Why are conservatives afraid of Neil deGrasse Tyson?

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has been the recipient of a seemingly bizarre political backlash — after the conservative magazine National Review penned a takedown cover story on the “Cosmos” host last week depicting him as a smug, intellectual bully.

The story struck many as odd given Tyson’s gentle, geeky presentation style. Comedian Bill Maher had Tyson on his HBO show over the weekend, trying to make sense of the backlash.



“You’re a scientist, and a black one, who’s smarter than [conservatives] are,” Maher quipped.

The line got laughs, but it’s worth remembering that Tyson served the George W. Bush administration as a member of the Commission on Moon, Mars and Beyond in 2004. Conservatives have no problem harnessing Tyson’s intellect.

No, the danger Tyson brings to the political structure, as he gains an increasingly large foothold in the popular culture, is the threat of an informed populace.

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http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-neil-degrasse-tyson-cosmos-20140729-story.html

Mike Luckovich Toon- Just Desserts

Large waves measured for first time in Arctic Ocean

As the climate warms and sea ice retreats, the North is changing. An ice-covered expanse now has a season of increasingly open water that is predicted to extend across the whole Arctic Ocean before the middle of this century. Storms thus have the potential to create Arctic swell – huge waves that could add a new and unpredictable element to the region.

A University of Washington researcher made the first study of waves in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, and detected house-sized waves during a September 2012 storm. The results were recently published in Geophysical Research Letters.

“As the Arctic is melting, it’s a pretty simple prediction that the additional open water should make waves,” said lead author Jim Thomson, an oceanographer with the UW Applied Physics Laboratory.

His data show that winds in mid-September 2012 created waves of 5 meters (16 feet) high during the peak of the storm. The research also traces the sources of those big waves: high winds, which have always howled through the Arctic, combined with the new reality of open water in summer.

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http://www.washington.edu/news/2014/07/29/huge-waves-measured-for-first-time-in-arctic-ocean/

Diet Affects Men’s and Women’s Gut Microbes Differently

The microbes living in the guts of males and females react differently to diet, even when the diets are identical, according to a study by scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and six other institutions published this week in the journal Nature Communications. These results suggest that therapies designed to improve human health and treat diseases through nutrition might need to be tailored for each sex.

The researchers studied the gut microbes in two species of fish and in mice, and also conducted an in-depth analysis of data that other researchers collected on humans. They found that in fish and humans diet affected the microbiota of males and females differently. In some cases, different species of microbes would dominate, while in others, the diversity of bacteria would be higher in one sex than the other.

These results suggest that any therapies designed to improve human health through diet should take into account whether the patient is male or female.

Only in recent years has science begun to completely appreciate the importance of the human microbiome, which consists of all the bacteria that live in and on people’s bodies. There are hundreds or even thousands of species of microbes in the human digestive system alone, each varying in abundance.

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http://www.utexas.edu/news/2014/07/29/diet-affects-microbes-differently-by-gender/

'Quantum Cheshire Cat' becomes reality

By James Morgan

Scientists have for the first time separated a particle from one of its physical properties - creating a "quantum Cheshire Cat".

The phenomenon is named after the curious feline in Alice in Wonderland, who vanishes leaving only its grin.

Researchers took a beam of neutrons and separated them from their magnetic moment, like passengers and their baggage at airport security.

They describe their feat in Nature Communications.

The same separation trick could in principle be performed with any property of any quantum object, say researchers from Vienna University of Technology.

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http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28543990

Ebola virus: Top Sierra Leone doctor, Sheik Umar Khan, dies of disease aged 39

Source: Independent UK

The top doctor treating patients infected with the Ebola virus in Sierra Leone has died from the disease, officials have confirmed.

Dr Sheik Umar Khan had been hospitalised in quarantine since he contracted the virus last week. The virologist was credited with treating more than 100 patients at the hospital in Kenema - one of the world’s leading Ebola diagnosis facilities.

The current outbreak is the largest in history, so far killing more than 672 people across West Africa since the outbreak began in February, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Nations affected include Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria.

Dr Khan's death on Tuesday afternoon was confirmed by chief medical officer Dr Brima Kargbo, who had previously hailed him as a "national hero" when she announced he had contracted the the disease.



Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ebola-virus-top-sierra-leone-doctor-shek-umar-dies-of-disease-9636406.html

The Right to Expel

By Scott Jaschik

When word spread this month that George Fox University had received an exemption to Title IX, allowing it to discriminate against a transgender student by denying him the housing he requested, many advocates for transgender students were stunned. Federal regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 do in fact require the Education Department to exempt colleges from rules that violate their religious beliefs. During the debate, George Fox officials noted that they were objecting to a housing request only, and that they haven't kicked the student out of the university.

But now the Education Department has confirmed that it has since awarded two more exemptions to Title IX to Christian colleges that want to discriminate against transgender students. These colleges assert (and the Education Department agreed) that they should be exempt from more of Title IX than just housing equity. These colleges have policies to punish transgender students for being transgender students, apparently up to expulsion -- and they can now do so legally. The two institutions are Spring Arbor University, in Michigan, and Simpson University, in California.

