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As the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Freddie Gray have captured headlines and sparked protests across the United States over the past year, there has been a renewed discussion about how structural issues of racial inequity influence various domains of life, including law enforcement, economic opportunity, educational achievement and indicators of health… In a 2015 paper published in the Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, “Self-Reported Experiences of Discrimination and Health: Scientific Advances, Ongoing Controversies, and Emerging Issues,” Tene T. Lewis of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, Courtney D. Cogburn of the Columbia University School of Social Work, and David R. Williams of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health examine what current research has shown; inconsistencies in methodologies that may influence observed results, and future directions for study in areas that have been historically neglected… Promising approaches that have been associated with improved outcomes include: Value affirmation interventions “designed to enhance an individual’s sense of adequacy and self-worth”; and forgiveness strategies aimed at “emotion-focused coping, and community-based racism countermarketing.”… In a 2014 evaluation of the Racism Still Exists campaign in New York City by Naa Oyo Kwate of Rutgers University, greater community awareness of racism was associated with reduced psychological distress.

Never before have Vietnam’s top leadership stooped down like this to worry about the sagging tourism industry. After signing off on visa waivers for five more European countries — France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and the UK — last month, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has continued to press ahead with the visa exemption… “Vietnam seems to have this deep insecurity that its natural beauty and scenic landscapes are not enough — they must be ‘improved’ with cable cars, casinos, or loud karaoke,” said Pamela McElwee, an assistant professor of human ecology at Rutgers University who has extensively researched Vietnam’s protected areas. “It’s a real shame,” she said.

While the United States prepares for what promises to be yet another intense presidential election in 2016, science-related topics are once again expected to be at the forefront of political debate. In general, American attitudes toward science, such as climate change and evolution, tend to be strongly linked toward their political or religious views- and we can be sure that candidates will cater their rhetoric to whatever they believe will be most appealing to voters… However, others warn against drawing conclusions too hastily from the PRC survey. While the margin of error was reported, the response rate for the survey and demographics were not reported, noted William Hallman, chair of the department of human ecology at Rutgers University. “This is potentially problematic because when response rates are low (which is often the case with telephone interviews) it is difficult to assure that you have a representative sample of the population,” he told GENeS, a journalist news service that solicits quotes from scientists commenting on the latest news in genetics and biotechnology, which was founded with seed money from the Genetic Literacy Project.