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You wanna know why I’m depressed? Stuff like this:

Today, the Harvard Law School student body (72%) voted to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel.

The Harvard Law School student government voted last year to do the same thing.

No other international issue has ever been voted on.

The Harvard Law School Alliance for Israel… pic.twitter.com/jm17dNfc6P

— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) March 14, 2025

Yep, the Law School at my Ph.D. alma mater is showing a bit of antisemitism (I no longer believe that this is completely about Israel’s actions, because the Law School never had any resolutions about Hamas or its actions). As it says above, “no other international issue has ever been voted on.” Why, then they’re singling out the world’s only Jewish state? No resolutions about Syria, where there was far more carnage? Not on your life.

Here’s the article about it from the Harvard Crimson (click headline to read).

An excerpt:

The Harvard Law School student body voted on Thursday to call on the University to divest from Israel — delivering a decisive endorsement of language that Law School administrators harshly criticized before it went up for a vote.

The resolution, which called on Harvard to “divest from weapons, surveillance technology, and other companies aiding violations of international humanitarian law, including Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine,” passed with 72.7 percent of votes in favor, with 842 students participating. Nearly 2,000 students attend HLS.

The results — announced late Thursday night — mark the second vote by a Harvard student body in favor of divestment. Students at the Harvard School of Public Health voted in June to urge Harvard to divest from Israel, and governments at the Law School, Harvard Divinity School, and the Graduate School of Design have all urged divestment. But its passage is unlikely to result in change from Harvard, whose leaders have rebuffed calls for divestment at every turn.

All those misguided students, uninformed about the war but bent on flaunting their virtue! Fortunately, the people who have the power to divest, the administration, aren’t having it. They’re institutionally neutral, like Chicago:

The Law School moved swiftly to distance itself from the referendum outcome.

HLS spokesperson Jeff Neal wrote in a statement that “although it has historically administered leadership elections for student government, and offered to do so again this year, the law school administration played no role in the referendum conducted by student government.”

“As explained in a message to students, the administration expressed deep disappointment with student government’s leadership’s decision to proceed with a needlessly divisive referendum which runs contrary to student government’s stated objectives of ‘fostering community’ and ‘enhancing inclusion,’” he added.

Sadly, Mr. Neal doesn’t know that Jews don’t fall under DEI protection. We are “white adjacent.”

The referendum was first proposed in a petition by Law Students for a Free Palestine, an unrecognized student group, which passed the 300-signature threshold to trigger a Student Government referendum Feb. 18.

Of course Harvard is one of the schools (there are nine total) under investigation by the Department of Justice for allowing a climate of antisemitism to arise (a Title VI violation, I believe). This won’t make it any easier on the school.

More depressing news. My new academic home, The University of Chicago, is one of 45 schools being investigated for racial discrimination. Click below to see the Chicago Maroon article:

An excerpt:

The University of Chicago is one of 45 schools under investigation by the Department of Education for alleged violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination in programs receiving federal financial assistance.

The announcement alleges that the University has engaged in “race-exclusionary practices in [its] graduate programs” through its partnership with the PhD Project, an organization that works to expand diversity in business school Ph.D. programs. Booth School of Business’s Stevens Doctoral Program is included on the Project’s website as a university partner.

The PhD Project, the Department of Education’s announcement reads, “purports to provide doctoral students with insights into obtaining a Ph.D. and networking opportunities, but limits eligibility based on the race of participants.”

By “race-exclusionary,” of course, they mean “violation of DEI strictures”, and, indeed, some of that has been going on here. But since those violations are kept quite quiet, with phone calls used instead of emails (or so I hear), so it’s hard to know what’s going on.  As far as I can see, DEI initiatives are still pervasive at Chicago, (here’s the main website), but I don’t know if they rise to the level that would cause the government to withhold federal money—as they did for Columbia University.

A bit more. The link at “has quietly removed” below tells you how DEI sites are being muted here. However, if we follow the model of other schools, they’re not being shelved but just put into a file cabinet with a different name.

The investigation follows a February 14 letter sent by Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor, which informed educational institutions and agencies that they had 14 days to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs or “face potential loss of federal funding.”

In the letter, Trainor wrote that universities’ “embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.”

Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January, the University has quietly removed many mentions of DEI from its websites.

In a statement, the University informed the Maroon that it had received notice of the Department of Education’s investigation.

“The University has been notified that a complaint was filed with the Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), and an investigation was opened. The University prohibits unlawful discrimination and will cooperate with OCR on its investigation,” the statement read.

The list of schools being investigated.

