Month: September 2007

Deaths in US up over 2005

Democrats blame Bush, MoveOn.org accuses Surgeon General of “betraying us,” Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid demand US pull out . . .

Kansas City Star[*1] :

The number of deaths in the United States rose in 2005 after a sharp decline the year earlier, a disappointing reversal that suggests the 2004 numbers were a fluke. Cancer deaths were also up.

U.S. health officials said they believe the drop in deaths seen earlier may have been due to 2004’s unusually mild flu season. Deaths from flu and lower respiratory disease jumped in 2005.

The new mortality data was released Wednesday in a report by the National Center for Health Statistics. It was a preliminary report, based on about 99 percent of the death records reported in all 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2005.

Last year, statistics from 2004 showed U.S. deaths fell to 2,397,615. It was a decline of about 50,000 from 2003, and was the largest drop in deaths in nearly 70 years. Some experts saw it as a sign of the triumph of modern medicine.

But the preliminary 2005 death count was up more than 50,000 – about 2,447,900 – almost back to the 2003 level.

We’re All Going To Die!

One thing the “Petraeus Hearings” have revealed

Is that Democrats seem to be utterly incapable of grasping new concepts, such as “we’ve changed strategy and tactics and are now having some success in Iraq.”

This is of course surprising, since it’s now scientifically established[*1] that “liberals” are more intellectually flexible than “conservatives.”  Whatever the hell that means.

Light Rail Doesn’t Work

So says the Cato Institute[*1] .  A couple of the more pungent points:

4. Light rail increases congestion.

Most light-rail lines operate on streets for at least part of their length, and transit planners time traffic signals to favour trains over automobiles. The delays that result greatly exceed the benefit of getting a handful of people out of their cars.

A new light-rail line in Minneapolis so disrupted traffic signals that people using a parallel highway found they were spending an added 20 minutes or more sitting in traffic. Internal documents revealed that the government knew this would happen, but the state says it can never be completely fixed because federal rules require that signals favour the light rail.

7. Light rail increases energy consumption and greenhouse gases.

Light rail uses less energy and generates less carbon dioxide, per passenger kilometre, than buses (though not necessarily less than autos). But light rail does not replace buses; instead, transit agencies typically reroute corridor buses to be feeder buses for the light-rail line.

Many people choose to drive to light-rail stations rather than wait for a bus and then transfer to a train, so feeder buses are much more lightly used than the previous corridor buses. When Salt Lake City opened its light-rail system, the average number of people riding its buses fell by nearly 50 per cent.

When taken as a whole, then, most transit systems with light rail use more energy and emit more greenhouse gases per passenger kilometre than they did when they operated only buses. Most also use more energy and emit more carbon dioxide, per passenger kilometre, than typical automobiles.

In the rare cases where light rail has reduced energy use, the energy cost of building it swamps any savings. If we want to save energy and reduce greenhouse gases, automotive improvements such as hybrid-electric cars can do far more at a far lower cost than even the best rail projects.

What makes smart people smart?

ScienceBlog[*1] discusses:

“Recent neuroscience studies suggest that intelligence is related to how well information travels throughout the brain,” said Haier, a professor of psychology in the School of Medicine and longtime human intelligence researcher. “Our review of imaging studies identifies the stations along the routes intelligent information processing takes. Once we know where the stations are, we can study how they relate to intelligence.”

The data suggest that some of the brain areas related to intelligence are the same areas related to attention and memory and to more complex functions like language. Haier and Jung say this possible integration of cognitive functions suggests that intelligence levels might be based on how efficient the frontal-parietal networks process information.

Brain imaging studies of intelligence are relatively new, with Haier doing some of the first ones only 20 years ago. Although there is still discussion about how to define and measure intelligence, Haier and Jung found surprising consistency in the studies they reviewed despite the fact the studies represented a variety of approaches.

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The hygiene hypothesis

Science Daily[*1] :

“The natural immune system does not have as much to do as it did 50 years ago because we’ve increased our efforts to protect our children from dirt and germs,” says McMorris.

“Allergies are on the rise because our society has changed the way we live. As a result, people with allergies are having children with others who have allergies, which in turn creates a natural increase in the prevalence of allergies in our society.”

Allergies are a reaction by the body’s immune system to foreign substances – pollen, mold, animal dander, dust and dust mites, insect stings and certain foods – that it deems  harmful.

I’ve heard of this before, and am pretty sympathetic to this argument.  We evolved in a dirty, nasty world.  Maybe Mr. Clean is causing our sniffles?

Raise a pint, mate!

BBC:  Guinness is good for you[*1]

The researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association in Orlando, Florida, that the most benefit they saw was from 24 fluid ounces of Guinness – just over a pint – taken at mealtimes.

They believe that “antioxidant compounds” in the Guinness, similar to those found in certain fruits and vegetables, are responsible for the health benefits because they slow down the deposit of harmful cholesterol on the artery walls.

Hmm.  I like Guinness.