scientificamerican--2020-09-09--How Good a Diet Is Intermittent Fasting?

Healthy weight management comes with many perks .
Among the proven benefits : a reduced risk of diabetes , less joint pain , lower chances of certain cancers and an overall fitter cardiovascular system .
Some regimens , particularly the Mediterranean diet , seem especially well suited to delivering these advantages , though , as with all diets , only to the degree that people can stick with them and avoid overeating .
Now research hints that another trendy diet may offer even more extensive health benefits .
At least that is the claim by some who study an approach @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Intermittent fasting ( IF ) has its roots in decades of studies showing that if you feed rodents only every other day , they not only remain lean but develop fewer aging-related diseases and live 30 to 40 percent longer .
In a 2019 review article in the New England Journal of Medicine , gerontologist Rafael de Cabo of the National Institute on Aging and neuroscientist Mark Mattson of Johns Hopkins University summarized a wealth of findings in animals and a more limited number in people .
In rodents and to some degree @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fountain of youth , lowering body weight , blood pressure and cholesterol levels , improving glucose control , reducing systemic inflammation , maintaining brain health , and even boosting endurance and coordination .
In humans , studies have shown that various forms of IF can be effective ways to lose weight , control blood sugar and lower blood pressure .
There are hints that the more stringent forms—those with longer or stricter fasts—offer additional benefits .
“ But to be honest , a lot of the benefits that we see in animals are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Krista Varady , a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago .
“ It 's not a magic diet.
” IF comes in three main flavors : alternate-day fasting , when people alternate between feast days ( eating normally or a little extra ) and fast days with one meager meal of about 500 calories ; the 5:2 plan , which means eating normally five days a week but only one scant meal the other two days ; and time-restricted eating , when daily dining is confined to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in some versions , six or 10 hours ) .
Scientists attribute many of the positive effects of IF to something called metabolic switching—after 10 or 12 hours of fasting , the body depletes its supply of glycogen ( a stored form of glucose ) and starts burning ketones ( a fuel made from fat by the liver ) .
This switch affects growth factors , immune signals and other chemicals .
“ But ketones are not the whole story , ” Mattson says .
“ These periods of fasting-eating-fasting-eating activate genes and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” he says , mainly based on animal research .
“ It stimulates a process called autophagy : the cells go into a stress-resistance and recycling mode where they get rid of damaged proteins.
” Mattson likens cycles of fasting and eating to exercise and rest : “ Your muscles do n't get bigger during exercise ; they get bigger during the recovery.
” There is good evidence that IF helps people shed pounds .
For example , two studies , each with about 100 overweight women , compared the 5:2 regimen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by 25 percent ; both found that the two diets led to the same amount of weight loss over three to six months .
The intermittent fasters , however , wound up with better blood sugar control and a greater reduction in body fat .
In addition , a 2019 study by Varady 's team with 43 overweight people showed that alternate-day fasting improved the body 's response to insulin by more than twice as much as a typical calorie-cutting diet .
IF may also have an edge in reducing blood pressure , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham .
In a small but rigorous study with prediabetic men , Peterson 's laboratory showed that restricting meals to a six-hour window that ended at 3 P.M. led to better insulin sensitivity and blood pressure even without weight loss .
As for other benefits , dozens of human trials are underway to test IF as a way to slow cancer growth and reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis , stroke , Crohn 's disease and other illnesses .
In the end , the only successful diets—whatever @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
IF can work well over the long haul for meal skippers and people who hate to count calories .
But Varady saw a high dropout rate in a yearlong study of alternate-day fasting and is skeptical of time-restriction windows that shut too early : “ Nobody wants to skip dinner .
”

Healthy weight management comes with many perks. Among the proven benefits: a reduced risk of diabetes, less joint pain, lower chances of certain cancers and an overall fitter cardiovascular system. Some regimens, particularly the Mediterranean diet, seem especially well suited to delivering these advantages, though, as with all diets, only to the degree that people can stick with them and avoid overeating. Now research hints that another trendy diet may offer even more extensive health benefits. At least that is the claim by some who study an approach to eating—and not eating—called intermittent fasting.
Intermittent fasting (IF) has its roots in decades of studies showing that if you feed rodents only every other day, they not only remain lean but develop fewer aging-related diseases and live 30 to 40 percent longer. In a 2019 review article in the New England Journal of Medicine, gerontologist Rafael de Cabo of the National Institute on Aging and neuroscientist Mark Mattson of Johns Hopkins University summarized a wealth of findings in animals and a more limited number in people. In rodents and to some degree in monkeys, IF is a veritable fountain of youth, lowering body weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, improving glucose control, reducing systemic inflammation, maintaining brain health, and even boosting endurance and coordination. In humans, studies have shown that various forms of IF can be effective ways to lose weight, control blood sugar and lower blood pressure. There are hints that the more stringent forms—those with longer or stricter fasts—offer additional benefits. “But to be honest, a lot of the benefits that we see in animals are not really translating to humans,” says Krista Varady, a professor of nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It's not a magic diet.”
IF comes in three main flavors: alternate-day fasting, when people alternate between feast days (eating normally or a little extra) and fast days with one meager meal of about 500 calories; the 5:2 plan, which means eating normally five days a week but only one scant meal the other two days; and time-restricted eating, when daily dining is confined to a window of eight hours (or, in some versions, six or 10 hours).
Scientists attribute many of the positive effects of IF to something called metabolic switching—after 10 or 12 hours of fasting, the body depletes its supply of glycogen (a stored form of glucose) and starts burning ketones (a fuel made from fat by the liver). This switch affects growth factors, immune signals and other chemicals. “But ketones are not the whole story,” Mattson says. “These periods of fasting-eating-fasting-eating activate genes and signaling pathways that make neurons more resilient,” he says, mainly based on animal research. “It stimulates a process called autophagy: the cells go into a stress-resistance and recycling mode where they get rid of damaged proteins.” Mattson likens cycles of fasting and eating to exercise and rest: “Your muscles don't get bigger during exercise; they get bigger during the recovery.”
There is good evidence that IF helps people shed pounds. For example, two studies, each with about 100 overweight women, compared the 5:2 regimen with a diet that cut daily calories by 25 percent; both found that the two diets led to the same amount of weight loss over three to six months. The intermittent fasters, however, wound up with better blood sugar control and a greater reduction in body fat. In addition, a 2019 study by Varady's team with 43 overweight people showed that alternate-day fasting improved the body's response to insulin by more than twice as much as a typical calorie-cutting diet.
IF may also have an edge in reducing blood pressure, says Courtney Peterson, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In a small but rigorous study with prediabetic men, Peterson's laboratory showed that restricting meals to a six-hour window that ended at 3 P.M. led to better insulin sensitivity and blood pressure even without weight loss. As for other benefits, dozens of human trials are underway to test IF as a way to slow cancer growth and reduce symptoms of multiple sclerosis, stroke, Crohn's disease and other illnesses.
In the end, the only successful diets—whatever the goal—involve permanent changes in eating habits. IF can work well over the long haul for meal skippers and people who hate to count calories. But Varady saw a high dropout rate in a yearlong study of alternate-day fasting and is skeptical of time-restriction windows that shut too early: “Nobody wants to skip dinner.”


scientificamerican--2020-09-09--Blood and Silicon: New Electronics-Cooling System Mimics Human Capillaries

