The gender difference in lifespans

It is well known that women live longer than men. I had not been aware that this was not true for all species and that when comes to birds, the opposite is true. Now some researchers are finding new evidence to support an idea that what causes the difference is whether one has an unpaired sex chromosome or not.

From humans to black-tailed prairie dogs, female mammals often outlive males – but for birds, the reverse is true.

Now researchers say they have cracked the mystery, revealing that having two copies of the same sex chromosome is associated with having a longer lifespan, suggesting the second copy offers a protective effect.
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The Bernie bro myth has no empirical basis

The myth of the so-called ‘Bernie bros’, that the supporters of Bernie Sanders seem to be particularly prone to making nasty misogynistic attacks on rival candidates and their supporters, seems to be one of those things that will never die. But what evidence is there for this idea? Part of the problem is that the criteria for being a Bernie bro is very vague and getting vaguer with time. Right now, it seems to consist of just two necessary and sufficient conditions: (a) that one must be a supporter of Sanders and (b) one has to have said something bad about other candidates and/or their supporters. Neither gender nor age nor ethnicity nor any other demographic feature seems to be required to be thus classified. This is indeed a wide net that has been cast and it should not be surprising that it should catch people in it. As Robinson Meyer, the person who coined the term later wrote, what we are witnessing is ‘category collapse’, where something that was intended to have very narrow usage has become so elastic as to cease to have any meaning since it could be applied to pretty much anything and anyone.
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Using common sense about the coronavirus

Donald Trump has suspended travel from the European Union starting Friday and lasting for 30 days. Meanwhile the NBA has suspended its season after one Utah Jazz player tested positive. And in other news, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson tested positive while filming in Australia.

As is often the case when some kind of epidemic appears on the horizon, especially if it originates in a foreign country, a lot of people flip out with a “Oh my god, we’re all going to die!” response and start stocking up on supplies for a long confinement, somewhat like preppers do. But there is no need to panic if you cannot find hand sanitizers and face masks. If you are worried, there are some very simple things you can do.
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This is not the leadership that the times call for

Seth Meyers says that we are in trouble because at a time of concern over a pandemic when we need sober leadership, we have a president who thinks that he can lie the problem away and we have people around him who are enabling his delusions.

While driving yesterday, I turned on the radio listened on the radio and found it was broadcasting a live press conference in which vice president Mike Pence was giving an update on the coronavirus. In between providing bits of information, he gushed over the leadership of Donald Trump in dealing with the coronavirus. I was not at all surprised to find that Trump had been there the whole time because Pence then handed it over to Trump who then boasted about how well he is dealing with the situation. It was sickening.
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Rats should get more respect

As time goes by, there is greater awareness of the need to treat non-human animals better, with louder calls for an end to factory farming and the campaigns led by vegans to end our dependence on animal products entirely. When it comes to animal experimentation for science, there are now far stricter restrictions to try and ensure that the use of such animals is really necessary. Even those who are not animal rights activists tend to oppose the idea of using dogs and cats and pigs for experimentation.
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Coronavirus epidemic shows the danger of having a lying, incompetent president

It is clear that what got Donald Trump’s attention about the coronavirus was that it caused a slump in the stock market, the only piece of data he seems to pay attention to and cares about. He is reportedly thinking of tax cuts as a response. His initial response was that it was a hoax, no doubt thinking that that comment would reassure and rally the stock market. Of course, the fact that he is anti-science and that vice president Mike Pence, the person he has appointed to oversee the government response, is also an anti-science religious nut who thinks prayer is a good way to treat epidemics, is not reassuring. Trump has also said, without any evidence, that things are under control, that a vaccine will be ready soon, that the virus is less dangerous than the flu and that the virus will disappear as if by magic come April with the arrival of warm weather.
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