The COVID-19 pandemic has increased – but also polarised – trust in science

Research by the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath, UK, along with colleagues at Universities of Oxford and Aberdeen, finds that trust in scientists has hugely increased overall since the COVID-19 pandemic, but that attitudes have also become more polarized. The study also found that people were more likely to take the COVID-19 vaccine if their trust in the science had increased.

Substance use disorders do not increase the likelihood of COVID-19 deaths

New research from Boston Medical Center found that substance use disorders do not increase the likelihood of dying from COVID-19. Published in Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment, the study showed that the increased risk for severe COVID-19 in people with SUD that has been seen may be the result of co-occurring medical conditions.

COVID-19 pandemic has long-lasting effects on adolescent mental health and substance use

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a long-lasting impact on adolescent mental health and substance use according to a new population-based study are based on survey responses from a nationwide sample of over 64,000 13–18-year-old North American and Icelandic adolescents assessed prior to and up to two years into the pandemic.

Group exercise program for older adults led to more independent exercise despite pandemic restrictions

A new study by the University of Missouri and Oklahoma State University found that even when gyms were closed and there were other COVID-19 restrictions limiting face-to-face meetings, older adults who completed the Stay Strong, Stay Healthy exercise program — created at MU in 2005 — continued to maintain long-term exercise habits independently, which resulted in improved lifestyle changes and an increase in both physical energy and self-confidence.

Study associates long COVID with physical inactivity

The link between symptoms of COVID-19 and physical inactivity is increasingly evident. An article recently published in the journal Scientific Reports by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil describes a study in which COVID-19 survivors with at least one persistent symptom of the disease were 57% more likely to be sedentary, and the presence of five or more post-acute sequelae of infection by SARS-CoV-2 increased the odds of physical inactivity by 138%.

COVID calculations lead to unexpected solution to long-standing problem in theoretical computer science

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Joachim Kock, mathematician at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), began to experiment with epidemiological models. He did not improve upon the predictions, but unexpectedly he made a mathematical discovery that led to the solution of an old problem in theoretical computer science, open since the 1980s, on Petri nets.