As electronics get steadily smaller and denser , they also get hotter .
Their components do not function best at high temperatures , so dealing with the escalating heat that colliding electrons produce as they flow through the semiconductors in these shrinking items is a huge—and increasingly pressing—technological challenge .
There are various ways to chill components , ranging from simple fan-cooled heat exchangers to more compact and sophisticated systems .
One of the latter involves equipping semiconductor chips with a tiny device that has fluid-carrying microchannels running through it to move heat away .
These channels must be as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them can fit on a single chip .
But the smaller the channels , the more pressure is needed for the liquid to flow—and this pressure can require a lot of energy .
Now scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne ( EPFL ) say they have developed a new technology to make such systems more energy-efficient .
In this novel approach , the microchannel network—whose architectural design was inspired by the human circulatory system—was built within the semiconductor itself , not attached to it afterward .
The findings were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matioli , a professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering at EPFL , and his colleagues used a chip comprising a thin layer of a semiconducting material called gallium nitride , or GaN , atop a thicker silicon substrate .
In an ordinary chip , this substrate just supports the GaN layer .
But in the new system , the microchannels are carved within the substrate and positioned to line up exactly with the parts of the chip that tend to heat up the most .
To attack the problem of the high @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cooling liquid through the minuscule channels , the researchers designed a distribution network made of wider channels that only narrow in the precise places where the heat is concentrated .
This arrangement dramatically decreases the total amount of energy needed .
“ It ’ s like the human circulatory system , which is made of larger blood vessels that only get thinner , transforming into capillaries , in certain areas of the body , ” Matioli says .
The experiments—some of which had to be done in a lab built in one researcher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ closed the Institute of Electrical Engineering ’ s facilities—showed that the system ’ s coefficient of performance ( which measures its efficiency ) is 50 times higher than that achieved by another cooling technology that uses uniform-width microchannels and is not integrated within the semiconductor .
The major breakthrough of this approach is an innovative fabrication method that integrates the electronic and cooling structures in a single manufacturing process , says Tiwei Wei , who was one of the paper ’ s peer reviewers and is a researcher at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He adds that this integration helps get the microchannels much closer to the specific overheated areas , cooling things down more efficiently .
“ It is an important paper because it bridges the gap between two communities : the power-electronics and the electronics-cooling communities .
Currently most research treats them separately , ” says Xianming ( Simon ) Dai , who is an assistant professor at the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas and was not involved with the study .
Thermal engineering is usually an afterthought @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been designed .
But William King , a professor and Ralph A. Andersen Endowed Chair in mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , notes that some research groups have begun to consider the concept of codesigning electronics and cooling solutions .
“ This paper shows an important contribution that really demonstrates what is possible , ” says King , who was also not involved with the new paper .
One of the study ’ s limitations , according to Wei , is that it applied the innovative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case .
“ A future direction would be applying the concept on a state-of-the-art converter design , ” he says , adding that he also has questions about the structural integrity of the thin GaN layer on top of the microchannels .
“ My concern is that , in the long term , the liquid going through the channels underneath the device could lead to stress that may impact the device.
” King says the next steps in this research should be to show that it is possible to use microfluidic cooling channels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possibilities of more advanced three-dimensional geometries .
“ As this concept matures , ” he says , “ I believe that the designs will look more and more like a capillary network from the human circulatory system , where large channels link with small channels in a branching architecture.
” King notes that thermal management is a major limitation for all types of electronics—especially power electronic devices such as those used in hybrid and electric vehicles , the electric grid and communications .
“ In principle , this technology could be used in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , to cool computer chips or in applications like solar panels or electric cars , which may have high power density , ” Matioli says .
He adds that this is unlikely to offer a practical solution for all electronics , however , because in certain applications , it would not be desirable to have liquid circulating inside the electronic parts .
Matioli sees great potential for this technology in data centers , which consume massive amounts of energy—much of which goes into cooling systems .
Together , all the data centers in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electricity and water comparable to the residential needs of a city like Philadelphia , he says .
On average , 30 percent of the energy used by data centers goes into cooling .
His team ’ s paper contends that this expenditure could potentially drop significantly by adopting the new approach .

As electronics get steadily smaller and denser, they also get hotter. Their components do not function best at high temperatures, so dealing with the escalating heat that colliding electrons produce as they flow through the semiconductors in these shrinking items is a huge—and increasingly pressing—technological challenge.
There are various ways to chill components, ranging from simple fan-cooled heat exchangers to more compact and sophisticated systems. One of the latter involves equipping semiconductor chips with a tiny device that has fluid-carrying microchannels running through it to move heat away. These channels must be as small as possible so that more of them can fit on a single chip. But the smaller the channels, the more pressure is needed for the liquid to flow—and this pressure can require a lot of energy.
Now scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) say they have developed a new technology to make such systems more energy-efficient. In this novel approach, the microchannel network—whose architectural design was inspired by the human circulatory system—was built within the semiconductor itself, not attached to it afterward. The findings were published on Wednesday in Nature.
Elison Matioli, a professor at the Institute of Electrical Engineering at EPFL, and his colleagues used a chip comprising a thin layer of a semiconducting material called gallium nitride, or GaN, atop a thicker silicon substrate. In an ordinary chip, this substrate just supports the GaN layer. But in the new system, the microchannels are carved within the substrate and positioned to line up exactly with the parts of the chip that tend to heat up the most.
To attack the problem of the high energy needed to pump water or another cooling liquid through the minuscule channels, the researchers designed a distribution network made of wider channels that only narrow in the precise places where the heat is concentrated. This arrangement dramatically decreases the total amount of energy needed.
“It’s like the human circulatory system, which is made of larger blood vessels that only get thinner, transforming into capillaries, in certain areas of the body,” Matioli says. The experiments—some of which had to be done in a lab built in one researcher’s apartment after the COVID-19 pandemic closed the Institute of Electrical Engineering’s facilities—showed that the system’s coefficient of performance (which measures its efficiency) is 50 times higher than that achieved by another cooling technology that uses uniform-width microchannels and is not integrated within the semiconductor.
The major breakthrough of this approach is an innovative fabrication method that integrates the electronic and cooling structures in a single manufacturing process, says Tiwei Wei, who was one of the paper’s peer reviewers and is a researcher at the Interuniversity Microelectronics Center and KU Leuven, both in Belgium. He adds that this integration helps get the microchannels much closer to the specific overheated areas, cooling things down more efficiently.
“It is an important paper because it bridges the gap between two communities: the power-electronics and the electronics-cooling communities. Currently most research treats them separately,” says Xianming (Simon) Dai, who is an assistant professor at the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at Dallas and was not involved with the study.
Thermal engineering is usually an afterthought, considered only after an electric system has been designed. But William King, a professor and Ralph A. Andersen Endowed Chair in mechanical science and engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, notes that some research groups have begun to consider the concept of codesigning electronics and cooling solutions. “This paper shows an important contribution that really demonstrates what is possible,” says King, who was also not involved with the new paper.
One of the study’s limitations, according to Wei, is that it applied the innovative cooling solution to a relatively simple test case. “A future direction would be applying the concept on a state-of-the-art converter design,” he says, adding that he also has questions about the structural integrity of the thin GaN layer on top of the microchannels. “My concern is that, in the long term, the liquid going through the channels underneath the device could lead to stress that may impact the device.”
King says the next steps in this research should be to show that it is possible to use microfluidic cooling channels in other materials and to explore the possibilities of more advanced three-dimensional geometries. “As this concept matures,” he says, “I believe that the designs will look more and more like a capillary network from the human circulatory system, where large channels link with small channels in a branching architecture.”
King notes that thermal management is a major limitation for all types of electronics—especially power electronic devices such as those used in hybrid and electric vehicles, the electric grid and communications.
“In principle, this technology could be used in all types of electronics: for example, to cool computer chips or in applications like solar panels or electric cars, which may have high power density,” Matioli says. He adds that this is unlikely to offer a practical solution for all electronics, however, because in certain applications, it would not be desirable to have liquid circulating inside the electronic parts.
Matioli sees great potential for this technology in data centers, which consume massive amounts of energy—much of which goes into cooling systems. Together, all the data centers in the U.S. alone consume an amount of electricity and water comparable to the residential needs of a city like Philadelphia, he says. On average, 30 percent of the energy used by data centers goes into cooling. His team’s paper contends that this expenditure could potentially drop significantly by adopting the new approach.


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--A Matter of Time

A Matter of Time

The past six months have felt like an eternity for those of us isolating and staying home .
And I imagine they ’ ve also felt like a stressful slog to every essential worker who has showed up day in , day out , to keep people fed and healthy .
But for science and medical research , six months is a relative blink of an eye .
Scientific understanding about new diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 usually takes years , not months .
Consider that HIV was first isolated and identified in 1983 , and nearly 40 years later we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fide cure—although we ’ re getting closer—but thanks to major advancements in antiretroviral therapy , most people who contract the disease can lead long and healthy lives .
Some early advice about how to avoid the novel coronavirus was barely more than a best guess based on previous knowledge ( for example , we now know that surface transmission of the virus is rare ) .
In this issue ’ s cover story , Scientific American editor in chief Laura Helmuth provides a definitive list of the hard-won certainties we ’ ve gleaned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see “ Nine Important Things We ’ ve Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far ” ) .
Also in this issue , Amy Maxmen profiles the global history of so-called pandemic games that epidemiologists use to model and predict how global diseases might arise and , most important , how we can prepare to mitigate them .
Despite such exercises , she details how the U.S. has so badly bungled its handling of the virus ( see “ Two Decades of Pandemic War Games Failed to Account for Donald Trump ” ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vaccines might be the solution for countries with rampant outbreaks .
But of course , such remedies take time .

The past six months have felt like an eternity for those of us isolating and staying home. And I imagine they’ve also felt like a stressful slog to every essential worker who has showed up day in, day out, to keep people fed and healthy. But for science and medical research, six months is a relative blink of an eye. Scientific understanding about new diseases such as SARS-CoV-2 usually takes years, not months. Consider that HIV was first isolated and identified in 1983, and nearly 40 years later we still don’t have a bona fide cure—although we’re getting closer—but thanks to major advancements in antiretroviral therapy, most people who contract the disease can lead long and healthy lives. Some early advice about how to avoid the novel coronavirus was barely more than a best guess based on previous knowledge (for example, we now know that surface transmission of the virus is rare). In this issue’s cover story, Scientific American editor in chief Laura Helmuth provides a definitive list of the hard-won certainties we’ve gleaned about COVID-19 in six short months (see “Nine Important Things We’ve Learned about the Coronavirus Pandemic So Far”).
Also in this issue, Amy Maxmen profiles the global history of so-called pandemic games that epidemiologists use to model and predict how global diseases might arise and, most important, how we can prepare to mitigate them. Despite such exercises, she details how the U.S. has so badly bungled its handling of the virus (see “Two Decades of Pandemic War Games Failed to Account for Donald Trump”). She posits that powerful treatments and vaccines might be the solution for countries with rampant outbreaks. But of course, such remedies take time.


