Scalia dead, Christie and Bush Out

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/2/19/malcolm_x_on_democracy_now_see
From Democracy Now, a post commemorating the life and death of Malcolm X

http://www.nyas.org/AboutUs/AcademyNews.aspx?cid=375bf796-ff3b-4d97-be8d-37801db49ffc
From the NY Academy of Sciences, a biography of the first African-American to receive a Ph.D. in Chemistry.

http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/are-adjunct-professors-the-new-fast-food-workers
From The Pacific Standard, an article about adjuncts comparing them to fast food workers.

http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/01/whooping-cough-makes-a-comeback/?_r=0
This is from the NYT blogs Tuesday about the return of pertussis.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/02/perils-of-sticker-charts/470160/
Here is an article from the Atlantic about the negatives associated with giving rewards for good behavior.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/24/headlines/rhode_island_protesters_shut_down_anti_refugee_event_at_state_house
Refugees are welcome here. From Democracy Now

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/court-orders-johnson-johnson-payoff-ovarian-cancer-case-n524456  Interesting court case and settlement by J and J to an ovarian cancer victim

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/25/scientists-discover-pancreas-cancer-is-four-separate-diseases  From the Guardian Science a report about pancreatic cancer being composed of four different cancers. This was a study done at the U of Glasgow.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2078285-why-i-think-genitals-reveal-the-universes-biological-diversity/  An article by evolutionary biologist Brian Langerhans about the evolution of genitalia.

http://www.sciencealert.com/astronomers-just-released-a-new-187-million-pixel-map-of-the-milky-way  This is an article by Science Alert about the release of a new 187 pixel map of the Milky Way, it's called the (ATLASGAL).

http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/02/male-biology-students-underestimate-their-female-peers/462924/ Interesting article in The Atlantic about how male biology students see their female peers.

http://www.whatsmynext.org/ Interesting weblink about careers in laboratory science.

http://www.sciencealert.com/va-scientist-is-turning-every-element-in-the-periodic-table-into-music
Article from Science Alert about a report in the Journal of Applied Physics about a scientist finding the musical "signatures" of every chemical element.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/elephant-genes-hold-big-hopes-for-cancer-researchers/ Elephants have more cells than people do, why don't they get cancer more often than we do? They have 2 copies of p53.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/02/nsf-launches-long-awaited-diversity-initiative  From Science magazine, a new diversity initiative at the NSF

Sunday Windy Sunday

http://thephilosophicalsalon.com/why-trump-is-still-here/
From The Philosophical Salon, Why Trump Is Still Here.

http://www.truth-out.org/progressivepicks/item/34369-why-i-choose-optimism-over-despair-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky From Truthout, an Interview with Noam Chomsky

http://chronicle.com/article/How-Right-Wing-Billionaires-/235286
From the Chronicle for Higher Education: How Right Wing Billionaires Infiltrated Higher Education

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/15/technology/creating-a-computer-voice-that-people-like.html
A NYT article by John Markoff about selecting a computer voice.

http://www.phillyvoice.com/70-years-ago-six-philly-women-eniac-digital-computer-programmers/
From the PhillyVoice an article about women who changed technology.

http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/diabetes-drug-may-prevent-recurring-strokes
The results of the IRIS trial, funded by the NIH suggest that a diabetes drug may work to prevent strokes in people without diabetes but with insulin resistance.

http://jezebel.com/fathers-and-childless-women-in-academia-are-3x-more-lik-1758704068
Posted in the blog Jezebel: a report that fathers and childless women are more likely to get tenure in academia.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-species-prehistoric-flower-discovered-preserved-amber-180958156/ Reported in the Smithsonian a new species of prehistoric flower has been discovered preserved in amber. It may be a poisonous predecessor of the potato.

http://humanorigins.si.edu/exhibit/human-origins-traveling-exhibit
The Smithsonian Institution is publicizing its new exhibit.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/16/the-remarkably-different-answers-men-and-women-give-when-asked-whos-the-smartest-in-the-class/ A Washington Post article about gender bias in the classroom.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/18/scientists-are-floored-by-whats-happening-in-the-arctic-right-now/  From the Washington Post an article about how scientists are trying to explain the high temperatures in January, the hottest on record.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45385/title/Breast-Milk-Sugars-Support-Infant-Gut-Health/ In a study from Cell, gut carbohydrates from growth-stunted infants were supplemented by breast-milk derived sugars and added to the diets of animal models of malnutrition as reported in The Scientist.







































https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/12/gravitational-waves-explained
A scientist explains gravitational waves from The Guardian

