The stars of rap and physics align. wwnorton.tumblr.com |
Happy Monday! Here for your reading pleasure is the second
installment of AmericanScience’s Weekly Roundup, the official rundown of recent
science news:
A former NFL wide receiver makes
the case that the league should loosen its policy on marijuana and
take measure to reduce players' use of opioid painkillers.
Weill Cornell psychiatrist Anna Fels calls attention to
studies suggesting beneficial
effects of low levels of lithium in drinking water. For a different
perspective on therapeutic lithium, check out the work of physician-critic
David Healy.
Since 2004, the National Institutes of Health’s budget has
dropped more than twenty percent. In a series of stories,
NPR is following how research universities across the country are grappling
with this sharp decline in funding. They’ve developed a searchable
database where users can map NIH funding patterns for individual
institutions. How is your institution faring?
Dave
Kaiser — theoretical physicist, historian of science, and, most notably, friend of the
Wu-Tang Clan's GZA — did
an AMA on spacetime, the origins of the universe, and other
trifles.
Last
week, Massachusetts district attorney Sam Sutter dropped all criminal charges
against two environmental activists who used their lobster boat to block
a coal freighter from reaching the Brayton Point Power Plant last May. The
move was met with mixed responses; many climate change activists saw this as an
important case to test whether the defense’s argument—that the men had acted out of necessity,
given the imminent threat of climate change—would stand up in a court room. The
DA, an environmentalist himself, explained that he dropped the charges because
he felt the defendants were in the right, and told the men that he would see
them at the People’s Climate March
in NYC next week.
The National Park Service is pushing
back against a proposed Grand Canyon development plan that would include
the installation of a cable-car gondola to bring visitors from the rim of the Canyon
to the Canyon floor.
Germany has become a world leader in renewable energy, inspiring other countries to follow the German example of energiewende - the "energy transition." The NYT offers a great analysis of the economics of renewable energy, in particular how German efforts have created an economy of scale that has dramatically lowered prices for solar panels and wind turbines for everyone around the globe.
Germany has become a world leader in renewable energy, inspiring other countries to follow the German example of energiewende - the "energy transition." The NYT offers a great analysis of the economics of renewable energy, in particular how German efforts have created an economy of scale that has dramatically lowered prices for solar panels and wind turbines for everyone around the globe.
With
the fall semester in full swing it seems appropriate to share Wellesley’s tips
on how
to email your professor. (hint: think twice about emoticon use.) The page
is part of the College’s Project
on Social Computing.
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