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cultural literacy
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teaching &
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| late February 2015 |
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Mars's asteroid encounter (Scientific American) more violent than previously thought? Pluto -- 85 years in pictures (Nature) A tale of two dwarf planets (Nature) graphic on visitors to Ceres and Pluto The Pluto siblings (Nature) brother and sister have studied Pluto for 30 years Did dark matter cause periodic terrestrial mass extinctions? (Earth & Sky) every 30 Myrs as solar system passes through galactic plane The dark future of the American space program (Vox) NASA exploration is about to come to a thudding halt Dawn at Ceres: best images yet (NASA) orbital injection around Ceres on 3/6/15 Mars's mysterious plumes have astronomers puzzled (Earth & Sky) first promoted by amateurs, but seen on Hubble images dating back to 1997 See the back side of the moon (Washington Post) invisible from Earth |
Orion nebula: just a tiny part of a newly- discovered dust ring (Scientific American) 100 pc in diameter |
Life beyond Earth? Do we want to know? (Washington Post) the battle over whether we should actively search for ET A circumstellar disk distorted by a planet (Hubble) beta Pictoris: the only imaged disk containing a giant planet |
Monster black hole at cosmic dawn (U Arizona) 3000x more massive the Milky Way's black hole, seen at redshift = 6.3 Inflation: when space expanded (a lot faster) than the speed of light (Earth & Sky) a foretaste of: Kavli Foundation webcast of new results from Planck: Wednesday, 2/18/15, 2:30 - 3:15 pm EST |
string theorists: 30 years on & still claiming 'truth' In fake universes, evidence for string theory (Quanta) Why string theory offers hope for unifying physics (Smithsonian) and still unconvincing, & with a still untestable theory __________________ What goes on inside a proton? (Guardian) explaining scattering experiments Is the Many Worlds Hypothesis a fantasy? (Aeon) a rhetorical question? & Sean Carroll's (lame) attempt at a response some other contenders Have we been interpreting quantum mechanics wrong the whole time? (Wired) Quantum Weirdness: It's all in your mind (Scientific American) on Bayesian QM and experiment now chimes in: Is the wavefunction real? (Nature Physics) so say measurements, authors claim arXiv version & commentary from The Conversation Is the Higgs boson responsible for matter excess? (Scientific American) |
color, perception, & science black, blue, gold, or white? (Tumbler) it's clearly black and gold The Science (Wired) How color tricks the eye (Washington Post) 12 optical color illusions the economy, again Knowledge (and Education) Isn't Power (NY Times) even the earnings of the US's most highly educated workers haven't grown since the 1990's Better than a tax cut (NY Times) what workers need are higher wages The Cost of the Decline in Unions (NY Times) a big rise in inequality, a drop in wages and productivity crazy people Racism without racists; Misogyny without misogynists (NY Times) straight talk for white men What ISIS Really Wants (Atlantic) not for the faint of reading Conservative Christian fascists want to rule the US (Red State) the misreading of the first amendment Rudy Giuliani (Rolling Stone) American idiot Scott Walker (American Prospect) pandering to Republicans' lunatic wing science, again The Physics of Popcorn (LA Times) with video, of course |
The Teacher: an endangered species in North Carolina (Indy Week) "... a mean-spirited, short-sighted effort to starve public education..." February 28, 1967: The Day The Purpose of College Education Changed (Chronicle of Higher Education) Cal. Gov. Ronald Reagan: taxpayers should not be "subsidizing intellectual curiosity" sound familiar? SHAPE Spring(??) 2015 Conference at UNC (UNC) for high school physics teachers, Saturday 2/28/15 Value-added modeling: how NOT to train and assess our teachers (Raleigh N&O) Is the NC legislature listening? doubt it... School is about more than training kids to be adults (Atlantic) What teachers risk when they focus only on ensuring adolescents are ready for college and their careers |
early February 2015 |
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Dinosaurs decimated by killer asteroid? (NY Times) not so fast.... Obama's 2016 NASA budget includes funds for planning Europa mission (NASA Spaceflight) launch target: 2022/2023 the 5 naked-eye planets in February (Earth & Sky) Venus and Mars after sunset.... Jupiter all night long... Saturn before dawn, along with Mercury last chance for Comet Lovejoy (Sky and Telescope) 5th magnitude (and fading) in early February |
