Rainy Rainy Sunday

http://www.cimmyt.org/maize-from-mexico-to-the-world/
An article about CIMMYT's germplasm bank (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)




http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/22/opinion/sunday/to-write-software-read-novels.html?_r=0 From the Sunday Review of NYT, the writer comments on the importance of humanities in an age of STEM.  Much merit in this.





https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-study-visualizes-proteins-involved-cancer-cell-metabolism  Report of an NIH-funded study using cryo-EM to visualize cancer cell proteins at high resolution.These will be important in drug development. Glutamine dehydrogenase was visualized at 1.8 angstroms. Work was doen at NCI and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46134/title/FDA-Approves-Bladder-Cancer-Immunotherapy/ This article from The Scientists is a report of the approval by the FDA of immunotherapy for bladder cancer. It's a monoclonal antibody developed by Roche and costs about $12,500 a month, out of reach of most people.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46130/title/Immune-Defect-Detected-in-Knockout-Mice/ Again from the Scientist and kind of a big deal, I think, is the detection of a mutation in the genome of a mouse strain C57Bl6 commonly used in research. This mutation could cause immune defects. The work was done by the Ragon Institute and published in Cell Reports. Some major scientific studies may need to be reevaluated based on this finding.




http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46071/title/Image-of-the-Day--Signal-Sensors/ Image of the day from The Scientist. Cilia, cellular protuberances. Diseases are called ciliopathies and can effect things like sperm mobility (ciliary disfunction.)



https://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/mencken.htm  Here are some HL Mencken quotes from the blog Con Job: Stories of Adjunct and Contingent Faculty.




http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/fighting-cancer-with-borrowed-immunity/81252754/
An article from GEN about the transfer of T cells from healthy donors to help fight cancer. This is called TCR  (T Cell Receptor) transfer and was done in Oslo and reported in Science magazine.


http://www.sciencealert.com/more-evidence-suggests-rna-is-behind-the-origin-of-life
From Science Alert, a report in Phys.org lends more evidence to the RNA first theories of life's origins. Researchers at LMU (Ludwig Maximillian U in Munich) have created conditions in which adenine and guanine can be synthesized; in which case all the conditions are present in which RNA could have been synthesized in the early world. It has already been shown that RNA can work as a messenger and a catalyst.



http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6287/758.full  Really great article in Science mag about evolutionary biology bringing its power into determining whether to prescribe high or low doses of antibiotics in order to treat microbial infections and prevent drug resistance from developing.




https://www.statnews.com/2016/05/24/podcast-biotech-has-a-gender-problem/   The STAT podcast about sexism in biotech.



http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2016/05/teaching-safety-skills-not-just-safety-rules
This commentary from Science magazine about the new chemistry lab safety guidelines issued last year by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the implementation of these rules.  Teaching safety as rules and compliance, it was decided, is insufficient. Students need to know how to prepare for emergencies.



 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/angelina-jolie-appointed-as-professor-at-the-london-school-of-economics-a7043911.html Angelina Jolie is a professor at the London School Of Economics, from The Independent.


http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2016/5/23/the-women-who-leave/ From the Harvard Crimson about Women in Science (and out of science).


https://richarddawkins.net/2016/05/the-genes-still-selfish-dawkins-famous-idea-turns-40/ Richard Dawkin's groundbreaking book, "The Selfish Gene" is celebrating its fortieth anniversary. He is a wonderful writer.





http://qz.com/689806/a-controversial-theory-may-explain-the-real-reason-humans-have-allergies/  From Quartz, Carl Zimmer's description of Ruslan Medzhitov's theories about the immune system and allergies, a channeling of Janeway's theories about the immune system. Janeway discovered Toll-Like Receptors.




http://www.npl.co.uk/news/insights-magazine-measurement-science-at-the-heart-of-big-data-revolution   From Insights magazine, publication of the National Physical Laboratory, an article about measurement  science at the heart of big data. The NPL (UK) is involved in defining data standards and "helping communities develop new measurement solutions."




http://www.npr.org/2016/05/24/479223874/we-followed-a-snowy-owl-from-maryland-to-ontario This is an npr report of a research team of bird biologists that followed the movements of wide-ranging snowy owls (using solar-powered GPS transmitters) which turned up south of their usual winter range and wound up in Canada.




http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/05/genome-editor-crispr-helps-trace-growth-embryos-and-maybe-cancer-next  Published online by Science magazine a report on the use of the genome editor CRISPR to trace the growth of embryos in zebrafish. This work was done by Alexander Shier and colleagues at Harvard U.



http://healthjournalism.org/blog/2016/05/rankings-reveal-which-states-are-healthiest-for-aging-adults/ The Association of Health Care Journalists blog Covering Health reports the healthiest for aging: Louisiana is the 50th.



