Posts from Those Nerdy Girls

All the posts from our Those Nerdy Girls Facebook page dating back to May 1st, 2020, are currently archived here and can be searched for by category, key words, etc. Be sure to check back often as additional posts are being added each day.

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Is polio back?

Infectious Diseases

A: Polio was never gone, but there is a re-emergence in places where it has not been found for many decades. Polio is an infectious disease that many Americans over 70 might remember from their childhoods. Mass vaccination campaigns in the U.S. and many other countries largely stopped the virus from circulating for many decades, Read more…

“Why is the current breast feeding recommendation at least 2 years?

Families/Kids Reproductive Health

“Why is the current breast feeding recommendation at least 2 years? I feel like this puts a lot of pressure on moms (in a world that has enough ongoing pressures!)” –Karen from Madison, WI TL,DR: Individual breast/chest** feeding duration recommendations vary according to context and shared decision making involving parents, baby’s needs, their pediatric clinicians Read more…

I heard that US life expectancy fell again. Does this mean *my* lifespan will be shorter?

Data and Metrics Data Literacy

A: Not necessarily. Despite the name, life expectancy doesn’t predict the lifespan of individuals. But as a “snapshot” of mortality in the US, the news is not good. Recent U.S. CDC estimates show a loss of a 2.7 years of life expectancy in 2021 compared to 2019. Surprisingly, despite the vaccine roll-out, U.S. life expectancy Read more…