Stars' oscillations involve golden mean? (Scientific American) Yellowballs (Sky and Telescope) new insights into star formation |
37 exoplanetary dust disks (Sky and Telescope) found by citizen scientists |
Cosmic quest for dark energy (Wall Street Journal) a slow news day for the Wall Street Journal??? A dark-matter- dominated galaxy on the opposite side of the Milky Way? (Earth & Sky) found by its 4 (!!) pulsating Cepheids Now official? last March's claim of CMB B-mode polarization as proof of inflation now retracted (Sky and Telescope) combined Planck & BICEP2 results say measurements can be explained by galactic dust and a more sciency view (Preposterous Unvierse) and even more sciency (Matt Strassler) ESA Planck releases final results (Sky and Telescope) matches standard cosmology and everything is at the official Planck site |
New baryons discovered (expectedly) at LHC (Scientific American) both are 'dsb', but in different spin configurations Problem book 'General Relativity and Gravitation' free and online (Princeton University Press) |
Science, religion, and the public Why science is so hard to believe (Washington Post) Too much prayer in politics (NY Times) Scientists must solve the problem of growing trust problem (San Jose Mercury News) not the public? Is geoengineering the answer? (San Jose Mercury News) The risks of geoengineering (NY Times) Plan B: the only Republican alternative to cutting greenhouse emissions The Monarch Massacre (Washington Post) 1 billion butterflies have vanished... is the monarch on its way to extinction? |
Teachers-of-the-Year to NY Governor: You have made us the enemy (Washington Post) with proposal to make link half of teachers' evaluation to students' test scores Closing the Education Gap (between rich and poor Americans) will lift economy (NY Times) as if there weren't enough other reasons to do it .... Moving beyond 'test and punish' (Raleigh N&O) the battle for school accountability How elementary teachers' biases can discourage girls from math & science (NY Times) |
late January 2015 |
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Flowing water on Vesta? (Earth & Space) evidence: curved gullies in young craters Astronomy Days are Sat/Sun 1/24-1/25 in Raleigh (NCMNS) Seasons changing on Rosetta's comet (Earth & Sky) its ice is sublimating Closing in on the dwarf planets Ceres and Pluto (NY Times) with some pointed remarks on the definition of a planet 2 solar-system planets beyond Pluto? (Earth & Sky) but based on orbital characteristics of (only) 13 KBO's see Comet Lovejoy (Sky & Telescope) the next 3 nights (1/20 - 1/22) should be the perfect time to see it (probably w/binoculars if you're in a city) before the moon gets in the way printable finding chart |
HeH+: the universe's first molecule? but still no evidence (RealClearScience) a coolant necessary for star formation? What's a safe distance between us and a supernova? (Earth & Sky) 50-100 cyrs? the nearest Type II supernova candidate is 150 cyrs away.... type Ia, who knows? What is η Carinae doing to get all this attention? supercomputer simulation here (NASA) and more here about its x-ray pulse (Sky & Telescope) (S |
Kepler-444: oldest planet discovered so far (Earth & Space) a 5-planet system, 11.2 BY old, more than 2x age of the solar system Exoplanet's gigantic ring system dwarfs Saturn's (U Rochester) 200x larger, with at least 30 different rings; as massive as Earth? |
Does the Milky Way contain a wormhole in its halo or at its center? (Earth & Sky) even sillier than Interstellar? with links to 2 published articles A better understanding of galaxy evolution (Sky & Telescope) why did some massive galaxies shut down star formation 3 BY after the bang? |
Weird X-rays still unexplained: hints of dark matter? (Scientific American) |
Not a very P.C. thing to say (New York Magazine) liberals and the illiberal left How did politics get so personal? (NY Times) because liberals think more analytically while conservatives think more holistically? A surprising poll of Americans on climate change (NY Times) a majority think that it's a serious world problem... 