Tag: beyond

2021: ‘What Lies Beyond The Standard Model?’ Physicists Asked
TECHNOLOGY

2021: ‘What Lies Beyond The Standard Model?’ Physicists Asked

If you ask a physicist like me to explain how the world works, my lazy answer might be: “It follows the Standard Model.” The Standard Model explains the fundamental physics of how the universe works. It has endured over 50 trips around the Sun despite experimental physicists constantly probing for cracks in the model’s foundations. With few exceptions, it has stood up to this scrutiny, passing experimental test after experimental test with flying colors. But this wildly successful model has conceptual gaps that suggest there is a bit more to be learned about how the universe works. I am a neutrino physicist. Neutrinos represent three of the 17 fundamental particles in the Standard Model. They zip through every person on Earth at all times of day. I study the properties of interactions...
It’s Hard Work But Compassionate Courage Moves Beyond ‘Cancel Culture’ To Challenge Systemic Racism
SOCIAL JUSTICE

It’s Hard Work But Compassionate Courage Moves Beyond ‘Cancel Culture’ To Challenge Systemic Racism

It is common to read news of someone getting fired for speaking or acting in ways that harmed members of another race. Our current call-out culture often advocates publicly shaming and humiliating wrongdoers, destroying their reputations and making them lose their jobs. Further, this culture prioritizes the impact of people’s words or actions over their intent. In higher education alone, there have been many cases of such call-outs. Greg Patton, a professor at University of Southern California, had to step away from teaching in the MBA program for using a Chinese word that sounded like a racial slur during a Zoom lecture. At Smith College, staff members who were falsely called out for being racist suffered health issues and left the job. UCLA accounting lecturer Gordon Klein was suspend...
Looking Beyond The Bare Numbers Of Racial Diversity In Social Accounting
POLITICS, SOCIAL JUSTICE

Looking Beyond The Bare Numbers Of Racial Diversity In Social Accounting

From time to time, The Conversation asks leaders in America’s colleges and universities to address some of the most pressing issues in our nation. Here we ask Earl Lewis, director and founder of the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Solutions, and Nancy Cantor, chancellor of Rutgers University – Newark, a diverse, urban public research university, about how numbers and statistics matter when examining institutional racism, the Capitol riot and Black Lives Matter. How has media reporting on numbers and statistics affected the public’s view of race? Nancy Cantor. Rutgers University - Newark, CC BY-ND Nancy Cantor: Society’s accounting of the summer of 2020 through Inauguration Day 2021 demonstrates the hard way numbers play into a long-standing history of racism and white privilege....
Digital Divide Initiatives Must Last Beyond The COVID-19 Pandemic To Work
HEALTH & WELLNESS

Digital Divide Initiatives Must Last Beyond The COVID-19 Pandemic To Work

As COVID-19 continues to force many schools to operate remotely, cities throughout the nation are stepping up to provide free internet service to public school students from families of lesser means. Washington, D.C., plans to provide free internet access to K-12 students in 25,000 low-income households for the 2020-2021 school year. In Philadelphia, any family with a public school student lacking internet service can get it free through June of 2022. In Chicago, a similar effort will provide free high-speed internet service to 100,000 public school students over the next four years. Since research consistently shows that students with internet access tend to do better academically than those without, the initiatives in Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago represent a welcome step toward...
To safely explore the solar system and beyond, spaceships need to go faster – nuclear-powered rockets may be the answer
SCIENCE

To safely explore the solar system and beyond, spaceships need to go faster – nuclear-powered rockets may be the answer

With dreams of Mars on the minds of both NASA and Elon Musk, long-distance crewed missions through space are coming. But you might be surprised to learn that modern rockets don’t go all that much faster than the rockets of the past. There are a lot of reasons that a faster spaceship is a better one, and nuclear-powered rockets are a way to do this. They offer many benefits over traditional fuel-burning rockets or modern solar-powered electric rockets, but there have been only eight U.S. space launches carrying nuclear reactors in the last 40 years. However, last year the laws regulating nuclear space flights changed and work has already begun on this next generation of rockets. Why the need for speed? The first step of a space journey involves the use of launch rockets to get a ship into...
CULTURE

“What Does the World Beyond Jails and Prisons Look Like?”

Detroit Justice Center helps returning citizens navigate the red tape that comes with re-entry and avoid landing back in jail. Roger Stone was just released on a $250,000 personal assurance bond. He does not have to put up one penny. Just to promise to pay that amount if he does not return to court. Meanwhile, my clients are held in jail on $500 bail they cannot afford for stealing a bar of soap. —Rebecca J. Kavanagh @DrRJKavanagh Talking to Damian Black under any other circumstance, you’d have no reason to believe he was only three months out of prison after serving more than 20 years. His smile is infectious. And as he shares his story—including his time and experience in solitary confinement—the smile and the brightness in his eyes overshadow what he’s saying. “I’m ...