articles of interest - March 27

***TECHNOLOGY

Elon Musk’s next company wants to put tiny electrodes in our brains so we can survive the age of AI   Quartz

Scientists Hack a Human Cell and Reprogram It Like a Computer  Wired

Mapping platforms like Google Earth have the legacies of colonialism programmed into them  Real Life

***BIG DATA & STATISTICS

A 'Black box' technique may lead to more powerful AI: it could make neural network’s faster/leaner  Engadget

Some tips and tricks for solid deep learning neural networks  KD Nuggets

The 8,700 docs made public by WikiLeaks in early March offer a wealth of info on the CIA’s cyber-subcontractors  Intelligence Online

Using Big Data to analyze images and video better than the human brain  Phys.org

The skills set needed when switching careers from Java to Big Data  Hadoop 360

 ***SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram Has Two-Factor Authentication Now, So Turn It On  Wired

A tool that can archive a Twitter hashtag even if you've forgotten to set one up  Chronicle of Higher Ed

Facebook Messenger Finally Makes Group Chat Not a Total Hassle  Wired

***PERSONAL GROWTH

One Creative Thing Every Day  Becoming (my site)

***GRAMMAR           

The $10 Million Lawsuit That Hinges On An Oxford Comma  NPR

***WRITING& READING

Good Samaritan was honored for breaking up a street fight that went viral ("My mom would make us read books and write a short story or a poem")  WPVI-TV  

***LANGUAGE

Teaching Language With Culture In California  NPR

San Diego’s Bilingual Paradox  Voice of San Diego

Describing language objectively need not meaning doing so dispassionately: A lexicographer is a chronicler, not a guardian  Economist

The most useful language for English speakers to learn, according to an economist  Quartz

***LITERATURE

If you break literature down by the numbers  Minnesota Public Radio

How to Tell a Good Story, as Explained by George Saunders, Ira Glass, Ken Burns, Scott Simon, Catherine Burns & Others  Open Culture

***GENDER  

Gender Pay Gap Persists Across Faculty Ranks  Chronicle of Higher Ed

A Short Video Introduction to Alice Guy-Blaché (1873–1968), the First Female Film Director & Studio Mogul  Open Culture

Men and the Manufacturing Decline  The Atlantic

Gender bias distorts peer review across fields  Nature News

The Increasing Significance of the Decline of Men  The New York Times

Female brokers punished more harshly for misconduct than males  Financial Times

***RACIAL ISSUES

Out Of Bounds: New Research On Race And Paying College Athletes  NPR

***FREE SPEECH

Academic Ethics: Defending Faculty Speech  Chronicle of Higher Ed

Free Speech Is Not an Academic Value premium By Stanley FishYou don’t have the right to say whatever you want on a college campus (Opinion)  Chronicle of Higher Ed

How the First Amendment Applies to Trump’s Presidency  New Yorker

In a Polarized Climate, Free-Speech Warriors Seize the Spotlight (sub. req.’d)  Chronicle of Higher Ed

***LEGAL ISSUES

How U.S. Law Inspired the Nazis  Chronicle of Higher Ed

We’re suing the federal government to be free to do our research  The Conversation

Defamation in a Forwarded Email  Technology & Marketing Blog

When Your Scholarship Goes to Court  Chronicle of Higher Ed

***ART & DESIGN

Art as a Weapon: The inventor of auto-destructive art was 90  Economist

***MUSIC

Hear Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Shifted from Minor to Major Key, and Radiohead’s “Creep” Moved from Major to Minor  Open Culture

Sensational music from Syria: How the civil war is helping to spread Syrian music across the globe  Economist

***THE BUSINESS OF MEDIA

Mobile-focused Quartz manages to turn a profit on digital journalism  Crains
 

***JOURNALISM

I studied how journalists used Twitter for two years. Here’s what I learned  Poynter

FAA clarifies rules for drone use in education and journalism  Student Press Law Center

AP style change: Singular they is acceptable ‘in limited cases’  Poynter

University fires reporter over “bathroom bill” stories after local lawmaker complaints  Times Free Press

