tag:theconversation.com,2011:/institutions/iupui-2368/articlesIUPUI2022-08-31T13:05:54Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1887912022-08-31T13:05:54Z2022-08-31T13:05:54ZVoici comment gérer vos crottes de nez, selon la science<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/479217/original/file-20220815-704-uvaclw.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=71%2C35%2C5901%2C3952&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Outre le fait que manger une crotte de nez est dégoûtant, cela revient à ingérer des germes contenus dans le mucus, des métaux toxiques et des contaminants environnementaux.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Allez, avouez que vous le faites.</p>
<p>Que ce soit en compagnie d’un conjoint ou en cachette quand on croit que personne ne regarde, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7852253/">nous nous fouillons tous dans le nez</a>. Et les autres <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/video-monkey-uses-tool-pick-her-nose">primates</a> le font aussi.</p>
<p>La stigmatisation sociale autour du curage de nez est très répandue. Mais devons-nous vraiment le faire… et où devons-nous mettre nos crottes de nez ?</p>
<p>En tant que scientifiques qui avons effectué des recherches sur les contaminants environnementaux – dans nos maisons, nos lieux de travail, nos jardins –, nous avons une bonne idée de ce que vous manipulez réellement lorsque vous glissez avec satisfaction votre doigt dans votre narine.</p>
<p>Voici ce que vous devez savoir avant de passer à l’action.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Les enfants, qui n’ont pas encore appris les normes sociales, réalisent rapidement que la compatibilité entre un doigt et une narine est plutôt bonne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Qu’y a-t-il dans une crotte de nez ?</h2>
<p>Se curer le nez est une habitude tout à fait naturelle ; les enfants, qui n’ont pas encore appris les normes sociales, réalisent rapidement que la compatibilité entre un doigt et une narine est plutôt bonne. Mais il y a bien plus que de la morve là-dedans.</p>
<p>Pendant les <a href="https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/lung-info/breathing">quelque 22 000 cycles respiratoires quotidiens</a>, le mucus formant des crottes de nez constitue un filtre biologique essentiel pour capturer la poussière et les allergènes avant qu’ils ne pénètrent dans nos voies respiratoires, où ils peuvent provoquer une inflammation, de l’asthme et d’autres <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/27/862963172/how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience">problèmes pulmonaires à long terme</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/savez-vous-ce-que-vous-ramenez-chez-vous-avec-vos-chaussures-dechaussez-vous-avant-dentrer-179416">Savez-vous ce que vous ramenez chez vous avec vos chaussures ? (Déchaussez-vous avant d’entrer…)</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Les cellules de vos voies nasales, appelées <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553208/">cellules caliciformes</a> (ainsi nommées en raison de leur aspect en forme de coupe), produisent du mucus pour piéger les virus, les bactéries et la poussière contenant des <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/toxs.1998.2549">substances potentiellement dangereuses</a> comme le <a href="https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=93&toxid=22">plomb</a>, l’amiante et le pollen.</p>
<p>Le mucus nasal et ses anticorps et enzymes constituent le système de <a href="https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/49/1/1601709">défense immunitaire de première ligne de l’organisme contre les infections</a>.</p>
<p>La cavité nasale possède également son propre microbiome. Parfois, ces populations naturelles peuvent être perturbées, ce qui entraîne diverses affections, telles que la <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2152656720911605">rhinite</a>. Mais en général, les microbes de notre nez aident à repousser les envahisseurs, en les combattant sur un champ de bataille de mucus.</p>
<p>La poussière, les microbes et les allergènes capturés dans votre mucus finissent par être ingérés lorsque celui-ci s’écoule dans votre gorge.</p>
<p>Ce n’est généralement pas un problème, mais cela peut exacerber l’exposition environnementale à certains contaminants.</p>
<p>Par exemple, le <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-verdicts-in-we-must-better-protect-kids-from-toxic-lead-exposure-41969">plomb</a> – une neurotoxine répandue dans la <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">poussière domestique</a> et la <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">terre à jardin</a> – pénètre le plus efficacement dans le corps des enfants par ingestion et digestion.</p>
<p>Ainsi, vous risquez d’aggraver des expositions toxiques environnementales particulières si vous reniflez ou mangez des crottes de nez au lieu de les expulser.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Se décrotter le nez est officiellement connu sous le nom de rhinotillexomanie, et le terme mucophagie est utilisé pour désigner l’ingestion de ces crottes de nez poisseuses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Que dit la science sur les risques qu’entraîne la chasse aux crottes de nez ?</h2>
<p>Le <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/506401">staphylocoque doré</a> (<em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, parfois abrégé en S. aureus) est un germe qui peut causer une variété d’infections légères à graves. Des études montrent qu’on le retrouve souvent <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm200101043440102">dans le nez</a> (on parle de portage nasal).</p>
<p>Voici ce qu’une <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/nose-picking-and-nasal-carriage-of-staphylococcus-aureus/DC21FFA771693C772308530D2B1A1452">étude</a> a révélé :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Le curage de nez est associé au portage nasal du S. aureus. Son rôle dans le portage nasal pourrait bien être un facteur déterminant dans certains cas. Surmonter l’habitude de se mettre le doigt dans le nez pourrait faciliter les stratégies de décolonisation du S. aureus.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Se fouiller dans le nez peut également être associé à un <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">risque accru</a> de transmission du staphylocoque doré vers les plaies, où il présente un risque plus grave.</p>
<p>Les antibiotiques ne fonctionnent pas toujours sur cette bactérie. Un article a <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">montré</a> que :</p>
<blockquote>
<p>La résistance croissante aux antibiotiques exige des prestataires de soins de santé qu’ils évaluent les habitudes de leurs patients à se mettre les doigts dans le nez et qu’ils les éduquent sur les moyens efficaces de prévenir cette pratique.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Le curage de nez pourrait également être un vecteur de transmission du <em>Streptococcus pneumoniae</em>, une cause fréquente de <a href="https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00599-2018">pneumonie</a> parmi <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500738/">d’autres infections</a>.</p>
<p>En d’autres termes, se planter un doigt dans le nez est un excellent moyen d’enfoncer davantage les germes dans votre corps, ou de les répandre dans votre environnement avec votre doigt d’une propreté douteuse.</p>
<p>Il existe aussi un risque de lésions et d’abrasions à l’intérieur des narines, qui peuvent permettre aux bactéries pathogènes d’envahir votre corps. Le fait de se curer le nez de façon compulsive au point de se mutiler est appelé <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2173573521000855#:%7E:text=Rhinotillexomania%20is%20a%20term%20that,pathological%20habit%20of%20nose%20picking.&text=Nose%20picking%20is%20common%20in,injury%20in%20children%20and%20adolescents.">rhinotillexomanie</a>.</p>
<h2>Eh bien, je l’ai fait. Et maintenant ?</h2>
<p>Certains les mangent (le terme technique est <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/eating-boogers#risks">mucophagie</a>, ce qui signifie « se nourrir de mucus »). Outre le fait que manger une crotte de nez est dégoûtant, cela revient à ingérer tous ces germes contenus dans le mucus, ces métaux toxiques et ces contaminants environnementaux dont nous avons parlé plus haut.</p>
<p>D’autres les essuient sur l’objet le plus proche, un petit cadeau que découvrira plus tard une autre personne. Répugnant… et c’est un excellent moyen de propager les germes.</p>
<p>Certains plus soucieux de l’hygiène et plus respectables utilisent un mouchoir en papier pour récupérer le tout, puis le jettent ensuite dans une poubelle ou dans les toilettes.</p>
<p>C’est sans doute l’une des options les moins mauvaises, si vous devez à tout prix vous curer le nez. Veillez simplement à vous laver les mains avec soin après vous être mouché ou vous être fouillé dans le nez, car tant que le mucus n’a pas complètement séché, les virus infectieux peuvent <a href="https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mSphere.00474-19">subsister</a> sur les mains et les doigts.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Certaines personnes plus soucieuses de l’hygiène et plus respectueuses utilisent un mouchoir en papier pour procéder au ramassage, puis le jettent ensuite dans une poubelle ou dans les toilettes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Aucun conseil au monde ne vous empêchera de poursuivre votre quête</h2>
<p>En secret, dans la voiture ou sur des serviettes de table, nous le faisons tous. Et à vrai dire, c’est vraiment satisfaisant.</p>
<p>Mais rendons hommage au travail inlassable accompli par nos remarquables nez, mucus et cavités sinusales, ces adaptations biologiques étonnantes. Et n’oublions pas qu’ils s’efforcent de nous protéger.</p>
<p>Votre nez fait des heures supplémentaires pour vous garder en bonne santé, alors ne lui rendez pas la tâche plus difficile en y coinçant vos doigts sales. Ne jouez pas les trouble-fêtes. Soufflez discrètement, jetez le mouchoir en papier de manière réfléchie et lavez-vous les mains tout de suite après.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188791/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor a reçu des financements via une subvention du gouvernement australien pour la science citoyenne (2017-2020), CSG55984 'Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust' (le projet DustSafe). Il est également bénéficiaire d'un financement du Conseil australien de la recherche. Il est professeur honoraire à l'Université Macquarie et employé à temps plein de l'EPA Victoria, nommé au rôle statutaire de scientifique environnemental en chef.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Gillings a reçu des financements du Conseil australien de la recherche.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>En secret, dans la voiture ou sur des serviettes de table, nous le faisons tous. Et pour être franc, c’est très satisfaisant.Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie UniversityGabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUIMichael Gillings, Professor of Molecular Evolution, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848232022-08-12T12:17:02Z2022-08-12T12:17:02ZReducing gun violence: A complicated problem can’t be solved with just one approach, so Indianapolis is trying programs ranging from job skills to therapy to violence interrupters to find out what works<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474979/original/file-20220719-18-26nxd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5400%2C3605&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Participants in 'violence prevention' programs seek to deescalate conflicts before they turn deadly.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/safe-streets-violence-interrupter-lamont-medley-left-greets-news-photo/547477796?adppopup=true">Andre Chung for The Washington Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Indianapolis is no stranger to gun violence. The city is also trying many <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/community-based-violence-interruption-programs-can-reduce-gun-violence/">promising approaches to reducing violence</a> that – if proven successful – could benefit other urban areas across the U.S.</p>
<p>The city’s homicide rate in 2020, at 24.4 per 100,000 residents, was <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">approximately triple the national average</a>, and the city’s highest on record. Approximately 80% of those homicides were perpetrated using firearms.</p>
<p>Gun homicides ended about <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">240 lives there in a recent two-year period</a>, according to a study regarding this <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/indianapolis-in-population">city of 900,000 people</a>. The number of people who were shot but survived was far higher, and firearms account for a significant number of suicide deaths. </p>
<p>I’m a former police officer who has studied <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ShZl8kwAAAAJ&hl=en">policies and programs that seek to prevent gun violence</a> since the late 1990s. I have periodically partnered with Indianapolis officials and community agencies on anti-violence initiatives coordinated by the <a href="https://www.indy.gov/activity/violence-reduction">local government</a> with many <a href="https://www.cicf.org/not-for-profits/elevation-grant/">private- and nonprofit-sector partners</a> since 2004.</p>
<p>Though some <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/as-homicide-rates-surge-momentum-grows-for-community-violence-prevention-solutions">approaches developed in other places</a> have worked here, and Indianapolis has implemented many programs that have been shown to make a difference elsewhere, there’s still not enough data to pinpoint which specific programs are the most effective.</p>
<p>But given the urgency of the problem, I believe it’s important to keep test-driving promising methods based on the information available so far. And because Indianapolis experiences many of the same gun violence issues that other medium and large cities face, what’s learned here can apply in many other places.</p>
<p><iframe id="Ao5Rt" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ao5Rt/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Stepping up efforts to reduce gun violence</h2>
<p>Indianapolis intensified its efforts to reduce gun violence in 2006, when <a href="https://wonder.cdc.gov/">144 people died by homicide</a> – up 27% from a year earlier. </p>
<p>That year Bart Peterson, then serving as the city’s mayor, created the <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/crime-prevention-task-force-tackles-thorny-problem/531-4fc46635-5009-404a-af73-72e5bf32993e">Community Crime Prevention Task Force</a>, in which I played a role. Its mission was to seek evidence-based recommendations to reduce violence. </p>
<p>After reviewing the relevant academic research, I identified best practices and the most promising violence-prevention strategies. The task force, in turn, made recommendations to the Indianapolis City-County Council.</p>
<p>The city subsequently began to increase funding for efforts to reduce gun violence in coordination with the <a href="https://cicf.welldonesite.com/not-for-profits/crime-prevention/">Indianapolis Foundation</a>, a local charity.</p>
<p>This private-public partnership has been supporting nonprofits engaged in several approaches to <a href="https://publichealth.jhu.edu/departments/health-policy-and-management/research-and-practice/center-for-gun-violence-solutions/solutions/strategies-to-reduce-community-gun-violence">reducing gun violence</a> ever since. </p>
<p>The overarching purpose of all these programs is to help the people who are the most likely to be wounded or killed by a gun to obtain services, such as job training and health care, in their communities and change norms away from gun violence to reduce that risk.</p>
<p>Because people killed by guns in Indianapolis are most likely to be <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Indianapolis-Gun-Violence-Problem-Analysis-Summary-Narrative.pdf">male, young and Black</a>, young Black men are a major focus for all the programs. Researchers have also determined that 3 in 4 gun homicide victims and suspects in the city were known to law enforcement through prior investigation, arrests or convictions. So that is another factor in terms of determining who gets these services.</p>
<h2>Employing formerly incarcerated people</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.cicf.org/2022/07/05/mayor-joe-hogsett-the-indianapolis-foundation-announce-recipients-of-elevation-grants/">Other grants</a> from the private-public partnership in Indianapolis have funded <a href="https://theconversation.com/cbt-dbt-psychodynamic-what-type-of-therapy-is-right-for-me-171101">cognitive behavioral therapy</a> for people at risk of engaging in or being victims of gun violence. This is a method in which people get help identifying and pushing back on their negative thoughts and behaviors, making it easier to resolve disputes without resorting to violence.</p>
<p>The city has also partnered with <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdin/pr/us-department-justice-recognizes-community-violence-intervention-program-indianapolis">several community organizations</a> to prevent gun violence.</p>
<p>One such group is Recycleforce, which <a href="https://cbs4indy.com/this-morning/recycleforce-provides-resources-for-formerly-incarcerated-to-find-housing/">hires formerly incarcerated people</a> to recycle old electronic goods. It’s among several enhanced transitional job programs that provide services and <a href="https://www.indy.gov/activity/violence-reduction">training to the recently incarcerated</a>.</p>
<p>One study showed that Recycleforce participants were <a href="https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/opre/etjd_sted_7_site_report_508_2.pdf">5.8% less likely to be arrested</a> and 4.8% less likely to be convicted of a crime in the first six months of the period reviewed. However, in the second six months, the benefits were no longer statistically significant. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2019.1596190">second study</a> used in-depth interviews to assess the program. It suggested that the <a href="http://doi.org/10.1080/10509674.2019.1596190">peer-mentor model</a> Recycleforce follows works well.</p>
<h2>Preventing future gunshots</h2>
<p>A large Indianapolis hospital, Eskenazi, also runs several important anti-violence programs. One, called <a href="https://www.eskenazihealth.edu/programs/violence-prevention">Prescription for Hope</a>, assists people treated there for gunshot wounds.</p>
<p>Like similar <a href="https://www.thehavi.org/what-is-an-hvip">hospital-based programs</a> around the country, the one based at Eskenazi helps participants develop effective life skills and connects them with community resources to reduce criminal and risky behaviors.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/000313481207800942">initial study of the program</a> showed that only about 3% of participants returned to the emergency department with a repeat violent injury within the first year, compared with an 8.7% rate when the program wasn’t underway. This translates to a two-thirds reduction in the likelihood that someone with a violent injury will need similar emergency medical assistance in the future. </p>
<h2>‘Violence interruption’</h2>
<p>In 2021, <a href="https://cbs4indy.com/news/violence-interrupters-hit-streets-to-curb-indys-record-homicide-rate/">Indianapolis began to hire “violence interrupters</a>” to calm contentious situations and reduce the risk of violent retaliation.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.huduser.gov/portal/periodicals/em/summer16/highlight2.html">violence interruption</a>” method connects people with personal ties to those most at risk of becoming involved in gun violence as victims or perpetrators.</p>
<p>Violence interrupters try to mediate disputes and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/many-cities-are-putting-hopes-violence-interrupters-understand-challen-rcna28118">calm things down</a> on the streets, at parties and during funerals before any shooting starts. They have credibility with violence-prone people because of their past experiences. </p>
<p>The interrupters also help at-risk people to obtain services and to <a href="https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/227181.pdf">change gun violence norms</a> in their communities. </p>
<p>Violence interruption, part of a growing <a href="https://cvg.org/what-we-do/">public health approach to reining in violence</a>, <a href="https://cvg.org/about/#history">originated in Chicago</a> in 2000. Now called the “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122509">cure violence model</a>,” it has spread quickly amid <a href="https://johnjayrec.nyc/2020/11/09/av2020/">generally positive</a> <a href="https://bja.ojp.gov/program/community-violence-intervention/overview">research results</a>.</p>
<p>Indianapolis was employing about <a href="https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/violence-interrupters-to-hit-the-streets-of-indianapolis-crime-homicide-record/531-a628deb7-37eb-437c-8b34-dadc7597a890">50 violence interrupters as of mid-2022</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1353139788761735168"}"></div></p>
<h2>More federal funding</h2>
<p>Most of the city’s violence-prevention grants funding these efforts have been relatively small until now, ranging from US$5,000 to $325,000.</p>
<p>But U.S. cities, including Indianapolis, now have have until 2024 to <a href="https://gfrc.uic.edu/our-work/featured-projects/how-are-cities-using-arpa-fiscal-recovery-funds/what-the-first-batch-of-treasury-department-reports-tells-us-about-how-governments-are-using-their-arpa-money/">tap into a comparatively large stream of federal funding</a> for community-based violence intervention. That money was included in the $1.9 trillion stimulus package enacted in 2021.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/crime-watch-8/indianapolis-spends-45m-on-organizations-combating-violence/">Using these federal funds</a>, the city is partnering with the Indianapolis Foundation to <a href="https://www.cicf.org/not-for-profits/elevation-grant/">award grants totaling $45 million</a> from 2022 through 2024 for local efforts to reduce gun violence. </p>
<p>Fortunately, Indianapolis’ <a href="https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/impd-new-numbers-show-gun-violence-going-down-in-indianapolis/">homicides appear to be declining</a> in 2022 compared with a year earlier.</p>
<p>As a local resident, I certainly welcome this news. But as researcher, I consider it to be too soon to tell whether this trend will continue or what the many public and private efforts to reduce gun violence underway will accomplish.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184823/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Stucky received funding to serve as a research partner on Indianapolis anti-violence initiatives prior to 2013. </span></em></p>A burst of federal funding is letting Indianapolis expand existing efforts and try promising new approaches that other cities have developed.Thomas D. Stucky, Professor of Criminal Justice, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1870992022-08-01T12:03:16Z2022-08-01T12:03:16ZMeternos el dedo en la nariz es una forma estupenda de introducir más gérmenes en el cuerpo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/474266/original/file-20220715-20-m5tskb.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5991%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/middle-aged-man-picking-his-nose-2120844968">Miguel AF / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vamos, reconozca que lo hace. Ya sea en compañía o cuando creemos que nadie está mirando, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7852253/">todos nos hurgamos la nariz</a> en algún momento. No estamos solos en eso: otros <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/video-monkey-uses-tool-pick-her-nose">primates</a> también lo hacen.</p>
<p>El estigma social que rodea a hurgarse la nariz está muy extendido. Pero ¿deberíamos hacerlo o no? Y en caso afirmativo, ¿qué deberíamos hacer con nuestros mocos? </p>
<p>Somos científicos que hemos investigado los contaminantes ambientales en nuestras casas, nuestros lugares de trabajo, nuestros jardines. Por eso tenemos alguna idea de lo que realmente nos metemos ahí dentro cuando nos hurgamos la nariz.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Los niños que aún no han aprendido las normas sociales se dan cuenta rápidamente de que el ajuste entre un dedo y una fosa nasal es bastante bueno.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>¿Qué hay en un moco?</h2>
<p>Hurgarse la nariz es un hábito totalmente natural: los niños que aún no han aprendido las normas sociales se dan cuenta muy pronto de que el ajuste entre su dedo índice y una fosa nasal es bastante bueno. Pero hay mucho más que mocos ahí arriba. </p>
<p>Durante los <a href="https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/lung-info/breathing">~22 000 ciclos respiratorios diarios</a>, la mucosidad que forma esos mocos crea un filtro biológico fundamental para capturar el polvo y los alérgenos antes de que penetren en nuestras vías respiratorias, donde pueden causar inflamación, asma y otros <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/27/862963172/how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience">problemas pulmonares a largo plazo</a>. </p>
<p>Las células del conducto nasal, llamadas <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553208/">células caliciformes</a> por su aspecto de copa, generan mucosidad para atrapar virus, bacterias y polvo que contenga <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/toxs.1998.2549">sustancias potencialmente nocivas</a> como <a href="https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=93&toxid=22">plomo</a>, amianto y polen. La mucosidad nasal, junto a sus anticuerpos y enzimas, son la primera línea del <a href="https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/49/1/1601709">sistema de defensa inmunitaria contra las infecciones</a>. </p>
