Tag Archives: americans

Political Leaders Play Key Role in How Worried Americans Are By Climate Change

COLUMBUS, Ohio – More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

In a study of public opinion from 2002 to 2010, researchers found that public belief that climate change was a threat peaked in 2006-2007 when Democrats and Republicans in Congress showed the most agreement on the issue. (more…)

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Americans Overestimate Political Polarization, According To New CU-Boulder Research

Many Americans overestimate the degree of polarization between Democrats and Republicans, and this misconception is associated with citizens’ voting behavior and their involvement in political activities, according to new findings from the University of Colorado Boulder.

“It is clear that Americans see themselves as very sharply polarized,” said Professor Leaf Van Boven, who led the research efforts. “And that the extent of perceived polarization dramatically overstates the actual degree of polarization.” (more…)

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Biochip Measures Glucose in Saliva, Not Blood

*Engineers at Brown University have designed a biological device that can measure glucose concentrations in human saliva. The technique could eliminate the need for diabetics to draw blood to check their glucose levels. The biochip uses plasmonic interferometers and could be used to measure a range of biological and environmental substances. Results are published in Nano Letters.*

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — For the 26 million Americans with diabetes, drawing blood is the most prevalent way to check glucose levels. It is invasive and at least minimally painful. Researchers at Brown University are working on a new sensor that can check blood sugar levels by measuring glucose concentrations in saliva instead.

The technique takes advantage of a convergence of nanotechnology and surface plasmonics, which explores the interaction of electrons and photons (light). The engineers at Brown etched thousands of plasmonic interferometers onto a fingernail-size biochip and measured the concentration of glucose molecules in water on the chip. Their results showed that the specially designed biochip could detect glucose levels similar to the levels found in human saliva. Glucose in human saliva is typically about 100 times less concentrated than in the blood. (more…)

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United States Ranks 20th in Holiday Spending

*Americans typically spend $70 billion more in December than in November and January*

Americans typically spend $70 billion more in December than in the average of November and January (the months around December). In a recent National Science Foundation-sponsored interview, Joel Waldfogel, the Carlson School’s Frederick R. Kappel Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota uses that increase to measure the amount of holiday gift-giving. This level of spending is lower than in other countries. “We’re about the 20th largest in terms of countries in the world,” said Waldfogel, referencing how much U.S. December spending increases. (more…)

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U.S. Believers Favor International Action on Climate Change, Nuclear Risk: UMD Poll

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – A majority of Americans professing belief in God favor cooperative international efforts to combat climate change and the spread of nuclear weapons, says a new public opinion poll conducted jointly by the University of Maryland’s Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and its Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

The nearly 1,500 Americans surveyed include large numbers of Catholics and Evangelicals.

The study, Faith and Global Policy Challenges: How Spiritual Values Shape Views on Poverty, Nuclear Risks, and Environmental Degradation, also finds that a majority of believers consider addressing global poverty a “spiritual obligation,” and think that the United States should work cooperatively with other nations to reduce it. (more…)

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New Mouthwash Targeting Harmful Bacteria May Render Tooth Decay A Thing of The Past

A new mouthwash developed by a microbiologist at the UCLA School of Dentistry is highly successful in targeting the harmful Streptococcus mutans bacteria that is the principal cause tooth decay and cavities.

In a recent clinical study, 12 subjects who rinsed just one time with the experimental mouthwash experienced a nearly complete elimination of the S. mutans bacteria over the entire four-day testing period. The findings from the small-scale study are published in the current edition of the international dental journal Caries Research. (more…)

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UA Physician: Diet and Lifestyle Key to Preventing Diabetes

*Dr. Craig Stump, interim director of the Diabetes Research Program at the UA College of Medicine–Tucson, suggests simple behavior changes that can add up to big benefits.*

Diabetes kills more people each year than breast cancer and AIDS combined, and 79 million Americans are at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Diabetes Association. (more…)

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comScore Releases October 2011 U.S. Search Engine Rankings

RESTON, VA, November 11, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly comScore qSearch analysis of the U.S. search marketplace. Google Sites led the explicit core search market in October with 65.6 percent of search queries conducted.

U.S. Explicit Core Search

Google Sites led the U.S. explicit core search market in October with 65.6 percent market share (up 0.3 percentage points), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 15.2 percent and Microsoft Sites with 14.8 percent (up 0.1 percentage point). Ask Network accounted for 2.9 percent of explicit core searches, followed by AOL, Inc. with 1.5 percent. (more…)

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