Interview with Professor Dave; What's the Word: Psionic; News Items: Screen Time and Mental Health, Exposure to Mass Shootings, Stem Cells for Parkinson's, Brown Fat and Exercise; Who's That Noisy; Your Questions and E-mails: Vitamin A and Measles; Science or Fiction

Ingenuity proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a helicopter can operate on another planet. Over 72 flights, the little quadcopter that could captivated the imagination of space exploration fans everywhere. But, several factors limited it, and researchers at NASA think they can do better. Two papers presented at the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held March 10-14 in The Woodlands, Texas, and led by Pascal Lee of NASA Ames and Derric Loya of the SETI Institute and Colorado Mesa University, describe a use case for that still-under-development helicopter, which they call Nighthawk.

From the Times of London we have the story of a tuxedo cat appropriately named Mischief, who’s become famous for his wide-ranging perambulations around the city of Plymouth. Click headline below to read, or find article (archived here):

Some excerpts:

You might think Tonie Blackmore would get worried when her pet cat Mischief goes missing for days on end, but thanks to his friendly nature he has the city of Plymouth tracking his every move.

The appropriately named feline has been making himself at home across the city for the past three years, and developing thousands of committed Mischief megafans.

Ever since he was old enough to leave his house in the centre of the city, he has been searching for strokes, suntraps and catnap spots in schools, shops, pubs, colleges, sports halls, youth clubs and strangers’ homes.

Mischief, a distinctive black and white tuxedo cat, can often be found lazing in hotel receptions, churches, supermarkets, railway stations and regularly visits HMS Drake naval base — where staff had to be reminded not to take and upload photos of him on site as it could threaten national security.

One woman was escorted home by the cat, while others have had him join them for car journeys, trick or treating outings and walks along the seafront.

One of his favourite haunts is Devonport High School for Boys, where he can often be found lazing in a staff room, sleeping through double physics or watching the netball and football teams compete on the weekend.

. . .Barry Hardman, the school sports co-ordinator, outlined a typical weekend visit from Mischief: “Inspected the toilets, got cuddles from two little girls, fell asleep in girls coat, sat by a window until netball girls left, followed the netball girls, and with that he’s gone again. Such a flirt.”

Rachel Fisher, a local jeweller, said it was “such a pleasure when he wandered into our house one day for a look around, a bit of a tickle under the chin, a sit by the fire and then he asked if he could leave to continue his wanderings”.

When he’s been away from his family for too long or found his way miles from home, he has a group of dedicated followers willing to drive across the city to pick him up and return him home.

. . . He has been microchipped and neutered and Blackmore’s family love to see what he gets up on his adventures, through the regular updates posted by locals on his Facebook fan page.

Here’s where Mischief has been spotted–as far as three miles from home!

And now he’s famous!

Mischief’s fame went global this week [March 7], after an admirer posted videos on TikTok about his affectionate antics and received more than nine million views.

Now the curious cat has fans declaring their love for him on his Facebook page — Mischief’s adventures in Plymouth — from across the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Georgia, Trinidad and Tobago, Kenya, the Philippines and Panama.

You can find Mischief’s Facebook page here; it’s temporarily paused for a day. Here are a few snaps of the wandering moggy:

Mischief as a kitten:

Mischief hitting the bars:

Mischief and his staff:

Of course outdoor cats have lives much shorter than feral cats or all-indoor cats, so I worry aboui Mischief. However, so many people are looking out for him that I hope he’ll be okay.

Mischief away from home for 3 days!

**************************

Here’s Tuna (she/her, please) in love with delivery people.  Follow her and her mate Loki on their Instagram page. She’s sort of an outdoor cat, but never leaves the yard, and mostly hangs out on the porch. 

A quote from her staff: “I think we could all learn a little bit from Tuna: about putting ourselves out there.”

********************

And from the AP (click to read), we read about Aggie, a cat lost after the California wildfires and presumed gone forever, but rescued after two months. Shown is the staff Katherine Kiefer with Aggie; photo by Carolyn Kiefer for the AP):

Aggie’s tail:

It appears the tall tale that all cats have nine lives may be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.

The beloved feline was feared dead for two months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her family’s home in ashes. But her owner, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope.

Over the weekend, Kiefer got a call from the West Los Angeles Animal Shelter. Her daughter Carolyn Kiefer shared their reunion Saturday in a TikTok video that quickly garnered more than 1 million likes. It shows tears pouring from Katherine Kiefer’s eyes as Aggie curled up in her arms.

“I was very much worried that I was going to wake up and (discover) it had been a dream,” she said.

Kiefer was at a medical appointment the day fire engulfed her neighborhood and her children couldn’t find Aggie — who was prone to hiding — when they tried to rescue her.

“The one thing my mom asked was: ‘Did you get Aggie?” Carolyn recalls.

Many pet owners struggled to reach their domesticated animals during the frantic rush to evacuate from the Palisades wildfire in January.