<p>La cavidad nasal también tiene su propio microbioma. A veces, estas poblaciones naturales pueden verse alteradas, lo que provoca diversas afecciones como la <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2152656720911605">rinitis</a>. Pero en general, los microbios de nuestra nariz ayudan a repeler a los invasores, luchando contra ellos en un campo de batalla de moco.</p>
<p>El polvo, los microbios y los alérgenos capturados en la mucosidad acaban siendo ingeridos a medida que esa mucosidad gotea por la garganta. Esto no suele ser un problema, pero puede agravar la exposición ambiental a algunos contaminantes.</p>
<p>Por ejemplo, el <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-verdicts-in-we-must-better-protect-kids-from-toxic-lead-exposure-41969">plomo</a> –una neurotoxina presente en el <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">polvo doméstico</a> y en la <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">tierra del jardín</a>– entra en el cuerpo de los niños de forma más eficiente a través de la ingestión y la digestión. </p>
<p>Por lo tanto, puede empeorar la exposición a determinados tóxicos ambientales si se aspiran o se comen los mocos en lugar de sonarse.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hurgarse la nariz se conoce formalmente como rinotillexomanía, y comerse esos mocos pegajosos se conoce como mucofagia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>¿Qué dice la ciencia sobre los riesgos de extraer mocos?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/506401">El estafilococo dorado</a> (<em>Staphylococcus aureus</em>, a veces abreviado como <em>S. aureus</em>) es un germen que puede causar diversas infecciones leves o graves. Los estudios demuestran que a menudo se <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm200101043440102">encuentra en la nariz</a>, lo que se denomina transporte nasal.</p>
<p>Un <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/nose-picking-and-nasal-carriage-of-staphylococcus-aureus/DC21FFA771693C772308530D2B1A1452">estudio</a> halló que el hurgado de la nariz está asociado a (y puede ser la causa de) el transporte nasal de <em>S. aureus</em>. Y concluyó que renunciar al hábito de hurgarse la nariz puede ayudar a las estrategias de descolonización de <em>S. aureus</em>.</p>
<p>Es importante. Sobre todo porque el hurgado de la nariz también puede estar asociado con <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">un mayor riesgo</a> de transmisión de estafilococo a las heridas, donde supone un riesgo más grave. No hay que obviar que, en ocasiones, los antibióticos no funcionan con el estafilococo dorado. Es más, un reciente documento <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">apuntaba</a> que la creciente resistencia a los antibióticos exige que los profesionales sanitarios evalúen los hábitos de hurgado de la nariz de los pacientes y los eduquen sobre formas eficaces de prevenir esas prácticas.</p>
<p>Hurgarse la nariz también podría ser un vehículo de transmisión de <em>Streptococcus pneumoniae</em>, causante común de <a href="https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00599-2018">neumonía</a> entre <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500738/">otras infecciones</a>.</p>
<p>En definitiva, meterse un dedo en la nariz es una forma estupenda de introducir más gérmenes en el cuerpo, o de esparcirlos por el entorno con el dedo mocoso.</p>
<p>Además, existe el riesgo de que se produzcan heridas y abrasiones en el interior de las fosas nasales, lo que puede permitir que las bacterias patógenas invadan su cuerpo. Hurgarse la nariz de forma compulsiva hasta el punto de autolesionarse se denomina <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2173573521000855#:%7E:text=Rhinotillexoman%C3%ADa%20es%20un%20t%C3%A9rmino%20que,patol%C3%B3gico%20h%C3%A1bito%20de%20hurgarselaNariz.&text=ElHurgarseLaNariz%20es%20com%C3%BAn%20en,lesiones%20en%20ni%C3%B1os%20y%20adolescentes">rinotillexomanía</a>. </p>
<h2>Me he hurgado, ¿y ahora qué?</h2>
<p>Algunas personas se los comen (el término técnico es <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/eating-boogers#risks">mucofagia</a>, que significa “alimentación con moco”). Aparte de que el hábito es asqueroso, implica ingerir todos esos gérmenes ligados a los mocos inhalados, los metales tóxicos y los contaminantes ambientales de los que hemos hablado antes.</p>
<p>Otros se los limpian en el objeto más cercano, un pequeño regalo que será descubierto más tarde por otra persona. Una manera repugnante de propagar los gérmenes.</p>
<p>Hay personas bastante más higiénicas que utilizan un pañuelo de papel para recogerlo y lo tiran después a una papelera o al inodoro sin más, otra mala idea. Lo más recomendable es lavarse las manos con mucho cuidado después de sonarse o hurgarse la nariz, dado que hasta que la mucosidad se haya secado completamente, los virus infecciosos pueden <a href="https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mSphere.00474-19">permanecer</a> en las manos y los dedos.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Algunas personas más higiénicas y respetables utilizan un pañuelo de papel para recogerlo y lo tiran después a la papelera o al váter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No hay consejo del mundo que impida hurgarse la nariz</h2>
<p>A escondidas, en el coche o en las servilletas, todos lo hacemos. Y, a decir verdad, es muy satisfactorio. Pero honremos la incansable labor que realizan nuestras extraordinarias narices, mucosas y cavidades sinusales –unas adaptaciones biológicas tan sorprendentes– y recordemos que se esfuerzan por protegernos.</p>
<p>Nuestra nariz trabaja horas extras para mantenernos sanos, así que no se lo pongamos más difícil metiendo nuestros sucios dedos ahí dentro. </p>
<p>Y si al final cae en la tentación, hágase un favor: suénese con discreción, deshágase del pañuelo con cuidado y lávese las manos después.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor recibió financiación a través de una beca de ciencia ciudadana del Gobierno australiano (2017-2020), CSG55984 'Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust' (el proyecto DustSafe). También ha recibido financiación del Consejo de Investigación de Australia. Es profesor honorario de la Universidad Macquarie y empleado a tiempo completo de la EPA Victoria, nombrado para el papel estatutario de científico medioambiental jefe.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Gillings recibe financiación del Consejo Australiano de Investigación.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.</span></em></p>A escondidas, en el coche o en servilletas, todos lo hacemos, pero nuestra nariz trabaja horas extras para mantenernos sanos, así que no se lo pongamos más difícil metiendo nuestros sucios dedos ahí dentro.Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, Macquarie UniversityGabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUIMichael Gillings, Professor of Molecular Evolution, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1869862022-07-21T12:24:36Z2022-07-21T12:24:36ZLandsat turns 50: How satellites revolutionized the way we see – and protect – the natural world<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/475660/original/file-20220722-16-vraozm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C1627%2C1060&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Yellow River in China winds past aquaculture and an oil and gas field on its way to a newly formed channel.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/world-of-change/YellowRiver">NASA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Fifty years ago, U.S. scientists <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-1">launched a satellite</a> that dramatically changed how we see the world.</p>
<p>It captured images of Earth’s surface in minute detail, showing how wildfires burned landscapes, how farms erased forests, and many other ways humans were changing the face of the planet.</p>
<p>The first satellite in <a href="https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/">the Landsat series</a> launched on July 23, 1972. Eight others followed, providing the same views so changes could be tracked over time, but with increasingly powerful instruments. <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-8">Landsat 8</a> and <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/landsat-missions/landsat-9">Landsat 9</a> are orbiting the planet today, and NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey are <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-landsat-satellite-program-and-why-it-important">planning a new Landsat mission</a>.</p>
<p>The images and data from these satellites are used to track deforestation and changing landscapes around the world, locate urban heat islands, and understand the impact of new river dams, among many other projects. Often, the results help communities respond to risks that may not be obvious from the ground.</p>
<p>Here are three examples of Landsat in action, from The Conversation’s archive.</p>
<h2>Tracking changes in the Amazon</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Wide aerial view of Amazon rainforest and the dam under construction." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/459955/original/file-20220427-20-c2tqce.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Belo Monte Dam’s construction, shown here in 2012, flooded land and changed the river.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/construction-continues-at-the-belo-monte-dam-complex-in-the-news-photo/146390482?adppopup=true">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When work began on the Belo Monte Dam project in the Brazilian Amazon in 2015, Indigenous tribes living along the Big Bend of the Xingu River started noticing changes in the river’s flow. The water they relied on for food and transportation was disappearing.</p>
<p>Upstream, a new channel would eventually divert as much as 80% of the water to the hydroelectric dam, bypassing the bend.</p>
<p>The consortium that runs the dam argued that there was no scientific proof that the change in water flow harmed fish.</p>
<p>But there is clear proof of the Belo Monte Dam project’s impact – from above, write <a href="https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=lrfA5goAAAAJ&hl=en">Pritam Das</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fUbQsaoAAAAJ&hl=en">Faisal Hossain</a>, <a href="https://uw-hydro.github.io/team/">Hörður Helgason</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=eVEMjKQAAAAJ&hl=en">Shahzaib Khan</a> at the University of Washington. Using satellite data from the Landsat program, the team <a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-over-the-amazon-capture-the-choking-of-the-house-of-god-by-the-belo-monte-dam-they-can-help-find-solutions-too-182012">showed how the dam dramatically altered</a> the hydrology of the river. </p>
<p><iframe id="3O4sz" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3O4sz/7/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<figure>
<iframe frameborder="0" class="juxtapose" width="100%" height="400" src="https://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/juxtapose/latest/embed/index.html?uid=ac448b06-c5a6-11ec-b5bb-6595d9b17862"></iframe>
</figure><figure><figcaption>The front satellite image shows the Big Bend of the Xingu River on May 26, 2000, before the Belo Monte Dam project began. Move the slider to the left to see the same region on July 20, 2017.</figcaption></figure>
<p>“As scientists who work with remote sensing, we believe satellite observations can empower populations around the world who face threats to their resources,” Das and his colleagues write.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-over-the-amazon-capture-the-choking-of-the-house-of-god-by-the-belo-monte-dam-they-can-help-find-solutions-too-182012">Satellites over the Amazon capture the choking of the ‘house of God’ by the Belo Monte Dam – they can help find solutions, too</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>It’s hot in the city – and even hotter in some neighborhoods</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman holds a young girl up to a fan in front of a store on a hot day." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473968/original/file-20220713-2711-8mosou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=518&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A street fan provides relief on a hot summer day in New York City.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/nala-pabong-holds-her-daughter-nala-fonseca-up-to-a-fan-to-news-photo/1194893">Stephen Chernin/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Landsat’s instruments can also measure surface temperatures, allowing scientists to map heat risk street by street within cities as global temperatures rise.</p>
<p>“Cities are generally hotter than surrounding rural areas, but even within cities, some residential neighborhoods get dangerously warmer than others just a few miles away,” writes <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=PMtZvIQAAAAJ&hl=en">Daniel P. Johnson</a>, who uses satellites to study the urban heat island effect at Indiana University. </p>
<p>Neighborhoods with more pavement and buildings and fewer trees can be 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 C) or more warmer than leafier neighborhoods, Johnson writes. He found that the hottest neighborhoods tend to be low-income, have majority Black or Hispanic residents and had been subjected to redlining, the discriminatory practice once used to deny loans in racial and ethnic minority communities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two maps of New York City show how vegetation matches cooler areas by temperature." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=294&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467655/original/file-20220608-14-440sdy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=370&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparing maps of New York City’s vegetation and temperature shows the cooling effect of parks and neighborhoods with more trees.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://climate.nasa.gov/faq/44/can-you-explain-the-urban-heat-island-effect/">NASA/USGS Landsat</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“Within these ‘micro-urban heat islands,’ communities can experience heat wave conditions well before officials declare a heat emergency,” Johnson writes.</p>
<p>Knowing <a href="https://theconversation.com/satellites-zoom-in-on-cities-hottest-neighborhoods-to-help-combat-the-urban-heat-island-effect-182925">which neighborhoods face the highest risks</a> allows cities to organize cooling centers and other programs to help residents manage the heat.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/landsat-zooms-in-on-cities-hottest-neighborhoods-to-help-combat-the-urban-heat-island-effect-182925">Landsat zooms in on cities' hottest neighborhoods to help combat the urban heat island effect</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The making of ghost forests</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dead tree trunks with low ground cover below." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473969/original/file-20220713-9696-b5nn1w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The white trunks of a ghost forest mark a coastal North Carolina landscape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Emily Ury</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Satellites that scan the same areas year after year can be crucial for spotting changes in hard-to-reach regions. They can monitor snow and ice cover, and, along U.S. Atlantic coast, dying wetland forests.</p>
<p>These eerie landscapes of dead, often bleached-white tree trunks have earned the nickname “ghost forests.”</p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=uHGlqtEAAAAJ&hl=en">Emily Ury</a>, an ecologist now at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, used Landsat data to spot wetland changes. She then zoomed in with high-resolution images from Google Earth – which includes Landsat images – to confirm that they were ghost forests.</p>
<p>“The results were shocking. We found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/sea-level-rise-is-killing-trees-along-the-atlantic-coast-creating-ghost-forests-that-are-visible-from-space-147971">more than 10% of forested wetland</a> within the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge [in North Carolina] was lost over the past 35 years. This is federally protected land, with no other human activity that could be killing off the forest,” Ury writes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A satellite image of the coast with red spots along a river inlet indicating dead forests" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473979/original/file-20220713-9439-5wfvb8.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Landsat’s view of the Alligator River and refuge shows signs of ghost forests on the east side of the river.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146051/a-peninsula-of-pocosin">NASA Earth Observatory</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the planet warms and sea levels rise, more salt water is reaching these areas, increasing the amount of salt in the soil of coastal woodlands from Maine to Florida. “Rapid sea level rise seems to be outpacing the ability of these forests to adapt to wetter, saltier conditions,” Ury writes.</p>
<p>Many more stories can be found in Landsat’s images, such as an overview of the <a href="https://landsat.visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=150025">war’s effects</a> on Ukraine’s wheat crop, and how <a href="https://landsat.visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=150093">algae blooms have spread in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee</a>. Countless projects are using Landsat data to track global change and possibly find solutions to problems, from <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-great-amazon-land-grab-how-brazils-government-is-clearing-the-way-for-deforestation-173416">deforestation in the Amazon</a> to the fires that have put Alaska <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149973/alaska-ablaze">on pace for another historic fire season</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An illustration of a satellite with a large solar panel for power high over a coastal area" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=443%2C173%2C1553%2C949&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/473963/original/file-20220713-14-gk3y7h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An artist’s rendering of Landsat 8.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/details.cgi?aid=10812">NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sea-level-rise-is-killing-trees-along-the-atlantic-coast-creating-ghost-forests-that-are-visible-from-space-147971">Sea level rise is killing trees along the Atlantic coast, creating 'ghost forests' that are visible from space</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186986/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
With decades of images and data from the same locations, these satellites can show changes over time, including deforestation, changes in waterways and how loss of trees corresponds to urban heat.Stacy Morford, Environment + Climate EditorLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1850522022-07-13T02:18:48Z2022-07-13T02:18:48ZWhen you pick your nose, you’re jamming germs and contaminants up there too. 3 scientists on how to deal with your boogers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471501/original/file-20220629-18-quxfkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C98%2C6000%2C3889&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Come on, you know you do it. </p>
<p>Whether you’re in the trusted company of your spouse, or sneaking a quick one when you think nobody’s looking, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7852253/">we all pick our noses</a>. Other <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/video-monkey-uses-tool-pick-her-nose">primates</a> do it too.</p>
<p>The social stigma around nose picking is widespread. But should we really be doing it – and what should we do with our boogers? </p>
<p>We’re scientists who have researched the environmental contaminants – in our homes, our workplaces, our gardens – so we’ve have some insight on what you’re really jamming up there when your finger is slotted satisfyingly into your sniffer.</p>
<p>Here’s what you need to know before you pick and flick.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471502/original/file-20220629-26-nfo4ow.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=532&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children who have not yet learn social norms quickly realise that the fit between a finger and a nostril is pretty good.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wearing-shoes-in-the-house-is-just-plain-gross-the-verdict-from-scientists-who-study-indoor-contaminants-177542">Wearing shoes in the house is just plain gross. The verdict from scientists who study indoor contaminants</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is in a booger?</h2>
<p>Nose picking is an entirely natural habit — children who have not yet learned social norms realise very early on that the fit between their forefinger and a nostril is pretty good. But there’s lot more than just snot up there. </p>
<p>During the <a href="https://www.lung.ca/lung-health/lung-info/breathing">~22,000 breath cycles per day</a>, the booger-forming mucus up there forms a critical biological filter to capture dust and allergens before they penetrate our airways, where they may cause inflammation, asthma, and other <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/27/862963172/how-the-lost-art-of-breathing-can-impact-sleep-and-resilience">long-term pulmonary issues</a>. </p>
<p>Cells in your nasal passage called <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK553208/">goblet cells</a> (named after their cup-like appearance) generate mucus to trap viruses, bacteria and dust containing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1006/toxs.1998.2549">potentially harmful substances</a> like <a href="https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=93&toxid=22">lead</a>, asbestos and pollen. </p>
<p>Nasal mucus and its antibodies and enzymes are the body’s front line <a href="https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/49/1/1601709">immune defence system against infections</a>. </p>
<p>The nasal cavity also has its own microbiome. Sometimes these natural populations can be disturbed, leading to various conditions such as <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2152656720911605">rhinitis</a>. But in general, our nose microbes help repel invaders, fighting them on a mucus battlefield.</p>
<p>The dust, microbes and allergens captured in your mucus eventually get ingested as that mucus drips down your throat.</p>
<p>This is typically not an issue, but it can exacerbate environmental exposure to some contaminants.</p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-verdicts-in-we-must-better-protect-kids-from-toxic-lead-exposure-41969">lead</a> – a neurotoxin prevalent in <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">house dust</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">garden soils</a> – enters children’s bodies most efficiently through ingestion and digestion. </p>
<p>So, you may worsen particular environmental toxic exposures if you sniff or eat boogers up instead of blowing them out.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=329&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471513/original/file-20220629-20-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=414&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nose picking is formally known as rhinotillexomania, and eating those sticky boogers is known as mucophagy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does the science say about the risks of booger-mining?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/506401">Golden Staph</a> (Staphylococcus aureus, sometimes shortened to S. aureus) is a germ that can cause a variety of mild to severe infections. Studies show it is often <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejm200101043440102">found in the nose</a> (this is called nasal carriage).</p>
<p>One <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/infection-control-and-hospital-epidemiology/article/abs/nose-picking-and-nasal-carriage-of-staphylococcus-aureus/DC21FFA771693C772308530D2B1A1452">study</a> found:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nose picking is associated with S. aureus nasal carriage. The role of nose picking in nasal carriage may well be causal in certain cases. Overcoming the habit of nose picking may aid S. aureus decolonization strategies.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nose picking may also be associated with <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">an increased risk</a> of Golden Staph transmission to wounds, where it poses a more serious risk. </p>
<p>Sometimes, antibiotics do not work on Golden Staph. One paper <a href="https://cdn.mdedge.com/files/s3fs-public/CT106004010_e.PDF">noted</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>growing antibiotic resistance calls for health care providers to assess patients’ nose picking habits and educate them on effective ways to prevent finger-to-nose practices.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nose picking could also be a vehicle for transmission of Streptococcus pneumoniae, a common cause of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1183/13993003.00599-2018">pneumonia</a> among <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7500738/">other infections</a>.</p>
<p>In other words, sticking a digit in your nose is a great way to jam germs further into your body, or spread them around your environment with your snotty finger.</p>
<p>There’s also the risk of gouging and abrasions inside the nostrils, which can allow pathogenic bacteria to invade your body. Compulsive nose picking to the point of self-harm is called <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2173573521000855#:%7E:text=Rhinotillexomania%20is%20a%20term%20that,pathological%20habit%20of%20nose%20picking.&text=Nose%20picking%20is%20common%20in,injury%20in%20children%20and%20adolescents.">rhinotillexomania</a>. </p>
<h2>Well, I picked. Now what?</h2>
<p>Some people eat them (the technical term is <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/eating-boogers#risks">mucophagy</a>, meaning “mucus feeding”). Apart from booger eating being disgusting, it means ingesting all those inhaled mucus bound germs, toxic metals and environmental contaminants discussed earlier.</p>
