In July

http://blogs.plos.org/scied/2017/06/28/the-trivialization-of-science-education/ This is a blog entry by Mike Klymkowsky about the trivialization of science education. Klymkowsky, a professor at the University of Colorado- Boulder, revs up the large engines including Socrates and Richard Feynman in his plaint about the abdication by colleges of their role in students' science literacy. Since most colleges and universities do require non-majors to take at least one science course with associated lab, does this requirement build in students a scientific vocabulary and understanding of methodology in order to approach and evaluate scientific issues critically? The fact that it does not has serious consequences to meaningful, as opposed to pretend, learning.

http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20170710_Poor_math_skills_lead_to_bad_politics_and_policy.html  This is an opinion piece from the Philadelphia Inquirer about math illiteracy. in 2003, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy  calculated that 1 in 5 Americans couldn't compute their weekly paycheck or a restaurant tip. The opinion piece suggests that the fact that our technologies can help us with some of these things makes us even more math-illiterate. The 2 million dollar error in the 2018 budget submitted by OMB is an example.


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/scientists-replay-movie-encoded-dna
OK so I don't really understand this. This is a link to an NIH news release about a movie encoded in and played from human cells. In a report featured in this week's Nature, Seth Shipman and his group were able to insert into bacterial cells and retrieve from the cells the image of a human hand. After doing this they inserted one frame at a time into bacteria 5 frames of translated DNA of a racehorse in motion movie and then they sequenced the DNA to reconstruct the movie. They intend to use the DNA as a "molecular recorder" to study the brain.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/13/human-evolutions-biggest-problems/?utm_term=.a9a227f64517 This is a position piece from the Washington Post about Trump's explanation, written with a ghostwriter, of how high-status males with "kick-ass attitudes" (like Trump) "who didn't give a crap about what other people in the tribe thought" were able to have "top models" and the most beautiful women. The writer makes the point that "prosociality", caring about the tribe, enabled Trump's ancestors to survive. Trump also says that this is how it always was and will be but the writer again corrects him that nothing about evolution "always was and always will be", since evolution is not static.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/well/move/high-intensity-workouts-may-be-good-at-any-age.html This is an article from the Well Column about how short, high intensity workouts (called interval training) are good for any age. This new study reported in the blog centers on older organisms. Mice equivalent to over 65 in human life span were "coaxed" through interval training (little treadmills). The mice that had done the interval study were in some ways "younger" than at the beginning of the trial. They had greater endurance and more muscle mass than the control animals.


http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-larson-ice-sheet-20170713-htmlstory.html An article from the LATimes about the loss of an iceberg the size of the state of Delaware in Antarctica's Larsen C Ice Shelf. But a UCIrvine glaciologist reports that this is only the beginning. This collapse could possibly lead to the loss of the entire shelf, which may be decades away.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/14/nyregion/seabird-deaths-long-island.html This article in the NYT is about an observation by a wildlife pathologist from the NY Department of Conservation about a type of shorebird that has been found dead on LI beaches in increasing numbers, an unusual observation. The great shearwaters nest on the of the world's most remote islands in the south Altantic before migrating to the waters off New England and Newfoundland. The bird carcasses, when autopsied, were thin and anemic, which leaves the question: why is their health so poor? Since these birds are very rarely seen, gliding up the Gulf Stream, and, after feeding in the Caribbean, passing Long Island, why were they off course? Possibly winds forced the birds over land.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/health/india-south-asia-castes-genetics-diseases.html?_r=0 This is a NYT article reporting from a Nature Genetics publication about residents of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in South Asia who can die if administered muscle relaxants due to a mutation in their DNA. An analysis of 2,800 people belonging to 260 South Asian groups showed 81 groups that had lost genetic variation more extreme than Ashkenazi Jews and Finns due to genetic isolation and interbreeding. This lack of genetic variation is due to what is called the founder effect, when a population expands from a small group of founders with resultant genetic similarities which can cause a high incidence of the inheritance of rare diseases.


https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/11/well/live/the-gentler-symptoms-of-dying.html A NYT article about how organ failure, preceding death, shuts the brain down. Each of the major organs, according to the physician reporter, has the ability to shut the brain down, evoking symptoms not as readily discernible to a witness as the classic death rattle. The exception is "terminal lucidity", as described by biologist Michael Nahm, in which case there is a brief state of clarity preceding death.




https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/07/toaster-a-bit-more-button/534312/ From the Atlantic, a paean to the Breville toaster. The writer says that this device makes toasting bread "more quantitative".  He references the "a bit more" button, which allows the bread to raise up and have its degree-of-toastness appreciated.  This design element is part of the new culture which responds to the user experience, or "UX". To follow: coffins (just kidding.)