How does your genetic inheritance, culture and history influence your health? Biological anthropologist Lara Durgavich discusses the field of evolutionary medicine as a gateway to understanding the quirks of human biology -- including why a genetic mutation can sometimes have beneficial effects -- and emphasizes how unraveling your own evolutionary past could glean insights into your current and future health.

Recounting her story of finding opportunity and stability in the US, Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez examines the flaws in narratives that simplify and idealize the immigrant experience -- and shares hard-earned wisdom on the best way to help those around us. "Our world is one that flourishes when different voices come together," she says.

If you had to explain to a newborn what it means to be a human being living on Earth in the 21st century, what would you say? Visual artist Oliver Jeffers put his answer in a letter to his son, sharing pearls of wisdom on existence and the diversity of life. He offers observations of the "beautiful, fragile drama of human civilization" in this poetic talk paired with his original illustrations and animations.

When it comes to big life problems, we often stand at a crossroads: either believe we're powerless against great change, or we rise to meet the challenge. In an urgent call to action, political strategist Tom Rivett-Carnac makes the case for adopting a mindset of "stubborn optimism" to confront climate change -- or whatever crisis may come our way -- and sustain the action needed to build a regenerative future. As he puts it: "Stubborn optimism can fill our lives with meaning and purpose."

Before the coronavirus pandemic, bioengineer Jim Collins and his team combined the power of AI with synthetic biology in an effort to combat a different looming crisis: antibiotic-resistant superbugs. Collins explains how they pivoted their efforts to begin developing a series of tools and antiviral compounds to help fight COVID-19 -- and shares their plan to discover seven new classes of antibiotics over the next seven years. (This ambitious plan is a part of The Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

Privacy isn't dead, but face surveillance technology might kill it, says civil rights advocate Kade Crockford. In an eye-opening talk, Kade outlines the startling reasons why this invasive technology -- powered by often-flawed facial recognition databases that track people without their knowledge -- poses unprecedented threats to your fundamental rights. Learn what can be done to ban government use before it's too late.

To combat COVID-19, countries have enforced city-wide shutdowns, stay-at-home orders and mask mandates -- but the reaction (and adherence) to these rules has differed markedly in the East and West. In conversation with TED's head of curation Helen Walters, writer and publisher Huang Hung sheds light on how Chinese and American cultural values shaped their responses to the outbreak -- and provides perspective on why everyone needs to come together to end the pandemic. (Recorded April 16, 2020)

The November 2019 issue of College & Research Libraries is now freely available online. Visit the C&RL website for complete contents from 1939 to the present and follow C&RL on Facebook and Twitter for updates and discussion. Note: The November 2013 issue was the final print issue of College & Research Libraries. The journal began an online-only publication model in January 2014. [...]

SAVE THE DATE ESADE Business School will host the 2020 Behavioral Decision Research and Management (BDRM) conference, in Barcelona, Spain. Dates: Tuesday June 16th – Thursday June 18th, 2020. More information coming, September of 2019. Faculty Organizers Uri Simonsohn (ESADE) Isabelle Engeler (IESE) Jordi Quoidbach (ESADE) Bart de Langhe (ESADE) Johannes Müller-Trede (IESE) Ioannis Evangelidis […]

The post Behavioral Decision Research and Management (BDRM), Barcelona, June 16-18, 2020 appeared first on Decision Science News.

APPLICATION DEADLINE OCTOBER 15, 2019 The Operations, Information and Decisions Department at the Wharton School is seeking applicants for a full-time, tenure track, Assistant Professor faculty position in the area of decision-making. Our decision-making faculty is comprised of scholars with a diverse set of backgrounds and interests, and we encourage applicants with degrees in economics, […]

The post Professorship in decision making at Wharton, Operations, Information and Decisions (OID), University of Pennsylvania appeared first on Decision Science News.

SOCIETY FOR JUDGMENT AND DECISION MAKING CONFERENCE PROGRAM: DOWNLOAD AWAY The program for the 2019 SJDM conference (taking place this weekend (Nov 15-19, 2019) in Montreal, Canada) can be found in two places The SJDM home page (program link) The SJDM Newsletter (link) Please get it while it is hot.

The post 2019 SJDM Conference program available online appeared first on Decision Science News.

