Climate change is a game changer and our disaster response is no longer sufficient. We must begin to address the underlying causes that make some communities more vulnerable than others.
Sunscreens for sale at a Walgreens drug store.
Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Rising concern about possible environmental damage from the active ingredients in sunscreens could have ripple effects on public health if it causes people to use less of them.
Repairing storm damage is expensive, and insurance covers less than many people realize.
Sean Rayford/Getty Images
Telling people they have a flood risk rating of 10 is less powerful than explaining how much they’re likely to pay to deal with flooding over the next five years.
President Joe Biden signs the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law.
Stefani Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
People want a simple answer. Is this action safe? But despite Anthony Fauci bouncing responsibility for COVID-19 risk assessment to individuals, your risk can’t be boiled down to one probability.
Carbon-emitting companies are significant contributors to the climate crisis.
(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Policymakers, industry regulators and investors must team up to mandate that corporations provide CEOs with financial compensation for reducing carbon footprints.
Redditors are eager to share their perspectives, knowledge and experiences of non-invasive prenatal testing.
(Shutterstock)
Non-invasive prenatal testing can assess risk for genetic anomalies in a fetus. But interpreting risk levels is highly personal, as a study on Reddit discussions shows.
However Rodgers came to his decision to remain unvaccinated, he did not follow the tenets of critical thinking.
Patrick McDermott/Getty Images Sport via Getty Images
Joe Árvai, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Critical thinking means seeking out new information – especially facts that might run contrary to what you believe – and being willing to change your mind. And it’s a teachable skill.
A cabin is illuminated by firetruck lights as the Caldor Fire burns near Lake Tahoe in California on Aug. 31, 2021.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Matthew E. Kahn, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
Private companies rate all kinds of investments, from stocks to used cars. Now, they’re starting to analyze climate risks to local real estate – but how reliable are their findings?
It can be hard to see eye to eye when people don’t see risk the same way.
Ringo Chiu/AFP via Getty Images
How you respond to a risk depends on how you weigh the costs and benefits of an action. The problem is you’re not just a logical computer, and emotions bias your interpretation of the facts.
A ‘100-year flood’ doesn’t mean you’ll be flood-free for the next 99 years.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
One of the lessons we must take from the Whakaari tragedy is the cumulative nature of risk. Repeated visits to the volcanic island by tour guides placed them near unacceptable risk limits.
A sustainable private health insurance system requires enough young, healthy people paying premiums and not making claims. But government policies haven’t achieved this. Here’s what to try instead.
In 2018 scientists of the Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control tested a new way to suppress mosquito populations carrying the Zika virus.
RHONA WISE/AFP via Getty Images
Brian Allan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Chris Stone, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Holly Tuten, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jennifer Kuzma, North Carolina State University, and Natalie Kofler, Harvard University
Release of GM mosquitoes in Florida is imminent. But a multidisciplinary team of scientists believe that more studies are needed first. They encourage a publicly accessible registry for GM organisms.
A black swan event must meet three criteria: it must be an outlier, must have a major impact and must be declared predictable in hindsight.
(Buiobuione/Wikimedia)
The danger of treating COVID-19 as an astronomically rare and improbable event is that we will treat it as such and fail to prepare for the next pandemic. And there will be another pandemic.
The Trump administration was not alone with its slow response to the COVID-19 crisis.
Getty Images / White House Pool
Human beings have difficulty assessing distant threats.
The Royal New Zealand Navy during a recovery operation on Whakaari/White Island, on December 13. Rescue and recovery efforts have been hampered by hazardous conditions on the island, and the danger of another eruption.
EPA/Royal NZ Navy
The tragedy at Whakaari/White Island highlights the need for consent forms to ensure tourists are fully informed when choosing to visit dangerous locations.
The U.S. incarcerates more people than any other place in the world. Warehousing people in prison is costly and unsustainable.
Shutterstock