<p>Others wipe them on the nearest item, a little gift to be discovered later by someone else. Gross, and a great way to spread germs.</p>
<p>Some more hygienic people use a tissue for retrieval, and dispose of it in a bin or toilet afterwards.</p>
<p>That’s probably among the least worst options, if you really must pick your nose. Just make sure you wash your hands extra carefully after blowing or digging in your nose, given that until mucus has completely dried, infectious viruses can <a href="https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/mSphere.00474-19">remain</a> on the hands and fingers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471515/original/file-20220629-12-s0d62b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some more hygienic and respectable people use a tissue for retrieval, and then dispose of it in a bin or toilet afterwards.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No advice in the world will keep you from digging away</h2>
<p>In secret, in the car or on napkins, we all do it. And truth be told, it is so very satisfying. </p>
<p>But let’s honour the tireless labour done by our remarkable noses, mucus and sinus cavities – such amazing biological adaptations – and remember they’re trying hard to protect you.</p>
<p>Your snoz is working overtime to keep you healthy, so don’t make it any harder for it by jamming your grubby fingers up there. Don’t be a grub – blow discreetly, dispose of the tissue thoughtfully and wash hands afterwards.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-shows-blood-or-plasma-donations-can-reduce-the-pfas-forever-chemicals-in-our-bodies-178771">New evidence shows blood or plasma donations can reduce the PFAS 'forever chemicals' in our bodies</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185052/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor received funding via an Australian Government Citizen Science Grant (2017-2020), CSG55984 ‘Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust’ (the DustSafe project). He is also the recipient of Australian Research Council funding. He is an Honorary Professor at Macquarie University and a full time employee of EPA Victoria, appointed to the statutory role of Chief Environmental Scientist.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Gillings receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In secret, in the car or on napkins, we all do it. And truth be told, it is so satisfying.Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, Macquarie UniversityGabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUIMichael Gillings, Professor of Molecular Evolution, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1856672022-06-29T20:29:14Z2022-06-29T20:29:14ZLet’s spare a few words for ‘Silent Cal’ Coolidge on July 4, his 150th birthday<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471452/original/file-20220628-14646-ondh6m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">President Calvin Coolidge stands with members of a nonprofit group called the Daughters of 1812.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-calvin-coolidge-stands-with-members-of-a-group-called-the-picture-id640478979?s=2048x2048"> Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A woman sitting next to President Calvin Coolidge at a dinner party once told him she had made a bet that she could get him to say more than two words. </p>
<p>“<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">You lose</a>,” replied Coolidge, who served as president from 1923 until 1929.</p>
<p>During a White House recital, a nervous opera singer foundered through a performance before Coolidge. Someone asked him what he thought of the singer’s execution. “<a href="https://whatculture.com/offbeat/12-most-impressive-retorts-in-history?page=3">I’m all for it,” he said</a>. </p>
<p>Coolidge was so taciturn that he was known as “Silent Cal.” </p>
<p>Three U.S. presidents – all of them Founding Fathers, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe – <a href="https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/blog/three-presidents-die-on-july-4th-just-a-coincidence">died on July 4.</a></p>
<p>Only one was <a href="https://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/who-is-the-only-u-s-president-born-on-july-4.html">born on July 4</a>. </p>
<p>Calvin Coolidge <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">was born</a> in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, 150 years ago, on July 4, 1872. He died in January 1933. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black and white photo depicts a man in a topcoat and hat gazing at a truck bearing images of two men and the words 'Two common sense Americans.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471453/original/file-20220628-14748-ptv14g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=684&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calvin Coolidge inspects a campaign truck painted with images of himself and his running mate, Charles G. Dawes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/calvin-coolidge-inspects-a-campaign-truck-painted-with-images-of-his-picture-id104560171?s=2048x2048">FPG/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Getting to know Coolidge</h2>
<p>Fireworks rarely followed Coolidge during his political career. </p>
<p>Coolidge was balding, 5-foot-9 with a slight build, and he could walk into an empty room and blend in. He rarely smiled or changed expression. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, described Coolidge’s dour expression by saying <a href="https://libquotes.com/alice-roosevelt-longworth/quote/lbn2b5z">he looked as if</a> “he had been <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=weaned%20on%20a%20pickle">weaned on a pickle</a>.”</p>
<p>Such a description would not have offended Coolidge. “I think the American public wants a solemn ass as a president,” <a href="https://www.loc.gov/item/2010643539/">he said</a>, “and I think I’ll go along with them.” </p>
<h2>Best known for a laugh or two</h2>
<p>The 30th president remains a footnote in the history of U.S. presidents. Coolidge was preceded in the White House by Warren Harding, whose administration was one of <a href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-schiller-harding-trump-20180802-story.html">the most corrupt in U.S. history</a>. Coolidge was succeeded by Herbert Hoover, who was in office when the country fell into the throes of the <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/great-depression-history">Great Depression</a>, which began with the crash of the stock market in October 1929, several months after Hoover took office. </p>
<p>Coolidge is probably best known for his contributions to books of political humor. I included him in a 2020 book I edited, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Art-Political-Putdown-Comebacks-Politicians/dp/1452183856">The Art of the Political Putdown: The Greatest Comebacks, Ripostes, and Retorts in History</a>.”</p>
<p>Coolidge, a Republican who believed in <a href="https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/essays-papers-addresses-17/">small government, low taxes</a>, morality, thrift and tradition, rose quickly – but quietly – in Massachusetts politics, where he became <a href="https://malegislature.gov/VirtualTour/Artifact/90">president of the state Senate in 1914</a>. While serving in this capacity, two senators got into a bitter exchange of words in which one told the other to go to hell. The recipient of the remark demanded that Coolidge take his side. “I’ve looked up the law, Senator,” Coolidge told him, “and <a href="https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/essays-papers-addresses-17/">you don’t have to go</a>.”</p>
<p>Coolidge was elected <a href="https://malegislature.gov/VirtualTour/Artifact/90">governor of Massachusetts in 1919</a>. He soon earned a national reputation for being decisive by firing striking police officers in Boston and ordering the state militia to bring calm to the city after the strike had left its inhabitants vulnerable to violent mobs in September 1919. </p>
<p>Warren Harding, the Republican presidential nominee in 1920, chose Coolidge as his running mate. Harding and Coolidge won the election. Coolidge then became president when Harding died in 1923. </p>
<p>Early in his term, in December 1923, Coolidge <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">spoke to Congress</a> and pressed for isolation in U.S. foreign policy and tax cuts. He believed <a href="https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/11/calvin-coolidge-why-are-republicans-so-obsessed-with-him.html">in small government</a> and also benefited from the country’s strong economic position in the early 1920s. This helped his popularity rise, and he got more than <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/calvin-coolidge/">54% of the popular vote</a> in the 1924 election.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Calvin Coolidge eats ice cream off a plate next to his wife, in front of a group of men dressed formally in suits and a Navy uniform in this black and white photo" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=444&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471459/original/file-20220628-14286-ejcf8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=558&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Calvin Coolidge and his wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, eat ice cream at a garden party for veterans at the White House in an undated photo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-and-mrs-coolidge-eat-ice-cream-at-a-garden-party-for-at-picture-id640491357?s=2048x2048">Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A genius for inactivity</h2>
<p>If it was Coolidge’s decisive action that brought him to national attention, it was his inaction as president that defined his presidency and won him the admiration of political conservatives. </p>
<p>Newspaper columnist <a href="https://www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/06/the-anti-propaganda-of-calvin-coolidge/">Walter Lippmann wrote</a> this about Coolidge in 1926: “Mr. Coolidge’s genius for inactivity is developed to a very high point. It is a grim, determined, alert inactivity, which keeps Mr. Coolidge occupied constantly.”</p>
<p><a href="https://css.cua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Arnold-Calvin-Coolidge-Classical-Statesman-1.pdf">Historians, however, praise Coolidge</a> for presiding over low inflation, low unemployment and budget surpluses during every year of his presidency. He kept the country at peace and restored confidence in the government after the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Warren-G-Harding/Scandals">scandal-plagued Harding years</a>. </p>
<p>But being president and taking daily naps still apparently left Coolidge with a lot of free time. </p>
<p>Coolidge reportedly liked to <a href="https://nebushumor.wordpress.com/2020/03/26/stray-historical-thoughts-calvin-coolidge-edition/">press the alarm buttons</a> in the Oval Office, and when the Secret Service agents ran into the office to see what was wrong, he would be hiding.</p>
<p>Coolidge decided not to run for reelection in 1928. When reporters asked him why, he answered with characteristic succinctness. “<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2012/05/01/151762298/the-funniest-presidents-in-history">Because there’s no chance for advancement</a>,” he said.</p>
<p>If Coolidge had been reelected, he would have suffered Hoover’s fate of being president during the Depression. His political timing was as good as his comic timing. </p>
<p>Social critic H.L. Mencken once speculated on how Coolidge would have responded to the collapse of the stock market and the collapse of the nation’s economy. </p>
<p>“He would have responded to bad times precisely as he responded to good ones – that is, by pulling down the blinds, stretching his legs upon his desk, and snoozing away the lazy afternoons,” Mencken wrote. And yet the iconoclastic Mencken had this begrudging praise for Coolidge. “There were no thrills while he reigned, but neither were there any headaches. He had no ideas, <a href="http://www.perno.com/amer/docs/H%20L%20Mencken%20on%20Calvin%20Coolidge.htm">and he was not a nuisance</a>.”</p>
<p>When American writer Dorothy Parker, who, like Coolidge, could say much with few words, learned that the former president had died in 1933, she replied, “<a href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/04/silent/">How could they tell</a>?”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185667/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Lamb does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US President Calvin Coolidge hasn’t gone down in history for his triumphs or failures as president during the 1920s – but his dry sense of humor carries on.Chris Lamb, Professor of Journalism, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1850862022-06-21T13:20:05Z2022-06-21T13:20:05ZAmericans gave a near-record $485 billion to charity in 2021, despite surging inflation rates<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469584/original/file-20220617-24-c0era.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=76%2C0%2C3326%2C1897&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Charitable donations fund a wide array of nonprofits, such as Habitat for Humanity.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/volunteers-participate-in-a-habitat-for-humanity-build-on-news-photo/1154518488?adppopup=true"> John Wolfsohn/Getty Image</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Boosted by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/30/stock-marketfutures-open-to-close-news.html">a strong year for stocks</a> and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2022/01/27/us-economy-2021-gdp-growth/9236443002/">swift economic growth</a>, U.S. giving in 2021 totaled a <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/news-events/news-item/giving-usa:--total-u.s.-charitable-giving-remained-strong-in-2021,-reaching-$484.85-billion.html?id=392">near-record US$485 billion</a>.</p>
<p>Individuals, foundations, estates and corporations gave more to charity in 2021 than before the pandemic, according to the latest annual Giving USA report from the <a href="https://givingusa.org/">Giving USA Foundation</a>, released in partnership with the <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/">Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI</a>.</p>
<p>Giving was 0.7% below the inflation-adjusted <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-gave-a-record-471-billion-to-charity-in-2020-amid-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-job-losses-and-racial-justice-161489">all-time high of $488 billion in 2020</a> – when donors responded to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing recession and an outpouring of concern over racial injustices.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=KbjWCpcAAAAJ">two of the lead</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=plWgMBcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">researchers</a> who produced this report, we found that inflation changed how far each charitable dollar went in 2021. We also saw that a significant percentage of giving came from extremely large gifts and that many charities whose 2020 donations declined may have experienced a rebound.</p>
<h2>Did inflation affect giving?</h2>
<p>Inflation – <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/16/everyone-knows-inflation-is-on-fire-heres-whats-really-fueling-it.html">the rate at which purchasing power</a> for food, rent and energy costs declines – was higher in 2021 than it has been in recent years. </p>
<p>When inflation heats up, <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/high-inflation-leaves-food-banks-struggling-to-meet-needs">charities need more money to keep up with rising costs</a>. Household budgets can also get strained by rising costs of living. But charitable giving doesn’t automatically fall when inflation rates rise. In <a href="https://inflationdata.com/articles/inflation-cpi-consumer-price-index-1980-1989/">1988 and 1989</a>, for example, inflation exceeded 4% annually, but <a href="https://ssrn.com/abstract=226702">charitable giving grew</a> in both years – even when adjusted for inflation.</p>
<p>However, higher inflation, particularly over time, can influence other economic trends that are more likely to influence how much money is donated. Those changes, in turn, can lead to declines in giving.</p>
<p>With inflation running at a <a href="https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2022/consumer-prices-up-8-5-percent-for-year-ended-march-2022.htm">much faster clip in 2022 than 2021</a>, we’re keeping an eye on any effects it may have on giving until rates subside. </p>
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<h2>Role of megadonors</h2>
<p>Individual donors gave $327 billion in 2021, or two-thirds of all charitable dollars. Ten gifts of $450 million or more, which totaled $15 billion, accounted for roughly 5% of all individual giving.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bald man with a thick graying beard and a bright yellow and orange tie-dye shirt looks off into the distance." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469585/original/file-20220617-16-rqv41r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was among the nation’s biggest donors in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/jack-dorsey-creator-co-founder-and-chairman-of-twitter-and-news-photo/1321753242?adppopup=true">Joe Raedle/Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Some of the largest donations made in 2021 went to <a href="https://theconversation.com/charitable-gifts-from-donor-advised-funds-favor-education-and-religion-171793">donor-advised funds</a>, financial accounts known as DAFs. </p>
<p>Two billionaires who took that route were Twitter co-founder and former CEO <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/the-philanthropy-50/#id=details_628_2021">Jack Dorsey</a> and SpaceX and Tesla CEO <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-elon-musk-saved-big-on-taxes-by-giving-away-a-ton-of-his-tesla-stock-172036">Elon Musk</a>.</p>
<p>Donors who transfer money into DAFs get big tax deductions right away but can decide which causes to support later. That’s similar to what happens when someone <a href="https://learning.candid.org/resources/knowledge-base/what-is-a-foundation/">moves wealth into a foundation</a>.</p>
<p>But while <a href="https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/private-foundations">foundations are required to report every grant they make</a>, all the money distributed to a particular charity from DAFs that are held at the same DAF-sponsoring organization is lumped together. This makes it impossible to separate out one individual’s support for specific causes. As a consequence, some donors may prefer to give through a DAF rather than a foundation for the anonymity.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/23/business/mackenzie-scott-philanthropy.html">MacKenzie Scott</a> has given <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-mackenzie-scotts-12-billion-in-gifts-to-charity-reflect-an-uncommon-trust-in-the-groups-she-supports-173496">at least $12 billion to charity</a> since her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos without starting a foundation, and instead <a href="https://fortune.com/2022/04/06/mackenzie-scott-elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-charity-donor-advised-funds/">relies partly on donor-advised funds</a>. In 2021, she continued to quickly channel large sums of money into nonprofits, especially those assisting people of color and underfunded communities.</p>
<p>We expect transparency to be an important issue for our research in the future. As megagifts grow as a share of individual giving, it is important to understand how much megadonors are giving and where the dollars are going.</p>
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<h2>A rebound for the arts</h2>
<p>Giving to the arts, culture and humanities rose by 22% in 2021 as many museums, theaters, ballet companies and other arts groups resumed in-person events and found ways to continue to make use of hybrid events. That growth, the biggest for any of the nine categories we track, marked a sharp reversal from 2020, when those gifts fell 7%. </p>
<p>Similarly, gifts related to health, a category that includes donations to hospitals, grew 2.9% in 2021 after a 6.9% decline a year earlier.</p>
<p>Conversely, gifts slated for colleges, universities and other educational causes fell 7.2% in 2021, following a 15% increase in 2020.</p>
<p>Overall, giving in 2021 stayed well above pre-pandemic levels. The total donated was at least 5% higher than in 2019 for seven of the nine categories we track. </p>
<p><iframe id="fpzii" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fpzii/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some of the largest donations made in 2021 went to donor-advised funds, financial accounts known as DAFs.Anna Pruitt, Associate Director of Research, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and Managing Editor, Giving USA, IUPUIJon Bergdoll, Applied Statistician of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1851832022-06-17T12:34:07Z2022-06-17T12:34:07ZWhat’s a bear market? An economist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469355/original/file-20220616-16-pz2bbs.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=298%2C277%2C3196%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">At the moment, the bear seems to have the best of the bull.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/GermanyMarkets/cb6ef3e6a18d416e8a342fa220119bc2/photo?Query=frankfurt%20bull%20bear&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=15&currentItemNo=11">AP Photo/Michael Probst</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A 16th-century proverb advises: “It’s unwise to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/the-origins-of-the-bear-and-bull-in-the-stock-market">sell a bear’s skin before catching it</a>.” </p>
<p>That’s one of the stories used to explain why, in modern times, Wall Street types call someone who sells a stock expecting its price to drop a “bear.” It follows that a market in which securities or commodities are persistently declining in value is known as a “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/the-sp-500-closed-in-a-bear-market-on-monday-what-does-that-mean.html#:%7E:text=A%20bear%20market%20is%20a,perhaps%20triggering%20an%20economic%20downturn.">bear market</a>,” like the one <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/14/the-sp-500-closed-in-a-bear-market-on-monday-what-does-that-mean.html#:%7E:text=A%20bear%20market%20is%20a,perhaps%20triggering%20an%20economic%20downturn.">U.S. stocks are experiencing now</a>. </p>
<p>The opposite, when assets are steadily rising over a period of time, is a “<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-15/wealth-shock-delays-gold-bull-market-as-goldman-revises-targets#x">bull market</a>.”</p>
<p>In my money and banking classes, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jxC8cesAAAAJ&hl=en">I teach</a> students about the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/efficient-market-hypothesis/">efficient market hypothesis</a>, which states that stock prices are rational, in that they are always fairly priced based on available information. But when there are big swings in the stock market, it’s hard for my students and others to resist using more emotive terms like “bulls” and “bears,” which call to mind the “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/animal-spirits.asp">animal spirits</a>” of investing. </p>
<p>So how do you know when you’re in a bear market?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/bear-market">Securities and Exchange Control Commission defines</a> a bear market as a period of at least two months when a broad market – measured by an index such as the S&P 500 – falls by 20% or more. When it rises by 20% or more over two months or more, it is a <a href="https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/bull-market">bull market</a>. </p>
<p>The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, which includes most of the most well-known U.S. companies, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks?sref=Hjm5biAW">has declined about 24%</a> since its its peak on Jan. 3, 2022.</p>
<p>Not everyone strictly follows this two-month rule. For example, in March 2020, when the <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EGSPC/history?period1=1581811200&period2=1586995200&interval=1d&filter=history&frequency=1d&includeAdjustedClose=true">S&P 500 plunged 34%</a> in a matter of weeks due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many analysts still <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/futures-are-steady-wednesday-night-after-dow-closes-in-bear-market-traders-await-trump.html">called it a “bear market</a>.”</p>
<p>A milder form of a bear market is “<a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-market-correction/">correction</a>.” During a correction, prices drop by 10% to 20% from the previous peak. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hartfordfunds.com/dam/en/docs/pub/whitepapers/CCWP045.pdf">Some analysts estimate</a> there have been 26 bear markets in the S&P 500 since 1928, excluding the one that began in 2022. The average length was 289 days, with a decline of about 36%. The longest was in 1973-74 and lasted 630 days.</p>
<p>There have been fewer distinct bull markets, with <a href="https://www.yardeni.com/pub/sp500corrbeartables.pdf">24 in that period</a>. They tend to last a lot longer, though, often for multiple years. </p>
<h2>Why a bear market matters</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/03/18/business/coronavirus-stock-market-recessions.html">bear market may signal a recession</a> is coming, though it’s not a perfect correlation. Since World War II, there have been three bear markets – out of a total of 12 – that didn’t precede a recession. </p>
<p>A bear market is bad news for anyone with a stock investment, whether it’s a direct stake in Apple or Walmart or a 401(k). The impact is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/success/retiring-into-a-bear-market/index.html#:%7E:text=A%20Vanguard%20study%20estimates%20that,your%20income%20stream%20by%2011%25.">particularly hard on recent retirees</a>, who are seeing their nest eggs shrink just as they need to start withdrawing income from them. </p>
