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At the age of 88, American political giant and two-time former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is dead. Donald Rumsfeld, the two-time defense secretary and one-time presidential candidate whose reputation as a skilled bureaucrat and visionary of a modern U.S. military was unraveled by the long and costly Iraq war, died Tuesday. He was 88. In a statement Wednesday, Rumsfeld’s family said he “was surrounded by family in his beloved Taos, New Mexico.” President George W. Bush, under whom Rumsfeld served as Pentagon chief, hailed his “steady service as a wartime secretary of defense — a duty he carried out with strength, skill, and honor.” Regarded by former colleagues as equally smart and combative, patriotic and politically cunning, Rumsfeld had a storied career in government under four presidents and nearly a quarter century in corporate America. June 30 - Associated Press If you're a journalist looking to know more about Rumsfeld's legacy and impact on American foreign policy, then let our expert help. Professor of Political Science and International Affairs Jason Davidson is an expert in American foreign and security policy, and international security. His study, The Costs of War to United States Allies Since 9/11, recently received an onslaught of media attention, landing in Forbes, The Guardian and Daily Mail. If you’re looking to arrange an interview with Dr. Davidson, simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Psychologists tackle childhood obesity by studying avid eating behaviour
• Psychologists at Aston University, Loughborough University, University College London and Kings College London to collaborate on childhood obesity study • £1-million project awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council • Three-year project to develop practical interventions to tackle obesity in early childhood A team of psychologists are to start work on a three-year project that will assist parents to address over-eating in pre-school children who have large appetites. The group, which specialises in childhood eating behaviour is led by Aston University, and includes researchers from Loughborough University, University College London and Kings College London. It is a result of a long-standing collaboration between the team members. The team have been awarded almost £1-million pounds, by the Economic and Social Research Council. The project aims to help support parents whose children are very focused on and motivated by food and the project will produce guidelines based on the findings that can be used to develop interventions. Childhood obesity is one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century and of major societal concern. It places children at high risk of diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers in adulthood. According to the charity World Obesity, in just 40 years the number of school-age children and adolescents with obesity has risen more than 10-fold, from 11 million to 124 million (2016 estimates). Professor Jackie Blissett, Aston University and lead academic on the study said: “Childhood obesity usually begins in infancy and early childhood, with up to 90% of children who have obesity at 3 years continuing to have overweight or obesity in adolescence. Some children however, are more vulnerable to the development of obesity than others, due to their genetic susceptibility. “A better understanding of the factors which may help to prevent or reduce the risk of childhood obesity, and applying this understanding to develop effective interventions, is of key importance to solving this complex policy and practice challenge.” The team will use existing longitudinal data from the Gemini study to monitor trends in children’s eating and examine the development of the relationship between children’s appetite and parents’ feeding practices across early childhood. In the second phase of the project, which will be lab-based, the team at Aston University are set to recruit two members of research staff to support the study. In the lab, around 120 children will be observed whilst taking part in various food related tasks, to assess which feeding practices change their eating behaviour and help the researchers find the best way of regulating their food intake. The team intend to test the effectiveness of certain feeding practices and plan to recruit around 2000 new families who will take part in an online survey to assess children’s appetite traits. Professor Claire Farrow, Aston University, and collaborator on the study said: “At present, public health advice regarding children's eating and weight is generic, ineffective, and does not tackle variability in children's appetite avidity, which makes behaviour change even more challenging for parents who struggle to manage their child's eating behaviour.” “Using current theory to inform complex intervention development, our research will examine how parents interact with their pre-school children with avid appetites in the food context, evaluate how these interactions predict short and long-term effects on eating behaviour and develop recommendations for interventions in the future.”
Records are going up in flames - is there any break to America's current heat wave?
To call it a heat wave may be an understatement. But as June ends and July rolls in, a blanket of hot and humid weather is covering most parts of America with temperatures not seen since the end of the Great Depression. The trend has scientists and meteorologists looking for answers. AccuWeather's team of expert forecasters were describing the then upcoming heat wave as "unprecedented," "life-threatening" and "historic" as early as the middle of last week, and these descriptions have been accurate in the first days of the Northwest scorcher. The weekend marked the beginning of the extended stretch of extreme temperatures. Portland, Oregon, a city that typically experiences temperatures in the middle to upper 70s in late June, soared to a staggering 112 degrees Fahrenheit on Sunday, breaking the all-time record high of 108 set just a day before. Prior to the current heat wave, the highest temperature ever recorded in the city was 107 set once in July of 1965 and twice in August of 1981. Portland is also expected to obliterate its daily record high of 100 on Monday and possibly set an all-time high temperature record for the third straight day. AccuWeather is predicting a high of 113 on Monday, which would make it the hottest day ever recorded in the city. The highest temperature ever recorded in the state of Oregon is 117, which was set in Umatilla on July 27, 1939. June 28 - AccuWeather And as Americans keep an eye on the mercury that continues to rise, there’s a lot of questions to be asked: Is this a weather phenomenon? Has climate change showed its hand? Are these new temperatures the new normal for the summer months? How can cities and communities adapt to these drastic conditions? And is there any turning back these rising numbers? If you’re a journalist looking to learn more about this topic, then our experts are here to help. Dr. Pamela Grothe is an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences as the University of Mary Washington, who earned a Ph.D. in the Paleoclimatology Lab at the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department at Georgia Institute of Technology. She’s also an #expert in climate change and specializes in how cities can cope and adapt to hotter temperatures and stay livable places. Dr. Pamela Grothe is available to speak with media – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview.
