Abstract
Objective To explore associations between different frequencies of arts engagement and mortality over a 14 year follow-up period.
Design Prospective cohort study.
Participants English Longitudinal Study of Ageing cohort of 6710 community dwelling adults aged 50 years and older (53.6% women, average age 65.9 years, standard deviation 9.4) who provided baseline data in 2004-05.
Intervention Self reported receptive arts engagement (going to museums, art galleries, exhibitions, the theatre, concerts, or the opera).
Measurement Mortality measured through data linkage to the National Health Service central register.
Results People who engaged with receptive arts activities on an infrequent basis (once or twice a year) had a 14% lower risk of dying at any point during the follow-up (809/3042 deaths, hazard ratio 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.77 to 0.96) compared with those who never engaged (837/1762 deaths). People who engaged with receptive arts activities on a frequent basis (every few months or more) had a 31% lower risk of dying (355/1906 deaths, 0.69, 0.59 to 0.80), independent of demographic, socioeconomic, […]
In America, you may find in a loaf of bread ingredients with industrial applications. Credit: Getty
Give us this day our daily foam expander. It may sound odd, but in America, your loaf of bread can contain ingredients with industrial applications – additives that also appear in things like yoga mats, pesticides, hair straighteners, explosives and petroleum products.
Some of these chemicals, used as optional whiteners, dough conditioners and rising agents, may be harmful to human health. Potassium bromate, a potent oxidizer that helps bread rise, has been linked to kidney and thyroid cancers in rodents. Azodicarbonamide (ACA), a chemical that forms bubbles in foams and plastics like vinyl, is used to bleach and leaven dough – but when baked, it, too, has been linked to cancer in lab animals.
Other countries, including China, Brazil and members of the European Union, have weighed the potential risks and decided to outlaw potassium bromate in food. India banned it in 2016, and the UK has forbidden it since 1990. Azodicarbonamide has been banned for consumption by the European Union for […]
Earth’s magnetic north pole, which serves as an anchor point for our navigation has been actively moving east from the Canadian Arctic towards Russia, as CNN reported.
The magnetic north pole, unlike geographic poles, is capable of moving and has traveled about 1,400 miles since 1831. However, in recent years, the magnetic north pole has moved at a surprisingly swift pace, confounding scientists looking for an explanation, according to CNN.
The rapid movement of the magnetic north pole forced the researchers who create the World Magnetic Model (WMM) to create a new forecast a year ahead of schedule, according to the WMM press release. The WMM is maintained jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey.
The WMM, pictured above, is a portrayal of the planet’s magnetic field that gives compasses dependable accuracy. NOAA NCEI
The magnetic north was moving so swiftly that […]
American workers contribute to Social Security with every paycheck. When they do, they are earning comprehensive insurance protections. Social Security insures against the loss of wages due to old age, disability, or (for the surviving family of a worker) death. While Social Security is best known as a retirement program, disability and survivor’s benefits are equally essential.
An attack on any part of Social Security is an attack on the entire system and all current and future beneficiaries. The latest proposal from Donald Trump’s administration, which is designed to rip benefits away from hundreds of thousands of Americans with disabilities, amounts to a declaration of war on Social Security.
The Trump administration proposal would require millions of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries to re-prove their eligibility for benefits as often as every six months — far more frequently than is currently the case. There is no justification for this policy. The United States already has some of the strictest eligibility criteria for disability benefits […]
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley before addressing the troops at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan.
Credit: Olivier Douliery / AFP/ Getty
Last week, the Washington Post published a massive set of documents on the protracted and still unsuccessful U.S. war in Afghanistan, a conflict that Samuel Moyn and Stephen Wertheim have aptly dubbed the “infinity war.”
While not quite as revelatory as the Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers, the release of these documents is still an important contribution to public understanding of U.S. national-security policy. In more normal times—without a looming impeachment, an endless parade of Trumpian distractions, and a congenitally irresponsible Republican Party—discovering that U.S. officials had obscured their doubts about the war and their recognition that U.S. strategy was failing might even prompt change of course.
To be clear, U.S. officials didn’t lie to the public so much as they misled them, largely by keeping their doubts hidden under a veil of government secrecy.
To be clear, U.S. officials didn’t lie to the public so much as they misled them, largely by keeping […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
