Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · 6h

How we communicate risk statistics can matter as much as what we communicate.

I was lucky enough to share this conversation with @hal-hershfield.bsky.social and Mark Meredith, founder of Meredith Wealth Planning.

Check it out: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKHa...

#numeracy #risk

The Behavioral Divide Episode 14: From Numbers to Meaning: Rethinking Risk Communication

YouTube video by Avantis Investors

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 14h

Best consideration deadline, Friday Oct 10:

#SCIMaP (scienceimacts.org) seeks to hire a Research Communications and Media Outreach Specialist at U-Maryland to facilitate public engagement related to federal investment in science and health research.

umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j...

SCIMaP job opportunity - https://umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/job/Research-Communications-and-Media-Outreach-Specialist_JR102577

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Angie Rasmussen @angierasmussen.bsky.social · 21h

T. Joseph Mattingly estimates that the 2025 measles outbreak in Texas will cost $90M. Measles is expensive. It's also preventable. Vaccination increases productivity & reduces costs.

Vaccination is healthy for people & the economy.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Penny wise, pound foolish: The cost of reduced support for measles prevention

Measles, a vaccine-preventable disease previously declared eliminated in the United States, is reemerging with over 1400 cases reported in 2025. This …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 5d

New job 🚨:

Our #SCIMaP (scienceimpacts.org) team is searching for a Research Communications and Media Outreach Specialist to facilitate public engagement related to federal investment in science and health research.

Application review starts Oct 10:
umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j...

Research Communications and Media Outreach Specialist

Job Description Summary Organization's Summary Statement: The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project (SCIMaP: https://scienceimpacts.org/) is committed to visualizing and communicating the lo...

umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · 13d

NSF invests in science, technology, and education in all 50 states. Cutting it this much will cause substantial losses to communities around the US

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 14d

New from #SCIMaP - analysis of the White House’s Proposed FY 2026 National Science Foundation Budget.

Take-home: Slashing NSF by >50% will lead to ~$11 billion in economic loss and extensive job loss and reduced training opportunities in communities nationwide.

Report: osf.io/e8rnc

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Economic loss from the White House's NSF FY 2026 Proposed Budget

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

PBS News @pbsnews.org · 20d

“What we’re seeing is an unprecedented attempt to silence disfavored speech by the government,” said Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. “Donald Trump is trying to dictate what Americans can say.” https://to.pbs.org/46AYg7U

Trump's moves against media outlets mirror authoritarian approaches to silencing dissent

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that...

to.pbs.org

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · 28d

Title: Examining the interplay of risk and affect over time

Paper: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

First 50 copies are free here: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ARGXV...

Kudos to Dan Chapman for leading the paper! @uoregon.bsky.social

Examining the interplay of risk and affect over time

Research on the relation between affect and risk perceptions offers two competing perspectives. Decades of research on the affect-heuristic and risk-as-feelings hypotheses situates affect as centra...

www.tandfonline.com

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · 28d

🚨 New in J of Risk Research
💡 Neg affect-risk perc correlated in 6 waves Yr1 COVID consistent w affect heuristic
💡 Affect preceded risk perc btw waves
💡But paths of risk perc to affect were stronger
💡Why? Waves were 2–22 wk apart and strength of affect-risk relation stronger w less time for thinking

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · Aug 21

It’s hard to make good decisions if you don’t understand numbers.

This numeracy shapes the quality of our daily lives in ways we might not realize.

Many thanks to the American Psychological Association's award-winning podcast: at.apa.org/qz2

#numeracy #math #numbers #decisionmaking #psychology

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Aug 17

The White House FY26 budget proposal slashes NIH funding of medical research and will lead to economic and job losses in community nationwide. Our (updated) #SCIMaP analysis now includes state-level scorecards

Go to scienceimpacts.org/fy26

Click on any state (or House District) to learn more.

SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research

View Projected Impact of the FY2026 Budget Cuts to the NIH

scienceimpacts.org

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Aug 9

Longer posts soon on recent exec orders that threaten the vitality of America's research capacity, but wanted to step back and highlight the release of in-depth analyses that directly confront the economic impacts of administration decisions building on viz at scienceimpacts.org

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SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research

Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide

scienceimpacts.org

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Allie Sinclair @asinclair.bsky.social · Aug 4

📣 New preprint from the SCIMaP team!

Across three studies, we show that communicating the economic impact of NIH funding cuts—especially with interactive quizzes and maps—decreases approval and motivates action to oppose the cuts, across the political spectrum. 🧵 1/8
osf.io/preprints/ps...