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Fighting Back against the Stigma of Addiction

Untreated drug and alcohol use contributes to tens of thousands of deaths every year and affects the lives of many more people .
We have effective treatments , including medications for opioid and alcohol use disorders , that could prevent a significant number of these deaths , but they are not being utilized widely enough , and people who could benefit often do not even seek them out .
One important reason is the stigma around those with addiction .
Stigma is a problem for people with health conditions ranging from cancer and HIV to a variety of mental illnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the context of substance use disorders .
Even though medicine long ago reached the consensus that addiction is a complex brain disorder , those with addiction continue to be blamed for their condition .
The public , as well as many people working in health care and in the justice system , continues to view addiction as a result of moral weakness and flawed character .
Stigma on the part of health care providers who see patients ' drug or alcohol problems as their own fault can lead to substandard care or even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Staff in emergency departments , for instance , may be dismissive of addicted people because they do not view treating drug problems as part of their job .
As a result , those showing signs of acute intoxication or withdrawal symptoms are sometimes expelled from the ER by staff who are fearful of their behavior or who assume they are only seeking drugs .
People with addiction can internalize this stigma , feeling shame and refusing to seek treatment .
During a visit to Puerto Rico several years ago , I visited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ injection site—in San Juan , where I met a man who was injecting heroin into his leg .
It was severely infected , and I urged him to visit an ER , but he had been treated horribly on previous occasions and preferred risking his life , or probable amputation , to the prospect of repeating his humiliation .
Beyond just impeding the provision or seeking of care , stigma may actually drive addicted people to continue using drugs .
Research by Marco Venniro of the National Institute on Drug Abuse has shown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the drug when given the choice , but when the social choice is punished , the animals revert to drug use .
Humans , too , are social beings , and some of us respond to both social and physical punishments by turning to substances to alleviate our pain .
The humiliating rejection experienced by those who are stigmatized for their drug use acts as a powerful social punishment , driving them to continue and perhaps intensify their drug taking .
The stigmatization of people with substance use disorders may be even more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In addition to the greater risk associated with homelessness and with drug use itself , the legitimate fear around contagion may mean that bystanders or even first responders will be reluctant to administer lifesaving naloxone to people who have overdosed .
And there is a danger that overtaxed hospitals will pass over those with obvious drug problems when making difficult decisions about where to direct limited personnel and resources .
Alleviating stigma is not easy , in part because the rejection of people with addiction or mental illness arises from unease over their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ care workers may be at a loss as to how to interact with someone acting threateningly because of withdrawal or because of the effects of certain drugs ( for example , PCP ) if they have not received training in caring for people with substance use disorders .
It is crucial that health care personnel , from staff in emergency departments to physicians , nurses and physician assistants , be trained in caring competently for people with substance use disorders .
Treating patients with dignity and compassion is the first step .
There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the brain changes in addiction is substantially influenced by factors outside an individual 's control , such as genetics and the environment in which one is born and raised , and that medical care is often necessary to facilitate recovery as well as to avert the worst outcomes , such as overdose .
When people with addiction are stigmatized and rejected , especially by those in health care , it only contributes to the vicious cycle that makes their disease so entrenched .

Untreated drug and alcohol use contributes to tens of thousands of deaths every year and affects the lives of many more people. We have effective treatments, including medications for opioid and alcohol use disorders, that could prevent a significant number of these deaths, but they are not being utilized widely enough, and people who could benefit often do not even seek them out. One important reason is the stigma around those with addiction.
Stigma is a problem for people with health conditions ranging from cancer and HIV to a variety of mental illnesses, but it is especially powerful in the context of substance use disorders. Even though medicine long ago reached the consensus that addiction is a complex brain disorder, those with addiction continue to be blamed for their condition. The public, as well as many people working in health care and in the justice system, continues to view addiction as a result of moral weakness and flawed character.
Stigma on the part of health care providers who see patients' drug or alcohol problems as their own fault can lead to substandard care or even to the rejection of individuals seeking treatment. Staff in emergency departments, for instance, may be dismissive of addicted people because they do not view treating drug problems as part of their job. As a result, those showing signs of acute intoxication or withdrawal symptoms are sometimes expelled from the ER by staff who are fearful of their behavior or who assume they are only seeking drugs. People with addiction can internalize this stigma, feeling shame and refusing to seek treatment.
During a visit to Puerto Rico several years ago, I visited a “shooting gallery”—a makeshift injection site—in San Juan, where I met a man who was injecting heroin into his leg. It was severely infected, and I urged him to visit an ER, but he had been treated horribly on previous occasions and preferred risking his life, or probable amputation, to the prospect of repeating his humiliation.
Beyond just impeding the provision or seeking of care, stigma may actually drive addicted people to continue using drugs. Research by Marco Venniro of the National Institute on Drug Abuse has shown that drug-dependent rodents choose social interaction over the drug when given the choice, but when the social choice is punished, the animals revert to drug use. Humans, too, are social beings, and some of us respond to both social and physical punishments by turning to substances to alleviate our pain. The humiliating rejection experienced by those who are stigmatized for their drug use acts as a powerful social punishment, driving them to continue and perhaps intensify their drug taking.
The stigmatization of people with substance use disorders may be even more problematic in the current COVID-19 crisis. In addition to the greater risk associated with homelessness and with drug use itself, the legitimate fear around contagion may mean that bystanders or even first responders will be reluctant to administer lifesaving naloxone to people who have overdosed. And there is a danger that overtaxed hospitals will pass over those with obvious drug problems when making difficult decisions about where to direct limited personnel and resources.
Alleviating stigma is not easy, in part because the rejection of people with addiction or mental illness arises from unease over their violations of social norms. Even health care workers may be at a loss as to how to interact with someone acting threateningly because of withdrawal or because of the effects of certain drugs (for example, PCP) if they have not received training in caring for people with substance use disorders. It is crucial that health care personnel, from staff in emergency departments to physicians, nurses and physician assistants, be trained in caring competently for people with substance use disorders. Treating patients with dignity and compassion is the first step.
There must be wider recognition that susceptibility to the brain changes in addiction is substantially influenced by factors outside an individual's control, such as genetics and the environment in which one is born and raised, and that medical care is often necessary to facilitate recovery as well as to avert the worst outcomes, such as overdose. When people with addiction are stigmatized and rejected, especially by those in health care, it only contributes to the vicious cycle that makes their disease so entrenched.


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Don't Feel Guilty About Your Online Security Habits

