Close

Close
Special Announcement
Newsletter Sign Up
Calendar
Back November '09 Forward
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
            1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30            
Syndicate This Blog
Top Referers
myteams.dot.ga.gov (161)
planetgs.com (106)
www.thegisforum.com (73)
www.bloglines.com (44)
www.spatialsciences.org.au (32)
Our Points
Thursday, February 21. 2008

Remote Sensing Suggest Link Between Light at Night and Breast Cancer

Remote Sensing

Update: Here are the details, via the Washington Post


"By no means are we saying that light at night is the only or the major risk factor for breast cancer," said Itai Kloog, of the University of Haifa in Israel, who led the new work. "But we found a clear and strong correlation that should be taken into consideration."

The report is in this week's online issue of the journal Chronobiology International.

--------minimalist original post --------

"Using NASA satellite imagery to plot high emissions of light at night, researchers found breast cancer rates were as much as 60-percent higher in high-light areas than in darker ones."

- NBC 12, Virginia

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Remote Sensing at 07:51 | Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

The article doesn't source who the "experts" and "researchers" are. Perhaps the relationship is due to there being 60 percent more population in areas with a lot of lights!
#1 Anonymous on 2008-02-21 19:10 (Reply)
This one is a bit on the far fetched side... and conjures up bad memories of that movie "Enemy of the State." I didn't realize that remote sensing could analyze light levels in my bedroom.

I bet that the same 'risk factor' analysis would show that people who live in 'higher light' areas earn more income per capita than those who don't, that they are less likely to eat vegetables from home gardens, and that they have more indoor-only cats. Hmm... I'd better go make sure my streetlight is working.

Wow... sorry to be so harsh... this is a bad combination of poorly interpreted statistics and 'cool' technology.
#2 Chris A on 2008-02-22 01:52 (Reply)
Indeed, I agree with Chris A: There are many, many confounding factors that could be at work here, far more plausible. For instance, high light concentrations may correlate with high breast cancer rates because they correlate with urban areas, and, so, with groundwater contamination, or with industrial pollutants, or with automobile exhaust. This is one of the kinds of things that Paulos rightly rants against.
#3 Jan Theodore Galkowski (Link) on 2008-02-22 07:36 (Reply)
Ding ding ding, we have a winner.
#3.1 Daniel (Link) on 2008-02-23 00:34 (Reply)
Hopefully the "rate" is a ratio of cases in relation to popultion and not a specific number of cases in that area. But, the higher breast cancer rates could do with density of people in a city as opposed to rural areas.
#4 Melissa on 2008-02-22 09:32 (Reply)
Agreed with previous posters, this research "conclusion" has autocorrelation written all over it!
#5 Anonymous on 2008-02-25 10:49 (Reply)

Add Comment

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
Standard emoticons like :-) and ;-) are converted to images.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA
    
  
 
Advertisers
Polls
What's your opinion of the quality of Google's "new" U.S. dataset?
I haven't noticed a difference.
It's better.
it's not as good.
I don't use Google Maps regularly.

Archives
Comments
Archie Belaney about ESRI Keywords: Authoritative Data, Generic Services
November 6
"If" you get a straight answer, I'll be [...]


Emile Zola about ESRI Keywords: Authoritative Data, Generic Services
November 6
Word on the street is ESRI used NGA [...]


Adena Schutzberg about ESRI Keywords: Authoritative Data, Generic Services
November 6
I've asked that question of ESRI. I'll [...]


MW about ESRI Keywords: Authoritative Data, Generic Services
November 6
I would be interested in hearing if [...]


Adena Schutzberg about Tuscany's Open Source GIS Evolves
November 5
Thanks Mouse and sorry Tuscany!


Joe Francica about NY State GIS Consultant Promotes Snowmobiling and her Business
November 5
Herkimer, NY! Well known site of the [...]


Anon Y. Mouse about Tuscany's Open Source GIS Evolves
November 5
Sp. on headline - one N


Amazon Recommendations