Academic Mixtape 26
good science and non-science stuff to read
A careful dose of ignorance. Wayne Maddison reflects on what makes for good inspiration in research.
There’s no best way to write something.
From the department of we didn’t need to do a research study to show this but it was done anyway because evidence matters: when faculty salaries are a matter of public record, gendered pay inequities shrink.
From the exact same department: there is systemic racial bias in the tenure process.
On the portrait of Francis Williams. Don’t know who this is? Please read it!
Writing an NSF grant and want a tool to help you build your COA document quickly? Here you go. I haven’t given it a test drive, yet, but others have said it works.
The latest on faculty burnout. Headline: we are burnt out. The job is more, and less, than ever before.
Related: On the mental health crisis in graduate training in the sciences
I don’t think I’ve ever seen this before, but I think this essential reading for anybody doing any communication or thinking involving science policy, education, and outreach. It’s the Discovery Institute’s “Wedge Document” from 1988, which explains how and why they were using “intelligent design” as a wedge to generally undermine public education in general. This is the basic playbook for what we’ve been seeing with respect to trans rights and civil liberties in general, now, too.
I’ve been staying away from a lot of the election post-mortems, but a lot of really smart people I know had been sharing this one, and I think it does have more insight than the norm. The upshot is that since Democrats gave up on the push for civil rights and reforms so promptly after the summer of the protests following the police murder of George Floyd, that folks weren’t just interested in going to the polls. But obviously there’s more to it, I suggest a read.
I also have stayed away from the (literal) post-mortems of the CEO of that healthcare insurance company, but again, this one was calling and I thought it was worthwhile. “You’re right, we all should be better than this.”
Teen Vogue remains one of the few journalistic outfits that we can rely on? This article about the how far-right reactionaries took over a community college is a warning to the rest of us, methinks.
The thing about the Kobayashi Maru. This ones for the (most of you?) who are familiar with the Kobayashi Maru. A layer that I hadn’t thought of, which sunk in particularly for me when sometimes people asked me about a recent role of mine, I described it like the Kobayashi Maru.
An overview of some current thinking about the apparent myth of “Blue Zones”
Who is driving our bus? On autonomy and research.
Some bridges are worth burning
“We must refuse to participate in a mass delusion.” Roxane Gay at her best.
I don’t think this had gotten much attention with so many things on fire, but did you know that some members of the Royal Society have been resigning because of one particular racist, transphobic, cartoon evil dudebro person who somehow remains a member even though (among many other offenses) he’s overseen unethical experiments putting chips in chimpanzee brains? Here is one person’s explanation about their choice.
Did you hear the (unsurprising yet still a revelation) news about Cormac McCarthy? In short, when he was in his 40s he took up with a 16 year old girl and had what she characterized as an affair. And apparently she was a muse, and all that. The original story is in Vanity Fair and there are parts that just want to make you gag, so maybe just read this response piece to the Vanity Fair story.
While at the Defector, do not accept an Unscientific American. On the resignation of Laura Helmuth as EIC of Scientific American.
I hope you have a peaceful weekend.