Have you seen reports about massive increases in cybercrime during coronavirus : ransomware up 90 percent , data breaches up 223 percent ?
Noticed many major accounts getting hacked on Twitter ?
If so , you might be feeling a sense of déjà vu .
If you were on the Internet in 2009 , you would have heard that cybercrime had doubled .
You would also have heard about the growth of cybercrime and that police departments were staffing up to stop it .
Most of us probably feel like we ’ re asked to do a lot to protect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entering two-factor authentication codes to log in to websites , updating our computers , and maybe even running antivirus software .
The laundry list of security advice to follow is ever increasing : researchers recently documented over 400 unique pieces of advice about security and privacy available online .
To help you stay on top of things , you can even sign up to receive daily security advice emails .
How is it that we ’ re constantly expending effort on digital security , but cybercrime keeps rising ?
It turns out , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t really know what you should do to stay safe from the crimes reported in those sensational news stories .
The argument for security advice seems clear .
In contrast to physical crime , which requires proximity , cybercrime gives attackers global reach .
Residents of leafy suburbs in the US don ’ t usually have to worry about criminal gangs half a world away but cybercrime changes this .
The Internet brings criminals from every part of the world into one shared space , hugely increasing the set set of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ security expert Bruce Schneier writes , “ In cyberspace , you can set your computer to look for the one-in-a-hundred thousand chance .
You ’ ll probably find a couple dozen every day.
” To combat this cybercrime , we ’ re asked to take on an ever-growing list of security actions to protect our computers and our accounts .
You might presume that there is a large body of evidence showing that if you do what you ’ re told—use strong passwords , run your antivirus software—you ’ ll significantly reduce your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ d be wrong .
Despite the prominence of digital security advice , we know remarkably little about its effectiveness .
In medicine , new treatments and healthy behavior recommendations must go through a rigorous set of clinical studies before doctors start making suggestions to patients .
Yet , for online security—on which many of us spend more time than on our physical health—there is little such evidence .
Coronavirus has given us an education in the importance of making evidence-based decisions and adjusting those decisions as we learn more .
For example @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gatherings are risky and the importance of wearing masks has changed and adapted in response to new information .
Yet , no matter how pressing the need , we won ’ t release a vaccine , or even recommend mask usage , without unambiguous demonstration of efficacy .
How well do most cyber defenses work ?
The answer is ‘ We don ’ t know.
’ Any time a new possible digital attack is discovered , new recommendations come out to prevent it ; even if the probability of that attack taking place @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the last six months alone , new lists of security advice have already been produced to help you stay safe from contact tracing scams , stimulus payment scams and unemployment relief scams , despite no known evidence of the prevalence nor longevity of these attacks .
The main source of information about online scams and what to do about them is from security experts .
However , recommendations offered by these experts turn out to be inconsistent across time and among experts .
Even experts struggle to identify what security advice is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 41 security experts asked to rate hundreds of pieces of security and privacy advice ended up categorizing 118 unique pieces of advice as being among the “ top five ” most important things for people to do to protect themselves !
Ask a security expert about the importance of strong passwords and you are likely to be told about pass-phrases , about the influence of length and composition on the number of guesses an attacker will have to make , and about how many billions of password guesses a computer can make per @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hear about is any data showing that those who choose stronger passwords do better than those with weak passwords .
Why not ?
First , we know little about the level of risk individual Internet users face .
How likely am I to be the victim of a cybercrime in the next year ?
The answer is unclear .
Why ?
Because many of the estimates of cybercrime losses cover enterprise rather than consumer costs and attempts to survey consumer losses often have methodology flawed to the point where we can not trust @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctor , she could give you a fairly precise estimate of the number of people who will develop cancer in the next year .
If you ask any security expert , she would be hard pressed to give you a data-driven estimate of the number of people whose Twitter accounts will be compromised in the same time period .
Second , we have no evidence of how well a given security behavior advised by experts prevents a particular online risk .
What we do have is an incoherent and growing collection of actions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ amorphous collection of harms .
It turns out that none of us—even security experts—have good data on what we ought to be doing to stay safe online .
Now this doesn ’ t mean we can do nothing , or that ignoring threats is advisable .
But , the evidence supporting what we ’ re supposed to do to stay safe online doesn ’ t come close to meeting the standards we expect from medicine and other fields .
So , you can stop feeling guilty for not listening to every piece of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not wrong if you suspect that not all of it is necessary .
And digital security experts can take this as a call to catch up to data-driven standards of evidence : changing the behavior of billions of people is a lot easier if you come bearing data .

Have you seen reports about massive increases in cybercrime during coronavirus: ransomware up 90 percent, data breaches up 223 percent? Noticed many major accounts getting hacked on Twitter? If so, you might be feeling a sense of déjà vu. If you were on the Internet in 2009, you would have heard that cybercrime had doubled. You would also have heard about the growth of cybercrime and that police departments were staffing up to stop it.
Most of us probably feel like we’re asked to do a lot to protect ourselves online. Constantly changing passwords, entering two-factor authentication codes to log in to websites, updating our computers, and maybe even running antivirus software. The laundry list of security advice to follow is ever increasing: researchers recently documented over 400 unique pieces of advice about security and privacy available online. To help you stay on top of things, you can even sign up to receive daily security advice emails.
How is it that we’re constantly expending effort on digital security, but cybercrime keeps rising? It turns out, even the security experts giving this advice don’t really know what you should do to stay safe from the crimes reported in those sensational news stories.
The argument for security advice seems clear. In contrast to physical crime, which requires proximity, cybercrime gives attackers global reach. Residents of leafy suburbs in the US don’t usually have to worry about criminal gangs half a world away but cybercrime changes this. The Internet brings criminals from every part of the world into one shared space, hugely increasing the set set of people who might attack you. As security expert Bruce Schneier writes, “In cyberspace, you can set your computer to look for the one-in-a-hundred thousand chance. You’ll probably find a couple dozen every day.” To combat this cybercrime, we’re asked to take on an ever-growing list of security actions to protect our computers and our accounts.
You might presume that there is a large body of evidence showing that if you do what you’re told—use strong passwords, run your antivirus software—you’ll significantly reduce your risk of cybercrime.
Unfortunately, you’d be wrong. Despite the prominence of digital security advice, we know remarkably little about its effectiveness. In medicine, new treatments and healthy behavior recommendations must go through a rigorous set of clinical studies before doctors start making suggestions to patients. Yet, for online security—on which many of us spend more time than on our physical health—there is little such evidence.
Coronavirus has given us an education in the importance of making evidence-based decisions and adjusting those decisions as we learn more. For example, our understanding of which types of gatherings are risky and the importance of wearing masks has changed and adapted in response to new information. Yet, no matter how pressing the need, we won’t release a vaccine, or even recommend mask usage, without unambiguous demonstration of efficacy.
How well do most cyber defenses work? The answer is ‘We don’t know.’ Any time a new possible digital attack is discovered, new recommendations come out to prevent it; even if the probability of that attack taking place is extremely small. For example, in the last six months alone, new lists of security advice have already been produced to help you stay safe from contact tracing scams, stimulus payment scams and unemployment relief scams, despite no known evidence of the prevalence nor longevity of these attacks.
The main source of information about online scams and what to do about them is from security experts. However, recommendations offered by these experts turn out to be inconsistent across time and among experts. Even experts struggle to identify what security advice is most important. Recent research found that 41 security experts asked to rate hundreds of pieces of security and privacy advice ended up categorizing 118 unique pieces of advice as being among the “top five” most important things for people to do to protect themselves!
Ask a security expert about the importance of strong passwords and you are likely to be told about pass-phrases, about the influence of length and composition on the number of guesses an attacker will have to make, and about how many billions of password guesses a computer can make per second. What you will certainly not hear about is any data showing that those who choose stronger passwords do better than those with weak passwords.
Why not? First, we know little about the level of risk individual Internet users face. How likely am I to be the victim of a cybercrime in the next year? The answer is unclear. Why? Because many of the estimates of cybercrime losses cover enterprise rather than consumer costs and attempts to survey consumer losses often have methodology flawed to the point where we cannot trust the conclusions. If you ask any doctor, she could give you a fairly precise estimate of the number of people who will develop cancer in the next year. If you ask any security expert, she would be hard pressed to give you a data-driven estimate of the number of people whose Twitter accounts will be compromised in the same time period.
Second, we have no evidence of how well a given security behavior advised by experts prevents a particular online risk. What we do have is an incoherent and growing collection of actions aimed in the general direction of an amorphous collection of harms.
It turns out that none of us—even security experts—have good data on what we ought to be doing to stay safe online. Now this doesn’t mean we can do nothing, or that ignoring threats is advisable. But, the evidence supporting what we’re supposed to do to stay safe online doesn’t come close to meeting the standards we expect from medicine and other fields. So, you can stop feeling guilty for not listening to every piece of online security advice: you’re not wrong if you suspect that not all of it is necessary. And digital security experts can take this as a call to catch up to data-driven standards of evidence: changing the behavior of billions of people is a lot easier if you come bearing data.


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Emotional Labor Is a Store Clerk Confronting a Maskless Customer

