Around the web (week of 10 March)

Reading

• The history of HBCUs in America, by Samara Freemark on American RadioWorks. I felt it important to learn more about the history of HBCUs in light of the godawful college admissions “scandal” this week

Though black schools represent a tiny percentage of American colleges — around 3 percent of schools – they produce 24 percent of black STEM grads and confer almost 35 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by black graduates in astronomy, biology, chemistry, math, and physics. According to a report from the National Science Foundation, eight of the top 10 institutions producing black undergrads who went on to earn science and engineering doctorates were HBCUs.

Some reflections on Islamaphobia, anti-immigrant tendencies, and violence

I am writing this the day after the horrible mass shootings in New Zealand in which so many innocent, decent people lost their lives. I attended a vigil organized by the UCLA Muslim Student Association, where as part of a guided discussion we were asked to share our feelings in response to this news. I am writing this post because I am still thinking through my feelings, and am hoping that putting words on paper will help me organize my currently scattered thoughts.

Around the web (week of 3 March)

Reading

• Lost World by Kalyanee Mam for Emergence Magazine.

  As Singapore dredges sand out from beneath Cambodia’s mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman’s relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure.

• The Impossible Mathematics of the Real World by Evelyn Lamb for Nautilus

  The story goes that in 1978 mathematician John McKay made an observation both completely trivial and oddly specific: 196,884 = 196,883 + 1. The first number, 196,884, had come up as a coefficient in an important polynomial called the j-invariant, and 196,883 came up in relation to an enormous mathematical object called the Monster group. Many people probably would have shrugged and moved along, but the observations intrigued some mathematicians, who decided to take a closer look. They uncovered connections between two seemingly unrelated subjects: number theory and the symmetries of the Monster group.

• Gasping for Air in India’s Industrial North by Gayathri Vaidyanathan for Undark.

  In the winter [in Patna], cold air and pollution arising from a mix of wood-burning cook stoves, smoldering garbage, brick kilns, construction, and road dust get trapped close to the ground. Emissions accrue into a smothering blanket that spreads out across the region

Listening

• Avishai Cohen Trio at Jazz à la Villette