Teacher helps blind sisters 'see' science Marvin Hurst, KENS 9:41 AM. CST February 22, 2017 SAN ANTONIO - Graciously seeking acceptance as normal college students is a box Katy and Olivia Shaw are trying to check. Yet, their navigation in the classroom and through everyday life yields the inquiry they've heard a million times: 'How does it feel to be blind?' "We do everything we can when it comes to living everyday life," Olivia said. The 19-year-olds said being visually impaired is the only normality they've known. They are both living with a disease affecting their vision called retinopathy. The sisters were diagnosed after being born prematurely. Katy is blind in her right eye and the teenager has some vision in her left eye which makes reading large print possible. Seeing is more challenging for Olivia. She has some light perception and some colors are visible to her. However, this hasn't stopped the Shaw sisters from doing chores at home, cooking and even earning academic fortitude. Katy has a 3.9 grade point average and Olivia has a 4.0. The sisters are both dual credit students at Northwest Vista College. "Definitely having this impairment has made it somewhat challenging," Katy said. … Continue reading →

Daily Free Press (subscription) KASTRITIS: Biology, morality and the transgender question Daily Free Press (subscription) On balance, the United States of America is a democratic country that arguably prides itself on a system of government and rule of law that seeks the protection of minority rights, one that is reformed and tested day by day by rapid social changes ... and more » Read the original here: KASTRITIS: Biology, morality and the transgender question - Daily Free Press (subscription) … Continue reading →

Duke Today Biology Students Launching Science Fellowship Program Duke Today A pair of Duke biology graduate students are piloting an effort to create fellowships for trained scientists to help state legislators grapple with policy questions that involve science and technology. The pilot program is an outgrowth of a successful ... See more here: Biology Students Launching Science Fellowship Program - Duke Today … Continue reading →

I have had thoughts about quantum mechanics and biology for many years - ever since my thermodynamics class in chemistry as an undergrad. I discussed and developed them over the years. When I thought it was ready, decades ago, I wrote to Linus Pauling about my speculation that the most important differentiator for life is that from the molecular scale to the organization of organs, chaos (in the mathematical chaos theory sense) is the organizing principle. This means that living organisms are all potentially sensitive to quantum events. He was kind enough to write back, and I think it intrigued him, but there was no experiment that I could conceive of to do in support. Some years later, I was talking to an older psychiatrist friend about this idea in the context of pondering the mystery of consciousness. He liked it, and called up his friend Arthur Young, insisting that I go spend a day with Arthur. I think that Arthur Young, who had made is fortune on patents on the helicopter, was rather disappointed in me at first, as I was unaware of who he was, or his thinking prior to our day at his house in Berkeley, chatting … Continue reading →