Experts Matter. Find Yours.
Connect for media, speaking, professional opportunities & more.
James Webb Space Telescope Images Deliver New Look at Universe, Potential for Life in the Cosmos
On July 12, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) unveiled its long-awaited first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, a cutting-edge tool sent out with the mission of furthering our understanding of the universe. The telescope delivered on its promise, depicting the cosmos more clearly than we’ve ever seen. Among the many in awe was Villanova astronomy and astrophysics professor Ed Guinan, PhD, who’s familiar with extraterrestrial discovery. In 1968, Guinan helped observe evidence of Neptune’s ring system and has been involved in research beyond our planet for over 50 years. “The first few photos are beautiful, showing highly detailed images of stars, galaxies, nebulae and gravitational lensed distant galaxies” Dr. Guinan said. “Some of the oldest galaxies formed as far back as 13-to-13.5 billion years, right after the Big Bang.” The latest images come almost seven months after Webb’s launch in December. A series of steps needed to be completed for the mission to be successful. “Many things could’ve gone wrong, and if something failed, it would be too far away to fix,” Dr. Guinan said. One of the photos featured a signature of water in the atmosphere of a distant sun-like star, showing the unique capabilities of Webb. Dr. Guinan, along with assistant astrophysics and planetary science professor Scott Engle, PhD, have been researching the potential habitability of Earth-sized exoplanets over the last decade, and he believes this telescope may be able to help bring clarity to finding life outside of our planet. “Several of these potentially habitable exoplanet systems are planned to be observed with the telescope to search for spectroscopic evidence of life,” Dr. Guinan said. “Webb is capable of answering these questions, whether these Earth-sized planets may be suitable for harboring complex life, possibly intelligent life.”
On July 4, 2022 when people across America were expecting to enjoy a day off and celebrating the country's 245th birthday - another mass shooting occurred. This time it was in Highland Park, Illinois and so far this year, a week has not passed in America without a mass shooting. In the aftermath of the July 4th tragedy - media were clamoring to cover and looking for answers, motives and reasons. UMW's Laura Wilson, a go-to expert on the topic was contacted immediately by media. Even with Crimo's history, it's not as if Absler or anyone else could have predicted that one day he'd be accused of mass murder, experts say. "We don't really know much about how to predict mass shootings, and we don't really have a profile of a shooter, what the characteristics are. They are shared by millions of people," says Laura Wilson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia. "There aren't any clear-cut characteristics that we can definitively say, this is the mold." July 11 - ABC News Dr. Laura Wilson is a clinical psychologist whose expertise focuses on post-trauma functioning, particularly in survivors of sexual violence or mass trauma (e.g., terrorism, mass shootings, combat). Her research interests extend to predictors of violence and aggression, including psychophysiological and personality factors, as well as indicators of PTSD following mass trauma, long-term functioning among first responders, outcomes among survivors of sexual violence and the influence of media on mental illness stigma. Dr. Wilson is available to speak with media, simply click on her icon to arrange an interview today.