OSF

osf.io

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · Jul 16

As Trump and his allies in Congress try to gut public funding for PBS, watch this 1971 clip of Rev. Jesse Jackson and the kids of Sesame Street.

This is why we need public broadcasting.

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · Jul 15

Um, that's not science

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Jul 14

Makary: "We have a lot of data and it may not necessarily be the traditional 50 year randomized control trial follow up. It's data from families that say their kids have been acting with bad behavior ... and they eliminate the petroleum-based food dyes and the behavior improves. That is data."

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · Jul 15

We just went to Dishoom but didn't get to play. Now I want to go back!

koenfucius @koenfucius.bsky.social · Jul 15

More than what you give people, it is how you package it.

Dave Trott shows how important it is (a) to know your audience, and (b) how what you offer is framed:

buff.ly/pfScrGh

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Aleksandra Lazić @alelazic.bsky.social · Jul 1

Experiencing extreme weather events alone isn't enough to drive support for climate policies. People need to believe these events are actually linked to climate change. This is why effective climate communication is so important. Another valuable contribution from the TISP consortium! 👏

Viktoria Cologna @colognaviktoria.bsky.social · Jul 1

🚨 How do exposure to extreme weather events and the subjective attribution of these events to climate change relate to climate policy support across the world? 🔥🌎

Find out more in our OA article published in Nature Climate Change 👇 1/7 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Extreme weather event attribution predicts climate policy support across the world - Nature Climate Change

Literature produced inconsistent findings regarding the links between extreme weather events and climate policy support across regions, populations and events. This global study offers a holistic asse...

www.nature.com

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · Jun 25

Great advice from @americanredcross.bsky.social about what to look for and what to do when temperatures and humidity get high. www.redcross.org/get-help/how... h/t @maibached.bsky.social

Heat Check

www.redcross.org

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Jen Christiansen @jenchristiansen.com · Jun 25

Vaccination schedules on the CDC website have already started changing under RFK Jr. So we published a guide to the evidence-based vaccine recommendations in place *before* all 17 members of the advisory panel were abruptly dismissed by the new admin. www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-... 🧪

Here’s Your Cheat Sheet for Vaccine Recommendations Backed by Science

These graphics will guide you through science-based vaccine guidelines for children and adults

www.scientificamerican.com

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Jun 23

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget.

Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide.

Interactive map and shareable report:
scienceimpacts.org/fy26

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Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · May 28

Major update to #SCIMaP visualization of impacts of cuts to federally supported health research. Map now includes information on future economic losses (impact of proposed reduction of NIH IDC to 15%) and current economic losses (impact of terminated NIH grants).

scienceimpacts.org

Update to https://scienceimpacts.org to include terminated grants

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Rachel Maddow @maddow.msnbc.com · Jun 2

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · Jun 2

Joint w/@asinclair.bsky.social and the #SCIMaP team: brief correspondence in @nathumbehav.nature.com on the impact of NIH indirect cost cuts on the economy and employment, impacts that will only worsen given similar proposals for NSF/DOE + overall science proposal.

rdcu.be/eo3Hp

NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment

Nature Human Behaviour - NIH indirect cost cuts will affect the economy and employment

rdcu.be

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Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · May 31

Dan Chapman and Brittany Shoots-Reinhard are also authors but they are not on BlueSky!

Ellen Peters @ellenpeters.bsky.social · May 31

We review pros+cons of communicating geohazard risks w/#s + theory-based strategies: 1) provide #s, 2) make #s manageable, 3) make #s meaningful, and 4) don’t let stories displace #s
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/7AUDR...
@universityoforegon.bsky.social @uosojc.bsky.social
w/ @ashliblow.bsky.social

The power of numbers in natural hazard communication

Challenges and opportunities exist when communicating geohazard risks with numeric evidence. Public innumeracy and experts’ concerns about providing numbers, for example, suggest not showing them. ...

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Ellen Peters

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · May 28

Along with w/joint lead @asinclair.bsky.social, many thanks to the entire #SCIMaP crew, including @malar0ne.bsky.social + Clio Andris + @dcosme.bsky.social + @ellenpeters.bsky.social + @angiefagerlin.bsky.social + @falklab.bsky.social + the software development team.

More via: scienceimpacts.org

SCIMaP - Impacts of Federal Cuts to Science and Medical Research

Developed by an interdisciplinary research team, this website shows how funding cuts reduce economic activity and employment nationwide

scienceimpacts.org

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