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08 Jul 2011 14:08

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U.S.: Breakthrough Medicaid study proves its usefulness

  • 35% increased likelihood Medicaid users would go to a doctor
  • 15% increased likelihood they would use prescription drugs
  • 30% increased likelihood they would get admitted to the hospital source
  • » A new study with broad ramifications: The results of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s study may seem obvious, but the debate on whether or not to cut funding for Medicaid has long rested on whether experts thought low-income people would actually use the public form of medical insurance. The new study proves this is the case, and does it in an interesting way — rather than comparing the insured to the uninsured (a common tactic used before), the study treated Medicaid the same way researchers might treat a drug. The result? Fellow researchers are hailing the study as “historic” and say it’ll shape national health care debates for years to come.

24 Mar 2011 13:38

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U.S.: Air traffic snafu gives way to FAA study on staffing levels

  • Air traffic control lapse at reagan Airport: Two planes were left unguided for about fifteen minutes, and were forced to circle the airport while contacting a regional FAA office. The office, after verifying that the control tower was unresponsive, guided both planes in for the landing. Officials have said the controller may have been asleep, though that isn’t yet certain. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood he said that he’s directed the FAA to study staffing levels at airports, and that only having one controller on duty is “not acceptable.” source

14 Feb 2011 15:30

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Offbeat: Study rules new winner in “history’s biggest bear” contest

  • 2M the age, in years, of the skeletal remains of a South American bear have been studied
  • 11 the bear’s projected height (in feet), giving this fellow the mantle of tallest bear ever
  • 3,500the bear’s projected weight (in pounds), which easily breaks that record, as well source

02 Sep 2010 10:31

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U.S.: WHOO: Illegal immigration dips by nearly 67 percent

  • 850,000 number of people who illegally entered the U.S. between 2000 and 2005 (which is huge)
  • 300,000 number of people who did the same thing between 2007 and 2009; this is a pretty big deal source

11 Jun 2010 10:37

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Tech: Experts say we’ll be doing our computing in the cloud by 2020

  • 71%
    think we’ll be working on computers in the cloud
  • 27% think we’ll still be using PCs for most of everything we do
  • 2% think we’ll be using Amigas or running BeOS for some reason source

30 Apr 2010 08:43

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Tech: Study: Cable TV starting to lose eyeballs to the Internet

  • 12.5% are gonna scale back cable this year source

19 Apr 2010 10:41

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Politics: Does the internet create political polarization? A new study says no

  • perception The internet is making it easier for people to focus only on the extreme opinions they want to hear, either left or right. This creates strong political polarization.
  • reality As a new study notes, “Extreme sites are more common than extreme readers.” And strongly ideological readers read a little bit of everything online. source
 

28 Dec 2009 22:21

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Offbeat: A cheeky Santa obesity study fooled a ton of major news outlets

The best part about this story is that it’s a hilarious example of how something gets published everywhere quickly. Even better? We didn’t post it. Hooray! source

11 Nov 2009 10:01

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Tech: Study: Guys, BPA is ruining your sex life. Uh, what’s BPA?

  • BPA is a chemical used in many plastics. New research into bisphenol-A, a chemical often mentioned as being dangerous for humans, suggests that guys in heat should be most concerned about its potential dangers. Research of 550 Chinese factory workers suggests that those who work closest with the chemical – used in a variety of products – have four times the normal level of sexual dysfunction. Thanks, random plastic we’ve never heard of. Thanks for nothing. source

25 Oct 2009 13:47

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Tech: Daily poll: The link between cancer and cell phone usage

  • Word on the street is that the World Health Organization is about to release a report linking long-term cell phone usage to higher levels of certain kinds of cancer. The study recommends restricting – but not banning – usage for children, and perhaps investing in some sort of hands-free setup. Which leads to the question – would you cut back on heavy cell phone usage if you knew it was cancerous? It seems that, unlike cigarettes, they have an essential use, so we couldn’t seem them going away. But what do you think? Vote above.source