Is a four-day workweek on the horizon?
Is Thursday about to become the new Friday? UConn’s Robert Bird spoke with the Washington Post about the possibility of a four-day workweek and what might be the driving force behind it: New Zealand's and Finland's prime ministers have floated the idea of a four-day workweek. The U.K. Labour Party in 2019 campaigned on the idea that workweeks would be shortened in the next decade. A number of employers have also begun to move in that direction. On Tuesday, Kickstarter announced it would reduce employees' hours without reducing pay next year, reported the Atlantic. Microsoft in Japan instituted a temporary three-day weekend in August 2019 - which resulted in a reported 40% increase in productivity, according to the company, and reduced electricity consumption and paper printing. "A five-day workweek was never a given," Robert Bird, a professor of business law at the University of Connecticut, told The Washington Post, adding that unions fought hard to scrap the six-day workweek norm in the early 1900s. "A five-day workweek was never something that was unchangeable or immutable." "Younger people are demanding more out of their work environment than just a paycheck," he said. "They want to work with someone who believes in their values - and the expression of a four-day workweek sends a signal that the company cares about work-life balance in a significant and meaningful way." June 25 – Washington Post It’s an interesting concept, and one that will be getting a lot of attention. If you are a journalist looking to cover this topic, let our experts help with your stories. Robert Bird is an expert in the areas of corporate compliance, employment law, legal strategy, business ethics, and corporate governance. Professor Bird is available to speak with media – simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Metal-Breathing Bacteria Could Transform Electronics, Biosensors, and More
When the Shewanella oneidensis bacterium “breathes” in certain metal and sulfur compounds anaerobically, the way an aerobic organism would process oxygen, one of the materials it can produce is molybdenum disulfide, a material that could be used to enhance electronics, electrochemical energy storage, and drug-delivery devices. Shayla Sawyer, an associate professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer, has centered much of her research on the unique abilities of this bacterium. Her lab’s exploration in this area could be an important step toward developing a new generation of nutrient sensors that can be deployed on lakes and other water bodies. Compared with other anaerobic bacteria, one thing that makes Shewanella oneidensis particularly unusual and interesting is that it produces nanowires capable of transferring electrons. “That lends itself to connecting to electronic devices that have already been made,” Sawyer said. “So, it’s the interface between the living world and the manmade world that is fascinating.” Sawyer is available to talk about this unique and innovative area of research, and the potential to develop the next generation of electronics and sensors.
Free bioenergy tool launching at Aston University to accelerate bioenergy production in Global South
• Aston University team of bioenergy researchers set to launch free tool to calculate energy potential • The launch event on 1 July will allow participants to use the tool for themselves and is focused on bioenergy development in the Global South • The tool can calculate bioenergy output from waste materials including straw, nutshells and manure A simple tool which allows users to easily calculate how much bioenergy they can produce from biomass is being launched this week by researchers from the Energy and Biproducts Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University. The easy-to-use tool, called the Bioenergy Mass-Energy Balance Model, allows the user to experiment virtually with different biomass materials in several industrial processes including cement production, tea production and food processing to understand the potential implementation. Developed with the focus on bioenergy development in the Global South, users can simply and easily calculate how much heat or electricity they can produce from the biomass. The EBRI team based at Aston University who developed the tool will be launching the model and summarising their methodologies at an online event on Thursday 1 July. Dr Katie Chong, lecturer in chemical engineering, who led the development team said they were looking forward to the launch. “This tool will be available to everyone for free and has been built in Excel to make it accessible for all. We wanted to keep it as simple as possible and we really think it will make a difference, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa,” she said. Mirjam Röder, associate professorial research fellow at EBRI, added: “The launch event will be a chance for us to introduce the Mass-Energy Balance Model, summarise the methodologies and give participants the opportunity to use the model and generate their own results in our guided walk-through during the workshop.” The tool was developed as part of a larger two-year research programme by the team at Aston University who are a core member of the consortium implementing the Bioenergy for Sustainable local energy services and Energy Access in Africa (BSEAA). Aston University partnered with NIRAS-LTS, E4Tech and AIGUASOL. The project was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of the Transforming Energy Access programme. To sign up for the free event which runs from 9.30am until 11.30am on Thursday 1 July, visit this link. For more details about the world-leading research taking place at EBRI, click here.