Two men walked into a Trader Joe ’ s supermarket in Manhattan near closing time one day in July .
When an employee asked them to put on masks , they allegedly proceeded to rip a mask from one worker ’ s face , hit another and pull the hair of a third .
Such physical attacks are less common than a string of expletives when a customer is asked to wear a face covering as a safeguard against COVID-19 transmission .
But amid the stress of a dangerous global pandemic , combined with the extreme political polarization of protective @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still been an alarming number of outright assaults .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidance saying employees at retail establishments and other service business should refrain from arguing with a customer when confronted with an attack or threat of violence over a request to put on a mask .
If at all possible , they should retreat to a safe , lockable room .
Since March , anyone who works in a supermarket or other retail business now has a complex job description that goes beyond stocking shelves or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ become necessary to appease the antimask contingent but also to maximize a customer ’ s chances of traversing a store ’ s narrow aisles without testing positive for COVID-19 a few days later .
The emotional balancing act required to juggle fear for one ’ s personal safety with a professional steadiness in the face of a circulating pathogen that can sicken and kill continues to challenge the people who show up on the job each day—whether they be critical care physicians or supermarket cashiers .
Almost 40 years ago , sociologist Arlie @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the University of California , Berkeley , began an examination of the task of keeping emotions in check in service sector jobs .
She observed flight attendants—who were taught to keep smiling , no matter how difficult a passenger might get—and authored The Managed Heart : Commercialization of Human Feeling .
To describe such required exertions , Hochschild came up with the term “ emotional labor ” —a concept that now has relevance to the harsh stresses confronted by essential workers .
Scientific American recently asked her about emotional labor in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transcript of the interview follows . ]
A Google search of “ emotional labor ” brings up hundreds of thousands of references .
But it still seems useful to define the term and perhaps to discuss how it has evolved over the years .
Can you give a brief explanation ?
As I defined it in my 1983 book The Managed Heart , emotional labor is the work we do to evoke or suppress feeling or emotion in the service of doing paid work—that is , by managing emotion .
Usually it goes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but it is , in itself , a singular form of labor .
It calls for a distinct kind of skill , offers its own kind of reward and exacts its own kind of costs .
The economy was once mainly based on premechanized jobs , such as those of lumberjacks , coal miners , farmers—jobs calling for physical labor .
Such workers managed their emotions , too , of course—a farmer cursing a rainless sky , a miner fearing a collapse in his mine—but such feelings are incidental to , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work as it is for service sector workers required to conduct face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with the public .
In The Managed Heart , I describe the work of flight attendants—whose job ( in some airlines ) is to try to be “ nicer than natural ” —and bill collectors—whose job ( in some agencies ) is to be nastier than natural .
Most of us—teachers , nurses , social workers , sales clerks , tattoo parlor artists , prison guards , nannies , eldercare workers , wedding planners , funeral parlor attendants—do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two extremes .
Sometimes the job calls for displaying the right emotion , as when a funeral parlor attendant feigns sorrow and performs what I call “ surface acting.
” Other times it calls for trying to really feel the feeling appropriate to the moment and the job—what I call “ deep acting.
” Off the job , as friends , parents , siblings , co-parishioners , we are called on to manage our feelings , too , of course .
We comfort a frightened child , calm a rageful neighbor , grieve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called to manage our emotions , but we ’ re not paid for it .
So I give this a different name : “ emotion work , ” as opposed to “ emotional labor.
” The pandemic has brought about an outpouring of gratitude toward frontline workers , whether at the hospital or supermarket .
But it has also created an intense amount of stress : The nurse who has to hold it together when telling people they can ’ t see a dying family member .
The store employee who receives abuse @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shelf when looking for disinfecting wipes .
Do you think that your ideas about emotional labor can help explain what these essential workers are feeling ?
Oh , yes .
The demands on first responders are often intense .
When I say “ first responder , ” I refer to many workers : doctors and nurses—especially those working in the ICU [ intensive care unit ] —nurses ’ aides , EMTs , paramedics and physical therapists , as well as childcare workers , nursing home care givers , security personnel , food service @ @ @ @ @ @ @ carriers , bus , taxi , Uber and Lyft drivers , teachers , hotel and restaurant workers , and others in “ essential jobs ” maintaining daily contact with the public—some of whom are , or may be , sick .
They do emotional labor of two broad types .
One , I would call “ bracketing.
” This refers to the effort to get our own , often extreme , anxieties “ behind ” us .
Emotionally speaking , this calls for the work of temporarily detaching ourselves from a set of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ response to events , real or imagined , in our own life .
An ICU nurse who is intubating an ill patient may be strongly reminded of her own mother who ’ s developed a bad cough .
Or she may worry she is exposing her small children to COVID-19 or [ she may have ] left a pet dog at home for the length of a 10-hour shift .
These worries don ’ t arise from the job itself .
They are on her mind and require the emotional labor of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ situations away from work .
Bracketing is the work of maintaining focus on an immediate task , of telling oneself again and again , “ I can ’ t worry about my own situation now.
” You mentioned another type .
Can you describe it ?
A second type of emotional labor of COVID-19 first responders is “ bridging.
” It includes a broad category of emotional tasks .
In bridging , we ’ re focusing on the urgent needs of those stricken by COVID-19 and must try to empathize with the victims @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victim .
As one exemplary EMT said , “ I try to think of every patient as like a member of my family.
” And circumstances can be dire because COVID-19 adds new danger to preexisting ones .
The very poor and homeless , for example—already desperate for warmth and food , comfort—now fear the spread of illness or may be in denial of it .
Prisoners , already lonely , some mentally ill , now face fear of contagion .
Public hospitals , already facing scarcities , are now overwhelmed with more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Working with populations in these hotspots forces the emotional laborer to confront chaos [ and ] pandemonium and deal with their own sense of horror , similar to that faced by soldiers in wartime .
Many first responders trained as civilians are now faced with the equivalent of war .
The internal task for the emotional laborer is to absorb—meaning to manage feelings about—immediate horrors while not feeling overwhelmed by them .
In bridging to the needs of others , workers may have to deal with their own sense of failure .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patient , “ He died on my stretcher.
” Workers also have to deal with the anger of family members .
Helpless to rescue a loved one , a family member may lash out in anger and displace blame onto the caregiver : “ You failed ” or “ This hospital failed.
” A defiant shopper may express outrage at being required to wear a mask , requiring the store worker to mollify , absorb , listen nonreactively to angry talk and threatening gestures .
Or a worker may genuinely feel remorse at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Does having to maintain one ’ s composure while risking one ’ s own health raise the possibility of long-lasting psychological consequences ?
Yes , frontline workers can become shell-shocked or develop PTSD [ post-traumatic stress disorder ] or simply burn out .
Does emotional labor also have relevance to the country ’ s race-related tensions ?
The Strike for Black Lives on June 10 was partially thought of as a respite from the emotional labor of being Black in academia—having to appear at diversity workshops , mentor Black students , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person is often addressed in ways that don ’ t correspond with their self-definition .
A Black person may be treated as a “ representative ” of “ all black people ” — “ Tell me how you people feel ” —in ways that jar or alienate .
Or in other ways , people of color—and , really , minorities of every sort—face the task of peeling off other people ’ s projections onto them : “ You must be affirmative action hires.
” Any member of a minority , whether based on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or personality , is tacitly given the extra emotional task of helping others relate to oneself in a relaxed and accepting way .
You have also written about the inequities in housework in your book The Second Shift .
Do you think extended quarantines and lockdowns have exacerbated stresses related to domestic responsibilities—that is , when couples must work at home while tending to children and having to deal with all the tasks of running a household as well ?
On the other side of the “ brackets ” mentioned above is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , friends .
The “ second shift ” is an additional source of demands because it requires our effort to stay closely attuned to loved ones , address their primal needs while hoping and trying for a parallel attunement to one ’ s own—also sometimes overwhelming—needs .
Loved ones may feel abandoned by the preoccupied frontline worker and so feel angry and hurt .
One may feel guilty for subtracting attention from needy children or a spouse .
And the frontline worker may have to ask preoccupied family members for help in recovering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any other important issue that I ’ m leaving out linked to emotional labor and the pandemic ?
Yes , underlying any task of emotional labor is a prior notion of the “ right way ” or “ wrong way ” to feel at a particular moment—in a particular situation at a particular historical period in a particular culture .
It is through “ feeling rules , ” as I call them , that we incorporate culture into our daily lives .
Also , balancing : whether bracketing or bridging , at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of balancing the need to “ manage ” emotion with the need to let go and simply feel emotion .
And here , too , we encounter feeling rules in the form of a cultural ideal of balance .
But whatever ideal we ’ re aiming for , in balancing , we need to control our emotions enough but also not too much .
That is , partly , we have to discipline our feelings—to play them like a piano : If addressed in anger , not to strike back .
Or if @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to descend into it oneself .
On the other hand , we need to feel our emotions .
Emotion is like sight or hearing : it is a sense through which we know the world and our relationship to it .
To go numb is to be struck blind .
Hence the importance of knowing about what so many of us practice without giving it the name : emotional labor .
Editor ’ s Note : Besides The Managed Heart , there are two other books by Arlie Russell Hochschild that discuss emotional @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Life in Market Times ( Metropolitan Books , 2012 ) describes the experiences of nannies , eldercare workers , surrogate mothers , life coaches , wedding and birthday planners , and funeral organizers , such as “ the Shiva Sisters.
” And So How ’ s the Family and Other Essays ( University of California Press , 2013 ) contains several essays on the topic—including “ Can Emotional Labor Be Fun ?
” “ Rent-a-Mom , ” “ Time Strategies ” and “ The Surrogate ’ s Womb.
” Read more about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And read coverage from our international network of magazines here .