<p>In addition, entering a bear market <a href="https://admiralmarkets.com/analytics/traders-blog/bearish-sentiment-roars-across-equities-ahead-of-federal-reserve-rate-decision">can have a psychological impact on investors</a>, creating a self-fulfilling cycle. Perceiving a bear market tends to prompt investors to sell even more, thus pushing prices down further and prolonging the pain.</p>
<p><em>Read other short, accessible explanations of newsworthy subjects written by academics in their areas of expertise for The Conversation U.S. <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/significant-terms-105996">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185183/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vidhura S. Tennekoon does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>US stocks recently entered a bear market as investors grow pessimistic the Federal Reserve can bring down inflation while avoiding a recession.Vidhura S. Tennekoon, Assistant Professor of Economics, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1834752022-05-24T17:53:42Z2022-05-24T17:53:42ZLlevar zapatos en casa es simplemente asqueroso<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/464262/original/file-20220519-26-hfgwzv.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5280%2C3522&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/take-off-our-shoes-when-we-1306225270">Filono Cardoso / Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Probablemente usted se limpie los zapatos si pisa algo repugnante. Pero cuando llega a casa, ¿se descalza en la puerta? Lo último en lo que pensamos en ese momento es en lo que arrastra la suela de nuestros zapatos. </p>
<p>Somos químicos medioambientales y llevamos una década examinando el ambiente interior y los contaminantes a los que se expone la gente en sus hogares. Aunque nuestro análisis del ambiente interior, a través de nuestro <a href="https://www.360dustanalysis.com">programa DustSafe</a>, dista mucho de ser completo, en la cuestión de si hay que andar con o sin zapatos en casa la ciencia se inclina por lo segundo. </p>
<p>Lo mejor es dejar la suciedad al otro lado de la puerta.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Una mujer se descalza en la puerta de casa" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Es mejor dejar la suciedad fuera de la puerta.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>¿Qué contaminantes hay en su casa y cómo han llegado a ella?</h2>
<p>Las personas pasan hasta el 90 % de su tiempo en espacios cerrados, por lo que la cuestión de si debemos llevar o no zapatos en casa no es en absoluto trivial.</p>
<p>En cuanto a riesgos para la salud pública, la normativa suele regular el suelo, la calidad del aire y los riesgos medioambientales en exteriores. Sin embargo, últimamente existe un creciente interés por regular la <a href="https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2021/Handbook-Indoor-Air-Quality.pdf">calidad del aire</a> <a href="https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2021/new-who-global-air-quality-guidelines-aim-to-save-millions-of-lives-from-air-pollution">interior</a>. </p>
<p>Las sustancias <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09603123.2018.1457141?journalCode=cije2">que se acumulan</a> en el interior de nuestros hogares no sólo incluyen el polvo y la suciedad de las personas y los animales domésticos, que sueltan pelo y piel. Alrededor de un tercio procede del exterior, y se introduce a veces arrastrado por el viento y otras a través de las suelas de los zapatos.</p>
<p>Algunos de los microorganismos presentes en el calzado y el suelo son <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/mechanisms-for-floor-surfaces-or-environmental-ground-contamination-to-cause-human-infection-a-systematic-review/37BF6318BD1473C4918A23C843B25D05">patógenos resistentes a los medicamentos</a>, incluidos agentes infecciosos asociados a los hospitales (gérmenes) muy difíciles de tratar. Si a esto le añadimos las toxinas cancerígenas de los <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408444.2018.1528208">residuos de las carreteras asfaltadas</a> y los <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23273747.2016.1148803">productos químicos para el césped</a> que alteran el sistema endocrino, es posible que veamos la suciedad de nuestros zapatos bajo una nueva luz.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Una mujer apoya los pies en el sofá" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Por favor, no haga esto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Un inventario de las asquerosidades de interior</h2>
<p>Nuestro trabajo ha consistido en medir y evaluar la exposición a una serie de sustancias nocivas que se encuentran en el interior de los hogares, entre ellas:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2231210-antibiotic-resistance-genes-can-be-passed-around-by-bacteria-in-dust/">Genes resistentes a los antibióticos</a> (genes que hacen que las bacterias sean resistentes a los antibióticos).</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00587">Productos químicos desinfectantes en el entorno doméstico</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117064">Microplásticos</a>.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/5/e044833.citation-tools">Productos químicos perfluorados</a> (también conocidos como PFAS, tienden a permanecer en el cuerpo y no descomponerse) utilizados de forma ubicua en multitud de productos industriales, domésticos y de envasado de alimentos.</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1276977">Elementos radiactivos</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Uno de los puntos fuertes de nuestro trabajo ha sido la evaluación de los niveles de <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">metales potencialmente tóxicos (como el arsénico, el cadmio y el plomo)</a> dentro de hogares en <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">35 países</a>.</p>
<p>Estos contaminantes –y sobre todo la peligrosa neurotoxina del plomo– son inodoros e incoloros. Por lo tanto, no hay forma de saber si los peligros de la exposición al plomo están solo en los <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">suelos</a> exteriores o en las <a href="https://www.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2020/Lead_in_Plumbing_Products_and_Materials.pdf">tuberías de agua</a>, o si también están en el <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">suelo del salón</a>.</p>
<p>La <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">ciencia</a> sugiere que existe una relación muy fuerte entre el plomo dentro de nuestra <a href="https://www.mapmyenvironment.com">casa y el del patio</a> o el porche. La razón más probable de esta conexión es la suciedad que entra por el aire desde el exterior o la que pisan nuestros zapatos y las patas peludas de nuestras adorables mascotas. </p>
<p>Por lo tanto, parece prioritario asegurarse de que la suciedad del exterior de nuestras viviendas se quede justo allí, fuera. </p>
<p>Un reciente <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-why-ill-be-keeping-my-shoes-on-in-your-shoeless-home-11644503227">artículo</a> argumentaba que llevar los zapatos en casa no es tan malo. El autor señalaba que <em>E. coli</em> –una bacteria peligrosa que se desarrolla en los intestinos de muchos mamíferos, incluidos los humanos– está tan ampliamente distribuida que está prácticamente en todas partes. Por lo tanto, no debería sorprender que esté presente en las suelas de los zapatos (en el 96 % de las suelas de los zapatos, como señalaba el artículo). </p>
<p>Pero seamos claros. Aunque está bien ser científico y quedarse con el término <em>E. coli</em>, este microorganismo es, dicho de forma más sencilla, la bacteria asociada a la caca. Ya sea la nuestra o la de nuestra mascota, tiene el potencial de hacernos enfermar si estamos expuestos a altos niveles. Y seamos sinceros: es simplemente asqueroso.</p>
<p>¿Por qué pasearla por el interior de su casa si tenemos una alternativa tan sencilla como descalzarnos en la puerta?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1518%2C4541%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1518%2C4541%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">¿Por qué pasear la suciedad por su casa si tiene una alternativa muy sencilla: descalzarse en la puerta?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Una casa libre de zapatos</h2>
<p>Entonces, ¿hay desventajas en andar sin zapatos por casa? </p>
<p>Más allá del <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/feet-toes-broken-pain-covid/2021/01/11/470d2efa-4a05-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html">dedo del pie que tropieza ocasionalmente</a> con algún obstáculo, desde el punto de vista de la salud ambiental no hay muchas desventajas en no ponerse los zapatos dentro de casa. Aunque dejarlos en la alfombra de la entrada también deposita allí patógenos potencialmente dañinos.</p>
<p>Prevenir es mucho mejor que tratar, y quitarse los zapatos en la puerta es un acto de prevención básica y sencilla para muchos de nosotros. ¿Necesita zapatos para apoyar los pies? Fácil: basta con tener un calzado de interior que nunca se use fuera.</p>
<p>Queda la cuestión del <em>síndrome de la casa estéril</em>, que se refiere al aumento de las tasas de alergias entre los niños. Hay quien sostiene que está relacionado con los hogares excesivamente esterilizados.</p>
<p>De hecho, un poco de suciedad es probablemente beneficiosa, ya que diversos <a href="https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(10)00907-3/fulltext">estudios</a> indican que ayuda a desarrollar el sistema inmunitario y a reducir el riesgo de alergias.</p>
<p>Lo cierto es que hay formas mejores y menos asquerosas de conseguirlo que caminar en nuestros hogares con los zapatos sucios. Salga a la calle, salga a pasear, disfrute del aire libre. Pero no lleve la suciedad al interior para que se acumule y contamine nuestros hogares.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Artículo traducido gracias a la colaboración con <a href="https://www.fundacionlilly.com/">Fundación Lilly</a></em>.</p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183475/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor recibió financiación a través de una subvención de ciencia ciudadana del Gobierno australiano (2017-2020), CSG55984 'Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust' (el proyecto DustSafe). Es profesor honorario de la Universidad Macquarie y empleado a tiempo completo de la EPA Victoria, nombrado para el papel estatutario de científico ambiental jefe.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.</span></em></p>La cuestión de si debemos llevar o no zapatos en casa no es trivial. Sobre todo porque en las suelas arrastramos patógenos resistentes a medicamentos, toxinas cancerígenas y productos químicos que alteran el sistema endocrino.Mark Patrick Taylor, Victoria's Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie UniversityGabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1797412022-03-31T12:45:18Z2022-03-31T12:45:18ZSri Lanka teeters on economic edge, from pandemic-fueled financial crisis and Ukraine war spillovers<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455349/original/file-20220330-5685-1sl3a90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=85%2C12%2C8048%2C5109&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fuel has been hard to come by in Sri Lanka lately.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SriLankaEconomy/64ee01219bea458b9ed2ecede750da2e/photo?Query=Sri%20lanka&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=46653&currentItemNo=21">AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/world/asia/sri-lanka-economic-crisis.html">unprecedented economic crisis</a> is unfolding in Sri Lanka. And while the country’s problems have been brewing for years, spillovers from the crisis in Ukraine <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-17/shock-waves-from-the-war-in-ukraine-threaten-to-swamp-sri-lanka">have sent the island nation over the edge</a>. </p>
<p>The Sri Lankan rupee <a href="https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=LKR&to=USD&view=10Y">has plunged to a record low</a> against the U.S. dollar. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/sri-lankas-rupee-devaluation-import-restrictions-may-boost-inflation-analysts-2022-03-10/">Annual inflation is in the double digits</a>. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/sri-lanka-limits-imports-367-non-essential-items-effective-midnight-2022-03-09/">Import controls are in effect</a>. And the country is <a href="https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/china-india-and-sri-lankas-unprecedented-economic-crisis/">teetering on the edge of default</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, <a href="https://economynext.com/power-cuts-continue-in-sri-lanka-with-3-hrs-45-min-outages-scheduled-for-march-19-91823/">power blackouts are routine</a>. Fuel, food and medicine – <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59952980">most of which are imported</a> – are scarce, and rising prices are putting what remains out of reach for many Sri Lankans. Even <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/19/sri-lanka-cancels-school-exams-over-paper-shortage">printing paper is hard to come by</a>, forcing schools to cancel exams. The problems <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sri-lanka-economic-crisis-imf-rcna20220">have sparked the biggest protests</a> seen here in years. Troops <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/22/sri-lanka-deploys-troops-fuel-shortage-protests">have been sent in to quell them</a>.</p>
<p>Sri Lanka is now turning to foreign assistance for help, including its <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/25/world/asia/sri-lanka-economic-crisis.html">two biggest trading partners</a>. China is considering <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-turns-to-china-for-further-25billion-assistance/article65245714.ece">offering US$2.5 billion more</a> over the <a href="https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Colombo-asks-Beijing-for-another-.5-billion-in-loans-55456.html">$2.8 billion</a> already extended, and India has put up <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-usd-billion-line-credit-sri-lanka-7825160/">$2.4 billion</a>. And President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lanka-seek-world-bank-support-alongside-imf-loan-programme-sources-2022-03-24/">is currently in negotiations</a> with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for a bigger aid package – something he had <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-10/sri-lanka-is-said-to-soften-resistance-to-imf-bailout-option">previously resisted</a>, to avoid the often onerous terms they require. </p>
<p>As an <a href="https://liberalarts.iupui.edu/departments/economics/directory/vidhura-tennekoon/">economist and former official</a> at the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jxC8cesAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">I</a> saw firsthand many of the policies that led to the current crisis. And now the economic, financial and political stability of <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/16/asias-oldest-democracy-takes-a-hit/">Asia’s oldest democracy</a> are all at risk if the government doesn’t find a sustainable way out. </p>
<h2>From civil war to wild growth</h2>
<p>Sri Lanka, which gained its independence from Britain in 1948, only recently emerged from a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/29/sri-lanka-troops-tamil-remembrance-civil-war-dead">deadly</a> and <a href="https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2016/dec/13/sri-lankas-internal-war-cost-us-200-billion-1548433.html">costly 26-year civil war</a>.</p>
<p>The war was fought between the government military of this majority Sinhalese country and armed separatists from the Tamil-speaking minority. <a href="https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/revisited/20220311-wounds-of-sri-lanka-s-civil-war-remain-impossible-to-heal">Civilians and civil properties were frequent targets</a>. </p>
<p>Toward the end of the war, in 2006, the government <a href="https://www.elibrary.imf.org/view/journals/002/2006/446/article-A001-en.xml">tried to jumpstart growth</a> by borrowing heavily and attracting foreign capital by propping up the rupee. In the short-term, the strategy worked. The economy boomed, causing the per-capita gross domestic product to surge from $1,436 in 2006 to $3,819 in 2014 – <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?end=2014&locations=LK-ID-UA-PH&most_recent_value_desc=false&start=2006">vaulting Sri Lanka past</a> Ukraine, the Philippines and Indonesia. This <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC?locations=LK">lifted 1.6 million people out of poverty</a> – 8.5% of the population – and gave rise to a large middle class. By 2019, Sri Lanka <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-country-classifications-income-level-2019-2020">ascended to the ranks</a> of the World Bank’s “upper middle-income” countries.</p>
<p>The designation lasted <a href="https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-world-bank-country-classifications-income-level-2020-2021">only for a year</a>, however, because all that growth came at a cost. <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/DT.DOD.DECT.CD?locations=LK">Sri Lanka’s external debt</a> tripled from 2006 to 2012, pushing <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2022/03/02/pr2254-sri-lanka-imf-executive-board-concludes-2021-article-iv-consultation-with-sri-lanka">total public debt to 119% of GDP</a>. </p>
<p>Those policies were suspended for a time in 2015, which stabilized the economy at a lower rate of growth, but the <a href="https://www.onmanorama.com/news/straight-talk/2022/03/23/column-ballooning-govt-debt-populist-measures-mainly-caused-sri-lanka-economic-crisis.html">debt continued to accumulate</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A man holds a stick with a loaf of bread at the end amid a crowd of protesters" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=369&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455354/original/file-20220330-6008-22i9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters are hoisting and hurling loafs of bread to highlight rising food prices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/SriLankaProtest/2d8293ecfd264dcb92a1681b3694ea9b/photo?Query=Sri%20lanka%20protests&mediaType=photo&sortBy=creationdatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1112&currentItemNo=15">AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Pandemic and war</h2>
<p>Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. </p>
<p>Tourists, who spent $5.6 billion in 2018 and played a big role in balancing Sri Lanka’s <a href="https://www.cbsl.gov.lk/en/news/external-sector-performance-december-2019">$10 billion trade deficit</a>, <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/ST.INT.RCPT.CD?locations=LK">disappeared virtually overnight</a>. </p>
<p>This dealt a massive blow to the economy, especially considering a large <a href="https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-news/2019/11/sri-lankas-new-government-announces-tax-cuts/">tax cut the previous year</a> depleted government coffers. Simply paying interest on that large debt took up <a href="https://www.onmanorama.com/news/straight-talk/2022/03/23/column-ballooning-govt-debt-populist-measures-mainly-caused-sri-lanka-economic-crisis.html">72% of government revenue in 2020</a>, requiring the central bank to print more cash to avoid default, thus fueling inflation. </p>
<p>Fortunately for the government and its citizens, Sri Lankans overseas <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.TRF.PWKR.CD.DT?locations=LK">continued to send home</a> a vital lifeline of remittances, or about $7 billion a year. </p>
<p>But in 2021, as many <a href="https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/go-to-imf-without-playing-ostrich-games-professor-prema-chandra-athukorala/">economists and analysts urged</a> Sri Lanka to seek international aid, the central bank instead <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/sri-lankas-central-bank-governor-says-imf-relief-is-not-necessary.html">focused on borrowing from its neighbors</a>, maintaining the value of the rupee and restricting imports. </p>
<p>The export controls caused shortages of essential goods like cooking gas and milk, and defending the currency <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/sri-lanka-tightens-trade-rules-boost-currency-reserves-2022-03-12/">drained Sri Lanka’s foreign reserves</a>. Moreover, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/why-does-sri-lanka-want-migrant-workers-remit-funds-via-banking-channels-2021-12-06/">remittances began to drop</a> as the black market value of the rupee fell, leading people to avoid converting dollars to rupees at the official rate or by official channels. Annual inflation <a href="https://twitter.com/steve_hanke/status/1508481053274615823">has been estimated</a> at as much as 55%, compared with the official rate of 14%. </p>
<p>By March 2022, reverberations from the war in Ukraine, which <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-russia-commodities-shortage/">drove up international prices</a> of oil, wheat and many other commodities, finally forced the government to change course. Beyond the effect on the cost of imported goods, the war also further threatens Sri Lanka’s tourism industry as <a href="https://www.ft.lk/front-page/SriLankan-Airlines-suspends-flights-to-Moscow-till-further-notice/44-732725">flights to Moscow are now suspended</a>. Before the war, <a href="https://www.sltda.gov.lk/en/monthly-tourist-arrivals-reports-2022">Russians frequently made up the biggest share</a> of Sri Lankan tourists, with Ukrainians not far behind. </p>
<p>Sri Lankan authorities had few other options than to allow the rupee to depreciate – which <a href="https://island.lk/gotas-address-to-the-nation/">is expected to save billions</a> of dollars a year – and seek IMF assistance. Sri Lanka <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/17/sri-lanka-heads-to-imf-to-end-economic-crisis-president-says.html">will likely also have to restructure</a> its large debt load – by asking foreign bondholders to accept less than than 100% of the value of their investments – to make it more sustainable.</p>
<h2>A perilous situation</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.dailymirror.lk/business-news/Influx-observed-in-remittance-flows-since-rupee-float/273-233298">strategy may be working</a>, but the cost to Sri Lankans will be high for a long time.</p>
<p>Over 350 “non-essential” <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/sri-lanka-limits-imports-367-non-essential-items-effective-midnight-2022-03-09/">items are now banned</a> for import, including milk, oranges and household appliances.</p>
<p>And the limited supply of goods that remain are getting more expensive every day. The price of cooking gas, for example, is almost <a href="https://www.newswire.lk/2022/03/20/laugfs-gas-price-increased-from-record-amount/">three times higher</a> than it was <a href="http://www.caa.gov.lk/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&Itemid=521">just five months ago</a>. </p>
<p>Securing loans from the IMF and the World Bank, along with short-term credit from China and India, may stabilize Sri Lanka’s economic and financial situation. But with protests growing and the austerity measures demanded by the lenders likely to prove unpopular, the government may find it hard to survive for long. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation’s politics, science or religion articles each week.</em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-best">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179741/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vidhura S Tennekoon is affiliated with the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and the National Economic Education Delegation (<a href="https://needelegation.org/">https://needelegation.org/</a>) and was a former employee of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.</span></em></p>Sri Lanka was already experiencing a severe economic and financial crisis. Then Russia invaded Ukraine.Vidhura S. Tennekoon, Assistant Professor of Economics, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1734962022-03-28T12:36:54Z2022-03-28T12:36:54ZHow MacKenzie Scott’s $12 billion in gifts to charity reflect an uncommon trust in the groups she supports<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454181/original/file-20220324-21-7b17cq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=156%2C18%2C1795%2C1223&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The top donor is challenging conventional wisdom about giving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-and-his-wife-mackenzie-bezos-poses-as-news-photo/950795948">Jorg Carstensen/dpa/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em><a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9">MacKenzie Scott</a> disclosed on March 23, 2022, that she had given <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-philanthropy-aa2fb209ae9915740f563de6611a0509">US$3.9 billion to 465 nonprofits</a> in the previous nine months. These <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-mackenzie-scotts-8-5-billion-commitment-to-social-and-economic-justice-is-a-model-for-other-donors-162829">no-strings-attached donations</a> bring the total she has given away in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-mackenzie-scotts-8-5-billion-commitment-to-social-and-economic-justice-is-a-model-for-other-donors-162829">past two years</a> to at least $12 billion. We asked <a href="https://blog.philanthropy.iupui.edu/2022/03/01/freeman-named-winner-of-2022-dan-david-prize/">philanthropy historian Tyrone Freeman</a> to weigh in on Scott’s approach to donating large sums of money and her emphasis on other forms of generosity.</em></p>
<h2>Is Scott’s philanthropic philosophy unique?</h2>
<p>After <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/business/mackenzie-scott-philanthropy.html">her 2019 divorce from Jeff Bezos</a>, Scott signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment that extremely affluent people make to <a href="https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=393">give away at least half their wealth</a>. </p>