MEDIA RELEASE: Ten travel tips Ontarians should consider before flying this summer
CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO) has compiled a list of ten things that Ontarians should be aware of if they are considering travelling this summer – both inside and outside the country. “Those who are considering booking a trip should make sure they understand the scope of what travel looks like at the moment,” said Nadia Matos, manager external communications, CAA SCO. “The checklist for planning a trip has changed and we want to help people navigate this new environment. “Airports are experiencing delays with varying degrees of impact, and Ontarians should be prepared.” Through consultation with its top travel agents, CAA SCO has identified ten key considerations that potential travelers may not be aware of. Anyone who is considering travel in the current environment should remember that travel requirements and regulations are continually changing. Expect itinerary changes. CAA SCO travel agents say our members are experiencing schedule changes for flights. Subscribe to the airline’s text message service to be immediately notified of any changes, and book connecting flights with more time in between than you normally would if available. A travel agent is also a valuable resource if this happens. Consider packing a carryon instead of checking luggage. Potential baggage delays mean that your luggage may not arrive with you or take extra time to be unloaded off the plane. If you bring a carryon, make sure it fits the size requirements for all the airlines you are flying on, and with any tour operators. When using a carryon to travel, you still need to follow the 3-1-1 rule: three ounces of liquid, gel, aerosol, cream or paste that fit in one quart-sized resealable bag. If you are checking luggage, make sure your carryon has your hygiene essentials, any medications, and a change of clothing. Expect longer wait times at the airport. The old standby of being at the airport one hour before takeoff for domestic flights and two hours before international flights no longer apply. CAA currently recommends arriving at the airport a minimum of two hours before domestic flight departures and at least three hours for international flights. Make sure all your documentation is in order before you book. Your passport should still be valid six months after your travel date, as this is required in several countries. Passports themselves are taking longer than usual to renew, so it should be done several months before you travel. Each destination has varying documentation requirements, so make sure you fully understand what information you need to have ready and in what format. Buy travel insurance and understand what is covered. Make sure you have $5 million in coverage for emergency medical situations and that illness related to COVID-19 is included. Understand your entitlements for situations like denied boarding in the event of a positive test, trip cancellation or delays, what luggage is covered and what isn’t. Car rentals need to be booked months in advance. High demand as well as a shortage of vehicles means a shortage of rental cars. Some rental agencies, particularly on the east and west coasts, are not allowing vehicles to be rented in one city and left in another. A travel agent can help you navigate this. COVID-19 is still a major consideration. Confirm the COVID-19 situation at destination prior to booking. Understand the risk level associated with travel to a particular destination by checking the Government of Canada Travel Advice and Advisories website. Individual travel advisories remain on a country-by-country basis. It is important that Ontarians understand the ongoing uncertainty associated with international travel, whether that be related to the continued community transmission of COVID-19, or state of health care systems in destinations hit hard by the pandemic. Canadians returning home must have all required documentation loaded onto the ArriveCAN App or website. Stay connected. It is important to have access to trusted, up-to-date information while travelling so you can monitor changing conditions and requirements and adapt accordingly. Bookmark the Global Affairs Canada website prior to departure and check it regularly while abroad. It is also a good idea to sign up for Registration of Canadians Abroad and stay in touch with a family or friend that has knowledge of your travel plans. Find these and more information at www.caasco.com/travel Confirm change and cancellation flexibility with your travel service provider. Many airlines and hotels have been providing more flexibility when it comes to refunds and changes to bookings. Make sure you understand any key dates related to cancellation and changes and whether you are entitled to a refund or a future travel voucher or credit at the time of booking. Be patient, be kind. Around the globe, airlines are dealing with staff shortages and luggage handling back-ups. Keep in mind that the staff at the airports are there to help you, and that things may take longer than usual.
Feeling Stressed? You’re More Likely To Procrastinate. A Neuroscientist Explains Why.
Procrastination can be thought of as losing the never-ending battle of approach vs. avoidance, with avoidance as the victor. According to Alicia Walf, a neuroscientist and senior lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, when we are stressed, we are more likely to want to avoid not just the task at hand but the negative emotions we feel around that task as well. That’s because at a basic neuroscientific level, we have a bias toward the present and prefer the immediate reward of feeling good when the brain releases the neurochemical dopamine. Humans have a hard time considering consequences of inaction in the present. Dr. Walf says that we tend to learn associations particularly strongly when there is a rapid release of dopamine. This is one way procrastination can become a habit, which is hard to break. Some people actually procrastinate in order to get that burst of energy that motivates us to a quick completion of the task. This type of dynamic could involve basic emotional and reward structures of the brain. Unfortunately, although avoiding the task may make you feel good in the short-term, this is misguided because it begets longer-term negative consequences. This is the crux of procrastination. Our bias toward the here and now tends to produce avoidance of thinking about the long-term until it is too late. Hence, a vicious cycle of avoiding the negative now then becomes negative later. This pattern is compounded because as much as procrastination can cause stress, stress can increase procrastination. How can stress increase procrastination? The physiological and psychological function of stress is to refocus our attention on challenges and dangers so that we can deal with them. This happens very quickly, which has been advantageous to our species to avoid danger and approach safety without much thought. In this case, our limbic brain, including our amygdala, which is a sensor for danger and our hippocampus, which promotes storage of those memories, is driving this neural response. Other regions involved in emotion regulation, attention, and decision-making, such as the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex, make contact with this limbic brain, but these regions are slower to act and more deliberate. Recent studies have shown less activity in these higher brain regions compared to the limbic brain during procrastination. To reduce procrastination, it may be helpful to deliberately refocus attention on what is important and by using mindful techniques. The science in mindfulness supports a benefit related to these connections between limbic and higher cortical brain structures. On the flipside, stress causes us to refocus attention on what causes the stress and our reactions to it, rather than the task that may be at hand. When we are not in immediate danger from the stress, we still feel stressed out and fall into a pattern of overthinking and focusing on the wrong task. The wrong task in this scenario is procrastination driven by stress. In the end, Walf says, anything that people can do to refocus and reduce stress may be a useful approach to conquer procrastination.
Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment hosts showcase event to highlight research expertise
Research showcase held to highlight research underway at the Aston Institute for Health and Neurodevelopment Researchers met with local clinicians and funding bodies to talk through their latest developments The event will take place each year with a plan to invite guests back to update them on how the institute has progressed. Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment (IHN) held its inaugural research showcase event on Thursday 7 July at Conference Aston. The yearly event is an opportunity to highlight its research projects and meet with the Institute’s external partners, funding bodies and professional colleagues. Guests were invited to join IHN’s research and teaching team to learn more about its vision and hear about individual research projects currently underway. The centre’s co-directors Professor Jackie Blissett and Professor Gavin Woodhall talked about IHN’s vision which includes: • unlocking the potential of research to support child health and development • answering the questions that matter to children and young people, their families and the services that support them • developing the next generation of research leaders in child health and development. Researchers working on projects including treatments for drug resistant epilepsy, childhood eating behaviour, improving support for people with rare neurogenetic conditions and diagnosis of paediatric brain cancer using magnetic resonance imaging and artificial intelligence met with external partners and clinicians to talk them through their latest projects and developments. The event was also attended by Aston University Interim Vice-Chancellor, Saskia Loer Hansen, Executive Dean of the College of Health and Life Sciences, Anthony Hilton and other members of the University executive team, together with academic researchers in the University’s College of Health and Life Sciences. There was also an opportunity to meet all the Institute’s researchers, ask questions and network. Professor Jackie Blissett, co-director of Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment, said: “After a successful launch of our new £2.8 million MRI scanner earlier this year, it is great that we were able to come together again and showcase all of our research that goes on in IHN, particularly to our external partners, including local clinicians and funding bodies. “This is our inaugural research showcase and we plan to invite guests back to Aston University each year to update them on how the institute has progressed with its research. “As a research institute that puts children and young people at the heart of what we do, it is important to be in touch with all of our partners from a cross section of the community to update them on all of our latest developments and find ways to collaborate further – particularly in clinical settings.” For more information about research being undertaken at AIHN please go to our website. If you are interested in the courses we have available in this area please go here.