Two men walked into a Trader Joe’s supermarket in Manhattan near closing time one day in July. When an employee asked them to put on masks, they allegedly proceeded to rip a mask from one worker’s face, hit another and pull the hair of a third.
Such physical attacks are less common than a string of expletives when a customer is asked to wear a face covering as a safeguard against COVID-19 transmission. But amid the stress of a dangerous global pandemic, combined with the extreme political polarization of protective measures in the U.S., there have still been an alarming number of outright assaults.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued guidance saying employees at retail establishments and other service business should refrain from arguing with a customer when confronted with an attack or threat of violence over a request to put on a mask. If at all possible, they should retreat to a safe, lockable room.
Since March, anyone who works in a supermarket or other retail business now has a complex job description that goes beyond stocking shelves or running a cash register. It has become necessary to appease the antimask contingent but also to maximize a customer’s chances of traversing a store’s narrow aisles without testing positive for COVID-19 a few days later.
The emotional balancing act required to juggle fear for one’s personal safety with a professional steadiness in the face of a circulating pathogen that can sicken and kill continues to challenge the people who show up on the job each day—whether they be critical care physicians or supermarket cashiers.
Almost 40 years ago, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild, now a professor emerita at the University of California, Berkeley, began an examination of the task of keeping emotions in check in service sector jobs. She observed flight attendants—who were taught to keep smiling, no matter how difficult a passenger might get—and authored The Managed Heart: Commercialization of Human Feeling. To describe such required exertions, Hochschild came up with the term “emotional labor”—a concept that now has relevance to the harsh stresses confronted by essential workers. Scientific American recently asked her about emotional labor in the time of COVID-19.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
A Google search of “emotional labor” brings up hundreds of thousands of references. But it still seems useful to define the term and perhaps to discuss how it has evolved over the years. Can you give a brief explanation?
As I defined it in my 1983 book The Managed Heart, emotional labor is the work we do to evoke or suppress feeling or emotion in the service of doing paid work—that is, by managing emotion. Usually it goes along with mental work and physical work, but it is, in itself, a singular form of labor. It calls for a distinct kind of skill, offers its own kind of reward and exacts its own kind of costs. The economy was once mainly based on premechanized jobs, such as those of lumberjacks, coal miners, farmers—jobs calling for physical labor. Such workers managed their emotions, too, of course—a farmer cursing a rainless sky, a miner fearing a collapse in his mine—but such feelings are incidental to, and not an intrinsic part of, their work as it is for service sector workers required to conduct face-to-face or voice-to-voice contact with the public.
In The Managed Heart, I describe the work of flight attendants—whose job (in some airlines) is to try to be “nicer than natural”—and bill collectors—whose job (in some agencies) is to be nastier than natural. Most of us—teachers, nurses, social workers, sales clerks, tattoo parlor artists, prison guards, nannies, eldercare workers, wedding planners, funeral parlor attendants—do emotional labor that falls somewhere between these two extremes.
Sometimes the job calls for displaying the right emotion, as when a funeral parlor attendant feigns sorrow and performs what I call “surface acting.” Other times it calls for trying to really feel the feeling appropriate to the moment and the job—what I call “deep acting.”
Off the job, as friends, parents, siblings, co-parishioners, we are called on to manage our feelings, too, of course. We comfort a frightened child, calm a rageful neighbor, grieve a lost parent. Here we are called to manage our emotions, but we’re not paid for it. So I give this a different name: “emotion work,” as opposed to “emotional labor.”
The pandemic has brought about an outpouring of gratitude toward frontline workers, whether at the hospital or supermarket. But it has also created an intense amount of stress: The nurse who has to hold it together when telling people they can’t see a dying family member. The store employee who receives abuse from customers after they encounter a bare shelf when looking for disinfecting wipes. Do you think that your ideas about emotional labor can help explain what these essential workers are feeling?
Oh, yes. The demands on first responders are often intense. When I say “first responder,” I refer to many workers: doctors and nurses—especially those working in the ICU [intensive care unit]—nurses’ aides, EMTs, paramedics and physical therapists, as well as childcare workers, nursing home care givers, security personnel, food service deliverers and servers, janitors, mail carriers, bus, taxi, Uber and Lyft drivers, teachers, hotel and restaurant workers, and others in “essential jobs” maintaining daily contact with the public—some of whom are, or may be, sick.
They do emotional labor of two broad types. One, I would call “bracketing.” This refers to the effort to get our own, often extreme, anxieties “behind” us. Emotionally speaking, this calls for the work of temporarily detaching ourselves from a set of feelings that emerge—sadness, anxiety, panic—in response to events, real or imagined, in our own life. An ICU nurse who is intubating an ill patient may be strongly reminded of her own mother who’s developed a bad cough. Or she may worry she is exposing her small children to COVID-19 or [she may have] left a pet dog at home for the length of a 10-hour shift. These worries don’t arise from the job itself. They are on her mind and require the emotional labor of “setting aside,” or bracketing, situations away from work. Bracketing is the work of maintaining focus on an immediate task, of telling oneself again and again, “I can’t worry about my own situation now.”
You mentioned another type. Can you describe it?
A second type of emotional labor of COVID-19 first responders is “bridging.” It includes a broad category of emotional tasks. In bridging, we’re focusing on the urgent needs of those stricken by COVID-19 and must try to empathize with the victims of it—bridging the differences between self and victim. As one exemplary EMT said, “I try to think of every patient as like a member of my family.”
And circumstances can be dire because COVID-19 adds new danger to preexisting ones. The very poor and homeless, for example—already desperate for warmth and food, comfort—now fear the spread of illness or may be in denial of it. Prisoners, already lonely, some mentally ill, now face fear of contagion. Public hospitals, already facing scarcities, are now overwhelmed with more sick patients than there are beds. Working with populations in these hotspots forces the emotional laborer to confront chaos [and] pandemonium and deal with their own sense of horror, similar to that faced by soldiers in wartime. Many first responders trained as civilians are now faced with the equivalent of war. The internal task for the emotional laborer is to absorb—meaning to manage feelings about—immediate horrors while not feeling overwhelmed by them.
In bridging to the needs of others, workers may have to deal with their own sense of failure. The EMT mentioned above reported sadly about a patient, “He died on my stretcher.” Workers also have to deal with the anger of family members. Helpless to rescue a loved one, a family member may lash out in anger and displace blame onto the caregiver: “You failed” or “This hospital failed.” A defiant shopper may express outrage at being required to wear a mask, requiring the store worker to mollify, absorb, listen nonreactively to angry talk and threatening gestures. Or a worker may genuinely feel remorse at a failure to rescue a needy patient.
Does having to maintain one’s composure while risking one’s own health raise the possibility of long-lasting psychological consequences?
Yes, frontline workers can become shell-shocked or develop PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder] or simply burn out.
Does emotional labor also have relevance to the country’s race-related tensions? The Strike for Black Lives on June 10 was partially thought of as a respite from the emotional labor of being Black in academia—having to appear at diversity workshops, mentor Black students, and the like.
Yes, here a person is often addressed in ways that don’t correspond with their self-definition. A Black person may be treated as a “representative” of “all black people”—“Tell me how you people feel”—in ways that jar or alienate. Or in other ways, people of color—and, really, minorities of every sort—face the task of peeling off other people’s projections onto them: “You must be affirmative action hires.” Any member of a minority, whether based on gender, sexuality, religion, disability or personality, is tacitly given the extra emotional task of helping others relate to oneself in a relaxed and accepting way.
You have also written about the inequities in housework in your book The Second Shift. Do you think extended quarantines and lockdowns have exacerbated stresses related to domestic responsibilities—that is, when couples must work at home while tending to children and having to deal with all the tasks of running a household as well?
On the other side of the “brackets” mentioned above is the world of children, parents, lovers, friends. The “second shift” is an additional source of demands because it requires our effort to stay closely attuned to loved ones, address their primal needs while hoping and trying for a parallel attunement to one’s own—also sometimes overwhelming—needs. Loved ones may feel abandoned by the preoccupied frontline worker and so feel angry and hurt. One may feel guilty for subtracting attention from needy children or a spouse. And the frontline worker may have to ask preoccupied family members for help in recovering from an overwhelming day.
Is there any other important issue that I’m leaving out linked to emotional labor and the pandemic?
Yes, underlying any task of emotional labor is a prior notion of the “right way” or “wrong way” to feel at a particular moment—in a particular situation at a particular historical period in a particular culture. It is through “feeling rules,” as I call them, that we incorporate culture into our daily lives.
Also, balancing: whether bracketing or bridging, at the heart of emotional labor is the art of balancing the need to “manage” emotion with the need to let go and simply feel emotion. And here, too, we encounter feeling rules in the form of a cultural ideal of balance. But whatever ideal we’re aiming for, in balancing, we need to control our emotions enough but also not too much. That is, partly, we have to discipline our feelings—to play them like a piano: If addressed in anger, not to strike back. Or if addressed in grief and depression, not to descend into it oneself. On the other hand, we need to feel our emotions. Emotion is like sight or hearing: it is a sense through which we know the world and our relationship to it. To go numb is to be struck blind. Hence the importance of knowing about what so many of us practice without giving it the name: emotional labor.
Editor’s Note: Besides The Managed Heart, there are two other books by Arlie Russell Hochschild that discuss emotional labor: The Outsourced Self: Intimate Life in Market Times (Metropolitan Books, 2012) describes the experiences of nannies, eldercare workers, surrogate mothers, life coaches, wedding and birthday planners, and funeral organizers, such as “the Shiva Sisters.” And So How’s the Family and Other Essays (University of California Press, 2013) contains several essays on the topic—including “Can Emotional Labor Be Fun?” “Rent-a-Mom,” “Time Strategies” and “The Surrogate’s Womb.”
Read more about the coronavirus outbreak from Scientific American here. And read coverage from our international network of magazines here.


