Does the anticipation of medical treatments, financial investments and leisure time activities sometimes make you anxious? Have you thought about taping your face up? A new research project from the Niedenthal Emotions Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, US, investigated whether the nervous anticipation of a balloon-popping task and a jack-in-the-box spring* might to some extent […]
Tag: risk
Should Cat Owners Avoid Healthy Cats?
Is it safe to own a cat? A new paper suggests the answer may be Yes. Maybe Yes The new, possibly-pro-cat paper is: “Healthy cats provide more health benefits than risks to owners,” Michael Lappin, Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, vol. 21, no. 11, November 2019, pp. 1007-1007. The author explains: “In these 2019 […]
Relative Risk of Motor Vehicle Collision on Cannabis Day Celebration
How high is the risk of colliding on a highway with someone who is high, on a highness celebration day? The answer, if there is one, can perhaps be teased out by studying this new study of drivers in the UK and also older study of drivers in the USA: “The Relative Risk of Motor […]
Coffee and Cancer: A Bad News Burp for Modern Science Journalism
A newly published study is bad news for news organizations — it’s a burp in the stream of guaranteed-attention-getting medical reports that suggest coffee-drinking might cause cancer. The study is: “Coffee and Cancer Risk: A Summary Overview,” Gianfranco Alicandro [pictured here], Alessandra Tavani, and Carlo La Vecchia, European Journal of Cancer Prevention, epub March 2017. The authors, at the University of […]
The Dilemma-Zone Calculation
Yellow traffic lights posed and provided an opportunity for applied mathematicians. Witness this study, published more than a half century ago: “The Problem of the Amber Signal Light in Traffic Flow,” Denos Gazis [pictured here, reportedly thrilling an audience], Robert Herman, and Alexei Maradudint, Operations Research, vol. 8, no. 1, 1960, pp. 112-132. The authors, […]
Breakthrough in guessing the risk of popping a balloon
A possible huge breakthrough of some sort, yielding important insights of some variety, may be reported in this study in which 64 students (actually it was 66, but “Data from two participants were removed due to a failure to follow instructions”) were asked to guess when a balloon would pop: “Knowing Where to Draw the Line: Perceptual […]
A Somewhat Scientific Risk Analysis of Risk Analysis’s Scientificness
Journalist Dan Vergano points out the disciplined approach, in this study, of using using risk analysis to analyze whether risk analysis is scientific: “Is Risk Analysis Scientific?” Sven Ove Hansson [pictured here] and Terje Aven, Risk Analysis, epub June 11, 2014. The authors, at Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden and the University of Stavanger, Norway, explain: […]
Comparative death counts: Marijuana vs. water
There’s news about the literally grave danger that a feared drug might pose for someone somewhere some day. Details are in a new study. The study describes two persons who died from no obvious cause, and who—the doctors conclude — therefore must have died from the unknown amounts of marijuana that they are likely to […]
The Assessed Un-idealness of Italian cardiologists
A new look at the habits and health prospects of some of the planet’s most glamorous medicos: “Cardiovascular Risk Profile and Lifestyle Habits in a Cohort of Italian Cardiologists (from the SOCRATES Survey),” Pier Luigi Temporelli, Giovanni Zito, Pompilio Faggiano, and the SOCRATES Investigators, American Journal of Cardiology, epub April 12, 2013. The authors, at […]
Ignorance, risk, expertise, whatever
Ignorance, risk, rationality, expertise—this treatise has it all, plus food: “Institutionalized ignorance as a precondition for rational risk expertise,” Henrik Merkelsen [pictured here], Risk Analysis, 2011 Jul;31(7):1083-94. The author, at Copenhagen Business School, explains: “The present case study seeks to explain the conditions for experts’ rational risk perception by analyzing the institutional contexts that constitute […]