Recommended reads #65
Teaching grownups how to eat. How to acquire an actual taste for healthful food after you become an adult.
The AAUW reports that 91% of campuses reported zero incidents of rape in 2014. That’s a problem. Because that number is obviously wrong, so underreporting needs to be addressed.
Did you get a cruelty-free bird from Whole Foods for Thanksgiving yetsterday? Apparently, you didn’t.
538 returns to the difficulty that people have understanding p-values:
What I learned by asking all these very smart people to explain p-values is that I was on a fool’s errand. Try to distill the p-value down to an intuitive concept and it loses all its nuances and complexity, said science journalist Regina Nuzzo, a statistics professor at Gallaudet University. “Then people get it wrong, and this is why statisticians are upset and scientists are confused.” You can get it right, or you can make it intuitive, but it’s all but impossible to do both.
The New Yorker comes up with a quiz based on Randall Munroe’s new book. (That’s the xkcd guy.)
Seasonal retail and final exams. This is an important one, especially if you work on a campus that has any students who work off campus.
Why Australia [and others] need a new model for universities. This argues for an investment in truly public universities. Like those that made California the tops in higher education, and as the state has disinvested in our universities, it’s harmed the state’s economy and progress.
A book review of, “The Only Woman in the Room: Why Science Is Still a Boys’ Club”
Oh my, I had no idea that Scott Adams (the creator of Dilbert) is such a hideous person and misogynist. Seriously, ever since I’ve read this, I can’t even bring myself to read his comic anymore (which doesn’t make rational sense, I realize, but I don’t want to reward anybody who is this horrible).
Jeremy Yoder gives thanks to his mentors.
Students people don’t know what’s best for their learning.
Around the beginning of this year, I shared that The American Naturalist was going double-blind in its review, which I think is a great thing. Now that they’ve been at it for almost a year, how has it been going? They give us a report.
80 books no woman should read. (This has a lot more nuance than the title suggests.)
The selectivity of a university has pretty much nothing to do with its academic rigor.
The selectivity of a university has pretty much nothing to do with its academic rigor.
The selectivity of a university has pretty much nothing to do with its academic rigor.
Yes, I linked to that three times, no mistake. Because.
Dealing with mental health: a guide for professors. This is a very good resource, written by a student. This is an important part of our professional development.
In and out: A revolving door for Yale’s professors of color? This is phrased as a question. And the answer is a resounding, “Yes, it is.”
An open letter from 50 black Yale alumni.
Are microcosms a legit and useful way to learn about ecology? (Of course they are.) And welcome back to Jabberwocky Ecology!
The Royal Geographic Society just digitized Frank Hurley’s truly amazing photographs that documented the triumph of a failure of Shackleton’s epic Endurance expedition that targeted the South Pole. The entire exhibit is online. If you don’t know much about the Shackleton saga, oh my gosh this is the best heart-stopping non-fiction story you can come upon. And if you’re familiar, then you’ll love seeing the restored photos.
NIH is finally retiring all of their chimpanzees used in research.
This might be one of my favorite xkcds:
Racial bias continues to haunt NIH grants
More on this racial bias at NIH from drugmonkey. So spot-on it hurts.
On 07 Dec 2015, NOAA is running a webinar that shows us how to use simple climate models while teaching about climate, and it’s open to the public. If you’re wondering how to up your game in climate education — and who doesn’t need to? — this looks incredibly useful.
Do you have your women-in-STEM shirt yet?
The French way of war. If you’re wondering what France will be doing in response to the attacks on Paris, this is context.
A New Yorker story about the conversion of a Westboro Baptist Church member. If you read any of these links, maybe this one. Oh my gosh what a story.
Why don’t American students go on strike?
How to measure a college’s value
Transforming white people is not the job of minority students
Americans are acting sustainably in some ways, unsustainably in others. Some interesting data.
The unknown five scientists who saved science education in Alabama. Change is hard work and it’s worth it — this is a great success story.