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Leftovers Are A Food Waste Problem

Leftovers Are A Food Waste Problem

When restaurants first shut down early in the pandemic , Americans raided grocery stores .
They started cooking more at home .
And , presumably , generating more leftovers .
Those leftovers can be a convenient future meal—but they 've got a dark side , too .
`` There 's a tendency that if you put an item on a plate that 's a leftover , there 's a higher probability that you 're not going to fully consume that item .
And so it 's probably going to go to waste . ''
Brian Roe , an applied economist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his colleagues recently studied leftovers and food waste by tracking the eating habits of 18 men and women in Baton Rouge , Louisiana .
The participants tracked what they ate using an iPhone app .
And during the weeklong study , the study subjects collectively piled 1200 different foods on their plates .
After analyzing what got eaten , saved , or thrown away , the researchers found that leftovers were more likely to be picked at , and not fully eaten—a finding we can all probably identify with .
But they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ older and less fresh—directed diners ' attention to the other , more novel items on their plate .
Which brings up an interesting possible strategy to get people to eat their veggies .
`` I guess if you have an item that you do n't normally eat as much of , and you 're trying to get people to eat their peas , perhaps surrounding it with leftovers is a way to make them focus on the newest item on the plate . ''
The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Selection , intake , and plate waste patterns of leftover food items among U.S. consumers : A pilot study ] Overall , Roe says one bigger lesson emerged , on how to avoid scraping food into the trash .
`` For us the real take home here was—all else equal , choose a smaller meal and you 're less likely to generate leftovers .
And that 's a good thing , because leftovers all else equal , tend to be wasted more often . ''
Not that Roe does n't have aspirational tupperware @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of this myself , we have things left over from last Thanksgiving still sitting in our freezer .
And I know people who 've moved with frozen items before , without ever getting around to eating them . ''
[ The above text is a transcript of this podcast . ]

Full Transcript
When restaurants first shut down early in the pandemic, Americans raided grocery stores. They started cooking more at home—and, presumably, generating more leftovers. Those leftovers can be a convenient future meal—but they’ve got a dark side, too.
“There’s a tendency that if you put an item on a plate that’s a leftover, there’s a higher probability that you’re not going to fully consume that item. And so it’s probably going to go to waste.”
Brian Roe, an applied economist at the Ohio State University. He and his colleagues recently studied leftovers and food waste by tracking the eating habits of 18 men and women in Baton Rouge, La. The participants tracked what they ate using an iPhone app. And during the weeklong study, the study subjects collectively piled 1,200 different foods on their plates.
After analyzing what got eaten, saved or thrown away, the researchers found that leftovers were more likely to be picked at and not fully eaten—a finding we can all probably identify with.
But they also observed that leftovers—perhaps due to being older and less fresh—directed diners’ attention to the other, more novel items on their plate, which brings up an interesting possible strategy to get people to eat their veggies.
“I guess if you have an item that you don’t normally eat as much of, and you’re trying to get people to eat their peas, perhaps surrounding it with leftovers is a way to make them focus on the newest item on the plate.”
The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE. [Brian E. Roe et al., Selection, intake, and plate waste patterns of leftover food items among U.S. consumers: A pilot study]
Overall, Roe says one bigger lesson emerged on how to avoid scraping food into the trash.
“For us, the real take-home here was: all else equal, choose a smaller meal, and you’re less likely to generate leftovers. And that’s a good thing because leftovers, all else equal, tend to be wasted more often.”
Not that Roe doesn’t have aspirational Tupperware sitting around.
“I’m guilty of this myself: we have things left over from last Thanksgiving still sitting in our freezer. And I know people who’ve moved with frozen items before—without ever getting around to eating them.”
—Christopher Intagliata
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Bricks Can Be Turned Into Batteries

Bricks Can Be Turned Into Batteries

Bricks are one of the oldest known building materials , dating back thousands of years .
But researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found a use for bricks : as energy storage units .
A team of engineers and chemists have found a way to transform an ordinary house brick into a pseudo-battery—allowing it to conduct and store electricity .
The bricks are powerful enough to illuminate an LED light bulb , and cost only about $ 3 to make .
“ I love the idea of adding value to things that are inexpensive , things that are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take for granted.
” Julio D ’ Arcy is an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University and one of the researchers on this project .
The brick-battery relies on the reddish pigment known as iron oxide , or rust , that gives red bricks their color .
The scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with iron oxide to produce a network of plastic fibers .
These microscopic fibers coat the empty spaces the bricks—and conduct electricity .
“ What we 're trying to do is we 're trying to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the nanoscale where we use very little of the plastic and we can actually embed that plastic inside construction materials ” ) The study is in the journal Nature Communications .
[ Hongmin Wang et al , Energy storing bricks for stationary PEDOT supercapacitors ] In the future , D ’ Arcy says , a brick wall could potentially serve a dual purpose : providing structural support and storing electricity generated from renewable energy sources , such as solar panels .
The technology is still at least a few years away from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And right now , the energy storage capacity of the bricks is still pretty low — about 1 percent of a lithium ion battery .
But the team is now testing ways to improve brick performance .
Because it looks like you can teach an old brick new tricks .

Full Transcript
Bricks are one of the oldest known building materials, dating back thousands of years.
But researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have found a new use for bricks: as energy storage units. A team of engineers and chemists have found a way to transform an ordinary house brick into a pseudo-battery—allowing it to conduct and store electricity.
The bricks are powerful enough to illuminate an LED light bulb and cost only about $3 to make.
“I love the idea of adding value to things that are inexpensive, things that are affordable, things that we kind of take for granted.”
Julio D’Arcy is an assistant professor of chemistry at Washington University and one of the researchers on this project.
The brick battery relies on the reddish pigment known as iron oxide, or rust, that gives red bricks their color. The scientists pumped the bricks with several gases that react with iron oxide to produce a network of plastic fibers. These microscopic fibers coat the empty spaces inside the bricks—and conduct electricity.
“What we’re trying to do is: we’re trying to make specialized plastics that are only used on the nanoscale—where we use very little of the plastic, and we can actually embed that plastic inside construction materials”)
The study is in the journal Nature Communications. [Hongmin Wang et al., Energy storing bricks for stationary PEDOT supercapacitors]
In the future, D’Arcy says, a brick wall could potentially serve a dual purpose: providing structural support and storing electricity generated from renewable energy sources, such as solar panels.
The technology is still at least a few years away from being ready for the commercial market. And right now the energy storage capacity of the bricks is still pretty low—about 1 percent of a lithium ion battery. But the team is now testing ways to improve brick performance—because it looks like you can teach an old brick new tricks.
—Shahla Farzan
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--Climate Change Increases Threat of Fire to U.S. West

Editor ’ s Note ( 9/10/20 ) : Wildfires are raging across California and many other parts of the U.S. West .
Daytime skies over San Francisco are dark orange from the flames and smoke .
A record number of acres have already burned in California , and the wildfire season has a long way to go .
Scientists have predicted for at least a decade that climate change will make this terrible trend worse , as these projections we published in 2011 show .
“ If climate change drives temperature up a degree or two , ” goes the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that be ?
” Here ’ s an example : Higher temperatures draw moisture out of live and dead trees and brush , making them more flammable .
The heat also can alter precipitation , as well as shift spring thaw earlier , lengthening the fire season .
A one degree Celsius climb in average global temperature could cause the median area burned annually by wildfires in parts of the American West to increase up to sixfold .
“ A one-degree rise could occur well before 2050 , ” notes Jeremy Littell , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University of Washington , who created the projections with the U.S. Forest Service and other institutions .
Scientists in Canada have reached similar conclusions about their western region .
The U.S. prediction applies to area burned during median fire years ; extreme fire years would consume still more area .
Unfortunately , as temperature goes up , Littell predicts , “ what were historically big fire years may become more frequent .
”

Editor’s Note (9/10/20): Wildfires are raging across California and many other parts of the U.S. West. Daytime skies over San Francisco are dark orange from the flames and smoke. A record number of acres have already burned in California, and the wildfire season has a long way to go. Scientists have predicted for at least a decade that climate change will make this terrible trend worse, as these projections we published in 2011 show.
“If climate change drives temperature up a degree or two,” goes the common dismissal, “how bad could that be?”
Here’s an example: Higher temperatures draw moisture out of live and dead trees and brush, making them more flammable. The heat also can alter precipitation, as well as shift spring thaw earlier, lengthening the fire season. A one degree Celsius climb in average global temperature could cause the median area burned annually by wildfires in parts of the American West to increase up to sixfold. “A one-degree rise could occur well before 2050,” notes Jeremy Littell, a climate and fire researcher at the University of Washington, who created the projections with the U.S. Forest Service and other institutions.
Scientists in Canada have reached similar conclusions about their western region. The U.S. prediction applies to area burned during median fire years; extreme fire years would consume still more area. Unfortunately, as temperature goes up, Littell predicts, “what were historically big fire years may become more frequent.”


scientificamerican--2020-09-10--What's in Wildfire Smoke, and Why Is It So Bad for Your Lungs?