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/science/african-american-dna.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0  From the NYT Matter column by Carl Zimmer a report on African Americans from PLOS Genetics about how migrations have left their mark in the DNA of African Americans. It may also show how genes influence their risk for diseases. The DNA of 3.726 African Americans was analyzed in this study.



http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/classroom-management-problems/ This is from a blog called Cult of Pedagogy about classroom management. Things you can do to sabotage your classroom management. "Smile when the students try to get you off track" first one; (how about laugh?) This is also available a 27 minute podcast but you don't want to play it in class.





 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/05/26/the-superbug-that-doctors-have-been-dreading-just-reached-the-u-s/  From Science mag, an article about the discovery of drug resistant superbugs in the US. Published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.



http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46173/title/Editing-Genomes-to-Record-Cellular-Histories/  From The Scientist, an article about tracking C. elegans cells during development to trace them back to their embryonic beginnings.  Our debt to the worm. This work was published in Science Mag.

Not Mom's Day, Not Pop's Day, Not Cinco de Mayo, What Then?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/science/humans-mastodons-florida.html?_r=0
Here is an article reported in NYT and Science Advances (journal) about the discovery made of a sinkhole in Northern Florida that contained mastodon bones and stone tools, which demonstrated that humans and mastodons coexisted in Northern Florida.


http://thescienceteacher.co.uk/working-memory/ From The Science Teacher, Working Memory and Why Teaching Science is Hard refers to a 1991 paper by A.H. Johnstone about science teaching. Suggestions are made to deal with misconceptions, put learning in context and ensure that practical work is focused.

http://hyperallergic.com/298405/blueprint-for-counter-education-republished-and-still-daring-after-all-these-years/  From the Hyperallergic blog by Edward Gomez, a report of the reprinting of a 1970 book by Stein and Miller the "Blueprint for Counter Education" about transforming higher education, an always current topic. (From the prehistoric era, (BNTT) before there were adjuncts.)


https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/10/01/understanding-dyslexia-and-the-reading-brain-in-kids/ From KQED Mind/Shift, an article about dyslexia and the reading brain; Child Development Professor Wolf writes and lectures about phoneme awareness, knowing the sounds that correspond with words and letters.





http://zinnedproject.org/materials/eugene-debs-canton-ohio/  From the Howard Zinn peoples' history voices project, a youtube recording by actor Mark Ruffalo of Eugene V. Debs Canton, Ohio antiwar speech for which he was convicted of wartime espionage. He served ten years in prison and his voice fortunately lingers on as the voice of a true patriot and an eloquent spokesperson for the working class.


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funded-study-reveals-how-differences-male-female-brains-emerge   An NIH-funded study  on nematode worms done at Columbia U is investigating how sexually dimorphic behavior emerges in the brain.



http://www.scidev.net/global/disease/news/software-diagnoses-lung-diseases-over-the-phone.html
From SciDev.Net SpiroCall software diagnoses lung function over the phone with rates of accuracy similar to actual spirometry. The future of medicine in underdeveloped areas.



https://cosmosmagazine.com/society/should-we-synthesise-human-genome This is an article from Cosmos magazine written by 2 Stanford U geneticists about a recent behind closed doors meeting about the synthesis of the human genome.

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/22/unpacking-the-science-how-playing-music-changes-the-learning-brain/  From KQED Mind/Shift, How Music Changes the Learning Brain. This is a report of research done at Tufts University.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViwX9-Z7iPQ&feature=youtu.be From National Center for Science Education, a link to a recording of Sir David  Attenborough reading Charles Darwin.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/nih-funds-new-studies-ethical-legal-social-impact-genomic-information This is a report on several NIH-funded studies to study the ethical, legal and social questions resulting from the advances in genomics research. These studies are funded through the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) Centers of Excellence.

http://www.ragoninstitute.org/study-of-potent-hiv-antibodies-yields-hiv-vaccine-insight/ From a report by the Ragon Institute, a South African blood donor's blood produces natural neutralling antibodies which may become the basis for an anti-HIV vaccine. Some of this work was done in collaboration with the Ragon Institute.




http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/science/eske-willerslev-ancient-dna-scientist.html An article from NYT about a Danish scientist who is using ancient DNA to reconstruct 50,000 years of human history. He recently sequenced the DNA of a 4,000 year old Greenlander.



http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/17/science/emily-dickinson-lost-gardens.html?_r=0
Emily Dickinson's (Hope is the thing...) gardens in Amherst, Mass., are being restored.



http://gawker.com/the-horrifying-reality-of-the-academic-job-market-1776914525 The terrifying reality of the academic job market. From Hamilton Nolan, a writer at Gawker. Overeducated, maybe, underpaid, definitely.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij1qBJwPOEk&feature=youtu.be Alan Alda received the 2016 National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal for science communication.

