A Walk in the Park

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/opinion/prison-coronavirus.html
This is a link to a Sunday Review (NYT) article from a former prisoner in Ohio, who has since been released. He remarks on the prison's overcrowding, poor sanitation arrangements (8 showers for 160 inmates), proximity of bunks, among other complaints. Parole hearings were delayed and law libraries closed due to health concerns, at least this was the reason offered. Mealtimes were staggered to have fewer inmates dining than regular practice, which required dinners to be offered to some as late as 8PM. Masks were offered to prisoners but some corrections officers refused to wear them. I saw a broadcast in which one state's governor, when confronted by the concerning statistics about prison infections, reassured the public that the prison is a "closed system", which it is not by any means. Prisoners in the state the governor was from were kept in solitary upon diagnosis. And, how would the threat of solitary confinement encourage reporting of symptoms? Reduce the prison population: it is too severe a penalty to die of Covid-19 as punishment for a parole violation, non-violent crime or first offense. Some of the prisoners I saw at Southwoods were elderly and in wheel chairs.  The correctional system's system's chaotic and ill-thought out response makes as little sense as the public health philosophy guiding the nation's response to the virus.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/368/6497/1317/tab-pdf
This is a link to a Science mag article about the gender gap in STEM fields. The research was done at Dept of Applied Statistics, Social Sciences and Humanities at NYU. Male to female ratios in US college majors in Bio, Chem, Math and other STEM fields as 1:1, while Physics, Engineering and Technology ratios are 4:1. But they take it further to show that low achieving males (high school) major in the latter fields  (PECS)  at a higher rate than the same-achieving females.  Prior research has shown that females have less confidence in their math abilities, value societal goals and a work-life balance more than salary, take different high school STEM classes and have different career aspirations.  Their model took into account both high achieving and low achieving students and comes up with analyses. Interestingly, of students not intending to major in PECS in high school, males are more likely to major in PECS than females. They conclude that, interventions such as coding camps, role models and peer networks to encourage PECS majoring in college, may work for only a select group of high-achieving women and that "to raise the quality of students in PECS, it must be recognized that the gender imbalance varies through the achievement distribution and is  perpetuated by male-favoring cultures that disproportionately attract low achieving men to the fields."
 
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/30/new-swine-flu-with-pandemic-potential-identified-by-china-researchers
This is a Guardian article about a new swine flu that has been detected in China that has "pandemic potential", meaning it is auditioning for the next Covid-19. As published in PNAS, it is genetically descended from the H1N1 strain that caused a pandemic in 2009.  Quoting from the report, this strain, called G4 "was observed to be highly infectious, replicating in human cells and causing more serious symptoms in ferrets than other viruses do. Tests also showed that any immunity humans gain from exposure to seasonal flu does not provide protection from G4." Science has shown that this strain can pass from pigs to humans but has not shown a human to human transmission.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/climate/trump-epa-perchlorate.html
An article in the NYT about a Trump administration decision not to limit perchorate in drinking water. Perchlorate is a toxic chemical in rocket fuel linked to fetal brain damage.  The EPA also overturned the scientific finding (how do you overturn a scientific finding?) that declared perchlorate a serious health risk for 5-16 million people in the US. The reason offered was that the "one size fits all" standard is less effective (federal control) versus state and local control. The National Resources Defense Council opposed the decision saying that this reversal threatens the health of pregnant moms and young children. Perchlorate can cause loss of IQ.