The shocking assassination of Shinzo Abe, the former Prime Minister of Japan, has been met with disbelief and condolences from within his country and around the globe. Alexis Dudden, a professor of history at the University of Connecticut who specializes in modern Japan and Korea, spoke with NEWS AKMI in the wake of Abe's death about his legacy, his Second World War revisionism, his complicated feelings about America, and why his push to reform the Japanese constitution ultimately failed: How do you see Abe’s legacy? He was a Prime Minister who reconfigured Japan’s place in East Asia, or at least tried to. He tried to create a more assertive Japan through a very proactive—as he liked to describe it—attempt at diplomacy. And he travelled widely. He met with Vladimir Putin more than with any other world leader: more than twenty times. He did meet Xi Jinping, and he was the first foreign leader to meet Donald Trump after [Trump] became President. Abe, however, created a deep rift between Japan and its Asian neighbors over his extremely hawkish outlook, his extremist positions on the legacy of the Japanese empire, and its responsibilities for atrocities committed throughout Asia and the Pacific. While many are extolling him as a great leader, his personal vision for rewriting Japanese history, of a glorious past, created a real problem in East Asia which will linger, because it divided not just the different countries’ approach to diplomacy with Japan; it also divided Japanese society even further over how to approach its own responsibility for wartime actions carried out in the name of the emperor. You used the phrase “rewriting history.” Do you mean rewriting the truth, or do you mean rewriting the way people in Japan understood their history? To what degree was Abe, when he came into office for the first time, in 2006, a departure from the way that Japan understood its own history? And to what degree was this more of the status quo, but just in a more aggressive fashion? The helpful thing about studying Abe is that he himself published several articles and books, and he gave numerous speeches about history and about his vision of Japan’s history, in particular. When he first became a parliamentarian, in the early nineteen-nineties, inheriting his father’s seat, he was part of a study group inside Parliament that is believed to have written a document denying the Nanjing Massacre. This article used to be available in Japan’s Diet archives. It is no longer traceable, but it was there. Abe began in the mid-nineties, when there was an effort to really socially readdress Japan’s wartime role in Asia, after the death of Emperor Hirohito, in the wake of the first “comfort women” coming forward. That’s when Japanese political leaders really became more public about the positioning of their own parties’ views of Japan’s role in Asia, in a new, more strident way that sought to rewrite how Japan and the Japanese should see it. Fast forward to his first term as Prime Minister, in 2006. By that time, these issues had been much better studied academically and socially within Japan and throughout the world. Abe made a big effort, in 2006 and 2007, to deny that Japan bore any state responsibility for the comfort women, in particular. And he failed at that attempt. This is when he and his supporters took out a full-page ad in the Washington Post. And it was a real moment of shock for him when the U.S. Congress passed a nonbinding House resolution asking Japan to atone for its role in creating the comfort-women system. That was also when he resigned for the first time because of his ulcerative colitis. But, between 1994 and 2006, his chief lobbying group, called the Nippon Kaigi, was created—this political-lobbying group didn’t have much of a public face, but it emerged as an extremely powerful ideologically based group. And this is why comparing him to Trump and [India’s Prime Minister Narendra] Modi and other extremists—or people with extreme views or people who give voice to extreme views—is apt, because these groups seem to come out of nowhere for a lot of us. Like, who was Steve Bannon until there was Steve Bannon? Abe, in that interim between being a junior parliamentarian and becoming Prime Minister, had become this group’s head of history and territory. And, in that moment, he also published a work about making Japan great again, which he called “Towards a Beautiful Country.” Dr. Dudden offers expert insight into Abe's historical perspective on his country, and if you're a reporter looking to cover this trending topic, let us help with your coverage. Click on her icon to arrange an interview today.
The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement is costly, what does the UK need to do? | Aston Angle
As far as trade is concerned, the EU exit has been rather costly to the UK. At the Centre for Business Prosperity, we have been tracking the performance of UK trade in recent years. The UK’s trade dropped sharply during COVID. Like other nations, this was due to the global recession and supply chain disruptions. However, the UK failed to recover and enjoy the boom, despite the tariff-free terms of trade in goods set out in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). The UK now trades less with the EU, its largest trading partner, than in 2019. During the same period, Germany and the Netherlands grew trade with the EU by nearly a quarter, and US trade with the EU has also grown considerably. Reports suggest, including those from the British Chambers of Commerce, that exporting to the EU has become much more costly and in some cases, unviable. It appears that the “certainty” provided by the TCA has not reversed the declining trend of the UK-EU trade so far. Our new paper for the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC) has