Physics, and STEM are fundamentally neutral but the human beings who do them are not, including the ones that write about how biased everyone else is.  Who gets funding, who gets a job, and who gets a better student review, are all things which race, gender, class, and other sociological variables play a role in.  Just as they play a role in everything human beings do.  Science itself, however, is in the end all about the data and which theories fit it b

Our bizarre solar system has no hot Jupiter.  XO-7 b is a hot Jupiter which orbits its star once roughly every 3 days (1). Of all the solar systems in the heavens ours seems to be most unusual.  Our solar system has orderly circular orbits, with rocky planets near the Sun, and gassy icy planets farther out.  That order and stability seems to be the exception not the rule.   Humanity has now observed numerous solar systems and found one type to be very common.  A solar system which contains a hot Jupiter like planet orbiting much closer to the star than Mercury does to the Sun.

Two thirds of Americans are overweight or obese (1).  That is the new unhealthy normal and as always being outside of the normal range leads to backlash.  The fact so many comments on the ad were “she’s already thin she does not need to work out,” speak to so many problems with health and body image in this country.  The acting really didn’t help.  The actress plays the role a bit less excited and more terrified that her husband will slice off her head.

We are living in the future of our past.  Tesla has had the guts to unveil a truck that looks futuristic and paid the price.  If in 2040 we still drive cars that look like they do now, and work like they do now we’ll know why.  It will be because we have chosen not to embrace change.  From building or not building a telescope in a non-sacred area of a very large mountain, to a likely failure to advance mans presence in space we will know the reason why.  We are living in the past of our future.  What we choose to buy or not buy, build or not build, do or not do will determine what we have tomorrow. 

Team Trees 20 million trees goal will make no practical difference to climate change. Youtuber Thunderfoot breaks this down very nicely. So long as the ones planting the trees are mindful not to burn fossil fuel in any part of the process, i.e. shipping the sapling trees to where they will be planted it does no harm.  I first became aware of this when one of my favorite YouTube channels Linus Tech Tips made a video about making a tree planting cannon.  Their video also tells a little bit about how this started and became a real movement. I like their attitude towards it. Basically that this is mostly a fun thing to do and a fundraiser for the National Arbor Day foundation who will do the real work.

Ku Kiai Mauna protestors have branched out from being concerned with the fictitious pollution of a nonexistent aquifer at the top of Mauna Kea on the big Island of Hawaii. Some who wear their brand have been making terroristic threats up to and including raising the possibility of suicide bombing.