The ‘Live Blog’ quickly becoming the default way for newspaper websites to handle breaking news  Talking New Media

***FAKE NEWS

Fake news successfully mitigated in social media study  The Stack

Why Fact Checking Matters & How to Do It  Video Strategist

***STUDENT LIFE

Three Millennial Tech Myths Busted  Techpinions

Study: 60 percent of rural millennials lack access to a political life  The Conversation

***SEXUAL HARASSMENT & ASSAULT

UC Berkeley’s Star Philosophy Professor accused of sexually harassment, assault, and retaliation in Lawsuit  BuzzFeed

Jury hands out one of the most serious criminal conviction of a college leader in American history  Chronicle of Higher Ed

***SCIENCE

The Famous Schrodinger’s Cat Thought Experiment Gets Brought to Life in an Off-Kilter Animation  Open Culture

***HEALTH

The findings of medical research are disseminated too slowly: That is about to change  Economist

Cancer Is Partly Caused By Random Mutations, Study Finds : Shots - Health News  NPR

Medical research: The shackles of scientific journals  Economist

Patients Lose Sight After Stem Cells Are Injected Into Their Eyes  New York Times

Understanding The Role Of Compounding Pharmacies After Dozens Of Deaths  NPR

Social Media Influencers Finally Come to … Medicine  Wired

***PSYCHOLOGY            

The psychology behind and economics of hits in pop culture: Publicity over Talent  Economist

***PHILOSOPHY

The Philosophy Of 2017's 'Ghost In The Shell' Explained  Movie Pilot

Introduction to Philosophy: A Free Online Course  Open Culture

This college student teaches philosophy to homeless women to help them ponder life’s great questions  Washington Post

Albert Camus Explains Why Happiness Is Like Committing a Crime—”You Should Never Admit to it” (1959)  Open Culture

Ayn Rand’s “objectivist” philosophy is now required reading for British teens  Quartz

***RELIGION

Princeton Theological Seminary reverses decision to honor Redeemer’s Tim Keller   Religious News Service

This West Virginia school district has weekly Bible classes. A kindergartner is suing  Washington Post

A Christian Conservative Professor Accuses Colleges of Indoctrinating Students (sub. req.’ed) Chronicle of Higher Ed

Katy Perry Nearer to Closing $15M Deal to buy Convent in LA  Courthouse News

Focus on the Family turns 40  Colorado Gazette

Are You Descended From (Alleged) Witches?  NPR

'In God We Trust' license plate bill constitutionally suspect, attorney general says  The Tennessean

How did celibacy become mandatory for priests?  The Conversation

***RELIGION & POLITICS

Trump returning to Liberty University as commencement speaker  Baptist News

Majority of states have all-Christian congressional delegations  Pew Research Center

Mike Pence, finding God, and the shifting agenda of Christian music festivals  The Guardian  

***HIGHER ED

College Classes In Maximum Security: 'It Gives You Meaning'  NPR

Georgetown University plans a religious ceremony as an apology for its historical ties to slavery  Washington Post

Federal court finds Christian college lacked the right to tell pregnant instructor to either marry the father of child she was carrying, stop living with him or lose her job  Inside Higher Ed

Liberty University Students Divided Over President Trump as Commencement Speaker  TIME

Hookup Culture Varies at 3 Types of Catholic Colleges: A professor of theology delves into how the cultural pressure to engage in casual sex affects students at different religious institutions  Chronicle of Higher Ed

***TEACHING

Do Their Stereotypes Affect Your Teaching?  Chronicle of Higher Ed

You Probably Believe Some Learning Myths: Take Our Quiz To Find Out  NPR

Why I Teach Online  Chronicle of Higher Ed

***RESEARCH

Dozens of Predatory journals offered a sham scientist a place on their editorial board  Nature

Academic Journals Plagued by Bogus Impact Factors  SpringerLink

Gates Foundation announces open-access publishing venture  Nature News

Why are citations important in research writing?  Medium