by Greg Walcher, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow
As appearing in the Daily Sentinel
Most people are happier on weekends. We know that because a government study proved it. Without such studies, you may not know that people drive poorly when talking on a cellphone, or that the elderly cherish happy memories more than sad ones. A Journal of Neurology study found that mixing drinking and drugs is worse than either by themselves, and two social scientists from the universities of Minnesota and North Carolina discovered that days packed with too many meetings left employees feeling tired.
The Psychonomic Bulletin and Review published a University of Washington psychologist’s study proving faraway objects are harder to identify than close-up ones, and a Cincinnati Children’s Hospital study confirmed — at last — that swallowing multiple magnets is unhealthy. An Ohio State sociologist discovered that smoking not only causes health problems, but also costs money! Every year taxpayers spend millions funding studies, often with results that merely confirm the obvious. One writer called them “hard science studies that answer some of the world’s least pressing questions.”
If there is an award for such research, I nominate Arizona State University (ASU) and the Salt River Project (SRP). The two teamed up for a series of research projects, from urban transit and energy to education and “water security,” meaning water supplies. A new report has finally emerged from that “strategic partnership” which includes a computer model demonstrating that forest health is directly related to both water supplies and water quality. They could have knocked me down with a feather when I found that out.
Don’t get me wrong. The computer model is impressive. Researchers at ASU’s “Center for Hydrologic Innovations” used existing government datasets to map the forest, then added measurements using “LiDAR” (light detection and ranging), an aerial sensing technology that uses laser light.
