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Poor concentration: Poverty reduces brainpower needed for navigating other areas of life

Poverty and all its related concerns require so much mental energy that the poor have less remaining brainpower to devote to other areas of life, according to research based at Princeton University. As a result, people of limited means are more likely to make mistakes and bad decisions that may be amplified by — and perpetuate — their financial woes.

Published in the journal Science, the study presents a unique perspective regarding the causes of persistent poverty. The researchers suggest that being poor may keep a person from concentrating on the very avenues that would lead them out of poverty. A person’s cognitive function is diminished by the constant and all-consuming effort of coping with the immediate effects of having little money, such as scrounging to pay bills and cut costs. Thusly, a person is left with fewer “mental resources” to focus on complicated, indirectly related matters such as education, job training and even managing their time. (more…)

Lesbian and gay young people twice as likely to smoke and drink alcohol

Young people who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual are twice as likely to have smoked than their heterosexual peers, according to new research published in BMJ Open. Lesbian and gay young people were also more likely to drink alcohol frequently and more hazardously.

The interdisciplinary research team comprised researchers from five UK Universities (UCL, University of Cambridge, London Metropolitan University, De Montfort University Leicester and Brunel University), a doctor working in General Practice and a consultant from Public Health England. (more…)

Gauck auf den Spuren der Wölfe

NABU-Wolfsbotschafter auf dem Bürgerfest des Bundespräsidenten

Beim alljährlichen Bürgerfest des Bundespräsidenten im Park des Schloss Bellevue hat sich Bundespräsident Joachim Gauck am Wochenende am Stand der Wolfsbotschafter über die Rückkehr der Wölfe informiert.

NABU-Wolfsbotschafter Sven Kühlmann erläuterte dem Bundespräsidenten unter anderem das Beutespektrum des Wildtieres: Anhand einer präparierten Wolfslosung konnte er zeigen, wie Wissenschaftler den Ernährungsplan der Wölfe untersuchen und das kleine Mädchen mit roten Kappen nicht zum Beutespektrum des Wolfes gehören. (more…)

Fifty years later: ‘I have a dream’

U faculty and leaders reflect on the historic day and its aftermath

Fifty years ago, on August 28, 1963, a young preacher delivered a speech that would go down as one of the most important and powerful in all of American history. “I Have a Dream” became the cornerstone of the March on Washington, a march which galvanized a people and energized the civil rights movement. One year later, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson. (more…)

Nourishing people and an economy

Milk has a reputation for strengthening bones. In Malawi, the growing dairy industry is strengthening the livelihoods of small dairy farmers and the health of the country’s inhabitants. (more…)

Protest gegen Aigners verfehlte Agrarpolitik

Nicht alle wollen die Biene schützen: Bayer und Syngenta klagen gegen das Pestizidverbot der EU, in Deutschland hat Ilse Aigner (CSU) als Bundeslandwirtschaftsministerin versagt. Greenpeace-Aktivisten protestieren dagegen in München mit einem großen Plakat. Eine Fotomontage zeigt, wie Aigner inmitten eines Rapsfeldes steht und lächelnd Pestizide versprüht.

“Die Industrie bestreitet die nachgewiesene Bienengefährlichkeit der Pestizide”, sagt Dirk Zimmermann. “Unabhängig vom Rechtsstreit zwischen Industrie und EU fordern wir von der nächsten Bundesregierung ein wasserdichtes nationales Verbot der Bienenkiller.” (more…)

Ultracold Big Bang experiment successfully simulates evolution of early universe

Physicists have reproduced a pattern resembling the cosmic microwave background radiation in a laboratory simulation of the Big Bang, using ultracold cesium atoms in a vacuum chamber at the University of Chicago.

“This is the first time an experiment like this has simulated the evolution of structure in the early universe,” said Cheng Chin, professor in physics. Chin and his associates reported their feat in the Aug. 1 edition of Science Express, and it will appear soon in the print edition of Science. (more…)

New Biochip Holds Great Promise for Quickly Triaging People after Radiation Exposure

Berkeley Lab scientists have helped to develop a tiny chip that has big potential for quickly determining whether someone has been exposed to dangerous levels of ionizing radiation. (more…)