Links

https://abcnews.go.com/US/florence-flooding-residents-prepare-evacuate-amid-cresting-rivers/story?id=58039048
Sept. 24, 2018
Ten days after the deadly hurricane hit, rivers are continuing to crest and some South Carolina residents are preparing to evacuate.



https://www.fastcompany.com/90239599/the-future-of-humanity-depends-on-design-ethics-says-tim-wu
https://www .fastcompany. com/90239599/the-future-of-humanity-depends-on-design-ethics-says-tim-wu
Sept. 21, 2018
How many nights have you stayed up too late because you were scrolling through Instagram or Facebook? It’s not just your lack of self-control: Social media sites are designed to keep you hooked for as long as possible. And according to media scholar Tim Wu, this toxic design conditions us to behave in ways that defy our best interests.
“We crave some sense of closure, some sense of being done,” says Wu, a Columbia law professor and author of The Attention Merchants, a history of how companies through history have gathered and monetized attention, from the earliest newspapers to today’s tech platforms (the book is also Fast Company‘s summer book club pick). “Much of social media tries to prevent you from ever having that feeling.”


https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/24/politics/new-york-times-kavanaugh-renate-high-school-yearbook/index.html
Sept. 24, 2018
A woman who signed a letter supporting Brett Kavanaugh after he was accused of sexual assault earlier this month called revelations from his high school yearbook that showed he and his friends reportedly boasted about their supposed conquests with her "hurtful," The New York Times reported Monday.
When Dolphin, who attended a nearby Catholic girls' school and was then known as Renate Schroeder, signed the September 14 letter, the Times reports, she wasn't aware of the "Renate" yearbook references about herself on the pages of Kavanaugh and his football teammates.
Sean Hagan, who was a Georgetown Prep student at the time, told the Times that Kavanaugh and his teammates "were very disrespectful, at least verbally, with Renate," and said, "I can't express how disgusted I am with them, then and now."


https://www.axios.com/sea-level-rise-hurricane-florence-coastal-flooding-a32d013f-5b66-470a-9536-7a54c3001d64.html
Sept. 25, 2018
A sea level research and communications group's rapid analysis of the storm surge from Hurricane Florence has found that 1-in-5 of the homes impacted along the Carolina coast wouldn't have fared so badly had sea levels not risen significantly since 1970.


https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2018/09/u-s-coasts-are-flooding-twice-as-often/
Sept. 24, 2018
William Sweet of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that, on average, high-tide flooding around the country is now twice as common as it was 30 years ago. Last year, some places in New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Texas saw more than 20 days with high-tide flooding.
And he says the problem is growing quickly.
Sweet: “Small amounts of sea-level rise can make a very large difference in the number of days that communities are going to experience water in the streets.”


https://www.axios.com/brett-kavanaugh-college-roommate-believes-allegations-add8ad85-cc53-4e42-88e3-6a36398d6bb0.html
Sept. 25, 2018
Brett Kavanaugh's freshman-year roommate at Yale, James Roche, said in a statement Monday that, despite not observing the incident described by Debbie Ramirez, who accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct while at college, he does remember that "Brett was a notably heavy drinker" and that he "became aggressive and belligerent when he was very drunk."
Key quote: "Based on my time with Debbie, I believe her to be unsually honest and straightforward and I cannot imagine her making this up. Based on my time with Brett, I believe that he and his social circle were capable of the actions that Debbie described."


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/sep/24/10-minutes-of-exercise-a-day-improves-memory
Sept. 24, 2018
Just 10 minutes of light physical activity is enough to boost brain connectivity and help the brain to distinguish between similar memories, a new study suggests.
Scientists at the University of California studying brain activity found connectivity between parts of the brain responsible for memory formation and storage increased after a brief interval of light exercise – such as 10 minutes of slow walking, yoga or tai chi.
The findings could provide a simple and effective means of slowing down or staving off memory loss and cognitive decline in people who are elderly or have low levels of physical ability.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/sep/24/air-pollution-cognitive-improvement-environment
Sept. 24, 2018
Air pollution rots our brains. Is that why we don’t do anything about it?


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uota-cwk091918.php
Public Release: 24-Sep-2018
Common weed killer linked to bee deaths
University of Texas at Austin
The world's most widely used weed killer may also be indirectly killing bees. New research from The University of Texas at Austin shows that honey bees exposed to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, lose some of the beneficial bacteria in their guts and are more susceptible to infection and death from harmful bacteria.
Scientists believe this is evidence that glyphosate might be contributing to the decline of honey bees and native bees around the world.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/ifhm-usf092018.php
Public Release: 24-Sep-2018
Unprecedented study finds US ranks 27th among nations investing in education, health care
Nation's 2016 ranking plummets from 6th in 1990; China sees increase in ranking from 69th to 44th; Study of 'human capital' yields other unexpected results over 26-year period
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
The nation placed just behind Australia (ranked 26th) and just ahead of Czech Republic (ranked 28th). In contrast, China's ranking of 44th in 2016 represents an increase from its 1990 ranking of 69th.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/uop-wlc092118.php
Public Release: 24-Sep-2018
Weight loss can be boosted fivefold thanks to novel mental imagery technique
A new study has shown how overweight people lost an average of five times more weight using Functional Imagery Training (FIT)
University of Plymouth
In addition, users of FIT lost 4.3cm more around their waist circumference in six months - and continued to lose weight after the intervention had finished.


https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-09/aa-sem091918.php
Public Release: 25-Sep-2018
Study: Exercise may delay cognitive decline in people with rare Alzheimer's disease
This could also be true for people with more common forms of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's Association
For individuals carrying a genetic mutation that causes Alzheimer's disease, engaging in at least 2.5 hours of physical activity per week may have beneficial effects on markers of Alzheimer's disease brain changes and may delay cognitive decline, according to a new study available online by Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association as an article in press, corrected proof.
According to the authors, these results support the benefit of physical activity on cognition and dementia progression, even in individuals with autosomal dominant* Alzheimer's disease (ADAD), a rare genetically-driven form of the disease in which the development of dementia at a relatively young age is inevitable.