If I dare to give the coronavirus credit for anything , I would say it has made people more conscious of the air they breathe .
A friend texted me recently after going for a jog in the foothills near Boise , Idaho , writing : “ My lungs are burning … explain what ’ s happening !
!
!
” A wildfire was burning to the east of town—one of hundreds of fires that were sending smoke and ash through communities in hot , dry western states .
As an environmental toxicologist , I research how air pollution , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and disease .
I gave my friend the short answer : The state had issued a yellow , or moderate , air quality index warning due in part to wildfires .
The high temperature for the day was expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit , and it was already approaching 90 .
That combination of high temperatures and elevated levels of particles from a fire can affect even healthy lungs .
For someone with lung damage or respiratory illness , moderate levels of smoke particulate can exacerbate respiratory problems .
That ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how wildfire smoke affects humans who breathe it .
The rest , and how to stay healthy , is important to understand as the western wildfire season picks up .
What exactly is in a wildfire ’ s smoke depends on a few key things : what ’ s burning—grass , brush or trees ; the temperature—is it flaming or just smoldering ; and the distance between the person breathing the smoke and the fire producing it .
The distance affects the ability of smoke to “ age , ” meaning to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ chemicals in the air as it travels .
Aging can make it more toxic .
Importantly , large particles like what most people think of as ash do not typically travel that far from the fire , but small particles , or aerosols , can travel across continents .
Smoke from wildfires contains thousands of individual compounds , including carbon monoxide , volatile organic compounds ( VOCs ) , carbon dioxide , hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides .
The most prevalent pollutant by mass is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of sand .
Its prevalence is one reason health authorities issue air quality warnings using PM2.5 as the metric .
What does that smoke do to human bodies ?
There is another reason PM2.5 is used to make health recommendations : It defines the cutoff for particles that can travel deep into the lungs and cause the most damage .
The human body is equipped with natural defense mechanisms against particles bigger than PM2.5 .
As I tell my students , if you have ever coughed up phlegm or blown your nose after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or brown mucus in the tissue , you have witnessed these mechanisms firsthand .
The really small particles bypass these defenses and disturb the air sacks where oxygen crosses over into the blood .
Fortunately , we have specialized immune cells present in the air sacks called macrophages .
It ’ s their job to seek out foreign material and remove or destroy it .
However , studies have shown that repeated exposure to elevated levels of wood smoke can suppress macrophages , leading to increases in lung inflammation .
What does that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ frequency and duration are important when it comes to smoke exposure .
Short-term exposure can irritate the eyes and throat .
Long-term exposure to wildfire smoke over days or weeks , or breathing in heavy smoke , can raise the risk of lung damage and may also contribute to cardiovascular problems .
Considering that it is the macrophage ’ s job to remove foreign material—including smoke particles and pathogens—it is reasonable to make a connection between smoke exposure and risk of viral infection .
Recent evidence suggests that long-term exposure to PM2.5 may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nationwide study found that even a small increase in PM2.5 from one U.S. county to the next was associated with a large increase in the death rate from COVID-19 .
What can you do to stay healthy ?
The advice I gave my friend who had been running while smoke was in the air applies to just about anyone downwind from a wildfire .
Stay informed about air quality by identifying local resources for air quality alerts , information about active fires , and recommendations for better health practices .
If possible , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like running or cycling , when there is an air quality warning for your area .
Be aware that not all face masks protect against smoke particles .
In the context of COVID-19 , the best data currently suggests that a cloth mask benefits public health , especially for those around the mask wearer , but also to some extent for the person wearing the mask .
However , most cloth masks will not capture small wood smoke particles .
That requires an N95 mask in conjunction with fit testing for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
Without a proper fit , N95s do not work as well .
Establish a clean space .
Some communities in western states have offered “ clean spaces ” programs that help people take refuge in buildings with clean air and air conditioning .
However , during the pandemic , being in an enclosed space with others can create other health risks .
At home , a person can create clean and cool spaces using a window air conditioner and a portable air purifier .
The EPA also advises people to avoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That includes vacuuming that can stir up pollutants , as well as burning candles , firing up gas stoves and smoking .
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license .
Read the original article .

If I dare to give the coronavirus credit for anything, I would say it has made people more conscious of the air they breathe.
A friend texted me recently after going for a jog in the foothills near Boise, Idaho, writing: “My lungs are burning … explain what’s happening!!!”
A wildfire was burning to the east of town—one of hundreds of fires that were sending smoke and ash through communities in hot, dry western states. As an environmental toxicologist, I research how air pollution, particularly wood smoke, impacts human health and disease.
I gave my friend the short answer: The state had issued a yellow, or moderate, air quality index warning due in part to wildfires. The high temperature for the day was expected to reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and it was already approaching 90. That combination of high temperatures and elevated levels of particles from a fire can affect even healthy lungs. For someone with lung damage or respiratory illness, moderate levels of smoke particulate can exacerbate respiratory problems.
That’s only the start of the story of how wildfire smoke affects humans who breathe it. The rest, and how to stay healthy, is important to understand as the western wildfire season picks up.
What’s in wildfire smoke?
What exactly is in a wildfire’s smoke depends on a few key things: what’s burning—grass, brush or trees; the temperature—is it flaming or just smoldering; and the distance between the person breathing the smoke and the fire producing it.
The distance affects the ability of smoke to “age,” meaning to be acted upon by the sun and other chemicals in the air as it travels. Aging can make it more toxic. Importantly, large particles like what most people think of as ash do not typically travel that far from the fire, but small particles, or aerosols, can travel across continents.
Smoke from wildfires contains thousands of individual compounds, including carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. The most prevalent pollutant by mass is particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter, roughly 50 times smaller than a grain of sand. Its prevalence is one reason health authorities issue air quality warnings using PM2.5 as the metric.
What does that smoke do to human bodies?
There is another reason PM2.5 is used to make health recommendations: It defines the cutoff for particles that can travel deep into the lungs and cause the most damage.
The human body is equipped with natural defense mechanisms against particles bigger than PM2.5. As I tell my students, if you have ever coughed up phlegm or blown your nose after being around a campfire and discovered black or brown mucus in the tissue, you have witnessed these mechanisms firsthand.
The really small particles bypass these defenses and disturb the air sacks where oxygen crosses over into the blood. Fortunately, we have specialized immune cells present in the air sacks called macrophages. It’s their job to seek out foreign material and remove or destroy it. However, studies have shown that repeated exposure to elevated levels of wood smoke can suppress macrophages, leading to increases in lung inflammation.
What does that mean for COVID-19 symptoms?
Dose, frequency and duration are important when it comes to smoke exposure. Short-term exposure can irritate the eyes and throat. Long-term exposure to wildfire smoke over days or weeks, or breathing in heavy smoke, can raise the risk of lung damage and may also contribute to cardiovascular problems. Considering that it is the macrophage’s job to remove foreign material—including smoke particles and pathogens—it is reasonable to make a connection between smoke exposure and risk of viral infection.
Recent evidence suggests that long-term exposure to PM2.5 may make the coronavirus more deadly. A nationwide study found that even a small increase in PM2.5 from one U.S. county to the next was associated with a large increase in the death rate from COVID-19.
What can you do to stay healthy?
The advice I gave my friend who had been running while smoke was in the air applies to just about anyone downwind from a wildfire.
Stay informed about air quality by identifying local resources for air quality alerts, information about active fires, and recommendations for better health practices.
If possible, avoid being outside or doing strenuous activity, like running or cycling, when there is an air quality warning for your area.
Be aware that not all face masks protect against smoke particles. In the context of COVID-19, the best data currently suggests that a cloth mask benefits public health, especially for those around the mask wearer, but also to some extent for the person wearing the mask. However, most cloth masks will not capture small wood smoke particles. That requires an N95 mask in conjunction with fit testing for the mask and training in how to wear it. Without a proper fit, N95s do not work as well.
Establish a clean space. Some communities in western states have offered “clean spaces” programs that help people take refuge in buildings with clean air and air conditioning. However, during the pandemic, being in an enclosed space with others can create other health risks. At home, a person can create clean and cool spaces using a window air conditioner and a portable air purifier.
The EPA also advises people to avoid anything that contributes to indoor air pollutants. That includes vacuuming that can stir up pollutants, as well as burning candles, firing up gas stoves and smoking.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.