STANDARD ERRORS VS STANDARD DEVIATIONS Click to enlarge There’s an ancient haiku that goes: People confuse a well-estimated mean with a certain outcome Ok, that’s not true. But Jake Hofman, Dan Goldstein, and Jessica Hullman have a new paper (recently accepted at CHI 2020) about this. They bet you’ll think the results of their paper […]

The post How visualizing inferential uncertainty can mislead readers about treatment effects in scientific results appeared first on Decision Science News.

A great animated video from the Youth Council of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, about what it means to put recovery principles to practice for youth.

Our weekly round-up of the best psychology coverage from elsewhere on the web

By Emily Reynolds. But self-assessed intelligence was not actually related to objective measures of intelligence

By Jesse Singal. Study fails to replicate 2011 result, suggesting that word choice matters less as issue has become more politicised.

By Emily Reynolds. People are often required to adjust their behaviour to meet demands of apps, rather than technology being designed to meet our needs, researchers say.

By Emma Young. Fans of fictional villains share both positive and negative personality traits with them.

By Emma Young. Formerly religious are more prosocial than those who were never religious, researchers argue.

Relying on newly available data under ESSA, a local advocacy group found several districts that spend more money on wealthy students than poor students, despite the state's intentions.

The political landscape for updating school finance systems won’t be any easier in the 2020 legislative season, despite a surging economy, state flexibility under ESSA, and single-party control in many states.

A collection of short news stories from this week.

A businessman, Patrick served two terms as governor of Massachusetts and has credited education with his own dramatic rise to success.

The state's "Influence 100" project includes a leadership development program that will give aspiring district leaders a hands-on opportunity to work through an equity issue in their home districts.

I recently talked with Carrie Conaway, Harvard lecturer and former Massachusetts state administrator, about the challenges coronavirus presents for state ed. departments.

School districts are competing against each other for purchases of digital devices as remote learning expands to schools across the country.

Massachusetts is the fifth state to join the Innovative Assessment Demonstration Authority created through the Every Student Succeeds Act, which allows states to experiment with new forms of testing.

A sea of red-clad teachers took to the streets around North Carolina's legislative building in Raleigh to fight for higher pay and more school funding. See photos from the event.

A new study published in the Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis journal found that there is potential for 1-to-1 technology programs to increase achievement in the short term, but more so in the medium term.

Cursive writing is experiencing a resurgence of sorts in North Carolina elementary schools thanks to a state law that was passed in 2013.

States are tweaking voter registration laws for teenage voters and schools are busing students to the polls. Will these efforts help young people get in the habit of voting?

U.S. Ed Secretary DeVos has approved plans for 46 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Still waiting: California, Florida, Oklahoma, and Utah.

The state's elected superintendent and the governor-appointed state board have been in a legal dispute since 2016 over who should oversee the many tasks of the education department.

Thousands of North Carolina teachers will take leave on May 16 to protest at the state capitol, forcing some school districts to close.

Watch a discussion between three educators who ran for their state legislatures about their experiences on the campaign trail.

A sea of red swept the capitals of North and South Carolina on Wednesday, as thousands of teachers turned out to demand higher pay and more school funding.

A $12.2 million dollar grant from the state Department of Public Instruction will go to a program based at North Carolina State University to provide additional training literacy training to teachers in 16 high-needs districts across the state.

With schools shut down, social distancing in place, and parents at home, after-school programs are laying off staff and switching gears to meet families' needs.

Some district technology leaders say having staff email addresses publicly available opens the door for phishing scams and potential hacks.

The West Virginia House of Delegates passed its version of a sweeping education omnibus bill, which would allow the state's first charter schools.

There are more than 1 million children in the U.S. whose parents are active duty military. This video explores some of the ways school leaders can work to meet these students' needs.

The Old Dominion is embedding future-ready knowledge and skills into its education system, giving students a personal arsenal of content mastery and core deeper learning skills.

Lawmakers effectively killed the controversial education bill that had prompted the second statewide strike in two years.

Teachers across the state will walk out of their classrooms on Tuesday to protest an education bill going through the state legislature.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

This Quality Counts 2019 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.

This Quality Counts 2020 Highlights Report captures all the data you need to assess your state's performance on key educational outcomes.