Long and short reads for your next weekend. Fall 2014 edition. On Work that Works for Us Why We Have to Go Back to a 40-Hour Work Week to Keep Our Sanity (AlterNet) “Research by the US military has shown that losing just one hour of sleep per night for a week will cause a level of […]
From Science Fiction to Science Possibility
Dr. Ronald E. McNair was the second African-American to work in space (the first was Dr. Guion “Guy” Bluford), and died with his Space Shuttle crew members when the Challenger exploded shortly after take-off in 1986. My alma mater, Texas Tech University, is one of 200 US universities that runs a McNair Scholars program for low-income, first-generation college students […]
Moving forward
This was part of the last sunset of 2013. My Australian friends have been enjoying 2014 for almost a day now, but I still have a few hours to wait, work, and reflect. This Site I started mackenzian.com last January as a space for writing, exploring ideas, and connecting with others, and also as an […]
The Overview Effect
One planet, one destiny. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson often speaks about the cosmic perspective that results from the study of space. The astronauts in Overview share their experience with “the overview effect,” a way of thinking about the Earth and our place in space that acknowledges our essential oneness and the adaptive interrelationships that are […]
Interview: Carl Hunt, Neuropsychopharmologist
In science, we are a conservative group, in the academy and at an Ivy League institution we’re also conservative. So I worried considerably about [the professional costs of High Price]. But then I thought about my knowledge, what I know, what I’ve learned, and I thought it would be irresponsible if I didn’t share some […]
On Understanding
Convenience of conceptual analogies is no substitute for usefulness or rigour. —R. Brennan & S. Henneberg One understands a phenomenon only when one has a holistic view of [it], a view that integrates all of its known components and all of its known manifestations. —T. Bouldin & L. Odell Pulling a mechanical thing apart to […]