<p>The pledge’s signatories may <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-window-into-the-hearts-and-minds-of-billionaire-donors-139161">write a letter</a> summing up why they are giving so much to charity and what their priorities are, which gets posted to the internet. Scott did that and amended the letter when she remarried. What makes her stand out from others who have signed the Giving Pledge is that she continues to write about her <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/">donations and what she’s learning about giving in general</a>. As a historian of philanthropy, I study the philosophies and motivations of donors, which I call their “<a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p085352">gospels of giving</a>.” </p>
<p>Her approach is clearly unique among her peers – other <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-window-into-the-hearts-and-minds-of-billionaire-donors-139161">billionaire donors</a> – because of how she relates to the organizations she supports and the diversity of those causes. She says her overarching goal is “to support the needs of underrepresented people from groups of all kinds.”</p>
<p>Scott values the expertise of the groups she supports and their leadership. She says she doesn’t <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/no-dollar-signs-this-time-ec7ab2a87261">adhere to the conventional concept</a> of philanthropy, and she questions the way many of us think about generosity. To her it is not just a numbers game. It’s more about the spirit of giving, the sacrifice in the gift. </p>
<p>One major difference is that very wealthy donors tend to drill down in a single focused area, such as higher education, or a few causes – perhaps the arts or medical research. There are advisers who often <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=28860">recommend this approach</a> to have the most impact. </p>
<p>But the nonprofits she has funded cover pretty much everything charitable donors support, from education to health, from social justice to the arts. Her latest donations even include <a href="https://www.devex.com/news/as-mackenzie-scott-donates-3-9b-one-grantee-expresses-ambivalence-102921">global organizations like CARE</a> and <a href="https://www.hias.org/news/press-releases/mackenzie-scott-and-dan-jewett-donate-10m-hias-ukraine-response">HIAS</a> that are serving the needs of Ukrainians whose lives have been turned upside down.</p>
<h2>Which other gifts stand out?</h2>
<p>Some of the largest gifts among the most recently announced are for <a href="https://www.bgca.org/news-stories/2022/March/boys-and-girls-clubs-of-america-announces-281-million-dollar-gift-from-mackenzie-scott">Girls & Boys Clubs of America</a>, <a href="https://www.communitiesinschools.org/articles/article/communities-schools-announces-transformative-investment-help-students-overcome-obstacles-learning/">Communities in Schools</a>, <a href="https://www.habitat.org/newsroom/2022/habitat-humanity-international-and-84-us-habitat-affiliates-receive-transformational">Habitat for Humanity</a>
and <a href="https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/599410-mackenzie-scott-donates-275m-to-planned-parenthood">Planned Parenthood Federation of America</a>. </p>
<p>I think it’s important that she didn’t give to only their affiliates in major cities. Foundations have been <a href="https://dailyyonder.com/rural-gets-less-foundation-money/2015/06/29/">underinvesting in rural America</a> for years. Scott’s supporting dozens of local and regional affiliates in suburban and rural counties.</p>
<p>As I have explained before, her support for <a href="https://theconversation.com/mackenzie-scotts-hbcu-giving-starkly-contrasts-with-the-approach-of-early-white-funders-of-historically-black-colleges-and-universities-159039">historically Black colleges and universities</a> is important. Two recent gifts that she made, to <a href="https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/billionaire-mackenzie-scott-gifts-20m-to-meharry-medical-college/">Meharry Medical College</a> and <a href="https://www.cdrewu.edu/newsroom/charles-r-drew-university-medicine-and-science-receives-20-million-donation-philanthropist">Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science</a>, $20 million apiece, were very significant in light of how elite white donors undercut Black higher ed institutions in the early 20th century.</p>
<h2>Does it matter when she publicly discloses information?</h2>
<p>Scott posted an update in December 2021 <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/no-dollar-signs-this-time-ec7ab2a87261">without any details about her latest donations</a>. </p>
<p>Instead, she praised other forms of giving by people without billions to their name. One thing she has drawn attention to is how there’s a lot of informal giving, and that it’s not valued. This puts Scott where the average person is, especially in <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-hispanic-and-asian-american-donors-give-more-to-social-and-racial-justice-causes-as-well-as-strangers-in-need-new-survey-166720">communities of color</a>, where people look after neighbors and family members regularly in their giving.</p>
<p>Since these are charitable activities you can’t deduct from your taxes, you might not think of these helping behaviors and many forms of civic engagement as philanthropy.</p>
<p><a href="http://webarchive.urban.org/publications/311281.html">Unlike nearly all</a> donors <a href="https://www.designbuild-network.com/projects/the-bill-melinda-gates-foundation-campus/">operating on a big scale</a>, she has no offices and, so far, <a href="https://bloomerang.co/blog/5-tips-to-help-your-nonprofit-receive-mackenzie-scott-funds/">no website</a>. She’s been criticized for <a href="https://www.geekwire.com/2021/mackenzie-scott-says-no-dollar-signs-this-time-as-she-finds-new-value-in-philanthropys-meaning/">a lack of</a> <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/mackenzie-scott-is-criticized-for-not-providing-details-in-latest-round-of-gifts">transparency, especially after she didn’t divulge</a> details in December. This sentiment has to do with the widespread belief that the public has a right to know when private interests spread their resources around <a href="https://ktar.com/story/4799980/mackenzie-scott-wont-say-how-much-shes-giving-this-time/">for public benefit</a>. </p>
<p>Her blog posts draw attention to trends people might miss regarding the groups she supports. She states the percentage of these organizations that are led by women, people of color or <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/helping-any-of-us-can-help-us-all-f4c7487818d9">people she says have</a> “lived experience in the regions they support and the issues they seek to address.”</p>
<p>When somebody shows you how they’re thinking about their giving and what they support, that could have an impact on others. It may change whether they <a href="https://theconversation.com/alumni-gratitude-and-support-for-causes-are-behind-donations-of-50-million-or-more-to-colleges-and-universities-156086">donate only to their alma mater</a>, for example. Colleges and museums are used to getting these big gifts, but many of the organizations Scott is giving tens of millions of dollars to say these are the largest donations they’ve ever received. She’s shattering the notion of who is a worthy recipient – the unspoken idea that only the elite institutions and the most well-known are worthy of big gifts.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=weekly&source=inline-weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>How does Scott talk about giving that isn’t purely monetary?</h2>
<p>For her it’s about generosity, not just dollars. She’s definitely thinking <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-elon-musk-saved-big-on-taxes-by-giving-away-a-ton-of-his-tesla-stock-172036">beyond the tax breaks she’ll get</a> for charitable gifts.</p>
<p>Her December 2021 post alludes to volunteering and other activities she calls the “work of practical beneficence” practiced by millions of people, estimating that it’s worth about $1 trillion. <a href="https://nccs.urban.org/publication/nonprofit-sector-brief-2019">Researchers have reached similar conclusions</a>. </p>
<p>She also highlighted the estimated <a href="https://globalindices.iupui.edu/tracker/index.html">$68 billion in annual global remittances</a> in that post. When people come to this country, begin working and send money to their homelands, that is a form of philanthropy. They may not use the word, but it’s the same idea, because it’s giving back to your family and your country of origin, and it responds to the same motivation as a donation to an established charity.</p>
<p>I agree that there’s much more to American philanthropy than the roughly <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-gave-a-record-471-billion-to-charity-in-2020-amid-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-job-losses-and-racial-justice-161489">half a trillion dollars</a> donated annually. There are other kinds of giving that fly below the radar screen that are important for survival, community-building, meeting basic needs and even for democracy.</p>
<p>She also addresses the role and value of <a href="https://youtu.be/KS2n7VUBOa0">using your voice</a> as an important part of social change. The history of the abolition, women’s suffrage, civil rights movements and various movements today bear this out. That is something I focus on <a href="https://theconversation.com/400-years-of-black-giving-from-the-days-of-slavery-to-the-2019-morehouse-graduation-121402">in my research</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KS2n7VUBOa0?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Historian Tyrone McKinley Freeman joined Bridgid Coulter Cheadle and Kimberly Jeffries Leonard to discuss how Black leaders are following in the footsteps of history’s trailblazers by devoting their time, talent and voice to many causes.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What do you hope the public takes away from Scott’s approach to giving?</h2>
<p>Scott has emerged as the most notable practitioner of what’s called <a href="https://www.genevaglobal.com/blog/your-reading-list-trust-based-philanthropy">trust-based philanthropy</a>. That refers to the notion that there should be <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-unrestricted-funding-two-philanthropy-experts-explain-164589">fewer strings attached to donations</a> and that reporting requirements and other expectations that often come with grants from foundations can be excessive.</p>
<p>In December 2020, Scott <a href="https://mackenzie-scott.medium.com/384-ways-to-help-45d0b9ac6ad8">mentioned that she has a team of advisers</a> to help her with screening, although she hasn’t shared what that process looks like. But after that, she is not asking anything else of the organizations she funds. Instead, she has chosen to step back and let them exercise responsibility, giving them space and flexibility. </p>
<p>I hope the public hears her answers to what I like to ask: Who counts as a philanthropist and what counts as philanthropy? I agree with Scott that it’s about more than money and that philanthropy is not only the domain of the wealthy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173496/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone McKinley Freeman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The approximately $12 billion she’s given away in the past two years has shattered conventions, explains a philanthropy historian.Tyrone McKinley Freeman, Associate Professor of Philanthropic Studies, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1775422022-03-16T03:57:09Z2022-03-16T03:57:09ZWearing shoes in the house is just plain gross. The verdict from scientists who study indoor contaminants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/450599/original/file-20220308-109743-ujxk6x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C31%2C5280%2C3498&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You probably clean your shoes if you step in something muddy or disgusting (please pick up after your dog!). But when you get home, do you always de-shoe at the door?</p>
<p>Plenty of Australians don’t. For many, what you <a href="https://sfamjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jam.13250">drag in on the bottom of your shoes</a> is the last thing on the mind as one gets home.</p>
<p>We are environmental chemists who have spent a decade examining the indoor environment and the contaminants people are exposed to in their own homes. Although our examination of the indoor environment, via our <a href="https://www.360dustanalysis.com">DustSafe program</a>, is far from complete, on the question of whether to shoe or de-shoe in the home, the science leans toward the latter. </p>
<p>It is best to leave your filth outside the door.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman removes shoes at the front door." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447469/original/file-20220221-18-1h8q5jy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">It is best to leave your filth outside the door.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">House dust from 35 countries reveals our global toxic contaminant exposure and health risk</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What contaminants are in your home, and how did they get there?</h2>
<p>People spend up to 90% of their time indoors, so the question of whether or not to wear shoes in the house is not a trivial one.</p>
<p>The policy focus is typically on the outdoor environment for soil, air quality and environmental public health risks. However, there is growing regulatory interest in the question of <a href="https://ncc.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2021/Handbook-Indoor-Air-Quality.pdf">indoor</a> <a href="https://www.euro.who.int/en/media-centre/sections/press-releases/2021/new-who-global-air-quality-guidelines-aim-to-save-millions-of-lives-from-air-pollution">air quality</a>. </p>
<p>The matter <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09603123.2018.1457141?journalCode=cije2">building up</a> inside your home includes not just dust and dirt from people and pets shedding hair and skin.</p>
<p>About a third of it is <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/es9003735">from outside</a>, either blown in or <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/how-the-dust-in-your-home-may-affect-your-health/2019/07/19/9f716068-a351-11e9-bd56-eac6bb02d01d_story.html">tramped</a> in on those offensive shoe bottoms.</p>
<p>Some of the microorganisms present on shoes and floors are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/epidemiology-and-infection/article/mechanisms-for-floor-surfaces-or-environmental-ground-contamination-to-cause-human-infection-a-systematic-review/37BF6318BD1473C4918A23C843B25D05">drug-resistant pathogens</a>, including hospital-associated infectious agents (germs) that are very difficult to treat.</p>
<p>Add in cancer-causing toxins from <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408444.2018.1528208">asphalt road residue</a> and endocrine-disrupting <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23273747.2016.1148803">lawn chemicals</a>, and you might view the filth on your shoes in a new light.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman rests her feet on the couch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447472/original/file-20220221-24-z7zsx5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Please don’t do this.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A roll-call of indoor nasties</h2>
<p>Our work has involved the measurement and assessment of exposure to a range of harmful substances found inside homes including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2231210-antibiotic-resistance-genes-can-be-passed-around-by-bacteria-in-dust/">antibiotic-resistant genes</a> (genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics)</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00587">disinfectant chemicals in the home environment</a> </p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117064">microplastics</a></p></li>
<li><p>the <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/5/e044833.citation-tools">perfluorinated chemicals</a> (also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” because of their tendency to remain in the body and not break down) used ubiquitously in a multitude of industrial, domestic and food packaging products</p></li>
<li><p><a href="http://hdl.handle.net/1959.14/1276977">radioactive elements</a>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>A strong focus of our work has involved assessing levels of <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">potentially toxic metals (such as arsenic, cadmium and lead)</a> inside homes across <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c04494">35 nations (including Australia)</a>.</p>
<p>These contaminants – and most importantly the dangerous neurotoxin lead – are odourless and colourless. So there is no way of knowing whether the dangers of lead exposure are only in your <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">soils</a> or your <a href="https://www.abcb.gov.au/sites/default/files/resources/2020/Lead_in_Plumbing_Products_and_Materials.pdf">water pipes</a>, or if they are also on your <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">living room floor</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/house-dust-from-35-countries-reveals-our-global-toxic-contaminant-exposure-and-health-risk-172499">science</a> suggests a very strong connection between the lead inside your <a href="https://www.mapmyenvironment.com">home and that in your yard soil</a>.</p>
<p>The most likely reason for this connection is dirt blown in from your yard or trodden in on your shoes, and on the furry paws of your adorable pets. </p>
<p>This connection speaks to the priority of making sure matter from your outdoor environment stays exactly there (we have tips <a href="https://www.360dustanalysis.com/pages/interpreting-your-results">here</a>).</p>
<p>A recent Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/heres-why-ill-be-keeping-my-shoes-on-in-your-shoeless-home-11644503227">article</a> argued shoes in the home aren’t so bad. The author made the point that <em>E. coli</em> – dangerous bacteria that develop in the intestines of many mammals, including humans – is so widely distributed that it’s pretty much everywhere. So it should be no surprise it can be swabbed on shoe bottoms (96% of shoe bottoms, as the article pointed out). </p>
<p>But let’s be clear. Although it’s nice to be scientific and stick with the term <em>E. coli</em>, this stuff is, put more simply, the bacteria associated with poo. </p>
<p>Whether it is ours or Fido’s, it has the potential to make us very sick if we are exposed at high levels. And let’s face it – it is just plain gross.</p>
<p>Why walk it around inside your house if you have a very simple alternative – to take your shoes off at the door?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1518%2C4541%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1518%2C4541%2C2090&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=477&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447449/original/file-20220221-26-1xza5z0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Why walk muck around inside your house if you have a very simple alternative – to take your shoes off at the door?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>On balance, shoeless wins</h2>
<p>So are there disadvantages to having a shoe-free household? </p>
<p>Beyond the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/feet-toes-broken-pain-covid/2021/01/11/470d2efa-4a05-11eb-a9f4-0e668b9772ba_story.html">occasional stubbed toe</a>, from an environmental health standpoint there aren’t many downsides to having a shoe-free house. Leaving your shoes at the entry mat also leaves potentially harmful pathogens there as well.</p>
<p>We all know prevention is far better than treatment and taking shoes off at the door is a basic and easy prevention activity for many of us. </p>
<p>Need shoes for foot support? Easy – just have some “indoor shoes” that never get worn outside.</p>
<p>There remains the issue of the “sterile house syndrome,” which refers to increased rates of allergies among children. Some argue it’s related to overly sterile households.</p>
<p>Indeed, some dirt is probably beneficial as <a href="https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(10)00907-3/fulltext">studies</a> have indicated it helps develop your immune system and reduce allergy risk.</p>
<p>But there are better and less gross ways to do that than walking around inside with your filthy shoes on. Get outside, go for a bushwalk, enjoy the great outdoors. </p>
<p>Just don’t bring the muckier parts of it inside to build up and contaminate our homes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-dust-and-where-does-it-all-come-from-168265">What is dust? And where does it all come from?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177542/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Patrick Taylor received funding via an Australian Government Citizen Science Grant (2017-2020), CSG55984 ‘Citizen insights to the composition and risks of household dust’ (the DustSafe project). He is an Honorary Professor at Macquarie University and a full time employee of EPA Victoria, appointed to the statutory role of Chief Environmental Scientist.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It is best to leave your filth outside the door.Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, Macquarie UniversityGabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1764342022-02-15T13:24:07Z2022-02-15T13:24:07ZHow poisonous mercury gets from coal-fired power plants into the fish you eat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446121/original/file-20220213-17-gt0hty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C17%2C3000%2C2110&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Coal-fired power plants are a source of mercury that people can ingest by eating fish.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/danielle-gross-casts-his-fishing-line-into-the-potomac-news-photo/478998730">Mark Wilson/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>People fishing along the banks of the White River as it winds through Indianapolis sometimes pass by ominous signs warning about eating the fish they catch. </p>
<p><a href="https://extension.wsu.edu/foodsafety/content/risks-of-mercury-in-fish">One of the risks</a> they have faced is mercury poisoning.</p>
<p>Mercury is a neurotoxic metal that can cause irreparable harm to human health – especially the brain development of young children. It is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7743">tied to lower IQ</a> and results in decreased earning potential, as well as higher health costs. Lost productivity from mercury alone was calculated in 2005 to reach <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.7743">almost $9 billion per year</a>. </p>
<p>One way mercury gets into river fish is with the gases that rise up the smokestacks of coal-burning power plants. </p>
<p><iframe id="FW8zH" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FW8zH/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>The Environmental Protection Agency has had a rule since 2012 limiting mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants. But the Trump administration <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/03/rolling-back-the-mercury-and-air-toxics-standards-proposed-withdrawal-of-appropriate-and-necessary/">stopped enforcing it</a>, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-coal-mercury/trump-administration-weakens-mercury-rule-for-coal-plants-idUSKCN21Y1IW">arguing that the costs</a> to industry outweighed the health benefit.</p>
<p>Now, the Biden administration is <a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/epa-reaffirms-scientific-economic-and-legal-underpinnings-limits-toxic-emissions">moving to reassert it</a>.</p>
<p>I study mercury and its sources as a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MEp4948AAAAJ&hl=en">biogeochemist</a> at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Before the EPA’s original mercury rule went into effect, my students and I launched a project to track how Indianapolis-area power plants were increasing mercury in the rivers and soil.</p>
<h2>Mercury bioaccumulates in the food chain</h2>
<p>The risks from eating a fish from a river downwind from a coal-burning power plant depends on both the type of fish caught and the age and condition of the person consuming it.</p>
<p>Mercury is a <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/mercury-contamination-aquatic-environments">bioaccumulative toxin</a>, meaning that it increasingly concentrates in the flesh of organisms as it makes its way up the food chain.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person's hands old a smallmouth bass, with the fish's mouth open" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446123/original/file-20220213-87622-e0wm9c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mercury accumulates as it moves up the food chain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/holding-a-smallmouth-bass-royalty-free-image/123084571">doug4537 via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The mercury emitted from coal-burning power plants falls onto soils and washes into waterways. There, the moderately benign mercury is transformed by bacteria into a toxic organic form called methylmercury.</p>
<p>Each bacterium might contain only one unit of toxic methylmercury, but a worm chewing through sediment and eating 1,000 of those bacteria now contains 1,000 doses of mercury. The catfish that eats the worm then get more doses, and so on up the food chain to humans.</p>
<p>In this way, top-level predator fishes, such as smallmouth bass, walleye, largemouth bass, lake trout and Northern pike, typically contain the highest amounts of mercury in aquatic ecosystems. On average, one of these fish contains enough to make eating only <a href="https://www.epa.gov/fish-tech/epa-fda-fish-advice-technical-information">one serving of them per month dangerous</a> for the developing fetuses of pregnant women and for children.</p>
<h2>How coal plant mercury rains down</h2>