76% of Democrats, but only 26% of Republicans ... but even 48% of Republicans would be more inclined to support a candidate who wants to reduce global warming Oklahoma: 567 earthquakes last year vs. the usual 2 per year before fracking (Washington Post) who cares, as long as people have jobs inequality in America Education in 2 different Americas (Washington Post) privileged vs. unprivileged in the US The Activity Gap (Atlantic) Why do so few Americans share the fury of Bernie Sanders? (Washington Post) Inequality is a Choice (Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Economist) ----------------------- artificial intelligence Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk on the dangers of AI (Washington Post) "AI could spell the end of the human race"? and "a demon ... more dangerous than nuclear weapons"? Bill Gates agrees (Washington Post) and why we shouldn't be afraid of AI (Washington Post) ----------------------- the big story of the week in Europe... but not in the US Guantanamo Diary rendition, detention and torture (Guardian) by a prisoner still there The coming unintended results of technology's disruption (Washington Post) the new 80/20 curve is replacing the middle-class bell curve -- with consequences that are now only whispered not a good month for health of the planet Ocean life faces mass extinction (NY Times) although it may not be too late to stop it Human activity has pushed Earth beyond 4 of its 9 boundaries (Washington Post) deforestation, extinction, atmospheric CO2, and ? 2014, hottest year ever (NY Times) not that 1 year is necessarily a sign of long-term warming ,,,, Scientists react (Washington Post) Rate of recent sea-level rise is 'far worse (25%) than previously thought' (Washington Post) will this stop the specious claims of a pause in global warming? don't bet on it? free speech, Islam, & extremism Free to Speak? Free to Blaspheme? (OnPoint 1-hr radio) a remarkable discussion of double standards, free speech, and whether the cause of violent extremism is religious or political Another march is needed (NY Times) but in Arab and Muslim capital cities Paris is a warning (Guardian) there is no insulation from western wars A more aggressive Middle East strategy for the US? (Washington Post) 13 US interventions in the Islamic world since 1980.... and we really need one more? Of course, It's about Islam (Politico) not quite; it's about radical/extremist Islam movies American Sniper: almost too dumb to criticize (Rolling Stone) |
Can students have too much tech? (NY Times) students math & reading skills are anti-correlated with access to computers... and this is a surprise? 90 cities rated on the efficiency of their K-12 spending (Wallet Hub) Greensboro (13), Charlotte (18), Raleigh (22), and Durham (23) make the top quarter Americans have esteem for science, but disagree with scientists about the actual science (Scientific American) huge gaps between the public and scientists about GMOs, evolution, human-caused climate change, animal research State of Education in NC: the Good and the Bad (Raleigh N&O) worst state in the US for teachers, yet students are performing above average Excluding veteran teachers: a brilliant business move? (Raleigh N&O) the myopic and self-serving view of an inexperienced teacher The evils of the college application process (Raleigh N&O) the third parent in the room An acclaimed Durham math teacher on why he's leaving teaching (Raleigh N&O) one of the effects of the loss of teacher longevity pay Time to support life-saving teachers (Raleigh N&O) lack of raises for experienced teachers and elimination of the Teaching Fellows isn't helping A country where teachers have a voice (Atlantic) Netherlands, where teachers decide what happens in the classroom New SATs, new problems (Atlantic) the complaint seems to be that the questions now require thinking, and our schools don't teach thinking Most US public school students live in poverty (Washington Post) in NC, it's 53%.... maybe it's time to clean up our own back yard instead of worrying about who should have been in Paris last week? Cruel waste of America's tech talent (NY Times) or at least that of its illegal immigrants |
early January 2015 |
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Finding chart for Comet Lovejoy 2 (Sky and Telescope) naked-eye/binoc comet to start the new year... ditto from Earth & Sky The Solar System is slowly rearranging itself (New Statesman) 'math is changing everything we thought we knew about space' wow, really? What would happen if Earth stopped revolving around the Sun? (Wired) by a giant space finger stopping it cold |
Using gyrochronology to date star ages (Sky and Telescope & AAS meeting) Exploring the heart of the massive star η Carinae (Nature, AAS meeting) with supercomputer videos Pillars of Creation III aka the Eagle Nebula (Hubble, AAS meeting) or is it IV or V? |