http://phys.org/news/2016-05-scientists-evolutionary-link-protein-function.html
From phys.org,  a report of research published in the journal Scientific Reports  linking protein structures and functions across the geological record. This is ground breaking work, the linking of certain structures of protein which are conserved over time, certain loops that have been recruited to perform different functions. They called in "hierarchical modularity".



http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-the-giraffe-got-its-neck
From the NYer, the giraffe genome project, comparing the genes of the giraffe to its nearest living relative, the okapi finds 20% identity in the proteins encoded by genes. This work was done at the Nelson Mandela African Institute for Science and Technology.


https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/visual-impairment-blindness-cases-us-expected-double-2050  A press release from the NIH that as we baby boomers age, by 2050, blindness and visual impairment cases are supposed to double. Research done by SoCal's Roski eye institute and published in JAMA Opthalmology. (Here's looking at you, kid.)




http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyu-boss-told-professor-women-not-belong-science-suit-article-1.2641512 One day I'll blog about my sex discrimination lawsuit against the federal government and the USDA but in the meantime I am posting about this female malaria research who has a lawsuit against NYU School of Medicine after her boss told her that women do not belong in science.There is a federal lawsuit against Claudio Basilico as revealed in this New York Daily News article.



http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46113/title/Antibiotics-From-Scratch/ This is an article from the New Scientist describing work done at Harvard U in which the scientists developed a way to synthesize macrolide antibiotics (like azithromycin) from eight chemical building blocks, which will allow synthesis of tens of thousand of compounds.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2016/05/17/nearly-third-women-in-academic-medicine-experience-sexual-harassment.html From FOX news, a report that nearly one third of women in academic medicine experience sexual harrassment.




http://qz.com/686075/we-still-have-literally-no-way-to-quantify-exactly-how-much-work-women-do/
From Quartz, a query on how to quantify the amount of unpaid work women do. This is something Melinda Gates is thinking about at the Women Deliver conference in Copenhagen as posted by the American Women In Science on their FB page.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/18/fruits-and-vegetables-used-to-look-so-different-you-might-not-even-recognize-them/ This is an article from WashPost about artificial selection of fruits and vegetables. Did you know that you are eating the Cavendish banana, for example?



http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/05/19/appeal-of-genetic-puzzles-leads-to-national-medal-of-science-for-uws-mary-claire-king/ National Medal of Science to UW Mary-Claire King, geneticist.

Mom's Day

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2086234-lizard-gets-to-grips-with-city-life-by-evolving-stickier-feet/  From the New Scientist,a report of city lizards having evolved "stickier" feet for scaling windowpanes without falling off. This work was done at the U of Massachusetts. This field is called "urban evolution".




http://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/animals/why-zebrafish-have-led-to-major-discoveries-in-human-genetics/vi-BBsKWhE This is a microsoft network (MSN) short video quoting research published in the journal Human Gene Therapy about the importance of zebrafish in human genetics.

http://portside.org/2016-05-07/mapping-american-social-movements-through-20th-century From a website called Portside, a collaborative project done by the U of Washington has mapped American social movements in space and time with a series of interactive maps.



http://ncse.com/climate-evolution/evolution-pros-crusading-scientistwriters-climate-change  The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) "Evolution pros" are honored for their contributions.










http://www.scidev.net/global/communication/practical-guide/how-to-report-scientific-findings.html
How to report scientific findings. From SciDevNet. For all science writers.

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/35970-why-teachers-matter-in-dark-times 
An article from Truthout by the writer Henry Giroux about how teachers matter. No argument here.





http://assets.climatecentral.org/images/uploads/news/5_9_16_Andrea_TempSpiralEdHawkins.gif  Climate change graphic showing global climate change since 1850.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/healthy-weight-bmi-overweight From Science News a long term study reported in JAMA that the BMI associated with the lowest death rate has risen from 1976 to 2013 (the period of time that the study was in progress.




http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/
This is a link to a blog entry by scientist Michael Eisen refuting Siddhartha Mukherjee's epigenetics article. It's important to report about science in the media and critical to maintain accuracy and complexity, both of which are easily sacrificed.





http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2016/05/12/creationist_ken_ham_tweeted_a_series_of_very_bad_claims_meant_to_be_scientific.html
From Slate,  Phil Plait, the author of the Bad Astronomy blog, takes Ken Ham to task for a series of Tweets belaying his incorrect understanding of science.



Keep reading my blog. Get me over 800 page views by next week! Thanks for reading!