<p>In our study, we wanted to answer a simple question: Did the local coal-burning power plants, known to be <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/energy/assets/pdfs/cctr/outreach/Basics2-Mercury-Mar07.pdf">major emitters of toxic mercury</a>, have an impact on the local environment?</p>
<p>The obvious answer seems to be yes, they do. But in fact, quite a bit of research – and coal industry advertising – noted that mercury is a “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.1980">global pollutant</a>” and could not necessarily be traced to a local source. A recurring argument is that mercury deposited on the landscape came from coal-burning power plants <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es062707c">in China</a>, so why regulate local emissions if others were still burning coal?</p>
<p>That justification was based on the unique chemistry of this element. It is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature, and when heated just to a moderate level, will evaporate into mercury vapor. Thus, when coal is burned in a power plant, the mercury that is present in it is released through the smokestacks as a gas and dilutes as it travels. Low levels of mercury also <a href="https://www.epa.gov/international-cooperation/mercury-emissions-global-context">occur naturally</a>.</p>
<p>Although this argument was technically true, we found it obscured the bigger picture.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A view of the river with a bridge and the city in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446383/original/file-20220214-19-t52yt9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People sometimes fish along the White River where it flows through Indianapolis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/indianapolis-royalty-free-image/520980871?adppopup=true">alexeys via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found the overwhelming source of mercury was within sight of the White River fishermen – a large coal-burning power plant on the edge of the city.</p>
<p>This power plant emitted vaporous mercury at the time, though it has since <a href="https://www.transmissionhub.com/articles/2016/02/indianapolis-powers-harding-street-plant-burns-its-last-coal.html">switched to natural gas</a>. We found that much of the plant’s mercury rapidly reacted with other atmospheric constituents and water vapor to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0703-7">“wash out” over the city</a>. It was <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gbc.20040">raining down mercury on the landscape</a>.</p>
<h2>Traveling by air and water, miles from the source</h2>
<p>Mercury emitted from the smokestacks of coal-fired power plants can fall from the atmosphere with rain, mist or chemical reactions. Several studies have shown <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2016.01.026">elevated levels of mercury in soils and plants near power plants</a>, with much of the mercury <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep46545">falling within about 9 miles</a> (15 kilometers) of the smokestack.</p>
<p>When we surveyed hundreds of surface soils ranging from about 1 to 31 miles (2 to 50 km) from the coal-fired power plant, then the single largest emitter of mercury in central Indiana, we were shocked. We found <a href="https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000059">a clear “plume” of elevated mercury</a> in Indianapolis, with much higher values near the power plant tailing off to almost background values 31 miles downwind. </p>
<p>The White River flows from the northeast to the southwest through Indianapolis, opposite the wind patterns. When we sampled sediments from most of its course through central Indiana, we found that mercury levels started low well upstream of Indianapolis, but <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-010-0703-7">increased substantially</a> as the river flowed through downtown, apparently accumulating deposited mercury along its flow path. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=science&source=inline-science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>We also found high levels well downstream of the city. Thus a fisherman out in the countryside, far away from the city, was still <a href="https://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000059">at significant risk</a> of catching, and eating, high-mercury fish.</p>
<p>The region’s <a href="https://www.in.gov/health/files/Marion_sensitive_fishadvisory.pdf">fish advisories</a> still recommend sharply limiting the amount of fish eaten from the White River. In Indianapolis, for example, pregnant women are advised to <a href="https://www.in.gov/health/files/Marion_sensitive_fishadvisory.pdf">avoid eating some fish</a> from the river altogether.</p>
<h2>Reviving the MATS rule</h2>
<p>The EPA announced the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards rule in 2011 to deal with the exact health risk Indianapolis was facing. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2017/09/mercury-and-air-toxics-standards/">rule stipulated</a> that mercury sources had to be sharply reduced. For coal-fired power plants, this meant either installing costly mercury-capturing filters in the smokestacks or converting to another energy source. <a href="https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/">Many converted to natural gas</a>, which reduces the mercury risk but still contributes to health problems and global warming.</p>
<p>The MATS rule helped tilt the national energy playing field away from coal, until the Trump Administration <a href="https://www.epa.gov/mats/proposed-revised-supplemental-finding-and-results-residual-risk-and-technology-review">attempted to weaken the rule</a> in 2020 to try to bolster the <a href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=44155">declining U.S. coal industry</a>. The administration rescinded a “supplemental finding” that determined it is “appropriate and necessary” to regulate mercury from power plants.</p>
<p>On Jan. 31, 2022, the Biden Administration <a href="https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/proposed-revocation-2020-reconsideration-and-affirmation">moved to reaffirm that supplemental finding</a> and effectively restore the standards.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=277&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446071/original/file-20220213-15-aw2lhh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=348&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More than a quarter of U.S. coal-fired power plants currently operating were scheduled as of 2021 to be retired by 2035.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=50658">EIA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some economists have calculated the net cost of the MATS rule to the U.S. electricity sector to be about <a href="https://www.nera.com/content/dam/nera/publications/archive2/PUB_MATS_Rule_0312.pdf">$9.6 billion per year</a>. This is roughly equal to the earlier estimates of productivity loss from the harm mercury emissions cause.</p>
<p>To a public health expert, this math problem is a no-brainer, and I am pleased to see the rule back in place, protecting the health of generations of future Americans.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176434/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Biden administration is moving to revive mercury limits for coal-fired power plants. A scientist explains mercury’s health risks and the role power plants play.Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1751902022-01-20T13:44:59Z2022-01-20T13:44:59ZWhy getting Congress to fund help for US children in poverty is so hard to do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441563/original/file-20220119-25-12btsg6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=268%2C1073%2C7478%2C4071&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">House Speaker Nancy Pelosi strongly supported the 2021 expansion of the child tax credit.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/house-speaker-nancy-pelosi-speaks-at-a-press-conference-on-news-photo/1328914081">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-care-about-the-build-back-better-act-hearing-peoples-personal-stories-might-change-that-172023">Build Back Better bill</a>, the centerpiece of the Biden administration’s domestic policy, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/11/19/22776638/house-democrats-pass-185-trillion-social-spending-bill">cleared the House of Representatives</a> by a <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/582300-house-passes-175t-spending-plan-in-hard-fought-democratic-win">slender margin largely along party lines</a> in November 2021.</p>
<p>Legislative progress came to a sudden stop a month later when Sen. Joe <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/fox-news-sunday-12-19">Manchin announced, in a Fox News interview</a>, that he would not support it. Without the West Virginian’s vote, Senate Democrats lacked the majority they needed to pass the bill.</p>
<p>Manchin raised <a href="https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/manchin-statement-on-build-back-better-act">concerns about inflation</a> and objected to several of the measure’s <a href="https://electrek.co/2021/12/20/the-real-reason-joe-manchin-is-sabotaging-the-us-clean-energy-plan/">energy provisions</a>. He also had qualms about a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/manchin-privately-raised-concerns-parents-would-use-child-tax-credit-n1286321">program that had been temporarily helping</a>, according to one estimate, over <a href="https://wvpolicy.org/346000-west-virginia-children-eligible-to-receive-first-monthly-child-tax-credit-payment-next-month/">90% of the children in his state</a>: the expansion of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lifting-children-out-of-poverty-today-will-help-them-tomorrow-157656">child tax credit</a>.</p>
<p>As far back as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/bidens-goal-to-permanently-boost-support-for-families-echoes-a-failed-nixon-proposal-from-50-years-ago-will-it-take-off-this-time-162314">Nixon administration</a>, the federal government’s efforts to give low-income families financial assistance have repeatedly sparked the same debate: How can the government, at a reasonable cost, provide adequate benefits for children in need and strong work incentives for their parents or guardians?</p>
<p>Solving this problem, as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Leslie-Lenkowsky">I observed</a> long ago as a graduate student studying the Nixon plan and a similar one debated in the United Kingdom in the 1970s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1962638">depends more on political calculations</a> than on economic analysis.</p>
<p><iframe id="4tHWI" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/4tHWI/5/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>A 1-year trial run</h2>
<p>The Biden administration’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/11/politics/biden-sign-covid-bill/index.html">$1.9 billion COVID-19 relief bill</a>, which Congress passed in March 2021, included a single-year expansion of the child tax credit.</p>
<p>This <a href="https://smartasset.com/taxes/all-about-child-tax-credits">benefit for families with children</a> originated with a <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/child-tax-credit-overview.aspx">tax package Congress passed in 1997</a>. Lawmakers subsequently modified it several times, often with bipartisan support. Prior to 2021, the most recent update was part of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax reform package.</p>
<p>Biden’s version gave <a href="https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0177">most U.S. families</a> a credit against taxes of $3,000 for each child from age 6 to 17, and $3,600 for those younger than 6. Lower-income families could obtain this credit as six monthly cash payments from July to December, reserving the rest of the money for a lump sum at tax time in 2022. The <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2022/01/14/no-child-tax-credit-deal-in-sight-as-monthly-benefits-lapse/">monthly payments ceased</a> in January 2022.</p>
<p>Previously, the credit was delivered at tax time only and maxed out at $2,000 per child. Families with very low incomes, but not those without any earnings at all, were eligible only for up to $1,400 in payments. A big change in 2021 was that even parents without any earnings, who therefore owed no taxes, could get the maximum benefit.</p>
<p>This change alone, Columbia University researchers estimated, <a href="https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/news-internal/monthly-poverty-july-2021">reduced the number of children in poverty by 25%</a> after payments began in July. That research team predicted that greater declines would be likely once more families claimed their benefits.</p>
<p>The Build Back Better bill would have extended the child tax credit expansion for another year. But Manchin, along with many Republicans, said he believed the Biden administration’s real goal was to make it permanent – a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/child-tax-credit-expansion-gets-push-from-democrats-ahead-of-biden-speech-11619550470">goal of many Democrats in Congress</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.aei.org/poverty-studies/new-evidence-on-the-benefits-and-costs-of-an-expanded-child-tax-credit/">Conservatives viewed</a> the long-term adoption of a more generous child tax credit, which would cost an estimated <a href="https://www.crfb.org/blogs/cbo-estimates-permanent-build-back-better">$1.6 trillion over 10 years</a>, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s calculations, as too expensive. They also feared that it might reduce employment among low-income families, even though <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/11/08/battle-over-bidens-child-tax-credit-its-impact-poverty-workers/">social policy experts disagree on the extent to which that would happen</a>.</p>
<p>Republican lawmakers have generally favored a more targeted approach that would restrict payments to the low-income families that <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/585380-child-tax-credit-expiration-adds-pressure-for-democrats">needed them most and had at least some earnings</a>. They were unwilling to let go of the system adopted in 1997, which prioritizes work incentives over helping the neediest families.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia stands behind closing doors." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441564/original/file-20220119-15-cmbwao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Has Sen. Joe Manchin closed the door on a more expansive child tax credit?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-joe-manchin-leaves-the-senate-chamber-following-a-vote-news-photo/1237665439">Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Competing priorities</h2>
<p>A version of that system was in effect until 2021 and is again in place for the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/07/parents-can-no-longer-count-on-monthly-child-tax-credit-payments.html">2022 tax year</a>. It did not allow <a href="https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45124">families with less than $2,500 in earnings</a> to receive any portion of the child tax credit as a payment and then no more than $1,400, if eligible.</p>
<p>Before Biden’s COVID-19 relief bill, higher-earning families could still use the credit of $2,000 per child to lower their taxes until their incomes reached the $200,000 mark for single parents and <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-did-tcja-change-taxes-families-children">$400,000 for married couples with children</a>, at which point the credit phased out.</p>
<p>By contrast, the Biden administration’s version provided its larger tax credit not only to low-income families but also to those with modified adjusted gross income above $75,000 for single filers, $112,500 for head-of-household filers and <a href="https://www.kiplinger.com/taxes/603116/who-wont-get-monthly-child-tax-credit-payments-not-every-parent-is-eligible">$150,000 for married couples filing a joint return</a>. Above those amounts, it reverted to the previous version until it phased out entirely.</p>
<p>If a program gives more generous help to families with children that have little or no income, as the Biden administration’s did and most Democrats are demanding, it could wind up giving larger tax credits to a much higher number of working-class and middle-class Americans as well – making the program costlier. In the face of an economy-devastating pandemic, the Biden administration and Congress ignored this trade-off last year. They are clearly <a href="https://www.rollcall.com/2022/01/14/no-child-tax-credit-deal-in-sight-as-monthly-benefits-lapse/">having trouble</a> doing so again.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2021/10/25/expanding-the-child-tax-credit-effects">Wharton School analysis</a>, 70% of the budgetary impact of the child tax credit expansion the House approved would result from tax cuts for families in the middle three-fifths of the income distribution. </p>
<p>American families with children among the top fifth of earners would get a little less than 12%, with the bottom fifth getting the remaining 18%, Wharton’s economists projected. </p>
<p>In other words, families who are by no means poor are getting the bulk of money made available by the temporary expansion of the child tax credit. </p>
<p>To fix that – and to orient the aid in line with what Republicans are calling for – benefits could be sharply reduced for families with higher earnings. But this would effectively increase tax rates among these families. Alternatively, if the amount of the credit were diminished, it would do less in terms of poverty reduction.</p>
<p>[<em>There’s plenty of opinion out there. We supply facts and analysis, based in research.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-no-opinion">Get The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<h2>A path forward</h2>
<p>Many <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/democrats-explore-changes-for-child-tax-credit-to-win-manchins-favor-11642169936">Democrats are already examining ways to modify</a> the child tax credit expansion to win Manchin’s support for reinstating it.</p>
<p>But I believe that a better alternative might be to leave the child tax credit alone, letting the more robust version for the 2021 tax year remain expired.</p>
<p>The previous version, enacted as part of the <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-did-tcja-change-taxes-families-children">Trump administration’s tax reform package</a>, is in effect again for the 2022 tax year. It will <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/additional-child-tax-credit.asp#citation-10">continue only through the 2025</a> tax year, at which point the policy is slated to expire and be replaced by an even <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/human-services/child-tax-credit-overview.aspx">earlier and less generous version</a>. Congress should, in my view, now try to make that child tax credit permanent, while also seeking ways to improve its effectiveness that have broad backing.</p>
<p>Until 2021, the child tax credit provided modest assistance for low-income families with children and, perhaps more importantly, had satisfied those worried about work incentives and cost. It was not perfect, but it was better than nothing and, not least of all, politically acceptable.</p>
<p>It’s a good starting point for future improvements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175190/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leslie Lenkowsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Proponents of using the child tax credit to alleviate poverty need to reach an agreement with those who insist that it must encourage low-income parents to work.Leslie Lenkowsky, Senior Counsellor and Professor Emeritus of Practice in Philanthropic Studies, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739632021-12-17T13:27:20Z2021-12-17T13:27:20ZThe US is making plans to replace all of its lead water pipes from coast to coast<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438106/original/file-20211216-21-126318e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C267%2C4965%2C3181&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Workers prepare to install new water pipes in Walnut Creek, California, on April 22, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/workers-with-east-bay-municipal-utility-district-stack-news-photo/1313906917">Justin Sullivan/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Biden administration has released a plan to accelerate removal of <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-lead-pipe-and-paint-action-plan/">lead water pipes and lead paint</a> from U.S. homes. As a <a href="http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MEp4948AAAAJ&hl=en">geochemist and environmental health researcher</a> who has studied the heartbreaking impacts of lead poisoning in children for decades, I am happy to see high-level attention paid to this silent killer, which <a href="https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GH000167">disproportionately affects poor communities of color</a>.</p>
<p>Childhood lead poisoning has <a href="https://doi.org/10.1367/1539-4409(2003)003%3C0027:POLTIU%3E2.0.CO;2">declined significantly in the U.S.</a> over the past 50 years. That’s largely due to the elimination of leaded gasoline in the 1980s and the banning of most lead-based paints.</p>
<p>But the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-lead-pipe-and-paint-action-plan/">up to 10 million households and 400,000 schools and child care centers</a> have service lines or other fixtures that contain lead. These pipes are ticking time bombs that can leach toxic lead into drinking water if they corrode. As long as they remain in service, children and families are vulnerable.</p>
<p>The same is true of lead paint, which is still present in many homes built before consumer use of lead paint was banned in 1978. Because it tastes sweet, children sometimes chew on paint chips or painted wood.</p>
<p>The Biden administration <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/12/16/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-lead-pipe-and-paint-action-plan/">will spend US$15 billion</a> from the recently enacted infrastructure bill to replace lead service lines, faucets and fixtures over the next five years and is seeking additional money in the pending <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5376">Build Back Better Act</a> to reduce lead hazards in public housing and low-income communities. I see this as a key priority, since Black children and children living in poverty have average blood lead levels that are 13% higher than the national average. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1410289586673160194"}"></div></p>
<h2>Lead poisoning does permanent damage</h2>
<p>Lead poisoning is a major public health problem because lead has permanent impacts on the brain, particularly in children. Young brains are <a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/brain-architecture/">still actively forming</a> the amazing network of neurons that comprise their hardware. </p>
<p>Neurons are designed to use calcium, the most abundant mineral in the human body, as a transmitter to rapidly pass signals. Lead molecules look a lot like calcium molecules, so if they are present in a child’s body, they can penetrate the brain, impair neuron development and cause permanent neural damage.</p>
<p>Children with lead poisoning have lower IQs, poor memory recall, high rates of attention deficit disorder and low impulse control. They tend to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/health-effects.htm">perform poorly at school</a>, which reduces their earning potential as adults. They also face increased risk of <a href="https://www.kidney.org/atoz/content/lead-exposure-and-kidney-function">kidney disease</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.9785">stroke and hypertension</a> as they age. Research has found strong connections between lead poisoning and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2017/06/01/new-evidence-that-lead-exposure-increases-crime/">incarceration for violent crimes</a>. </p>
<p>Today researchers estimate that <a href="https://www.aafp.org/afp/2019/0701/p24.html">about 500,000 U.S. children</a> still have elevated blood lead levels. Health experts widely agree that there is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">no known “safe” blood lead concentration</a>. </p>
<p><iframe id="eqfB4" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/eqfB4/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Where are the lead pipes?</h2>
<p>The Biden administration’s plan calls for replacing 100% of lead service lines across the nation – a goal that the EPA aims to <a href="https://www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/epa-to-tighten-rules-for-lead-in-drinking-water-details-plan-to-replace-nations-pipes/2592292/">write into regulations by 2024</a>. Step 1 is finding the pipes. </p>
<p>Most U.S. cities have countless miles of lead service lines buried beneath streets and sidewalks and feeding into people’s homes. Utilities don’t know where many of these aging lines are and don’t have enough data to map them. Replacing them will require significant analysis, modeling, data and some guesswork.</p>
<p>Old service lines have caused lead poisoning outbreaks in such places as Washington, D.C.; <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Flint-water-crisis">Flint, Michigan</a>; and <a href="https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/01/op-ed-lessons-from-newarks-aggressive-replacement-of-lead-service-lines/">Newark, New Jersey</a>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913749117">The chemistry is a bit different</a> in each case. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Worker standing in a trench dug in the street hands a piece of pipe to a colleague." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/398412/original/file-20210503-23-1cvv9hr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Workers remove water service lines in Trenton, New Jersey, on Jan. 9, 2020. The city is replacing 37,000 lead pipes over five years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/LeadWaterPipesNewJersey/3de7106d9ea547e89027f07a6e502a10/photo">AP Photo/Mike Catalini</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lead service lines typically develop a protective “plaque” of minerals on their inside walls after a short time, which effectively separates the toxic lead pipe from the water flowing through it. This coating, which is called scale, remains stable if the chemistry of the water coursing through it doesn’t change. But if that chemistry is altered, disaster can ensue.</p>