Gemini exoplanet images from the first year (AAS meeting) τ Ceti's dust belt is huge (Scientific American) stretching to 55 AU, with warm dust, cool debris, and 5 planets So many Earth-like exoplanets, so few telescopes (NY Times) 8 new ones unveiled at AAS meeting.... boundary between rocky and liquid seems to be at 1.6 Earth masss Why so many Earth-like exoplanets turn out to be bogus (Washington Post) false positives (as many as 35%) are "inherent" in the transit discovery method The battle for the exoplanets (Nature) an attempt to resolve the squabble between various discovery groups Will we find ET life in 2015? (Scientific American) will it come from Mars, an encounter with an asteroid, SETI, or techno-signatures from exoplanets? The 10 biggest exoplanet stories of 2014 (Space.com) Earth's cousins, giant rocky exoplanets, gas dwarfs, and an exomoon, among others |
Supermassive-black- hole pair spiral in for upcoming violent collision (NY Times, AAS meeting) in a million years or so 2,000,000-mph winds in Milky Way's core (Hubble, AAS meeting) the driver of the Fermi bubbles: was it a firestorm of star birth at the Milky Way's center or the eruption of its supermassive black hole? Does a spiral arm encircle the entire Milky Way? (Scientific American) New Panormic view of Andromeda galaxy (Hubble, AAS meeting) resolving individual stars inside clusters SDSS release new view of the sky to the public (AAS meeting) biggest data release ever? and the most precise cosmic-distance ruler yet (Sky and Telescope, AAS meeting) using baryon-acoustic oscillations A quasar gives up (Sky and Telescope) documenting how a quasar shut down over 10 years A more realistic view of the universe (Gizmo) or at least a more realistic supercomputer simulation (sample included) |
Lee Smolin ramblings (Scientific American) on quantum gravity, string theory, evolving fundamental constants & laws, and more Where has gravity been (and not been) tested? (Preposterous Universe) there is a broad region where we have no data about General Relativity 6 science stories to follow in 2015 (LA Times) encounter with Pluto, LHC to reach full power, rendezvous with a large asteroid Why string theory offers hope for the unification of physics (Smithsonian) by one of its biggest cheerleaders of course ... or is it a mirage that sidetracked a whole generation of physicists? lists of top 2014 science |
The increasing polarization of Congress (National Journal) Democrats dominate high-education, high-diversity districts; Republicans, low-education, low diversity districts Another march is needed (NY Times) but in Arab and Muslim capital cities Cardinal Burke is correct: women are terrifying (Washington Post) sarcasm perfected Was the promise fulfilled? History will be very kind to Obama fulfilling promises and making the US more prosperous and more egalitarian or Why history will eviscerate Obama a triumph of tactics over consensus and more from the Obama History Project (New York) like judging a contestant in the middle of an event? -------------------------- -------------------- God on the ropes? (Salon) the new science that terrifies creationists and the christian right The tragedy of the American Military (The Atlantic) The result: a chickenhawk nation in which careless spending and strategic folly combine to lure America into endless wars it can’t win conservative talking head: "Talking about white privilege is racist" (Salon) how do people get away with saying stuff like this? probably because many white people agree What's 82% white, 80% male, and 92% christian? (Washington Post) duh, Congress.... whereas the real US is 63% white, 48% male, and 75% christian 2014 in charts (NY Times) inequality in America nears record levels; it pays to be rich; 27 million get 'Obamacare' health insurance Can counterterrorism cancel democracy? (NY Books) How President Obama (a law professor with a Nobel Peace Prize) came to oversee both a massive killer-drone campaign and the most extensive surveillance operation on American citizens Neil deGrasse Tyson: Christmas troll? (OC Register) his Xmas tweets cause christian foaming at the mouth, and elsewhere In 10 years, your job won't likely exist (Washington Post) |
Campbell Brown's war on teacher tenure (New York) from the recent past: The Secret to Raising Smart Kids (Scientific American) Don't tell them that they are (smart) Arne Duncan: committed to testing (NY Times) the comments are much more interesting than the story How to improve NC schools (Raleigh N&O) actually more like why the problem is uninvolved parents Adapting to the digital classroom: digital-only funding starts in 2017 (Raleigh N&O) and why we should be concerned about moving too fast: untrained teachers; the lure of distractions; the unique advantages of paper, etc |