Brown University – War deaths reach 173,000 in Afghanistan, Pakistan

The combined, cumulative death toll of war in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2001 is 173,000, with 183,000 others seriously injured, according to a new study. The Costs of War, based at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, released the data on the human costs of a decade and a half of war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The …

30 percent of female physicians report sexual harassment

In a survey of high-achieving physician-scientists, nearly a third of women reported experiencing sexual harassment. “This is a sobering reminder that our society has a long way to go before we achieve gender equity,” says study author Reshma Jagsi, M.D., D.Phil., associate professor and deputy chair of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School. Researchers surveyed 1,066 men …

Swedish teachers and students often talk about religion as something outdated and strange

In Swedish classrooms, religion is often associated with an obsolete time when people just didn’t know better – as if religion used to serve a purpose but there is no need for it in the modern world. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg that explores how teachers and students talk about religion and …

CHANGES LINKED TO ALZHEIMER’S MAY START BY AGE 45

Changes in key biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease during midlife may help identify those who will develop dementia years later, new research suggests. The study focused on data gathered over 10 years and involved 169 cognitively normal research participants ages 45 to 75 when they entered the study. Each participant received a complete clinical, cognitive imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker analysis …

The Massive Flaw With The Scientific Hierarchy Of Evidence

The much-vaunted hierarchy of evidence is regularly referred to by scientists and doctors as a central part of the scientific method. It is the purported gold standard by which we can arrive at the truth of something, and by which we can weigh different kinds of evidence, and determine which should be given more credence, and which should be given less. The …