Schmooperbowl Sunday

http://wvtf.org/post/contingent-faculty-living-academic-edge-series#stream/0
Video from WVTF about contingent faculty/

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/45153/title/The-Mycobiome/
The Scientist has a review about the role of fungi, the mycobiome, in human health.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/07/opinion/what-74-years-of-times-crosswords-say-about-the-words-we-use.html?_r=0 A "big data" analysis  of word usage in crossword puzzles as a reflection of our history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmtNRHiFkIQ  Animated explanation of CRISPR

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-20160206-column.html
Article from the LA Times about the patent fight for CRISPR technology

https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/edward-snowden-in-conversation-with-barton-gellman/
LA Review of Books interview with Edward Snowden

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/science/scientists-sequence-first-ancient-human-genome-from-africa.html?_r=0
From Friday's Elk by Carl Zimmer a report of the recovering of the genome of a 4,500 year old skeleton in Ethiopia which showed that ancient DNA could survive the harsh, wet conditions in the tropics. This was reported in Science magazine.

http://www.pbs.org/parents/expert-tips-advice/2016/02/teach-frustration-tolerance-kids/
From PBS Parents: How to teach frustration tolerance to children. This is a blog by social worker Katie Hurley.


https://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/edward-snowden-in-conversation-with-barton-gellman/
http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2015/06/researchers-discovery-may-explain-difficulty-in-treating-lyme-disease/Reported in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, discovery of a new Lyme disease causing bacterium in humans. Maybe why LD is so hard to treat.

http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/tick-genome-reveals-secrets-successful-bloodsucker
A report from the NIH about the sequencing of the Ixodes scapularis  (tick) genome. Ticks have a huge genome with about 70% DNA repeats, 20% protein coding genes unique to ticks. To be published in Nature Communications.


http://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/advising-moms-not-bed-share-infants-does-not-discourage-breastfeeding  An NIH press release about a study done by the American Pediatrics Association which showed that women were just as likely to breastfeed whether or not they shared a bed with their infant. The idea is to reduce deaths due to SIDS.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/e-reader-book-students/ A report in the Journal of College Science Teaching that students prefer textbooks to E-readers. This was a study done at American University.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/16/02/08/tests-on-fish-raise-new-concerns-on-estrogen-contamination-of-drinking-water/ From NJ Spotlight, an article about dangerous levels of estrogens in NJ water.  This was a study done on fish by the USGS.

http://thescienceexplorer.com/brain-and-body/ketamine-leads-most-significant-advance-mental-health-more-half-century
A report from Science Explorer of a clinical trial of ketamine use for severe depression at the NIMH.

http://www.un.org/en/events/women-and-girls-in-science-day/index.shtml This is the UN International Women In Science Day. It is a historic occasion. Here is a graphic from the UNESCO Bureau of Statistics from a Northwestern University study.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/11/the-solution-to-climate-change-that-has-nothing-to-do-with-cars-or-coal/ Chris Mooney has written in the Washington Post about the solution to climate change, suggesting that deforestation is a major problem.'

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/pursuing-the-dream-of-healthy-aging/?_r=0 This is an article from Personal Health a column by Jane Brody, that reports a study on aging done by the Mayo Clinic about the risk factors for developing chronic diseases, aging being the primary one. The team suggests targeting with drugs the processes fundamental to aging that underlie all age-related chronic diseases.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/science-teachers-grasp-of-climate-change-is-found-lacking.html?_r=0 The article came from the NYT about how science teachers' knowledge of climate change is lacking.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/science/ligo-gravitational-waves-black-holes-einstein.html From the NYT, the LIGO group (a scientific collaboration) report the discovery of gravitational waves, a phenomenon predicted by Albert Einstein.

http://www.dailycal.org/2016/02/12/number-lecturers-campus-rise-debate-persists-role/
Article in The Daily Californian about the role of lecturers (NTT) in the university.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/12/the-crippling-thing-about-growing-up-poor-that-stays-with-you-forever/ Article about poverty and diet in the Washington Post.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fossils-shed-new-light-on-human-gorilla-split/ The Life Science Blog in Scientific American posts a report of the discovery of the fossils of primitive relatives of gorillas. From examination of fossils, researchers suggest that humans and gorillas shared an ancestor about ten million years ago. This is to be published in Nature.