found that UK exports experienced a large, negative, statistically significant decline in 2021 at the end of the transition after the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) was put into force. We estimate that this amounts to a 22% reduction in exports to the EU and a 26% reduction in imports from the EU over the first half of 2021, relative to the counterfactual scenario of the UK remaining in the EU. How did this happen? After all, the TCA ensures that goods moving between the UK and the EU have no tariffs or quotas, so long as the rules of origin are complied with. Rules of origin help you work out where your goods originate from and which goods are covered in trade agreements. Our research found that non-tariff measures (NTMs) were responsible for the adverse TCA effect on UK trade with the EU and that the magnitude of loss was significant. It was equivalent to a reduction of £12.4 billion in UK exports over the first six months period of 2021. This equals 16% of UK total exports in the first half of 2019 and 70% of the documented total reduction in the EU exports in the same period. A number of factors can be attributed to the decline of UK exports to the EU. In particular, the increased trade frictions that occurred mainly due to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) and technical barriers to trade (TBT) as a result of entering the TCA. Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures refer to the EU controls to protect animal, plant or public health. And technical barriers to trade (TBT) refers to mandatory technical regulations and voluntary standards that define specific characteristics that a product should have, such as its size, shape, design, labelling/marking/packaging, functionality or performance. On average, for the first six months of 2021, a 1% increase in SPS resulted in a 13–15% reduction in exports to the EU, most notably in the food and drink, wood and chemicals sectors. Furthermore, a 1% increase in TBT led to a 2–3% reduction in exports, especially in metals, equipment, machines and miscellaneous industrial products. What next? Since the post-Brexit dysfunctions are now diagnosed, in theory we could move on. The UK can directly tackle the trade challenges, so long as other things, such as politics, do not stand in the way. Fundamentally, what needs to happen is the removal or relief of the root causes coded by the TCA – the trade barriers newly erected. This is a key task; it is challenging but not impossible. Trade frictions due to the SPS measures are an acute problem of Brexit. Reducing some of the non-tariff measures between the EU-UK would help by exploring other mechanisms such as equivalent SPS measures or other ways to reduce businesses burden to a minimum. The technical barriers to trade are more complicated and challenging and they could potentially cause significant damage to the UK economy. Despite its limitation, maintaining and broadening the established arrangements of the current TCA provision, through some form of mutual recognition of specific practices or international regulations for selected sectors, should be the ambition of UK government to help ease the TBT trade barriers. Future EU-UK co-operation is critical and mutually beneficial but requires political will and strong leadership. In the short and medium term, supporting firms should be the priority, especially small- and medium-sized firms that are productive enough to have exported to the EU in the past, but now face hurdles to continue exporting. These firms tend to be limited on resource but have the infrastructure and ambition to internationalise. Targeted support for specific challenges could be also fruitful. The UK Department for International Trade Export Support Service, the British Chambers of Commerce and local growth hubs have the expertise and experience to help firms export. Therefore, resources should be made available to allow for customised and responsive support with exports, as well as taking advantage of technologies that can identify and reach businesses who require support. Provision should also be made to collect feedback on the quality of the support provided, to enable further improvement. Helping businesses continue to access EU markets, while enabling the economy to take advantage of welfare-enhancing benefits from trade, remains imperative. Given the economic benefits of the roll-out, the new free trade agreements are expected to be limited and effective only in the long term. UK domestic policies should be the focus to improve the competitiveness of exporters and their ecosystem. By Professor Jun Du Director of the Centre for Business Prosperity Professor of Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston Business School Lecturer in Politics and International Relations School of Social Science and Humanities Dr Oleksandr Shepotylo Senior Lecturer, Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship, Aston Business School
