The Weekly Roundup is an opportunity to recap a week in news and share recently discovered materials that might be of interest.
PODCASTS
Australia's Maritime Dependence, Vulnerabilities and the Solutions | Peter Court and Walter Purio
John Anderson: Conversations, 2024
In this interview, John Anderson speaks with Peter Court and Walter Purio, experts in maritime security, about Australia's vulnerabilities in shipping logistics and maritime defence. They highlight Australia's lack of domestically registered international trading ships, leaving the country heavily reliant on foreign vessels. They also examine the economic and strategic risks posed by this dependency, especially during crises. They finish by exploring potential solutions, such as the Australian International Shipping Register (AISR), which could strengthen Australia's maritime capabilities through international cooperation. Peter Court is an internationally experienced master mariner, principal consultant at DNV Consulting and founder of Court Marine consulting. Captain Walter P. Purio is a seasoned marine and maritime industry executive who has worked across several affiliated disciplines including commercial shipping, marine finance, marine compliance, naval operations, offshoring, bunkering, oil and gas and mineral resources industry. Both Peter and Walter are much sought-after experts and commentators on matters relating to maritime security and shipping.
ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
Ignoring biological realities is dishonest and dangerous from the IOC
The Sunday Times, 2024
City Journal, 2024
The NIH announces a symposium on sex and gender—and invites only one side of the debate to take part.
What should we call mental ill health? Historical shifts in the popularity of generic terms
PLoS Mental Health, 2024
Abstract: Substantial attention has been paid to the language of mental ill health, but the generic terms used to refer to it – “mental illness”, “psychiatric condition”, “mental health problem” and so forth have largely escaped empirical scrutiny. We examined changes in the prevalence of alternative terms in two large English language text corpora from 1940 to 2019. Twenty-four terms were studied, compounds of four adjectival expressions (“mental”, “men- tal health”, “psychiatric”, “psychological”) and six nouns (“condition”, “disease”, “disorder”, “disturbance”, “illness”, “problem”). Terms incorporating “condition”, “disease” and “distur- bance” became less popular over time, whereas those involving “psychiatric”, “mental health” and “illness” became more popular. Although there were some trends away from terms with medical connotations and towards more normalizing expressions, “mental illness” consolidated its position as the dominant term over the study period.
International Journal of Epidemiology, 2024
Abstract: Background: While previous studies indicate muscle-strengthening exercises may reduce mortality risk, further research is needed to increase certainty of the evidence. We investigated overall and dose-response associations between weight training and the risks of all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality in a large cohort of older adults with long follow-up time and a large number of deaths. We also investigated the joint associations of weight training and aerobic exercise with mortality risk. Methods: Weight training was assessed via self-report in 2004-05 in the National Institutes of Health-American Association of Retired Persons (NIH-AARP) Diet and Health Study (USA; n = 216 339), with follow-up to 2019. Cox regression estimated the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between weight training and mortality, after adjusting for confounders including aerobic exercise. Results: Around 25% of participants [mean age = 69.9 years (standard deviation = 5.4), 58% men] reported engaging in weight training over the past year, and there were 79 107 (37%) deaths. Engaging in any weight training (vs none) was associated with lower risks of all-cause (HR = 0.94; 95% CI = 0.93-0.96), CVD (HR = 0.92; 95% CI = 0.90-0.95) and cancer mortality (HR = 0.95; 95% CI = 0.92-0.98). More time spent in weight training was associated with only marginally greater risk reductions. Larger risk reductions were observed among women than men. Performing both aerobic exercise and weight training conferred the greatest mortality risk reduction; weight training was not associated with mortality risk among participants who did no aerobic exercise. Conclusion: Performing any amount of weight training lowered mortality risk.
HISTORICAL ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
“The apparel oft proclaims the man”: cooperation with deviant and conventional youths
Journal of Social Psychology, 1972
Abstract: Examined whether black and white youths, dressed so as to appear to be a black nationalist or hippie, would receive differential treatment as compared to their conventionally dressed black and white counterparts. Exp. I demonstrated that white Ss (n = 581) were less likely to comply with the requests of both black and white deviants than with the requests of their conventional counterparts. Exp. II demonstrated that black Ss (n = 207) cooperated with the white deviant to the same extent as the white Ss did; however, they cooperated more with the black deviant. Exp. III with 480 Ss showed that persons over 30 were less cooperative with deviants than those under 30. Results are explained in terms of Rokeach's theory of belief congruity.
RUBBISH BIN
Sexism in academia is bad for science and a waste of public funding
Nature Reviews Materials, 2024
Abstract: Higher education and research institutions are critical to the well-being and success of societies, meaning their financial support is strongly in the public interest. At the same time, value-for-money principles demand that such investment delivers. Unfortunately, these principles are currently violated by one of the biggest sources of public funding inefficiency: sexism.
Queering genomics: How cisnormativity undermines genomic science
HGG Advances, 2024
Abstract: Over the past century, genetics and genomics (“genomics”) have contributed significantly to our knowledge of human biology and disease. Genomics has also bolstered inaccurate and harmful arguments about “essential” differences between socially defined groups. These purported differences have reinforced class hierarchies and justified the mistreatment of groups such as Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color and/or people with disabilities. With this history in mind, we explore how genomics is used to reinforce scientifically unsound understandings of the relationship between two fundamental aspects of the human experience: sex and gender. We argue that imprecise, inaccurate practices for collecting data and conducting genomic research have adversely influenced genomic science and can contribute to the stigmatization of people whose sex and/or gender challenge binary expectations. The results have been to preclude transgender and intersex people from accessing high-quality, evidence-based healthcare and to hinder their participation in scientifically sound research. In this perspective, we use the lens of queer theory to render this situation more visible. First, we highlight the theoretical contributions queer theory can make to genomic science. Second, we examine practices in research and clinical genomics that exclude and stigmatize transgender and intersex people. Third, we highlight the ways that many current genomic research practices generate false conclusions that are used to support unjust public policies. We conclude by recommending ways that clinicians and researchers can—and should—harness the scientific, social, and cultural power of genomics to advance knowledge and improve lives across the spectra of sex and gender.
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