Top Science Podcasts: Earthworm Study, Bias In Health Algorithms & “Dr. Space Junk” (ScienceMag)

scimag_pc_logo_120_120 (1)This week in ScienceHelen Philips, a postdoctoral fellow at the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research and the Institute of Biology at Leipzig University, and colleagues published the results of their worldwide earthworm study, composed of data sets from many worm researchers around the globe. 

Sarah also talks with Ziad Obermeyer, a professor in the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, about dissecting out bias in an algorithm used by health care systems in the United States to recommend patients for additional health services.

Finally, in the monthly books segment, books host Kiki Sanford interviews author Alice Gorman about her book Dr. Space Junk vs The Universe: Archaeology and the Future. Listen to more book segments on the Science books blog: Books, et al.

To read more: https://www.sciencemag.org/podcast/worldwide-worm-survey-and-racial-bias-health-care-algorithm

Innovative Leisure: “Blindfold Travel” Books Surprise European Trips Per Travelers’ Budgets

From a The Italian Eye Magazine online review:

Blindfold TravelBlindfold Travel offers a complete package with flights and overnight stays in a European city. The customer is only asked to choose the budget and fill out a questionnaire to indicate wishes and preferences. Blindfold Travel organises your holiday from the starting point to the end by providing all the useful information to travellers, who reach the airport completely unaware of their destination. Before leaving, a package containing the various directions arrives at home, and a series of numbered envelopes guide you step by step to the discovery of the journey as in a treasure hunt.

https://www.blindfoldtravel.com/

The only important elements to know are the departure datetime and some hints about what to bring with you; but it’s only shortly before leaving that boarding passes are sent by email. The surprises continue with other offers already included in the package, such as guided toursmuseum tickets and many other activities. If you are already curious and want to find out more, you will be amazed!

To read more: https://www.theitalianeyemagazine.com/en/alternative-travels-3-websites/2

Top New Exhibitions: “An Impressionist Autumn” At The Museum Of Fine Arts, Houston Thru January 12

From a Arts and Culture Texas online article:

Paul Cézanne, The Turning Road (La route tournante), c. 1877, oil on canvas, private collection.While all of the works on exhibit hold special interest, Aurisch identifies several gems. For example, Van Gogh fans will enjoy his spectacular perspectival rooftop view from the window of his room in The Hague in 1882. Maurice de Vlaminc’s 1906 Dancer at the “Rat Mort” (La danseuse du “Rat Mort”) is a delight with his Fauve treatment of the figure; through color and gestural line, it’s as though we are witnessing a shift into the 20th century. And Henri Matisse’s 1943 still life titled Lemons against a Fleur-de-lis Background (Citrons sur fond rose fleurdelisé) vibrates with lively pink patterned wallpaper and a stacked brick platform, charged with Japonisme energy.

This fall season, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents Monet to Picasso: A Very Private Collection and Berthe Morisot: Impressionist Original, billed together under the theme of “An Impressionist Autumn,” on view Oct. 20, 2019 through Jan. 12, 2020. The two exhibitions offer museum visitors the chance to peek into the private lives of artist, muse, and society at large.

To read more: http://artsandculturetx.com/fall-for-impressionism-morisot-and-monet-to-picasso-at-mfah/

Top Art Podcasts: Harvard Psychologist Steven Pinker Analyses “Charnel House” By Picasso (BBC)

BBC Radio 3Today’s edition features Harvard professor Steven Pinker. As an experimental psychologist, Steven has written extensively about violence – and for his choice from the gallery’s collection he has selected two of Pablo Picasso’s most gruesome depictions of man’s inhumanity, Charnel House and Guernica, now housed in Madrid.

Charnel House by Picasso

Radio 3 presents a radiophonic art exhibition, as 30 of the world’s most creative minds choose a favourite work from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Ep5 Pinker and Picasso.

“The Way I See It” is a co-production of the BBC and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009d6q

New Electric Cars: “2019 Mazda MX-30” Is An “Everyday” Vehicle With “Freestyle” Doors

From a DesignBoom online review:

the mazda MX-30 delivers 141bhp and 195lb ft from an electric motor powered by a 35.5kwh battery, offering a range of 130 miles. it is capable of 6.6kW domestic charging and and 50kW rapid charging via a ccs connection, the latter of which will give 80% charge in 30 to 40 minutes, claimed mazda.

Mazda MX-30 Electric Car doors.JPG

the MX-30’s freestyle doors use custom-designed hinges that allow the front doors to open to 82° and rear doors to open to 80°, giving the car a distinctive and elegant cabin silhouette. this should make loading and unloading cargo easier as well as providing easier access for strollers and wheelchairs.

japanese automaker mazda has unveiled it’s first mass-production electric car. unveiled at the 2019 tokyo motor show, the mazda MX-30 features unique freestyle doors, ecological materials and the automaker’s new fuel-efficient skyactiv-x engine, marking a positive step in mazda’s multi-solution approach to reducing emissions.

To read more: https://www.designboom.com/technology/mazda-mx-30-first-electric-car-rear-hinged-freestyle-doors-10-23-2019/?utm_source=designboom+daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mazda+unveils+first

Demographic Surveys: Parents Are Providing Too Much Help For Adult Children (Pew Research)

From a Pew Research Center online release:

Pew Research Parents and Older Children SurveyThere’s a sense among a majority of Americans that parents are doing too much for their young adult children these days – 55% of all adults say this, while only 10% say parents are doing too little for their young adult children. About a third (34%) say parents are doing about the right amount.

Pew Research Parents and Older Children Support SurveyAmong adults ages 18 to 29, 45% say they received a lot of (24%) or some (21%) financial help from their parents in the past 12 months. About one-in-five (21%) say they received only a little financial help, and 34% say they received none.

Financial independence is one of the many markers used to designate the crossover from childhood into young adulthood, and it’s a milestone most Americans (64%) think young adults should reach by the time they are 22 years old, according to a new Pew Research Center study. But that’s not the reality for most young adults who’ve reached this age.

To read more: https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/10/23/majority-of-americans-say-parents-are-doing-too-much-for-their-young-adult-children/

New Books On Food: “American Cuisine” By Paul Freedman – 200 Years Of “Regionalism And Variety”

From a Yale News online review:

American Cuisine Paul FreedmanOne way to understand American cuisine is through its regions — and the regional traditions that underlie the history of American cuisine. New England, the South, and New Orleans Creole are the regional cuisines of America. Examples of New England cuisine are “Yankee Pot Roast,” the lobster roll, and clam chowder. Southern favorites include grits, collard greens, okra, fried tomatoes, and sweet potato pie. Louisiana’s signature creole dishes are jambalaya, gumbo, and étouffée.

The compensation for that standardization — or at least what the food companies and the food and restaurant industry have offered — is variety. In my opinion, variety is what the food companies offer you in lieu of quality. At least in certain aspects, quality is impossible in an industrial food system.

In his new book, “American Cuisine: And How It Got This Way,” Yale historian Paul Freedman gives readers a window into understanding American history through cuisine spanning more than 200 years, debunking the myth that American cuisine does not, in fact, exist.

Freedman, the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, approaches his study of American cuisine not by identifying a list of specific national or regional dishes, but rather by looking at the interactions among regionalism, standardization, and variety.

To read more: https://news.yale.edu/2019/10/15/yale-historian-pens-book-defining-what-exactly-american-cuisine