Science, Medicine, & Education

Destruction from Italy quake is a grave warning for California’s old brick buildings

LOS ANGELES — Surveying the devastation of centuries-old villages pummeled by a major earthquake in central Italy this week, it’s easy for Californians to think that the more modern buildings here would better survive the shaking. But seismic experts and structural engineers say there remain many buildings across California that could not withstand the type […]

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Major exhibition to focus on San Diego Jews

By Donald H. Harrison SAN DIEGO – A nine-month-long, 10,000 square foot exhibition about the Jews of San Diego, including the community’s history, achievements and troubles since 1850, is now in the design stage with an opening planned in March 2017 at the San Diego History Center in Balboa Park. Joellyn Zollman, a professor who

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Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education

Scientists spot a rocky, Earth-like planet that could have liquid water

Pale blue dot, meet pale red dot. Astronomers have spent decades scouring the skies looking for Earth-sized planets around distant stars. And now they’ve found one, sitting smack in the habitable zone of our nearest stellar neighbor. The planet Proxima b, described in the journal Nature, could be one of the first planets outside our

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Science, Medicine, & Education

An MIT lesson in failure helps deliver fresh milk to millions in India

Sorin Grama had a great idea. Like, a really terrific idea. It was so good, MIT awarded him one of its most prestigious entrepreneurship prizes: second place in the university’s annual 100K Entrepreneurship Competition. Grama’s team built a machine using old car parts that can heat water without electricity. Think of the possibilities in rural

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

NLRB rules that grad students are employees, opens door to unionization

In a major decision that opens the door for graduate students across the country to unionize, the National Labor Relations Board ruled Tuesday that grad students who work as teaching and research assistants are employees covered by federal labor laws. The 3-1 decision — which stems from a petition filed by a group of graduate

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Growing call for FTC to investigate EpiPen maker Mylan over price rises

WASHINGTON — Joining a host of lawmakers calling for an accounting, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether a drug company violated antitrust laws by steeply increasing the price of a product that treats people suffering from severe allergic reactions. After hearing from constituents, Klobuchar, whose daughter

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Stanford bans hard alcohol from undergraduate parties, citing ‘dangers that arise’ from binge drinking

Stanford University has banned hard alcohol from undergraduate parties and shots from graduate-student parties in an effort to limit the availability of distilled liquor as well as the violence, vandalism and other consequences that may come from binge drinking, schools officials announced this week. “The University does not tolerate reckless drinking — lawful or unlawful

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Helping Jewish schools help students with disabilities

By Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi BETHESDA, Maryland — As someone with a disability myself, and who also knows what it means to parent a child with multiple disabilities, I’ve become an advocate for my children on so many fronts. Jewish education and involvement is no different. After all, when it comes to disability and inclusion issues, despite

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Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Teen artist excels at Yemin Orde Youth Village

YEMIN ORDE, Israel (Press Release) — After immigrating with his family to Israel from France, Ethan Amram felt isolated at his Israeli school. Instead of listening to the teacher, he sketched drawings into his notebook. Classified as an at-risk teenager, Amram thereby was eligible to attend the school at Yemin Orde, a serene youth village

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Middle East, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Science, Medicine, & Education

Jordan Gets $100M To Teach Syrian Refugee Children

Jordan signed a grant agreement on Monday with the U.S., Britain, Norway and Switzerland that will provide the Arab nation with $100 million to help place Syrian refugee children in school. The country, which is home to over 600,000 displaced Syrian refugees, accommodated 145,000 Syrian children in schools during the previous academic year. Even so,

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International, Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Researchers learn how melanoma spreads to organs

TEL AVIV, Israel (Press Release)  — In a landmark discovery, researchers at Tel Aviv University have unraveled the metastatic mechanism of melanoma, the most aggressive of all skin cancers. According to a paper published August 22 in the journal Nature Cell Biology, the scientists discovered that before spreading to other organs, a melanoma tumor sends out

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Middle East, Science, Medicine, & Education

Roommate drama lands Penn State sorority sisters in federal court

PHILADELPHIA — Molly Brownstein, a Pennsylvania State University senior, and her family describe her roommate Rachel Lader as a classic mean girl — a “monster” and an “expert bully, with a Ph.D. in intimidation.” Lader denies this and paints Brownstein as a coddled whiner, quick to turn to her parents to solve problems she created

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education, USA

Archaeologists Discover Middle East’s ‘Oldest’ Bone

Archaeologists in Saudi Arabia have announced the discovery of “the world’s oldest human bone” in a new excavation. The bone itself is the middle section of the middle finger of a human who they believe lived 90,000 years ago. If confirmed, it would make the bone the oldest trace of human life in the Arabian

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International, Science, Medicine, & Education