The Ed's Up #173
Professor Smith Goes to Washington
"Many scientists are asking themselves: What can I do? And the answer from a newly formed group called 314 Action is: Get elected. The organization, named after the first three digits of pi, is a political action committee that was created to support scientists in running for office. It’s the science version of Emily’s List, which focuses on pro-choice female candidates, or VoteVets, which backs war veterans. “A lot of scientists traditionally feel that science is above politics but we’re seeing that politics is not above getting involved in science,” says founder Shaughnessy Naughton. “We’re losing, and the only way to stop that is to get more people with scientific backgrounds at the table.”" (Image: Darren Hauck) 
The Parasite That Compels Other Parasites to Shove Their Heads Into Holes
"Even by these standards, the crypt-keeper wasp is special. Parasites are incredibly common, but only some manipulate the behavior of their hosts. There are fungi that turn ants into zombies, hairworms that compel crickets to jump into water, and tapeworms that force shrimp to swarm in groups—all to help the parasites spread to their next hosts. The crypt-keeper wasp does this too, but as Weinersmith and Egan have shown, it’s one of the few known hypermanipulators—parasites that manipulate the behavior of other manipulative parasites." (Image: Andrew Forbes)
How a Scientist Mapped the Entire Peruvian Amazon by Plane
"He has shown that the Amazon can be divided into 36 distinctive types of forest, which fall into six major groups. “There’s a beautifully complex geography that’s been totally unknown to science till now,” Asner says.Those 36 types of forest so far have been treated as if they were three: those growing on firm clay soils, those growing on floodplains, and those living on the sides of the Andes mountains. But each of these “is more biodiverse than anyone had thought,” says Asner. “If you fly over the Amazon rainforest, or look at it in Google Earth, it’s a lie of omission. It’s not just a green carpet.” Indeed, on his map, the Peruvian Amazon looks like a bad LSD trip, with 36 colors demarcating the various forest types." (Image: Greg Asner)
6-Year-Old Girls Already Have Gendered Beliefs About Intelligence
"Among the 5-year-olds, both boys and girls associated brilliance with their own gender. But among those aged 6 or 7, only the boys still held to that view. At an age when girls tend to outperform boys at school, and when children in general show large positive biases towards their own in-groups, the girls became less likely than boys to attribute brilliance to their own gender. You could frame that as a good thing: While boys continued to believe in their own brilliance, the girls, on average, developed a more equal view. But that view has consequences—Bian also found that the older girls were less interested in games that were meant for “really, really smart” children." (Image: Ted Warren) More good reads in science and technology
- “Me, I’m just the guy who knows about ants.” Wonderful profile by Natalie Angier.
- "When miracle cures fail, the patients don’t blame the salesman." By Alan Levinovitz.
- Lifestyle genetics tests are basically expensive horoscopes. By Sarah Zhang.
- The ragworm may be a one-of-a-kind ocean gardener. By Elizabeth Preston.
- The demon voice that can control your smartphone, by Kaveh Waddell.
- Canada’s last prime minister prevented some scientists from talking to the media, while making cuts to research budgets. Here are their experiences.
- AI detects skin cancer as accurately as actual dermatologists. (Tested on images, not real people yet.)
- How curiosity can help resist reflexive partisanship and political irrationality about facts. By Olga Khazan.
- As the US cedes leadership on climate, other countries like China and India are stepping up.
- How dangerous is burnt toast for cancer? Not very, despite a recent campaign.
- Dr. Keeling and his curve: another great story from Alice Bell’s climate histories newsletter
- A dispute at Harvard led to a grad student’s forced mental exam and an extraordinary restraining order against a prominent scientist.
- Pig embryos with human cells “could pave the way for growing human organs in other animals.”
- First look at LSD in action reveals acid-trip biochemistry
More good reads in politics and society
- Obama’s parting gift: the power to not fear white racism. An astonishing, powerful piece from Carvell Wallace, right down to the final few paragraphs.
- Trump is now president. James Fallows, who knows his speeches, analyzes the inaugural address. The day after, the Women’s March on Washington staged what Megan Garber calls a counter-inauguration. An estimated 3.2 million people marched in the USA alone—and the Washington DC crowds dwarfed those from the actual inauguration. His press secretary flat out lied while attacking the media, while his top aide spoke about “alternative facts.” Robinson Meyer wrote a really interesting piece about how you actually estimate crowd sizes, and also spent the day with the women scientists protesting Trump. The march was controversial but “this has obscured the fact that activism is internally contentious by nature,” wrote Jia Tolentino. “Rallying and making funny signs is easy; winning real power in American politics is not,” cautions Julia Ioffe. But that’s okay, says Jessica Valenti: “It was a “showing of hope and a reminder that we are in the majority.” And it was a global movement across all seven continents. Here are pictures. Speaking of pictures, of the Trump voters surveyed, 1 in 7 said that the image on the left had more people in it.
- Andy Revkin and Jesse Eisinger reported that the Trump administration imposed a freeze on all EPA grants and contracts—and that was just the start. Julia Belluz and Brian Resnick discusses all the ways in which government scientists at the EPA, USDA, and CDC have been ordered not to talk about their research. Meanwhile, scientists are fighting back with data rescue events are taking place across the country this wee
- The President has been busy with the executive orders. Dara Lind analyzes the “biggest single-day changes to immigration policy in recent memory”, including the Muslim ban, the border wall, and enforcement priorities that make millions of immigrants "criminals”. But even though Trump’s flashy executive orders are “creating the appearance of real momentum”, many “might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal.” For example, "Trump cannot likely revive torture with an executive order alone.” Similarly, “Trump can’t, with the stroke of a pen, just make the Dakota Access pipeline happen.”
- "It would be easy to dismiss these developments as stunts aimed at distracting the public... but a closer look reveals a clear and unsettling logic." A former State Dept employee on Trump’s war with the media and the intelligence community.
- Trump enacted a hiring freeze on federal employees which will devastate America's national parks. National parks are defying gag orders with rogue Twitter accounts
- Trump called for a voter-fraud investigation that targets states that opposed him. Meanwhile, the author of a voter fraud study cited by the White House says “Trump and others have been misreading our research and exaggerating our results."
- Trump has reinstated the Mexico City policy, which blocks foreign aid to organizations promoting abortion. Fine, says the Netherlands, we’ll do it.
- An ethics watchdog group, including lawyers who served under both Bush and Obama, is already suing President Trump. It may soon have company.
- Destabilizing nuclear rhetoric, from just two men, has pushed the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight. The Economist downgraded the US on its global democracy scale; it’s now rated as a “flawed democracy”
- The NYT is killing it with their simple but much-needed graphics, like these ones tracking Trump’s agenda.
- George Orwell’s 1984 is, at this moment, the best-selling book of any genre at Amazon.com
- Olga Khazan talks to reporters from around the world on covering leaders who are hostile to them. And the journalists who broke the Panama Papers story call for collaboration and solidarity within the industry. That being said, fake news sites have struggled to take hold in the UK because our partisan newspapers already have that market locked down. Yay us?
- A Few Notes on Gaslighting
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And that's it. Thanks for reading.
- Ed
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