<p>In 2002, Washington, D.C., shifted from chlorine to chloramine for treating its water supply. Chloramine is a more modern disinfectant that does not <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-drinking-water-be-delivered-without-disinfectants-like-chlorine-and-still-be-safe-55476">form dangerous reactive chlorinated byproducts</a> as chlorine can. </p>
<p>This rapidly corroded the protective plaque lining the city’s pipes, flushing highly absorbable lead into homes. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dcs-decade-old-problem-of-lead-in-water-gets-new-attention-during-flint-crisis/2016/03/17/79f8d476-ec64-11e5-b0fd-073d5930a7b7_story.html">Tens of thousands of children were exposed</a> over two years before the problem was adequately identified and fixed. </p>
<p>In Flint, state-appointed managers decided to save money during a fiscal crisis in 2014 by switching from Detroit water to water from the Flint River. But regulators <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04034">did not require enough chemical analysis</a> to determine what additives should be used to maintain the pipe plaque. And they skipped the typical step of adding phosphate, which binds chemically with lead and prevents it from leaching out of pipes, in order to save <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/q-a-what-really-happened-to-the-water-in-flint-michigan/">about $100 per day</a>. </p>
<p>Corrosion chemistry is well controlled in many U.S. cities, but it is not a perfect science. And utilities don’t always have detection systems that adequately alert water suppliers to dangers at the tap. That’s why removing lead pipes is the only sure way to avoid the threat of more water crises. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AiU7GHzD_Ck?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Households can use some basic tests to identify water pipes that may be made of lead.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cities will need to innovate</h2>
<p>While $15 billion is a big investment, experts agree that <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/05/13/what-would-it-cost-to-replace-all-the-nations-lead-water-pipes/">it’s not enough to replace all lead pipes nationwide</a>. For example, the estimated cost of replacing all of Flint’s lead service lines is <a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2016/05/27/flint-lead-lines-water-crisis/85032096/">about $50 million</a> – and there are <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/12/18661193/lead-pipes-paint-flint-michigan-usa-cost-fix">thousands of U.S. cities to fix</a>. </p>
<p>My own city, Indianapolis, has a population of about 850,000 – about 10 times larger than Flint – and officials have only a rough idea of where to find the lead service lines. There are ways to <a href="https://www.wateronline.com/doc/statistical-modeling-in-support-of-lead-service-line-identification-inventory-and-replacement-0001">statistically model</a> the likelihood that a given portion of the water system has lead service lines, using information such as water main sizes, locations and construction dates, but they are imperfect. </p>
<p>Cities will need to get creative to make whatever funds they get go as far as possible. As one example, I am working with colleagues to develop a citizen science project that will provide <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/PA/documents/2020_Lead-HH-Technical-Studies-Grant-Awards.pdf">thousands of tests for lead at taps around Indianapolis</a>. This effort, a partnership with the University of Notre Dame funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, may augment modeling with real data on levels of lead in homes, and will increase public awareness of this issue. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>In spite of these challenges, I believe more urgency on this issue is long overdue. Every lead pipe that’s replaced will pay off in higher lifetime earnings and lower rates of illness for families that gain access to safer tap water.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/bidens-infrastructure-plan-targets-lead-pipes-that-threaten-public-health-across-the-us-158277">article</a> originally published on May 4, 2021.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173963/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It will cost tens of billions of dollars to find and remove all the lead service lines that deliver water to US homes and schools. A public health expert explains why he sees it as money well spent.Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1717932021-11-29T22:19:31Z2021-11-29T22:19:31ZCharitable gifts from donor-advised funds favor education and religion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/434282/original/file-20211128-17-1arfzit.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=142%2C292%2C5137%2C2509&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Donations channeled through DAFs follow different patterns than for overall charitable giving.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/mature-married-couple-at-home-on-the-sofa-looking-royalty-free-image/1146490777">Counter/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em></p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Large shares of grants that <a href="https://www.nptrust.org/what-is-a-donor-advised-fund/">donor-advised funds</a> distributed from 2014 to 2018 <a href="https://store.givingusa.org/pages/giving-usa-special-report-donor-advised-funds-new-insights">supported educational and religious nonprofits</a>. That’s what we found in one of the first studies of its kind regarding the financial accounts often called DAFs. People with donor-advised funds use them to give money to the charities of their choice when they are ready to do so.</p>
<p>Some 29% of total DAF grant dollars funded education-focused nonprofits, and 14% supported churches and other religious organizations during this period within our sample, we found.</p>
<p><iframe id="s7PSz" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/s7PSz/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>This pattern contrasts sharply with overall U.S. charitable giving. <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-gave-a-record-471-billion-to-charity-in-2020-amid-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-job-losses-and-racial-justice-161489">About 31% of all charitable donations supported religious causes</a> and 14% funded colleges, universities and other educational organizations in this same time frame.</p>
<p>Grants from DAFs also supported giving to arts and culture organizations and <a href="https://www.guidestar.org/NonprofitDirectory.aspx?cat=7">public-society benefit organizations</a>, such as the United Way and civil rights groups, at higher levels compared with the overall picture. Giving to arts and culture represented roughly 9% of the total grant dollars from DAFs from 2014 to 2018, and giving to public-society benefit organizations claimed 13% of the total.</p>
<p>This data is part of a Giving USA Special Report on donor-advised funds. We conducted our analysis in partnership with the <a href="https://store.givingusa.org/pages/giving-usa-special-report-donor-advised-funds-new-insights">Giving USA Foundation</a>, classifying 3 million grants from 87 different DAF-sponsoring organizations. As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&user=KbjWCpcAAAAJ">two of the lead</a> <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=plWgMBcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra">researchers</a>, we obtained the data from the Internal Revenue Service and the organizations and charitable arms of <a href="https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1040782/looking-under-the-hood-at-fidelity-charitable-gift-fund">financial institutions</a> that manage DAFs. </p>
<p>This data encompasses 70% of all DAF grant dollars from 2014 to 2018.</p>
<p><iframe id="mf5Bv" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/mf5Bv/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Money distributed by donor-advised funds represented <a href="https://www.nptrust.org/reports/daf-report/">an estimated 7%</a> of <a href="https://theconversation.com/americans-gave-a-record-471-billion-to-charity-in-2020-amid-concerns-about-the-coronavirus-pandemic-job-losses-and-racial-justice-161489">all charitable giving in 2020</a> – a percentage that appears to be growing over time. And yet very little research exists to explain where this money went.</p>
<p>We believe this study to be the most detailed and comprehensive look at where DAF grant dollars are going to date. It is more comprehensive than our prior study that looked at data regarding donor-advised fund <a href="https://givingusa.org/just-released-special-report-the-data-on-donor-advised-funds-new-insights-you-need-to-know/">grants distributed from 2012 to 2015</a>.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>We are doing additional research based on data from DAF grants for 2020. The information available so far indicates that priorities for these donors changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. DAF grants to human services nonprofits, such as food banks and homeless shelters, grew strongly in that year for the subset of organizations we studied.</p>
<p>In addition, we are finding that grants from donor-advised funds in our sample to historically Black colleges and universities and racial justice organizations more than quadrupled from 2019 to 2020, growth that is <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-justice-giving-is-booming-4-trends-145526">consistent with an overall trend in philanthropy</a>. As final 2020 IRS data is released, and in the years ahead, we will continue to track what DAFs are funding – and how those trends may be shifting. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>There are still many unknowns about DAFs, including how much money flows in and out of individual accounts each year. Many <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-government-and-politics-philanthropy-96d20b59013d25fd1edf504587888c2d">legal scholars, philanthropists and charity leaders</a> are debating whether DAFs should be <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/11/billionaire-john-arnold-says-reform-of-donor-advised-funds-needed.html">regulated differently</a>. <a href="https://apnews.com/article/philanthropy-business-f201c68337d4ca0e62833bcf079b10cf">Proposed legislation pending in Congress</a> would introduce new rules, but it’s not clear how the flow of money from DAFs to charities would change if that bill were to become law.</p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171793/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Pruitt received funding from the Giving USA Foundation for this project, which in turn received funding from a variety of sources, including donor-advised fund sponsoring organizations.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jon Bergdoll received funding from the Giving USA Foundation for this project, which in turn received funding from a variety of sources, including donor-advised fund sponsoring organizations.</span></em></p>Little comprehensive research about what the charitable accounts, known as DAFs, are supporting has been conducted until now.Anna Pruitt, Researcher and Managing Editor, Giving USA, IUPUIJon Bergdoll, Applied Statistician of Philanthropy, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1711712021-11-24T14:44:52Z2021-11-24T14:44:52ZGreat headphones blend physics, anatomy and psychology – but what you like to listen to is also important for choosing the right pair<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433547/original/file-20211123-18-1o2lao8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=82%2C112%2C3448%2C3050&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Headphone designers have to balance scientific limitations with human preferences.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/close-up-of-headphones-on-microphone-stand-in-royalty-free-image/743693059?adppopup=true">Vladimir Godnik via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Between music, podcasts, gaming and the unlimited supply of online content, most people <a href="https://brandongaille.com/23-headphone-industry-statistics-and-trends/">spend hours a week wearing headphones</a>. Perhaps you are considering a new pair for the holidays, but with so many options on the market, it can be hard to know what to choose.</p>
<p>I am a professional musician and a professor of <a href="https://et.iupui.edu/people/hsut">music technology who studies acoustics</a>. My work investigates the intersection between <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/online/browse.cfm?elib=14210">the scientific</a>, artistic and <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=19774">subjective human elements</a> of sound. Choosing the right headphones involves considering all three of those aspects, so what makes for a truly good pair?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram showing a wave and areas of higher density and lower density dots." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=261&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433529/original/file-20211123-20-iz3eja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sound is simply a series of low pressure and high pressure areas where air molecules, represented by the small dots, compress or spread apart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CPT-sound-physical-manifestation.svg#/media/File:CPT-sound-physical-manifestation.svg">Pluke/WikimediaCommons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What is sound really?</h2>
<p>In physics, sound is made of air vibrations consisting of a series of high and low pressure zones. These are the cycles of a sound wave.</p>
<p>Counting the number of cycles that occur per second <a href="https://www.pearson.com/us/higher-education/program/Rossing-Science-of-Sound-The-3rd-Edition/PGM175267.html">determines the frequency, or pitch, of the sound</a>. Higher frequencies mean higher pitches. Scientists describe frequencies in hertz, so a 500 Hz sound goes through 500 complete cycles of low pressure and high pressure per second. </p>
<p>The loudness, or amplitude, of a sound is determined by the maximum pressure of a wave. The higher the pressure, the louder the sound. </p>
<p>To create sound, headphones turn an electrical audio signal into these cycles of high and low pressure that our ears interpret as sound.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A diagram of a human ear." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433533/original/file-20211123-13-12mj28o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=572&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The human ear is a complex system that turns vibrations in the air into electrical signals that go to the brain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ear-anatomy-text-small-en.svg#/media/File:Ear-anatomy-text-small-en.svg">Iain/WikimediaCommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The human ear</h2>
<p>Human ears are incredible sensors. The average person can hear a huge range of pitches and different levels of loudness. So how does the ear work?</p>
<p>When sound enters your ear, your eardrum translates the air vibrations into mechanical vibrations of the tiny middle ear bones. These mechanical vibrations become fluid vibrations in your inner ear. Sensitive nerves then turn those vibrations into electrical signals that your brain interprets as sound. </p>
<p>Although people can hear a range of pitches roughly from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, human hearing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-7305.1933.tb00403.x">does not respond equally well at all frequencies</a>. </p>
<p>For example, if a low frequency rumble and a higher pitched bird have the same loudness, you would actually perceive the rumble to be quieter than the bird. Generally speaking, the human ear is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1915637">more sensitive to middle frequencies than low or high pitches</a>. Researchers think this may be <a href="https://theconversation.com/testing-ancient-human-hearing-via-fossilized-ear-bones-47973">due to evolutionary factors</a>.</p>
<p>Most people don’t know that hearing sensitivity varies and, frankly, would never need to consider this phenomenon – it is simply how people hear. But headphone engineers definitely need to consider how human perception differs from pure physics. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cutaway diagram of a speaker." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=820&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433537/original/file-20211123-17-nmyltx.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1030&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Speakers are fundamentally made of four components, a magnet (1), a coiled wire (2), a spring or suspension (3) and a diaphragm (4).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Loudspeaker-bass.png#/media/File:Loudspeaker-bass.png">Svjo/WkimediaCommons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do headphones work?</h2>
<p>Headphones – both bigger varieties that sit over your ears as well as small earbuds – are just small speakers. Simply put, speakers do the opposite of your ear: They convert the electrical signals from your phone, record player or computer into vibrations in air. </p>
<p>Most speakers are made of four components: a stationary magnet, a wire coil that moves back and forth around that magnet, a diaphragm that pushes air and a suspension that holds the diaphragm.</p>
<p>Electromagnetism states that when a wire is wrapped around a magnet and the current within the wire changes, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/book/9780240809694/handbook-for-sound-engineers">magnetic field around the wire changes proportionally</a>. When the electrical signal of a song or podcast pulses through the wires in a set of headphones, it changes the current and moves the magnet. The magnet then moves the diaphragm in and out – kind of like a plunger – pushing and compressing air, creating pulses of high pressure and low pressure. This is the music that you hear.</p>
<p>Ideally, a speaker would convert the electrical signals of the input perfectly into sound representations. However, the real physical world has limitations. Things like the size and material of the magnet and diaphragm all prevent a speaker from perfectly matching its output to its input. This leads to distortion and some frequencies being louder or softer than the original. </p>
<p>While no headphone can perfectly recreate the signal, there are infinite different ways to choose to distort that signal. The reason two equally expensive headphones can sound or feel different is that they distort things in different ways. When engineers build new headphones, they have to not only consider how human hearing distorts sound, but also the physical limitations of any speaker.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man outside wearing headphones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433542/original/file-20211123-21-1kgd80t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What you like to listen to and how you like your headphones to sound play a huge role in determining what makes for a ‘good’ pair of headphones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/rear-view-of-man-listening-to-headphones-at-beach-royalty-free-image/543201647?adppopup=true">Matt Dutile/Image Source via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Listener preference</h2>
<p>If all the complications of ears and speakers weren’t enough, listeners themselves play a huge role in deciding what makes for a “good” pair of headphones. Aspects like age, experience, culture and music genre preference <a href="http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=17500">all affect what kind of frequency distortion someone will prefer</a>. Headphones are as much <a href="https://www.aes.org/e-lib/online/browse.cfm?elib=16768">a question of personal taste</a> as anything else. </p>
<p>For example, some people prefer bass-heavy headphones for hip-hop music, while classical music listeners may want less frequency distortion. But music or recreational listening aren’t the only things to consider. Headphones for the hearing impaired may highlight frequencies from approximately 1,000 Hz to 5,000 Hz, as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1044/1059-0889.0603.48">this helps to make speech more understandable</a>.</p>
<p>You could certainly play a hip-hop song through headphones designed for the hearing impaired, but most people would agree that the results aren’t going to sound very good. Making sure the headphones you choose match how you are going to use them goes a long way in determining what will sound good.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the science of headphone design, the artistry of the content creators and the human experience all intersect to form the perception of “good” headphones. Despite all these moving pieces, there is one foolproof way to know when headphones are good: choose a good song and put a pair on! Because when all the attributes align, a good pair of headphones can give you the opportunity to be transformed by sound.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171171/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Hsu is a member of the Acoustical Society of America and an executive board member for the Indiana Section of the Audio Engineering Society.</span></em></p>There is a lot to consider when buying a new pair of headphones. A professional musician and acoustics researcher explains how the science of sound and quirks of human hearing make for a great listening experience.Timothy Hsu, Assistant Professor of Music and Arts Technology, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1706892021-11-05T12:29:04Z2021-11-05T12:29:04ZUS Muslims gave more to charity than other Americans in 2020<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430056/original/file-20211103-27-11uhjs2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C145%2C4314%2C2326&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Muslims Giving Back volunteer delivers warm food to a homeless man in New York City in April 2020.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/On%20A%20Ramadan%20Mission-Photo%20Essay/4e6b59a4c6a7422b88a4e38675340756?Query=us%20muslims%20donor&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=16&currentItemNo=1">P Photo/Wong Maye-E</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Muslim Americans gave more to charity in 2020 than non-Muslims, we found in a <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/lake-institute/muslim-initiative/research/index.html">new study</a>. They are also more likely to volunteer, we learned.</p>
<p>Only <a href="https://www.ispu.org/public-policy/american-muslim-poll/">1.1% of all Americans are Muslim</a>, and their average income is lower than non-Muslims’. But as we explained in our <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/institutes/lake-institute/muslim-initiative/research/index.html">Muslim American Giving 2021</a> report, their donations encompassed 1.4% of all giving from individuals. U.S. Muslims, a <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2011/08/30/section-1-a-demographic-portrait-of-muslim-americans/">highly diverse and quickly growing minority</a>, contributed an estimated US$4.3 billion in total donations to mostly nonreligious causes over the course of the year.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/people-directory/siddiqui-shariq.html">philanthropy</a> <a href="https://rafeelwasif.com">scholars</a>, we believe our findings are significant not only because this is the first time that we can see the size and scope of giving by this small and highly diverse community, but also because U.S. Muslims face a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/muslim-americans-still-facing-discrimination-20-years-911-rcna1915">great deal of discrimination</a>. </p>
<h2>Giving more, including to civil rights causes</h2>
<p>We partnered with Islamic Relief USA, a nonprofit humanitarian and advocacy organization, to <a href="https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/bitstream/handle/1805/26703/Muslim-American-Giving-2021_Final.pdf">conduct this study</a>. Our findings came from our survey of more than 2,000 Americans, half of whom were Muslim, that the <a href="https://ssrs.com/">SSRS research firm</a> carried out from March 17 through April 7, 2021. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.</p>
<p>Participants answered questions regarding their faith customs, donation practices, and volunteer work, along with which causes they support and their concerns about COVID-19. We also inquired about how economic and political uncertainty and financial well-being influenced their giving and volunteering. Finally, we also examined whether they had experienced discrimination and their views about the level of discrimination in society. </p>
<p>We found that Muslim Americans gave more to charity, donating an average of $3,200, in 2020, versus $1,905 for other respondents. They also differed from non-Muslims in many ways. For example, nearly 8.5% of their contributions supported civil rights causes, compared with 5.3% of the general public.</p>
<p>We believe this elevated level of giving reflects efforts to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-social-media-aided-by-bots-amplifies-islamophobia-online-166080">fight Islamophobia</a>, a fear of Islam grounded in bigotry and hatred against Muslims. Likewise, Muslims gave more to enhance public understanding of their faith. About 6.4% of their giving funded religious research, compared with 4% from other sources.</p>