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/science/a-window-into-the-workings-of-zika.html?_r=0 From the Tuesday NYT Science Times a report about a 23-year-old JHU graduate student's suggestion to test the 3-D model of the brain her research group had developed with the Zika virus. This work showed that Zika infects neural progenitor cells and will be published in Cell.




https://psmag.com/the-bionic-woman-of-good-science-3194be8570db#.cwpr6yy4j
An article in Pacific Standard about Jane Lubchenko , an environmental scientist.





http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0512/Missing-mitochondria-Strange-eukaryotic-cell-lacks-powerhouse  OK. Time to revise the dogma: Scientists at the University ot British Columbia have found a eukaryotic cell  without mitochondria. This will be published in Current Biology.

Solipsists Soulful Sunday Soiree

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cancer-killers-send-signal-success
This article in Science News reports research using nanoparticles done at the Brigham Hospital in Boston in which nanoparticles linked to a cancer drug glowed when they destroyed their targets.






http://www.theguardian.com/music/richard-wagner An MRI of an opera singer, performing Wagner's "Tannhauser"  as part of an ENT project reported in The Guardian.

https://student.societyforscience.org/article/cool-science-hot-peppers From Science News, research by John Tewksbury about capsaicin, the main ingredient in chilis.




http://metrocosm.com/animated-immigration-map/
From Metrocosm, an interactive map about immigration to the US since 1920.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-secret-to-raising-smart-kids1/ From Scientific American Mind, yet another article on raising smart kids.




https://www.usgs.gov/news/first-global-topographic-map-mercury-released  From USGS a topographic map of Mercury, which is about to transit the sun.
 
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/46038/title/Study--Faster-Metabolism-Boosted-Human-Brains/ From The Scientist, report of research done at Hunter College (CUNY) reported in Nature about the connection between speedier metabolism, larger brains, frequent reproduction and longer live spans.





http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-might-have-finally-found-a-way-to-stop-the-tumour-disease-wiping-out-tasmanian-devils From Science Alert, a report of research done at Deakin U in Australia which has invented or discovered antibodies active against the virus that is wiping out Tasmanian Devils.




http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.list/tagNo/7324/tags/Zika-virus/  From The Scientist, articles about Zika Virus


http://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/science/how-was-the-grand-canyon-formed/ From the Smithsonian, article about formation of the Grand Canyon.

http://www.nndb.com/people/803/000107482/ Posted by Science Olympiad, article commemorating Jean Senebrier, who demonstrated photosynthesis, or vegetable physiology, as his discovery was labeled.



https://www.statnews.com/2016/03/31/dna-shape-double-helix-dekker/ From STAT, an interview by Carl Zimmer with Jacob Dekker about the shape of DNA.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/05/06/some-like-it-hot-scientists-figured-out-why-female-turtles-are-born-at-higher-temperatures/ Article in the Washington Post about the discovery of the temperature dependent sex determination gene in turtles. This work will be published in the journal Genetics.





 http://www.sciencedump.com/content/do-you-have-blue-eyes-according-science-your-common-ancestor  
From Science Dump, a report of discovery the common ancestor of all blue eyed people. This ancestor, a Stone Age man (Old Blue Eyes) possesses the HERC2 gene and mixes of Scandinavian and African characteristics.



http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1086
From Ph.D. comics, academic salaries graphic

Hiking the tow path, past the eagles's nest...

http://niemanstoryboard.org/stories/power-of-narrative-conference-mary-roachs-bad-habits/
This is an article from Neiman Storyboard about science journalist/author Mary Roach's narrative style.





http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6284/408.full
Article in Science magazine about food waste





http://www.wired.com/2016/04/science-professors-arent-confusing-theyre-wrong/
From Wired, about how biology is not "clear-cut".

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/apr/27/brain-atlas-showing-how-words-are-organised-neuroscience
According to Guardian Science, UC Berkeley neuroscientists have created an atlas of the brain which shows which parts of the brain respond to certain words and have created a website where people can explore the brain atlas:

https://youtu.be/k61nJkx5aDQ

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/ice-lake-suwa-japan-torne-river-climate-change-monk-shinto/
News from National Geographic about Shinto monks recording climate change data for the past 6 centuries.




https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160428124108.htm
From the British Journal of Nutrition, how eating chocolate every day can help your heart as reported in Science Daily.

http://labblog.uofmhealth.org/health-tech/artificial-placenta-holds-promise-for-extremely-premature-infants The University of Michigan reports research that an artificial placenta can help extreme premies. This research is preliminary and hasn't gone into clinical trials yet.

https://youtu.be/r4Tp7dm2Blo


https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/06/09/college-is-not-a-commodity-stop-treating-it-like-one/ From the Washington Post, an article about the commodification of higher education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnOTprOTHc8&feature=youtu.be  360 degree tour of the solar system from The Thought Cafe on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FyN5_-njAU Here's another 360 degrees tour I confess I haven't looked at yet.