research

Workers Who Bike to Work Get Sick Less

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Of course biking and other physical activity is a healthy thing, and that’s obviously good. What’s really good now is that there are now economic reasons for employers to encourage their employees to commute on a bicycle. The Dutch (no surprise there) love their bikes so much they did an economic study on how much money can be saved by companies that have employees bike to work: 27 million Euros (PDF link).

Main conclusions
• Employees who cycle regularly to work have less sickness-related
absenteeism than non-cyclists.
• The higher the frequency and longer the distance cycled, the lower the
rate of absenteeism.
• The potential benefit of cycling to work is considerable. It could mean
annual savings of around 27 million euros.

Recommendations
• More government measures to promote cycling and cooperation with
organizations that currently promote cycling can help convince employers
to begin or increase investments in a cycling policy.
• To develop successful programmes that promote cycling to work, more
understanding is needed of what actually convinces employees to use a
bicycle in their daily travel to work.

Obama is Bringing Change

- Adam Clare

Barack Obama’s campaign was based around the idea of change and now that he’s been elected it looks like he’s getting around to changing things. Yesterday he lifted the ban on stem cell research that Bush put in place.

“Today, with the executive order I am about to sign, we will bring the change that so many scientists and researchers, doctors, and innovators, patients and loved ones have hoped for, fought for these past eight years,” Obama told reporters at a news conference at the White House on Monday.

“We will lift the ban on federal funding for … embryonic stem cell research.”

The long-promised move will allow a rush of research aimed at one day better treating, if not curing, ailments from diabetes to paralysis — research that has drawn broad support, including from notables like Nancy Reagan, widow of the late Republican president Ronald Reagan.

Under Bush, taxpayer money for that research was limited to the 21 stem cell lines that were created before Aug. 9, 2001. But researchers have said that these lines have, in many cases, had some drawbacks that limited their potential usability.

IssueLab Researches Some Good

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

The folks over at IssueLab have sent me some neat stuff that they and their research contributers are up to. One of their research contributers has done some research into who’s Lobbying for Good and they’ve done an introspective CloseUp for last year.

“Lobbying for Good” explores how nonprofits are increasingly working with
their corporate partners to leverage companies’ political clout and
governmental affairs departments in support of cause related lobbying
efforts. (For instance, companies like Mary Kay and Royal Dutch Shell are
using their governmental affairs clout to lobby for the nonprofits and
causes they support.)

Given the fact that we have a new administration entering office next week I
think this report could also spark some interesting discussion on the blog
re: strategies for creating positive change over the next 4+ years.

Authored by FSG Social Impact Advisors, the report is a quick read and
offers some interesting case studies that serve as examples of, well
frankly, things that are good!

Readers can download and review “Lobbying for Good” at
http://www.issuelab.org/research/lobbying_for_good

In December they released a roundup of the most popular research documents:

IssueLab’s End of the Year Lists, including the most popular research titles on IssueLab, are based on more than 96,000 downloads in just the past 11 months. Check it out at www.issuelab.org/closeup

Save the Planet: Plant More Trees

- Adam Clare

Simple stuff really: forests are good for the environment and we ought to have more of them.

The researchers’ calculations suggest that carbon storage in Midwestern forests could offset the greenhouse gas emissions of almost two-thirds of nearby populations, and that proper management of forests could sustain or increase their storage capacity for future generations.

Based on measurements taken between 1999 and 2005 at a forest study site in northern Michigan, the scientists have determined that similar upper Midwest forests covering an estimated 40,000 square miles store an average of 1,300 pounds of carbon per acre per year.

Factoring in effects of climate, history and tree type, the researchers developed an equation suggesting that a heavily forested region in northern Michigan could store more than 350,000 tons of carbon per year. With the area population emitting about 573,000 tons of carbon annually, the forests would sequester approximately 62 percent of the region’s human-caused carbon emissions – the equivalent of yearly emissions from about 225,000 cars.

Green Tea is Great for Your Health

- Adam Clare

Green tea may be one way to fight breast cancer based on a new study on female mice. The scientists examined an ingredient in green tea called ECCG which is an antioxidant. The results in the ice are promising so people should start drinking more delicious green tea.

Epidemiological studies suggest that green tea and its major constituent, EGCG, can provide some protection against cancer. Because these studies were very limited, the anti-cancer mechanism of green tea and EGCG was not clear. As a result, the researchers examined whether drinking EGCG (just the antioxidant infused in water) inhibited the following: expression of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor, which is found in a variety of breast cancer types); tumor angiogenesis (thought to help tumors expand by supplying them with nutrients); and the growth of breast cancer in female mice.

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