<p>Muslim Americans further defied <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/11/us/islamophobic-tropes-muslims-in-america/index.html">Islamophobic tropes</a> through the causes they support. For example, about 84% of Muslim American donations support U.S. charitable causes, with only 16% of this money going abroad. That conflicts with an erroneous belief that <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/blocking-faith-freezing-charity-chilling-muslim-charitable-giving-war-terrorism-financing">Muslim Americans mainly support overseas causes</a>.</p>
<h2>COVID-19 relief</h2>
<p>The other top secular charitable priorities of Muslim Americans were domestic poverty relief and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
<p>Donations to causes that sought to alleviate the toll COVID-19 has taken on U.S. health, employment and food security comprised 8.8% of Muslim American faith-based giving, versus 5.3% for non-Muslims. Additionally, these donations also comprised a large part of Muslim Americans’ non-faith giving. Muslims gave 14.3% of their non-faith giving to COVID-19 causes, a sharp contrast with others. Among the non-Muslim population we surveyed, 6.7% of non-faith giving backed these kinds of charities. </p>
<p>We attribute this pattern to the fact that Muslim Americans are overrepresented among medical professionals and front-line workers. For example, <a href="https://www.ispu.org/community-in-the-time-of-corona-documenting-the-american-muslim-response-to-the-covid19-crisis/">15% of physicians and 11% of pharmacists in Michigan</a> are Muslim Americans. In New York City, Muslim Americans make up 10% of the city’s physicians, 13% of the pharmacists and 40% of cab drivers, all of whom were designated essential workers.</p>
<h2>Faith amplifies giving</h2>
<p>All observant Muslim adults with the means to do so <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/z/zakat.asp">are expected to give to charity</a> in adherence to faith-based traditions. One, known as <a href="https://www.zakat.org/about-us/our-mission">Zakat</a>, is more formal and among the <a href="https://crestresearch.ac.uk/comment/islam-five-pillars">five pillars of Islam</a> that Muslims are expected to adhere to. Another, <a href="https://www.zakat.org/what-is-sadaqah">sadaqah</a>, happens voluntarily. </p>
<p>That made us want to see if religiosity played a role with the charitable patterns of U.S. Muslims. It turns out that Muslims who displayed higher levels of religiosity, such as by praying more often, were also more likely to give to charity than those who prayed less frequently. We found similar trends among non-Muslims.</p>
<p><em>Over 115,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletter to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=100Ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>We plan to conduct this study annually for the next four years and will keep an eye on how Muslim giving patterns change over time. Furthermore, we will add additional questions to further illuminate how faith-based and secular motivations are shaping Muslim American giving.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shariq Siddiqui receives funding from Islamic Relief USA to conduct this study.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rafeel Wasif's work related to this article was funded by Islamic Relief USA.</span></em></p>Muslims also gave more to causes tied to relief from economic and health problems that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic.Shariq Siddiqui, Assistant Professor & Director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, IUPUIRafeel Wasif, Incoming Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Management, Portland State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1709292021-11-05T12:28:50Z2021-11-05T12:28:50ZA new, lower threshold for lead poisoning in children means more kids will get tested – but the ultimate solution is eliminating lead sources<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430091/original/file-20211103-23-1r7sfwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=41%2C0%2C4639%2C3069&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Testing kids for lead exposure starts with a fingertip prick. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/brian-jones-a-first-responder-for-livingston-county-news-photo/506974822">Brett Carlsen/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7043a4.htm?s_cid=mm7043a4_w">updated its blood lead reference value</a> – the level at which children ages 1-5 are considered to have high exposure to lead. Since 2012, this threshold had been set at 5 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood; children at or above this level represented the top 2.5% with the highest blood lead levels in the nation. Now, in response to recent federal health surveys, the CDC has updated that number to 3.5 micrograms per deciliter. Environmental scientist <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=MEp4948AAAAJ&hl=en">Gabriel Filippelli</a>, who has studied urban lead poisoning in children, explains what this shift means for public health.</em></p>
<h2>Will this change affect how doctors detect and treat childhood lead poisoning?</h2>
<p>The Centers for Disease Control periodically reviews national data on blood lead levels in children. This new lower value is the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/data/blood-lead-reference-value.htm">average blood lead level exceeded by 2.5% of children tested</a>. </p>
<p>Many clinics have an on-site screening device that uses electrochemical detection to quickly test a small amount of blood from a fingertip prick. If children test positive, doctors refer them to have a larger blood sample drawn from a vein and analyzed in a diagnostic laboratory. The clinical test is fast, cheap and relatively painless, but the venous blood draw is the gold standard for diagnosing lead poisoning. </p>
<p>On-site clinical devices typically can detect lead at concentrations as low as 3.2 micrograms per deciliter, so the new CDC guidance means that nearly all children who show positive results at the screening level will be referred for follow-up testing. That’s much more protective from a public health perspective. </p>
<p>However, it will <a href="https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/new-cdc-standard-may-double-the-number-of-children-with-lead-poisoning.html">roughly double</a> the number of children who are classified as at highest risk for lead poisoning. Formerly, children had to have at least 5 micrograms per deciliter of lead in their blood to fall into that group; now it will include thousands more children with slightly lower blood lead levels. </p>
<p>Larger numbers of children means that many states will have trouble affording testing and follow-up care – which can involve <a href="https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/lead-exposure/treatment-of-lead-poisoning/">dietary changes and medications</a>, as well as removing lead exposure sources – unless Congress increases federal support for programs to prevent and treat lead poisoning.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1437437173691727877"}"></div></p>
<h2>How are children commonly exposed to lead?</h2>
<p>The most pervasive source, especially in cities, is soil and dust generated from soil. Thanks to many years of emissions from degraded lead-based paint, leaded gasoline and industrial sources, typical urban soils have lead concentrations that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106582">range from benign to toxic</a>. Children are exposed when they touch or play in contaminated dirt or inhale the dust. </p>
<p>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s limit for lead in soils in public play areas is <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/csem/leadtoxicity/safety_standards.html#:%7E:text=Soil%20contains%20lead%20concentrations%20less,play%20areas%20%5BEPA%202000a%5D.">400 parts per million</a>. That’s significantly higher than typical background levels, which are roughly 20 to 50 parts per million. This action level has remained in place for decades, even though studies indicate that it’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP10376">unacceptably high as a public health guideline</a>. </p>
<p>Some U.S. states, <a href="https://dtsc.ca.gov/faq/what-are-acceptable-concentrations-of-lead-in-soil-in-california/">such as California</a>, have much lower limits. In my experience, it’s not unusual to find urban soils with much higher levels, particularly near the exterior walls of buildings where lead may accumulate from degraded paints or <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15071531">dust buildup</a>. </p>
<p>The most lead-contaminated neighborhoods in cities are often the poorest and home to the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073117-041222">highest percentage of nonwhite children</a>. This is a legacy of <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america">racist housing practices</a> that concentrated people of color in less desirable neighborhoods. Residents in these zones can have significantly higher rates of elevated blood lead levels than people in wealthier neighborhoods.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Young girl in front of a public housing complex." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430093/original/file-20211103-23-mwrpi9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kaelynn Lott, one of 120 children living at the West Calumet Housing Complex in East Chicago, Indiana, who tested positive for lead poisoning. After soil at the complex was found to contain high levels of lead and arsenic in 2016, the city ordered over 1,000 residents to relocate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/kaelynn-lott-a-resident-at-the-west-calumet-housing-complex-news-photo/599443064">Joshua Lott/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Lead-based paint is also a major exposure risk, particularly in poorly maintained buildings. Lead paint tastes sweet, so children sometimes chew on paint chips or painted wood.</p>
<p>Lead water pipes are a third source, although less common than paint or soil. Many cities and towns across the U.S. have <a href="https://theconversation.com/bidens-infrastructure-plan-targets-lead-pipes-that-threaten-public-health-across-the-us-158277">lead service lines</a> that deliver water to homes. If their water is treated properly, a protective plaque forms on the inside of water pipes and seals their lead content away from the water. </p>
<p>But some cities, including <a href="https://wtop.com/dc/2016/04/flint-d-c-s-drinking-water-crisis-even-worse/">Washington, D.C.</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/11/nyregion/newark-lead-pipes-drinking-water.html">Newark</a>, New Jersey, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/20/465545378/lead-laced-water-in-flint-a-step-by-step-look-at-the-makings-of-a-crisis">Flint, Michigan</a>, have changed their water sources or treatment processes in ways that stripped out the protective plaque and carried lead to household taps. These water crises disproportionately affected communities of color. </p>
<h2>How does lead exposure at these levels affect children’s health?</h2>
<p>Historically, public health interventions focused on acutely poisoned children who exhibited clear neurocognitive issues such as attention deficit, memory lapses, agitation and even tremors. As lead was slowly removed from most home uses in the mid-20th century and the U.S. population’s blood lead levels decreased, these obvious clinical presentations for lead poisoning declined.</p>
<p>What we see now are more subtle neurocognitive deficits, which scientists and medical experts measure through neurological and behavioral testing. A child who is diagnosed as having high blood lead levels today may perform poorly on standardized exams, behave disruptively in the classroom or at home or have trouble retaining information. Follow-up research in Flint shows that many infants and toddlers who were exposed to lead in water there in 2015 <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flint-water-crisis-effect-on-children-60-minutes-2020-03-15/">are struggling now that they are in school</a>. </p>
<p>These types of tests show that blood lead levels even lower than the new standard <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ntt.2020.106888">still affect performance</a>. This research is the basis for statements from scholars and the CDC that <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/health-effects.htm">there is no safe blood lead level in children</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p7WTBVVXsrQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A study that tracked 579 children born in the 1970s in New Zealand for more than 30 years found modest but long-lasting mental health and personality effects from exposure to lead early in life.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s the trend for childhood lead poisoning in the US?</h2>
<p>It has been falling since most major environmental sources of lead, such as leaded gasoline, lead-based paints and industrial emissions, were eliminated starting in the 1970s. Recent analyses show that the median blood lead level for all U.S. children between ages 1 and 5 is about 0.7 micrograms per deciliter today, compared with <a href="https://www.epa.gov/americaschildrenenvironment/ace-biomonitoring-lead">15 micrograms per deciliter in the late 1970s</a>. </p>
<p>But Black children and children living in poverty have average blood lead levels that are <a href="https://www.epa.gov/americaschildrenenvironment/ace-biomonitoring-lead">13% higher than this national average</a>, which means that many of them are at risk. </p>
<p>For example, in a 2019 study, I worked with colleagues at Notre Dame to analyze blood lead levels of over 18,000 children in St. Joseph County, Indiana, which includes the town of South Bend. In some neighborhoods, over 30% of children had blood lead levels higher than 5 micrograms per deciliter, and over 65% of the census tracts had average blood lead levels <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/s41271-018-0155-7">over that safety limit</a>. </p>
<p>We also found that there was no systematic, risk-informed approach to testing. In areas that had the highest potential risks based on poverty levels, less than 6% of eligible children had lead test results reported to the county health department – the same rate as in other, wealthier census tracts. Without more screening, and more work to eliminate lead exposure in the communities most at risk, this problem won’t be solved for a long time.</p>
<p><em>This article has been updated to add a link to an article calling for lower limits on lead in soils in public play areas.</em></p>
<p>[<em>Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/science-editors-picks-71/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=science-understand">Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170929/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriel Filippelli receives funding from the Housing and Urban Development Agency. </span></em></p>The Centers for Disease Control has announced a new, stricter standard for lead poisoning in children, which will more than double the number of kids considered to have high blood lead levels.Gabriel Filippelli, Chancellor's Professor of Earth Sciences and Executive Director, Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute, IUPUILicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1706932021-11-02T16:09:25Z2021-11-02T16:09:25ZWhat the 100 nonprofits that raised the most money in 2020 indicate about charity today<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429453/original/file-20211031-21-n9eof2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=58%2C29%2C3813%2C1973&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO of the national Feeding America anti-hunger network, meets with Jay Worrall, president of a Pennsylvania food bank.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/claire-babineaux-fontenot-ceo-of-feeding-america-and-jay-news-photo/1297455257">Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The Chronicle of Philanthropy has released a <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/giving-to-top-charities-rose-nearly-3-7-in-2020-driven-by-big-gifts-from-the-wealthy">list of the nation’s 100 nonprofits</a> that garnered the most funding through charitable donations in 2020. These organizations received about US$1 out of every $11 donated over the course of the year. <a href="https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/people-directory/siddiqui-shariq.html">Shariq Siddiqui</a>, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=VYsdAEIAAAAJ">David Campbell</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=gbNTcf0AAAAJ">Mirae Kim</a>, three scholars of philanthropy and nonprofits, weigh in on this ranking, what it indicates about donations during the COVID-19 pandemic and where they see charitable giving headed.</em></p>
<h2>What trends stand out?</h2>
<p><strong>Campbell:</strong> The $515 million that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-lifestyle-united-states-health-hunger-2c509e7e1ce108c47287b42315e2a0c3">Feeding America</a> – a national network of food banks and other agencies that help people get enough to eat – received in 2020 marked a 354% increase from 2019 levels. That gain, the largest for any nonprofit, was no doubt due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic distress it caused.</p>
<p>But what most stands out to me across the board is brand loyalty. Many of the nonprofits that raised the most money in a year when so much changed are among the nation’s most prominent institutions in education, health care and international development.</p>
<p>For example, Johns Hopkins, Stanford and Harvard universities amassed $1.52 billion, $1.28 billion and $1.22 billion, respectively – landing them in fourth, fifth and sixth place. <a href="https://facts.stanford.edu/administration/finances/">That money</a> <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/2/26/donor-honor-roll/">usually flows</a> from <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2018/11/19/18102994/michael-bloomberg-johns-hopkins-financial-aid-donation">wealthy alumni</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://nccs.urban.org/publication/nonprofit-sector-brief-2019#type">In recent years</a>, only around 2% of all United States giving went to international development charities, so it is somewhat surprising to see that several nonprofits in that sector are big enough to have made the cut. The largest among the top 100 are Compassion International, World Vision and Save the Children. All three invite donors to make monthly payments to “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhv081">sponsor</a>” children in developing countries, a process that often includes sending letters and exchanging photos.</p>
<p><strong>Kim:</strong> Many private colleges and universities, including several prominent schools, saw steep declines in donations. For example, gifts to Yale fell by 15.4%, to $550 million. Despite those reductions, nearly half of the 100 nonprofits drawing the most money through donations in 2020 were higher education institutions and hospitals. Nine of the top 20 were universities.</p>
<p><strong>Siddiqui:</strong> Poverty relief and health care were clearly big priorities for U.S. donors in 2020, a year that included the start of a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-five-million-dead-memorials-acd5a25aabb50f203c8ee059803a1bec">historic pandemic</a>, which has so far cost 5 million lives, and a <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/11-facts-on-the-economic-recovery-from-the-covid-19-pandemic/">recession</a>. </p>
<p>I was surprised by the steep declines that many top-tier universities experienced because these schools <a href="https://insights.digitalmediasolutions.com/articles/higher-education-fundraising-2018">employ sophisticated and large fundraising teams</a> that help them attract and keep donors in good times and in downturns alike.</p>
<p><iframe id="fplbX" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/fplbX/6/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>What concerns do you have?</h2>
<p><strong>Siddiqui:</strong> Planned Parenthood donations fell 13.8% to $510 million. That decline in support could potentially make it harder for <a href="https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/issue-brief/financing-family-planning-services-for-low-income-women-the-role-of-public-programs/">women to access health care</a>. Similarly, there was a decline of 29% to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which obtained $234.5 million in donations in 2020. That reduction in funding speaks to a <a href="https://theconversation.com/federal-support-has-shored-up-nonprofits-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-but-many-groups-are-still-struggling-156359">larger challenge faced by arts organizations</a>, which are <a href="https://www.ted.com/playlists/733/why_art_is_important_to_democracy">critical to democracy</a> in the U.S. </p>
<p><strong>Kim:</strong> It is somewhat disappointing to see only a few organizations that primarily fund communities of color on this list despite an increase in <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-philanthropy-b5e6e871d7e3419c43ef7aef46b7eb97">support for causes related to racial inequality</a>. </p>
<p>I am also troubled to see so few nonprofits led by people of color on this list. Some notable exceptions include the <a href="https://www.unitedway.org/the-latest/press/new-president-and-ceo">United Way</a>, <a href="https://www.plannedparenthoodaction.org/pressroom/alexis-mcgill-johnson-named-permanent-president-and-ceo-of-the-planned-parenthood-federation-of-america-and-the-planned-parenthood-action-fund-2">Planned Parenthood</a> and <a href="https://www.feedingamerica.org/about-us/leadership/claire-babineaux-fontenot">Feeding America</a>. But the vast majority are led by white people.</p>
<p>Many of these organizations, however, such as the <a href="https://www.msureporter.com/2021/10/14/16869/">Mayo Clinic</a>, the <a href="https://www.usm.edu/news/2021/release/oyster-production-grant.php">Nature Conservancy</a> and the <a href="https://newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/15076/howard-university-joins-american-cancer-society-research-and-diversity">American Cancer Society</a>, have launched or expanded the scope of their racial equity initiatives.</p>
<p><strong>Campbell:</strong> When the Chronicle of Philanthropy released its list of <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-25-billion-the-biggest-us-donors-gave-in-2020-says-about-high-dollar-charity-today-154466">the top 50 donations of 2020</a>, racial justice and social equity were clear themes. Yet despite a <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-justice-giving-is-booming-4-trends-145526">surge in gifts</a> to historically Black colleges and universities, none of the 44 higher education institutions that made this list is an HBCU.</p>
<h2>What do you expect to see for 2021 and beyond?</h2>
<p><strong>Siddiqui:</strong> As life in the U.S. and the rest of the world continues to get closer to normal, with lower levels of COVID-19 and a healthier economy, I believe that the changes in giving that occurred during the pandemic are likely to recede. As a result, I predict that colleges and universities, hospitals and other institutions that employ large, experienced fundraising teams will raise more money, and minority-led institutions will continue to be left out.</p>
<p><strong>Kim:</strong> A recent <a href="https://www.urban.org/partnering-understand-long-term-trends-nonprofit-organization-activities-and-needs">Urban Institute report</a> I worked on found that charitable giving to nonprofits led by whites was more likely to rise than for groups led by people of color from 2015 to 2019. That distinction vanished in 2020, when about 46% of all nonprofits, regardless of whether or not they were led by people of color, received less money through donations. We believe this change probably reflects a <a href="https://theconversation.com/racial-justice-giving-is-booming-4-trends-145526">stronger focus by donors</a> and nonprofit leaders on organizations led by people of color due the public outcry that followed the death of George Floyd.</p>
<p><strong>Campbell:</strong> It can be hard to spot fundraising trends based on data derived from a single year because one-time gifts can distort the picture. One example is the Foundation for the Carolinas, a community foundation based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Giving to this foundation shot up by 236% in 2020, the second-highest pace on this list. This abrupt change appears to be largely due to <a href="https://www.philanthropy.com/article/filling-a-void-on-the-right/">the support of a single donor</a>, <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/politico50/2015/jay-faison/">Jay Faison</a> – an entrepreneur who made a fortune in the video surveillance equipment industry.</p>
<p>Likewise, the nation’s economic circumstances are changing. So I don’t know whether or not Feeding America will continue getting the increased level of support it saw in 2020.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shariq Siddiqui receives funding from Waraich Family Fund, The John Templeton Foundation, Islamic Relief USA, Muslim Legal Fund of America, Mirza Family Foundation, Hamzavi Family Foundation, Pillars Fund, Indian American Muslim Council and International Strategy and Policy Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Campbell is vice chair of the board of the Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mirae Kim previously received research grants from the Generosity Commission, a project of the Giving Institute and Giving USA Foundation and Charles Koch Foundation. One of her current research projects is funded by the National Science Foundation Human Networks and Data Science – Infrastructure Program. Mirae Kim is affiliated with Independent Sector as a Visiting Scholar 2021-2022. She is also a non-paid, elected board member of the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA).</span></em></p>The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s latest ranking indicates that the coronavirus and heightened awareness about racism made a difference, but not necessarily a lasting one.Shariq Siddiqui, Assistant Professor & Director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative, IUPUIDavid Campbell, Associate Professor of Public Administration, Binghamton University, State University of New YorkMirae Kim, Associate Professor of Nonprofit Studies, George Mason UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.