Aggie, who is about 5 years old, was gifted to Katherine Kiefer by a friend during the COVID-19 pandemic. Social media users have been so touched by the pair’s reunion video that many have been asking for daily updates. The family’s $30,000 GoFundMe campaign for Aggie’s vet bills had topped $21,000 by Tuesday afternoon.

The reunion from Tik Tok:

@apnews

When Katherine Kiefer, 82, lost her home to the Palisades Fire on Jan. 7, she feared she had also lost her beloved cat, Aggie. But two months later, Aggie was found alive in the fire’s ruins. Here’s the moment Kiefer and Aggie reunited.

♬ original sound – The Associated Press

h/t: Richard

We’re getting near the end again, and I ask you to think about a submission of good photos to keep the feature going (I can always make it sporadic). Today we have the last batch of Robert Lang‘s photos from the Brazilian Pantanal: birds. But we have one more post from him to come: eight videos of various creatures. Robert’s narrative and IDs are indented, and click on the photos to enlarge them.

Readers’ Wildlife Photos: The Pantanal, Part XII: Birds

Continuing our mid-2025 journey to the Pantanal in Brazil, by far the largest category of observation and photography was birds: we saw over 100 different species of birds (and this was not even a birding-specific trip, though the outfitter also organizes those for the truly hard core). Here is the final installment of the alphabetarium of common names of birds (though not quite the final installment from the Pantanal!).

Whistling herons (Syrigma sibilatrix):

White-headed marsh tyrant (Arundinicola leucocephala). Though I like to think of this one as a “baby bald eagle”:

White-rumped monjita (Xolmis velatus). The only bird that comes with a sprig of mint:

White woodpecker (Melanerpes candidus):

Wood stork (juvenile) (Mycteria americana):

Yellow-billed cardinal (Paroaria capitata):

Several yellow-billed cardinals with a saffron finch (Sicalis flaveola) sneaking into the scrum:

Yellow-billed tern (Sternula superciliaris):

Golden-collared macaw (Primolius auricollis):

The same bird, taking flight:

And that wraps up the birds of the Pantanal! This was by far the best bird-sighting place I’ve ever traveled to (both for quantity of species and ease of photography; most photos were taken with a Canon 200–400 mm zoom lens on a Digital Rebel XTi body (both now sadly contributing to global warming—recommendations from experts for their replacements gratefully accepted). But not the last of my Pantanal imagery: one more installment coming, this time with the newfangled moving-type pictures.

Researchers have developed innovative methods to control the ionization of atoms and molecules using specially structured light beams, challenging traditional limits. This breakthrough could lead to advancements in imaging, particle acceleration, and quantum computing by precisely controlling electron ejection from atoms.

A research team has developed a new system to estimate a person's biological age -- a measure of how well their body has aged, rather than just counting the years since birth. Using just five drops of blood, this new method analyzes 22 key steroids and their interactions to provide a more precise health assessment. The team's breakthrough study offers a potential step forward in personalized health management, allowing for earlier detection of age-related health risks and tailored interventions.

Exploration of the outer Solar System may be getting a boost from the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO). When this gigantic telescope opens its eye later in 2025, it begins a decade-long survey of the ever-changing sky. As part of this time-lapse vision of the cosmos, distant objects in the Kuiper Belt will be among its most challenging targets.

X-ray astronomy is a somewhat neglected corner of the more general field of astronomy. The biggest names in telescopes, like Hubble and James Webb, don't even touch that bandwidth. And Chandra, the most capable space-based X-ray observatory to date, is far less well-known. However, some of the most interesting phenomena in the universe can only be truly understood through X-rays, and it's a shame that the discipline doesn't garner more attention. Kimberly Weaver of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center hopes to change that perception as she works on a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grant to develop an in-space X-ray interferometer that could allow us to see for the first time what causes the power behind supermassive black holes.

We may be starting to get a grasp on what kick-started life on Earth – and it could help us search for it on other planets

Posting will be light today as I am embroiled in many issues and am troubled.

One question for which I’ve always received feedback is this: did a “Jesus person”—a human on which the Biblical legends of the New Testament are based—really exist? I’m not accepting that any of the deeds attributed to a “Jesus” are true, merely asking whether such a person existed around whom the legends could be woven.

Since the accounts of Jesus’s life occur in a single book that is not only hard to believe, but wrong in many details that we can test (e.g. the Exodus); and that book was surely not written by people who were Jesus’s contemporaries; and, because the four “independent” account of his life differ in crucial details, then as a scientist all I can say is that the Biblical account is flawed and gives no strong evidence for a “Jesus person.”

Yes, I know Bart Ehrman wrote a book concluding that Jesus was a real person, but not the son of God. Ehrman maintained that the “Jesus person” was an apocalyptic preacher. It’s been some years since I read that book, and so I’ve forgotten the evidence Ehrman adduced, but I can remember that I wasn’t strongly convinced.