Even with a drastic reduction in driving due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Americans saw the largest increase in traffic-related deaths in 2020 when compared to other racial groups. An estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2020 — the largest projected number of deaths since 2007 — and the number of Black people who died in such crashes was up 23 percent from 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. UConn’s Dr. Norman Garrick spoke with NBC News about the new report: Norman Garrick, a civil and environmental engineering professor at the University of Connecticut, said the numbers are saddening, but not surprising. “Black people tend to be overrepresented as walkers in this country,” Garrick said. “This is not by choice. In many cases, Black folks cannot afford motor vehicles. And people that walk in this country tend to experience a much, much higher rate of traffic fatality. We’re talking eight to 10 times more. It’s a perfect storm of a lot of horrible forces.” This most likely represents yet another way the health crisis has had an outsize effect on Black people. Even in the early days of the pandemic, the National Safety Council found that the emptier roads were proving to be more deadly, with a 14 percent jump in roadway deaths per miles driven in March. And Black people are more likely to face traffic injuries in general; from 2010-2019, Black pedestrians were 82 percent more likely to be hit by drivers, according to a 2021 report from Smart Growth America, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group focused on urban development. June 22 - NBC News Dr. Garrick is a professor in the UConn School of Engineering's Department of Civil Engineering and is co-director of the Sustainable Cities Research Group. He is an expert in the areas of transportation behaviors, parking, public transit, and bicycle lanes. Dr. Garrick is available to speak with media – simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
A veteran police officer and a bystander were gunned down in a Denver suburb earlier this week in what authorities are saying was a targeted attack by someone who “expressed hatred” for police. A 19-year veteran of the force, Gordon Beesly was allegedly killed because he was simply wearing a uniform and a badge. The tragic fatality is getting massive coverage and UMW’s Laura C. Wilson was interviewed by The Washington Post to provide her expert perspective on the impact this incident will have on survivors. Laura C. Wilson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington in Virginia, said that years ago she might have thought about each mass shooting or shooting in a public place as having unique characteristics that affect survivors. But she now considers the trauma of multiple events. “When we start to see a lot of these events happening in a small community or within the country, we start to have these compounding impacts,” she said. “People now have more evidence that the world is unpredictable, more evidence that regardless of what I do I can’t keep myself safe.” But Wilson stressed that the effects of trauma are unique to every individual, every survivor. There will be extensive coverage of this killing and if you are a reporter looking to cover the issues survivors of mass shooting events will experience, then let us help. Dr. Laura C. 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.
"Apocalypse" - A period of mass extinction threatens insects – and the world that depends on them
UConn entomologist and professor David Wagner says all kinds of insects are at risk for “a death by a thousand cuts" -- decline attributed to multiple factors, including the climate crisis, agricultural intensification, development, deforestation, and the introduction of exotic and invasive species into new environments. He discusses the threats to the world's insect populations in this compelling new video report from UConn Today: Wagner cautions that many of these creatures will not be with us for much longer, and says people must act swiftly to help prevent these tremendous losses before it is too late. Wagner remains hopeful, and says there are many actions that can be taken now — from encouraging political leaders to enact policy changes, to simply letting part of the front lawn grow freely to provide a food-rich environment for insects. “This planet isn’t here for us to exploit,” Wagner says. Dr. David Wagner is an expert in caterpillars, butterflies, moths, insect conservation, and global insect decline, and he’s available to speak with media. Simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Covering the cicadas across America? Let our expert help.
This spring, Americans have been captivated, curious and even bugged out by the trillion cicadas that finally emerged from 17 years underground to enjoy a loud month of mating calls, feverish breeding and egg laying, all before passing into that good night. Brood X, as it is called, emerged this year as one of the largest on record. Scientists estimate their population to be about a trillion – and numbers like that won’t be seen until the next generation re-emerges in another 17 years. The bugs are harmless, and the story behind their behavior is truly unique – and there’s a lot to know about cicadas before they expire by June’s end. What do cicadas do underground for 17 years? Will climate change alter the behavior of the cicadas? Why do they only emerge every decade and a half? Why are they so loud? What characteristics do they display when they emerge? What can scientists learn as each brood surfaces? There’s a lot to ask, and if you’re looking to cover or learn more – then let our experts help. Dr. Josephine Antwi is an entomologist at the University of Mary Washington and is the go-to expert on this buzzing breed and other insects. Dr. Antwi is available to speak with media regarding cicadas, simply click on her icon now to arrange an interview today.