The human gut microbiome plays a critical role in the body, communicating with the brain and maintaining the immune system through the gut-brain axis. So it isn’t totally far-fetched to suggest that microbes could play an even larger role in our neurobiology. Fishing for Microbes For years, Irene Salinas has been fascinated by a simple… Continue reading Fish Have a Brain Microbiome. Could Humans Have One Too?
Nation’s Second Largest School District Revises Race-Based Grant Program
In August, the nation’s second-largest school district announced a major policy shift that caused the soon-to-be-unemployed minds at the Los Angeles Times editorial board to collectively explode last month. Why? Because in the wake of a federal civil rights complaint filed by Parents Defending Education in 2023, the U.S. Department of Education forced the Los… Continue reading Nation’s Second Largest School District Revises Race-Based Grant Program
The AI Pioneer With Provocative Plans for Humanity
Before he became a decorated pioneer of artificial intelligence, Raj Reddy grew up far from a computer lab. As a child in the 1940s, he lived in rural Katur, Andhra Pradesh, India. His one-room schoolhouse had no paper or pencils, so he learned to write letters in a plot of sand. On hot nights in… Continue reading The AI Pioneer With Provocative Plans for Humanity
The God of LEGO Men! (And More Patrons Questions)
Podcast: Download MYS341: We regularly give Patrons the opportunity to ask Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli their mysterious questions and make them available exclusively to Patrons first and then later to the whole audience. This time the questions cover LEGO minifigs; cryptids; tulpas; D.D. Home; AI; language acquisition, and more. Get all new episodes automatically… Continue reading The God of LEGO Men! (And More Patrons Questions)
How Is Cell Death Essential to Life?
Death might seem like a pure loss, the disappearance of what makes a living thing distinct from everything else on our planet. But zoom in closer, to the cellular level, and it takes on a different, more nuanced meaning. There is a challenge in simply defining what makes an individual cell alive or dead. Scientists today… Continue reading How Is Cell Death Essential to Life?
Generative AI Could Generate Millions More Tons of E-Waste by 2030
November 14, 2024 3 min read Generative AI Is Poised to Worsen the E-Waste Crisis Generative AI could saddle the planet with heaps more hazardous waste By Saima S. Iqbal A server room in a data center. Every time generative artificial intelligence drafts an e-mail or conjures up an image, the planet pays for it.… Continue reading Generative AI Could Generate Millions More Tons of E-Waste by 2030
All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet LUCA.
Alternatively, LUCA may have dined on the chemical waste of other creatures, suggesting that it was already part of a complex ecosystem with other microbes. The analysis can’t provide direct evidence of this possible ancient ecology, since traces of such lineages are long gone. But it’s unlikely that LUCA would have evolved complexity in isolation,… Continue reading All Life on Earth Today Descended From a Single Cell. Meet LUCA.
These Upstart Classes Hold a Woeful Lack of Civics Education to Be Self-Evident
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – As the autumn sun warms the historic campus outside, a professor specializing in ancient and modern political philosophy guides undergraduate students through the seemingly ruthless nuances of Machiavelli’s 16th-century philosophy of morals. In another class, a professor specializing in political theory offers students a guided tour of the early American republic, as seen through the… Continue reading These Upstart Classes Hold a Woeful Lack of Civics Education to Be Self-Evident
This ‘Human Computer’ Created a System for Measuring Vast Distances in Our Universe
Attention Is Discovery, visual artist Anna Von Mertens’s thoughtful new exploration of astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt, describes and illuminates Leavitt’s decades-long study of stars, including the groundbreaking system she developed for measuring vast distances within our universe simply by looking at photographic plates. Leavitt studied hundreds of thousands of stars captured on the glass plates… Continue reading This ‘Human Computer’ Created a System for Measuring Vast Distances in Our Universe
End the 1619 Project Indoctrination
The reelection of Donald Trump is rightfully being seen as repudiation of “woke”—DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and CRT (Critical Race Theory). Trump is planning to root out the toxic, often deadly, ideology in federal departments. First comes the abolishment of fake history, work Trump started toward the end of his hoax- and impeachment-beleaguered first… Continue reading End the 1619 Project Indoctrination