March for Science

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/opinion/henrietta-lacks-why-science-needs-your-cells.html?_r=0  This is an opinion piece from the NYT written by a Harvard Law School and UPenn professor about the controversy around the Henrietta Lacks story. They make a solid point about how the injustice is in the racism in the medical treatment she received but the fact that her cells have been critical to many medical advances and treatments should not be decried as much as it has been and used as a teaching tool demonizing medical research. The opinion makes the point that no parts are being removed from peoples' bodies without their consent. Patients should be made aware  of how thier specimens are being used. This is an  important piece which can be studied in tandem with the HBO movie.





https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/well/move/an-hour-of-running-may-add-seven-hours-to-your-life.html  This is a piece from the Well column in the NYT about how running can increase one's lifespan. The data comes from the Cooper Institute in Dallas.  The new study was published in Progress In Cardiovascular Disease.  Running, whatever the pace, dropped a person's risk of death by almost 40% and they determined that, if every nonrunner who had been part of the study took up the sport, there would have been 16% fewer deaths over all and 25% fewer fatal heart attacks.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/science/march-for-science-voices.html  From the NYT about the holdouts. Some people "who work in a variety of scientific fields" according to the article, and are "passionate about science" will refuse to march in order to avoid what they see as the politicalization of science. In the responses sub,itted to the NYT, some Times readers feel that combining ideology and science would weaken the impact of basic research.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/health/brain-memory-dementia-epilepsy-treatments.html This is an article from the NYT about the implantation of a pacemaker in the brain as a cure for epilepsy. The UPenn team did this study of epilepsy patients, which wa spublished in Current Biology. This is called "closed-loop cognitive stimulation" with implanted electrodes which deliver microsecond pulses.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/21/opinion/the-planet-cant-stand-this-presidency.html An opinion piece by Bill McGibben, among others, about the possibilities for extinction of endangered organisms and other potentially dangerous effects on the environment with the rollback of environmental regulations and protections under the new Trump administration.




https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/opinion/sowing-climate-doubt-among-schoolteachers.html?_r=0  This is an opinion from the NYT about the Heartland Institute's sending a book called "Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming" to public school teachers in the US. The writer correctly calls this unscientific propaganda but warns that some teachers are vulnerable to this approach, especially those in states like Louisiana and Tennessee where state law allows teaching of alternative explanations of evolution and climate change. The implication is that this apprach may unfortunately mislead tens of thousands of students who teach from this book even if just a few teachers use it.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/science/prehistoric-humans-north-america-california-nature-study.html This is an article in the NYT by Carl Zimmer about mastodon bones found near San Diego; the finding was published in the journal Nature.This is possible evidence that California's first settlers may have antedated the movement of humans out of Africa. They may have been Neanderthals or another extinct lineage.  The thought is that the smashed bones were broken by humans but some scientists speculate that the bone fractures may have been caused by factors other than human breakage.





https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/nyregion/invisible-bird-killer-lurks-in-revitalized-new-jersey-meadowlands.html Also from the NYT a report about flames resulting from methane build-up in the Kingsland landfill in the NJ Meadowlands causing damage and death to birds and other wildlife. The landfill was closed in the 1990s but methane continues to build up from the garbage left behind.