The Ed's Up #210
Happy new year, from me and my new (and very on-brand) mug. And now, on with the show.
The Transgender Scientist Who Changed How We See the Brain
"Barres was a great scientist, yes, but also a scientist who made it possible for others to be great. He repeatedly spoke up for groups who have been historically marginalized in the sciences, including women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people. And he spoke from experience. Born in 1954, he transitioned in 1997 at the age of 43. Before then, as an MIT undergraduate, he solved a hard math problem that had befuddled the rest of his virtually all-male class, only for his professor to suggest that his boyfriend must have done the work. And as a Stanford professor who had recently transitioned, he heard a faculty member say, “Ben Barres gave a great seminar today, but then his work is much better than his sister’s.” “By far, the main difference that I have noticed is that people who don’t know I am transgendered treat me with much more respect,” he wrote in Nature. “I can even complete a whole sentence without being interrupted by a man.”" (Image: Stanford School of Medicine) 
Ancient Infant's DNA Reveals New Clues to How the Americas Were Peopled
"Around 11,500 years ago, at a place that is now called the Upward Sun River, in the region that has since been named Alaska, two girls died. One was a late-term fetus; the other, probably her cousin, was six weeks old. They were both covered in red ochre and buried in a circular pit, along with hunting weapons made from bones and antlers. “There was intentionality in the burial ceremony,” says Ben Potter from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, who uncovered their skeletons in 2013. “These were certainly children who were well-loved.” Now, several millennia after their short lives ended, these infants have become important all over again. Within their DNA, Potter’s team has found clues about when and how the first peoples came to the Americas." (Image: Ben Potter)
Women Are Invited to Give Fewer Talks Than Men at Top U.S. Universities
"Nittrouer and her team scanned the websites of the top 50 U.S. universities, as ranked by U.S. News, to build a database of every colloquium speaker from six departments: biology, bioengineering, political science, history, psychology, and sociology. They chose those six to represent a breadth of disciplines, and to exclude departments with either a very low or very high proportion of women. And they found that men gave more than twice as many talks as women: 69 percent versus 31 percent. Why does this happen? Hebl accounted for several of what she calls “yeah-but explanations,” which underplay these figures as the result of anything other than discriminatory biases." (Image: Brendan Hoffman) 
Treating Disease by Nudging the Microbes Inside Us
"Sebastian Winter, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has an alternative. His team showed that the blooming enteros rely on enzymes that, in turn, depend on the metal molybdenum. A related metal—tungsten—can take the place of molybdenum, and stop those enzymes from working properly. By feeding mice small amounts of tungsten salts, Winter’s team managed to specifically prevent the growth of enteros, while leaving other microbes unaffected. Best of all, the tungsten treatment spared the enteros under normal conditions, suppressing them only in the context of an inflamed gut. It’s a far more precise and subtle way of changing the microbiome than, say, blasting it with antibiotics. It involves gentle nudges rather than killing blows." (Image: USDA)
Animalism - A series of animated videos from The Atlantic
The Atlantic's amazing video team has created a series of five animated videos about animal behavior, riffing off my stories and presented by me. I *love* these. Here's the first two, on eyes and sleep. Friends of the Ed's Up
This is a new section where I'm going to promote the work of people I care about--people who make incredible art that I think is worthy of your attention and support, but whose fierce intelligence is also match by a genuine warmth of spirit.Story Collider features true personal stories about science. In the latest episode of the podcast, Lew Lefton tries to succeed as both a math professor and a math comedian, and Vanessa Vakharia faces her first day as student teacher of a math class. Directors Liz Neeley and Erin Barker also run workshops teaching storytelling skills to scientists. And there are live shows coming up in New York (Jan 9), San Diego (Jan 11), Toronto (Jan 17), and Los Angeles (Jan 25).
Flash Forward is a podcast about the future run by Rose Eveleth. It's part radio drama, part science journalism, and a lot of fun. The latest episode features a very close future where the 2020 census goes haywire.
Gastropod is a food, science, and history podcast run by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley. The latest episode is on the secrets of sourdough.
Convergence is a live show about the future, hosted by Meehan Crist. The next show, on January 18 in NYC, asks how rising seas will change coastal cities. Tickets are available here. It’s going to be a podcast soon.
The Brain Scoop is a video show about natural history, museums, and occasionally taxidermy, hosted by Emily Graslie. The latest episode features a Q&A session with Emily.
Climate Stories is a newsletter by Alice Bell, in which she writes wonderful weekly histories about the people of climate science. It's lively and fascinating. The latest one is about climate skeptics.
Terrestrial is an environmental podcast by Ashley Ahearn about how people are coping in a world that is changing. It's top-notch journalism that brings fresh perspectives to a vital topic, The latest episode is about the choice of give up flying.
More good reads
- “In the midst of the hurried scramble for survival, across eons of bloodshed and death and flight, uncountable millions of living things have laid themselves down for a nice, long bout of unconsciousness.” Veronique Greenwood on the mystery of sleep.
- "We will not have reefs as we currently have them." Robinson Meyer on the fate of corals.
- Bonobos might not be so laid-back after all.
- “There are sounds, for those who can hear them, of the preliminary and muffled drumbeats of war.” Eliot Cohen on Trump and North Korea.
- An incredible story: Two dying memoirists wrote bestsellers about their final days. Then their spouses fell in love.
- I am not a fan of the “let's diagnose Trump from afar" genre, but this piece by James Hamblin is a refreshing and nuanced consideration of the issue.
- "Nature doesn’t do binaries nearly as often as people think. But she’s a whiz with mosaics." Cracking piece by Emily Willingham on male and female brains.
And that's it. Thanks for reading.
- Ed