Spring Arbor is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church and its traditions. It requested exemption from Title IX with regard to issues of admissions, behavioral rules, housing, access to restrooms, athletic participation and more.

The university's student handbook says: "Spring Arbor University reserves the right to terminate or deny enrollment of those whose influence upon our community should prove to be in our judgment intractably contrary to the best interests of our students, and commitments to our university and to our Lord. Therefore, Spring Arbor University will not support persistent or conspicuous examples of cross-dressing or other expressions or actions that are deliberately discordant with birth gender, and will deal with such matters within the appropriate pastoral and conduct processes of the university."


Read more: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/07/25/2-christian-colleges-win-title-ix-exemptions-give-them-right-expel-transgender

Basketball dunk over NYPD car in Dongan Hills scores points with the community

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Call it a slam dunk for community relations.

When an NYPD patrol car rolled into the park across the street from the Berry Houses complex during an annual basketball tournament held there Friday, players and spectators feared police had arrived to break up the game.

One of the league's founders, Joel Soto, asked cops patrolling the area if they wanted to help out in the tournament's slam dunk competition by allowing one of the players to dunk over their car. They agreed, Soto said, after receiving permission from their commanding officer.

The cop parked the car just in front of the hoop to the confusion of everyone standing around.

And then something amazing happened.

The player, Brian Hogan-Gary, 20, pulled off his jersey to reveal a shirt that had "R.I.P Eric Garner" written on the front. He teed up for the shot, and proceeded to launch himself over the cop car, completely clearing it and slamming home the dunk.

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http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/slam_dunk_over_nypd_car_during.html

Awesome!

Rep. Ellison-End the Gaza blockade to achieve peace

By Keith Ellison

Keith Ellison, a Democrat, represents Minnesota’s 5th District in the House of Representatives.

It seems as though each day brings new horrors and heartbreaks in the Holy Land. More than 1,000 dead. Gazan children blown up on the beach. A U.N. shelter hit. Two-thirds of Israelis living in fear from indiscriminate rocket fire launched by Hamas. But as the calls for a cease-fire gain momentum, it is important to understand that many Gazans who have no association with Hamas view the return to the status quo as unacceptable.

These people aren’t rocket shooters or combatants. For the past several years they have lived in dreadful isolation. The status quo for ordinary Gazans is a continuation of no jobs and no freedom. This is not an attractive future. Gazans want and deserve the dignity of economic opportunity and freedom to move. This can be accomplished only with an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip, which must be considered within the framework of a cease-fire. Israelis likewise deserve to live free of rocket fire and terror attacks. In order for Israelis to live safely and securely in their homes, Hamas must give up its rockets and other weapons.

I have traveled to Gaza three times since 2009 and have visited hospitals and schools there. As I have talked with ordinary Gazans, I have not encountered anyone representing Hamas. During one visit, I had the opportunity to meet Scott Anderson, deputy director of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Anderson, a 21-year veteran of the U.S. Army, said it best when I spoke to him again this week: “Unless there is material change to the status quo, you’re just resetting the clock for another cycle of violence.” Continuing to block goods and services to and from Gaza keeps the keys to opportunity away from the people who just want to live, work and travel.

The vast majority of Gazans do not support firing rockets into Israel or killing Israelis. In fact, the majority of people in Gaza are women and children. During my first visit to the region, this fact was clear: There were kids everywhere. This week, I also spoke with Yousef Moussa, chief area operations officer at the UNRWA office in Rafah. He puts this observation in context, noting, “50 percent of Gazans are under the age of 18. Seventy percent of Gazans are women and children. 80 percent of Gazans live below the poverty line. Relatively few Gazans are associated with Hamas.”

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/keith-ellison-end-the-gaza-blockade-to-achieve-peace/2014/07/29/e5e707c4-16a1-11e4-85b6-c1451e622637_story.html

The middle class is 20 percent poorer than it was in 1984

By Matt O'Brien

Nostalgia is just about the only thing the middle class can still afford. That's because median wealth is about 20 percent lower today, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was in 1984.

Yes, that's three lost decades.

Now, as you might expect, the middle class has been hit particularly hard by the Great Recession and the not-so-great recovery. It's all about stocks and houses. The middle class doesn't have much of the former, but it does have a lot of the latter. And that's bad news, because, even though the crash decimated both, real estate hasn't come back nearly as much as equities have. So the top 1 percent, who hold more of their wealth in stocks, have made up more of the ground they lost. But, as the Russell Sage Foundation points out, the slow housing recovery means that, in 2013, median households were still 36 percent poorer than they were a decade earlier.

In fact, the housing bust was big enough to erase all the gains the middle class had made the past 30 years—and then some. As you can see below, median households didn't add much wealth between 1984 and 2007. That's what happens when real wages don't increase, and the cost of a middle class lifestyle—housing, healthcare, and higher education—does. So, as Dean Baker points out, when the crisis did come, it devoured these meager gains and left the middle class with 20 percent less wealth than they had when it was "Morning in America."



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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/29/the-middle-class-is-20-percent-poorer-than-it-was-in-1984/

Trickle Down and Free Trade really helped us, didn't they?