Month: June 2018

@NYTimes obits: 66 males, 26 females

Today, June 22, there were 1 male and 0 female featured obituaries in the New York Times. Yesterday, June 21, there were 3 male and 1 female featured obituaries in the New York Times. Since I started tracking it here, that is 66 males featured and 26 females featured.

(I started tracking the obits here on May 14, but I’ve missed days when on travel. This is the New Mexico version of the NYT – I don’t know if the obits published vary by region.)

@NYTimes obits: 51 males, 23 females

Today, June 17, there were 2 male and 1 female featured obituaries in the New York Times. Since I started tracking it here, that is 51 males featured and 23 females featured.

(I started tracking the obits here on May 14, but I’ve missed days when on travel.  This is the New Mexico version of the NYT – I don’t know if the obits published vary by region.)

@sciencemag 02018/06/08 highlights

As always, plenty of interesting stuff.  What struck my interest in this week’s Science Magazine:

Mars stuff!! Nasa Curiosity rover hits organic pay dirt on Mars (News/summary section), Organic molecules on Mars (insights), Background levels of methane in Mars’ atmosphere show strong seasonal variations (neat, and so tantalizing!), Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars.

Bees understand zero!?!? WOW!  What a cool experimental design and interesting result!  Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees.  (“Bees demonstrated an understanding that parallels animals such as the African grey parrot, nonhuman primates, and even preschool children”)

Bonus: I have tracked male/female ratios in obituaries – something I take note of when I’m looking through.  I’ve started to write down and share.  This weeks obits in Science: 1 male, 0 female.

@sciencemag 02018/06/01 highlights

Lots of good stuff in this issue:

Katharine Hayhoe’s (@KHayhoe) has the lead off editorial that “Facts are not enough” – science is necessary, but not sufficient.  Engaging with people and coming together rather than being divisive is needed.

In the news – great news about Mars rover’s drill reviewed.  Bad news about the ABI instrument on GOES-17 having problems with the cooling system and making the daytime IR observations fail.

The Galaxy Builders talks about major improvements in galaxy simulations – cool!  And then at a smaller scale, the update on planetary science about “Dunes across the Solar System” describes the New Horizon observations that “Pluto joins Earth, Mars, Venus, Titan, and perhaps even the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerismenko demonstrating that the mobilization and self-organization of granular material into dunes occur throughout the Solar System.”

From the academic world, policy forum looks at graduate education with “Student-centered, modernized graduate STEM education” describing “central to the success of this plan will be a readjustment of the incentives that drive so many attitudes and behaviors throughout the graduate education system.”  Lots of work remains!

A very sad update on “U.S. budget targets fish and wildlife work” that the cooperative research units (CRUs) are getting removed from the President’s budget request.

“The effect of partisanship and political advertising on close family ties” is an interesting look at “politically divided families” and the impact on the length of thanksgiving dinner!

Finally, “Ancient genomes from Iceland reveal the making of a human population” confirms what we heard on our recent visit to Iceland – about 1100 years ago, many Scandinavian men went to Ireland and “found” (“borrowed”?) Irish women (princesses?) for their wives and then went to Iceland.  Interesting genomic study!

Good stuff!!