Dr Keith Bradshaw OBE and the West Midlands Mayor met students on the Introduction to Healthcare programme at Aston University ‘NHS outbreak’ experience day The Introduction to Healthcare programme is generously funded by Keith Bradshaw 55 local school students attend the one-day event on Aston University campus. Dr Keith Bradshaw OBE and West Midlands Mayor Andy Street have visited Aston University to meet Year 9 students who were attending a healthcare experience day on campus as part of the University’s Introduction to Healthcare programme. 55 school students took part in a full day of activities experiencing some areas of the healthcare professions. In one activity, the students acted as NHS finance directors during a disease outbreak, where they were asked to make financial decisions, such as choosing which departments in a hospital would be allocated funds from a £1 million budget. The students listened to pitches from different NHS departments before creating a presentation outlining which areas would get some of the budget and the reasons why. The exercise allowed them to develop their teamwork, as well as reasoning and presentation skills. Keith Bradshaw, a prominent businessman and philanthropist, generously funds the Keith Bradshaw Introduction to Healthcare programme, which is designed to increase students' awareness of the various careers within the healthcare sector and support students with their journeys into higher education. Working with students in Years 8, 9 and 10 from schools within the Solihull, Birmingham and Black Country area, the programme aims to educate young people about opportunities within healthcare and the importance of achieving the right GCSE grades to pursue those professions. The programme was launched in 2018 following the success of Aston University’s Pathway to Healthcare Programme. Keith said: “It’s been a pleasure to meet students attending the healthcare programme and hearing more - through their presentations - about their ideas on how they might manage an NHS budget and in which areas they would choose to allocate funds. “One of the key objectives of this programme is to support young people so they can develop and deploy their skills for the benefit of the local community. “We must get the most out of our young people, so they can support our health and welfare and live fulfilling and rewarding lives, which is why this programme – intended to widen participation into healthcare – is so very important.” Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “I was pleased to have the chance to visit the Introduction to Healthcare experience day, to learn more about the programme and to hear directly from the participating students. “A key part of my mayoral mission is to help young people from across our region to raise their aspirations and support the creation of high-quality job opportunities for them here in the West Midlands. “So, I congratulate Aston University on their wonderful widening participation efforts and will certainly play my part in advocating to Government the merits of funding and expanding these sorts of pathway programmes that do so much to help young people from all backgrounds to not only aspire to brilliant jobs but also be practically supported on the best possible route into these professions.” For more information about the Introduction to Healthcare Programme at Aston University please visit our website.
Up in smoke? With vaping on the edge of banishment, let our experts help with your coverage
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has paused a ban on the sale of Juul Labs' e-cigarettes, saying an additional review of the company's marketing application is required. The once thriving company won a temporary reprieve a couple of weeks ago after a federal appeals court stayed the FDA's ban, following an appeal from Juul for an emergency review of the regulator's order. Juul has always been in the spotlight, in part because of its prominent placement atop the e-cigarette chain, but with the company facing a potential demise, it could be the first casualty, with the rest of the vaping industry in the government's sights. Dr. Zubair Karim, assistant professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences at Augusta University, fields a few questions and lends his expert perspective on this topic. With the ban on Juul products, could this result in a ban on other companies’ e-cigarette products as well, or was there something specifically about Juul that caused their ban? This is the first steps toward the banning of the e-cigarette, i.e., Juul, where the FDA took a significant and bold step. Gradually, this will open the path for banning of the other e-cigarette products. There are no differences in the Juul and other products but Juul became more popular in our young generation. Many local and state jurisdictions have recently begun enacting laws that prohibit e-cigarette usage that smoking is banned, although some state laws with comprehensive smoke-free laws will still allow for vaping to be permitted in bars and restaurants while prohibiting e-cigarettes in other indoor places. On a more basic level, what are platelets (where are they, and what do they do) and do we know what has caused them to react more negatively compared to traditional smoking? Platelets are small and colorless stem cell fragments present in our blood. They are disk-shaped and don’t have a nucleus. It plays an important role in maintaining vascular integrity based on their ability to respond to lesions in a vessel wall. Hyperactivity of platelets is known to cause spurious clot formation and occlusive loss of blood flow, leading to strokes and heart attacks, whereas hypoactivity causes bleeding diathesis with life-threatening consequences. Several studies have been reported that smoking induces oxidative stress, leading to increased platelet activation, whereas nicotine causes the damage of endothelial lining of the arterial and venous system and ultimately leads to the severe life-threatening consequences. What are thrombotic events and why should someone be worried about them? Thrombosis is the formation of a blood clot (partial or complete blockage) within blood vessels, whether venous or arterial, limiting the natural flow of blood. There are several complications depending on where the thrombosis is located. The most serious problems include stroke, heart attack and serious breathing problems, which is called pulmonary embolism. If the patients are not treated in a timely manner, it will lead to life-threatening conditions. However, progression of the disease can be prevented by following changes in