in time for the 50th anniversary of its publication by Yale University Press. (more…)

Closing ranks on an invader

By Guest PostJuly 27, 2013Environment, Natureash trees, asian ash trees, bwca wilderness, david zumeta, deadly insect, dnr, eab, eab killing wasps, emerald ash borer, entomology class, firewood, grand rapids, insecticides, invader, jennifer kuzma, kathy quick, magic bullet, mda, michigan, public policy problem, shawn bernick, twin cities, university of minnesota

Years ago the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, changed its policy on dealing with the emerald ash borer (EAB), a pretty but deadly insect that has killed many of the state’s ash trees.

Instead of cutting down all ash trees, they allowed residents to treat high-value trees with insecticides at their own expense, says Kathy Quick, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs who was working in Grand Rapids at the time. (more…)

Pesticide Accumulation in Sierra Nevada Frogs

By Guest PostJuly 27, 2013Environment, Natureagriculture, amphibian ecologist, byproduct, california, central valley, chytrid fungus, dde, environmental problems, fungicides, herbicide, hydrologist, kelly smalling, lake tahoe, lassen, mark sogge, mountain habitats, pacific chorus frog, patrick kleeman, pesticide accumulation, pesticide ddt, pseudacris regilla, pyraclostrobin, sediment samples, sierra nevada, sierra nevada frogs, simazine, tebuconazole, U.S. Geological Survey, usgs, volcanic national park, yosemite national park

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A study on frogs in remote Sierra Nevada mountain habitats including Yosemite National Park and Giant Sequoia National Monument, detected concentrations of pesticides in frog tissue that potentially came from California’s Central Valley sources.

“Our results show that current-use pesticides, particularly fungicides, are accumulating in the bodies of Pacific chorus frogs in the Sierra Nevada,” says Kelly Smalling, a research hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study. “This is the first time we’ve detected many of these compounds, including fungicides, in the Sierra Nevada. The data generated by this study support past research on the potential of pesticides to be transported by wind or rain from the Central Valley to the Sierras.” (more…)

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