Below are two old videos in which Christopher Hitchens addresses the issue.  In the first 7-minute one, he compares with Jesus with Socrates, and concludes that there’s not that much more evidence for Socrates as a real person than for Jesus. But because Socrates’s supposed method has persisted, and has proven immensely valuable, Hitchens doesn’t really care. In contrast, Jesus asserted that people had to believe in what he said—and what he said (“take no care for the morrow. . and just follow me”) was delusional. In other words, Hitchens takes the “lunatic” view of C. S. Lewis’s “liar, lunatic, or lord” trilemma.

On the other hand, certain falsities in the Bible (getting Jesus from Nazareth to Bethlehem under a nonexistent census), suggest to Hitchens that these tortuous fabrications wouldn’t have been necessary had there not been a Jesus person. (“Otherwise, why not have him born in Bethlehem?”)  This kind of “cobbling” may constitute for Hitchens weak evidence that there was a Jesus person.

Of course the reason why people are so invested in having hard proof that a Jesus person existed, even if we can’t document his miracles, is that if we can’t even show that a Jesus person existed, then all of Christianity falls apart—at least to those who want evidence to buttress their faith.

Here’s a 1½-minute video, Hitchens says that there’s no firm evidence he existed, even in light of Ehrman’s book. (“There’s no reason to believe that he did [exist].”)  In contrast, Hitchens says that Muhammad is a figure of history, but of course he rejects any claim that an angel dictated the Qur’an to Muhammad.

I’m sure people will have divergent opinions.  I am not bothered by being pretty agnostic on Jesus, but some of my friends, even nonbelievers, are. And that puzzles me.

Thursday brought with it a total lunar eclipse for parts of the world that could see the Moon. If you missed it (like I did) then no problem since Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost mission has got your back. The lunar lander took a break from its science duties on our nearest astronomical neighbour to capture this stunning image of the eclipse. Observers on Earth saw the shadow of the Earth fall across the Moon but for Blue Ghost, it experienced a solar eclipse where the Sun hid behind the Earth!

A newly discovered mechanism could explain the shock finding last year that oxygen is produced by metallic nodules on the seafloor – and it might be happening on other planets, too

Can one single mathematical framework describe the motion of a fluid and the individual particles within it? This question, first asked in 1900, now has a solution that could help us understand the complex behaviour of the atmosphere and oceans.

With artificial photosynthesis, humankind could utilize solar energy to bind carbon dioxide and produce hydrogen. Chemists have taken this one step further: They have synthesized a stack of dyes that comes very close to the photosynthetic apparatus of plants. It absorbs light energy, uses it to separate charge carriers and transfers them quickly and efficiently in the stack.

Researchers have experimentally recreated another fundamental theoretical model from quantum physics, which goes back to the Nobel Prize laureate Werner Heisenberg. The basis for the successful experiment is made of tiny carbon molecules known as nanographenes. This synthetic bottom-up approach enables versatile experimental research into quantum technologies, which could one day help drive breakthroughs in the field.

Researchers have experimentally recreated another fundamental theoretical model from quantum physics, which goes back to the Nobel Prize laureate Werner Heisenberg. The basis for the successful experiment is made of tiny carbon molecules known as nanographenes. This synthetic bottom-up approach enables versatile experimental research into quantum technologies, which could one day help drive breakthroughs in the field.

Iridium-doped iron-cobalt (Fe-Co-Ir) alloys, previously identified through machine learning, have been shown to have enhanced magnetic properties, surpassing even the widely used pure Fe-Co alloy. However, the origin of this enhanced magnetization is poorly understood. Now, scientists employed an innovative method using high-throughput X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements, demonstrating the critical role of Ir-doping. The findings will serve as a foundation for designing new high-performance magnetic materials.

Astronomers have discovered two exoplanets around TOI-1453, a star about 250 light years away. These two exoplanets, a super-Earth and a sub-Neptune, are common in the galaxy, yet are absent from our system. This discovery paves the way for future atmospheric studies to better understand these types of planets.

Digital voice recordings contain valuable information that can indicate an individual's cognitive health, offering a non-invasive and efficient method for assessment. Research has demonstrated that digital voice measures can detect early signs of cognitive decline by analyzing features such as speech rate, articulation, pitch variation and pauses, which may signal cognitive impairment when deviating from normative patterns. However, voice data introduces privacy challenges due to the personally identifiable information embedded in recordings, such as gender, accent and emotional state, as well as more subtle speech characteristics that can uniquely identify individuals. These risks are amplified when voice data is processed by automated systems, raising concerns about re-identification and potential misuse of data.