our lifestyle such as increasing physical activity, quitting smoking, losing weight, eating a balanced diet, quitting junk food and managing other health conditions. How do nicotine and other harmful chemical levels compare in vaping vs. traditional cigarettes? Both smoking and vaping have similar side effects and cause serious health risks in the long run. Scientists do not fully understand the long-term health effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), yet science indicates that they are not a safe alternative to smoking. In the last several years it has been observed that vaping is growing in popularity among teenagers. Moreover, e-cigarettes contain a large dose of nicotine, a substance known to slow the development of brains in fetuses, children and teens. Furthermore, vaping involves breathing in aerosol that contains several chemicals, including nicotine and flavoring through an e-cigarette or other devices. Also, the liquid present in the e-cigarettes which creates the vapor is dangerous to adults and children if they swallow, inhale, or get it on the skin. Nonetheless, vaping also delivers dangerous chemicals, including diacetyl, cancer-causing chemicals, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and such toxic chemicals that are not generated in traditional cigarettes. In summary, long-term vaping causes similar toxic impact to overall health compared to traditional cigarettes. This court case will be getting a lot of attention and could determine the future of the e-cigarette industry. If you're a journalist looking to know - then let Augusta University's expert help. Karim is available to speak with reporters about vaping and e-cigarettes. Simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
'I knew the men murdered in the Amazon—and their alleged killer'
On June 5, 2022, Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira of Brazil and freelance reporter Dom Phillips of Britain went missing while working in a remote part of the Amazon. Since then, a suspect in the case has confessed to their murders. But the story hasn't ended there. As journalists and experts take a closer look, the plot behind the story has thickened with politics, Indigenous rights, and organized crime. Scott Wallace, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Connecticut and author of The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon’s Last Uncontacted Tribes, has worked extensively in Brazil's Javari Valley. He shared his perspective -- as someone who knew the victims as well as the alleged perpetrator, with National Geographic: The increasingly brazen intruders are no longer small-time players with a net or rifle seeking to put a meal on the family table. Members of the Indigenous patrols say that more and more, poaching crews appear to be highly-capitalized ventures, backed by a shadowy network of outside investors with suspected links to the illicit drug trade. Their fishing boats feature high-horsepower motors, and they carry large quantities of fuel, expensive gill nets, ice, and hundreds of kilos of salt to preserve bushmeat and critically endangered pirarucu, one of the world’s largest freshwater fish. In a rare police action, officers in March intercepted fishermen leaving the reserve with two dozen endangered river turtles, 650 pounds of salted bushmeat, and nearly 900 pounds of salted pirarucu. The evident outlays of cash create both the ability and the imperative for fishermen such as Oliveira to head deeper into the Javari territory, stay there longer, and return with hefty payloads to settle their debts. Unconfirmed reports indicate that Oliveira may have owed a Peruvian financier nicknamed “Colombia” more than $15,000 because a load of his contraband had been intercepted by the Indigenous patrols. As intruders penetrate into the depths of the Javari, Indigenous leaders and their allies fear the growing likelihood of a conflagration involving the uncontacted nomads roaming the forest. “They’re definitely putting the isolados—the isolated ones—at risk,” says Orlando Possuelo, Sydney’s son, who is based in Atalia do Norte and has been working alongside Pereira in advising the Indigenous patrols for the past two years. Poachers are pillaging the animals the isolated groups depend on for survival. And uncontacted groups remain highly vulnerable to contagious diseases, for which they have little to no immunological defense. Finally, and perhaps most immediately, there’s the very real danger of violence. “These fishermen don’t hesitate to shoot,” Orlando says. “If they’re willing to kill outside the reserve, there’s no doubt the lives of the isolated ones are in danger.” An uncontacted Indigenous group would have no way to peacefully communicate with interlopers entering their territory. Their likely first response would be to attack, which could provoke a bloodbath when intruders respond to spears or arrows with far more lethal bullets, says Paulo Marubo. “Anyone knows what the results will be between those carrying firearms and those who do not have them.” The hope of averting that alarming possibility was what led Pereira to risk his life. “The greatest concern that I have is the advance of outsiders—be they for projects authorized by the government or illegal players like loggers, miners, and land-grabbers—into the territories of the isolados,” Pereira told me in a phone call in 2019 after he was ousted from heading the isolated tribes department. “At the same time, you have the crippling of FUNAI and the department to protect the isolated tribes. It’s a very dangerous mix.” Scott Wallace is a bestselling author, photojournalist and educator who covers the environment and vanishing cultures worldwide. Scott is available to speak to media - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
