By Atlas Obscura

“In this episode of ‘Show & Tell,’ Atlas Obscura co-founder Dylan Thuras and staff writer Jessica Leigh Hester speak with six employees of the Field Museum in Chicago about their personal collections.
“Among them are a fluorescent scorpion, a taxidermied squirrel, a miniature replica of a living room, and a unique pinned wasp! Isolated and unable to interact with the museum’s natural history exhibits, these Field Museum employees still have access to wonder.”

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Posted on May 30, 2020

By The Museum of Science and Industry

“Ride the rails with a track-level, 360° view aboard a model train in The Great Train Story exhibit. Exhibit designer John Llewellyn is your guide for the sights along the way in a scale-model round-trip between Seattle and Chicago.”

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Posted on May 26, 2020

By NASA

NASA is naming its next-generation space telescope currently under development, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), in honor of Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief astronomer, who paved the way for space telescopes focused on the broader universe.
The newly named Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope – or Roman Space Telescope, for short – is set to launch in the mid-2020s. It will investigate long-standing astronomical mysteries, such as the force behind the universe’s expansion, and search for distant planets beyond our solar system.
Considered the “mother” of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which launched 30 years ago, Roman tirelessly advocated for new tools that would allow scientists to study the broader universe from space. She left behind a tremendous legacy in the scientific community when she died in 2018.

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Posted on May 21, 2020

By Landmarks Illinois

Landmarks Illinois has created a new grant fund in celebration of the life and work of acclaimed civil rights leader, educator, historian, author and WWII veteran Timuel D. Black, Jr.
The Landmarks Illinois Timuel D. Black, Jr. Grant Fund for Chicago’s South Side will provide small grants to support planning and capital projects that work to preserve and promote the history, culture and architecture of Chicago’s South Side, which Black has called home for the majority of his life.

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Posted on May 20, 2020

By David Rutter

VIRUS TESTING: Here’s a note to the Prez about how testing works. You’d think someone who went to Wharton – and aren’t they just so proud? – would grasp this. If you flunk the SAT or ACT, it was not the test that made you stupid. You brought your own stupid to the party. You were stupid before the test, and the test just showed it. There are not fewer people infected with COVID-19 because you failed to test them. Ignorance predates the untaken test, and remains in effect even after the untaken test. Even at Wharton.

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Posted on May 15, 2020

By The Surfrider Foundation

The Surfrider Foundation released its annual Clean Water Report to protect public health and clean water Wednesday, as beaches across the nation start to reopen during the current phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report features case studies and the collective results from Surfrider’s Blue Water Task Force, the largest volunteer-run beach water testing program in the country. It also highlights outcomes from Surfrider’s Ocean Friendly Gardens program, which provides landscaping solutions to protect clean water and support resilient coasts.
“In areas like Chicago, Illinois, where industrial discharges are polluting important recreational areas in Lake Michigan, and Florida, where toxic algae blooms are devastating the coasts, Surfrider’s work to protect clean water is more critical than ever,” said Surfrider’s Water Quality Manager, Mara Dias. “Our chapters tackle regional water quality issues by testing for pollution, building ocean-friendly solutions, and informing the public of where it’s safe to surf, swim and play in the ocean. We look forward to continuing our water testing programs as soon as health officials deem it safe to resume these efforts.”

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Posted on May 14, 2020

By The U.S. Postal Service

The natural beauty of American gardens is being celebrated by the U.S. Postal Service by issuing stamps that feature gardens ranging from botanical to country estate and municipal gardens. All the gardens featured on the 10 stamps are open to the public. The American Gardens Forever stamps are available for purchase nationwide May 13.
The first-day-of-issue ceremony has been canceled due to social distancing guidance. However, on May 14 the American Public Gardens Association will be celebrating the issuance of the stamps as part of National Public Gardens Week with a webinar that includes a virtual reveal of the stamps along with pre-recorded remarks from Pat Mendonca, Postal Service Senior Director, Office of the Postmaster General and Chief Executive Officer. There will also be short video vignettes of the gardens featured on the stamps.

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Posted on May 13, 2020

By Alex Moss/The Electronic Frontier Foundation

In 2014, the Supreme Court decided the landmark Alice v. CLS Bank case. The Court held generic computers, performing generic computer functions, can’t make something eligible for patent protection. That shouldn’t be controversial, but it took Alice to make this important limitation on patent-eligibility crystal clear.
Last year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decided to work around that decision, so that the door to bogus software patents could swing open once again. The office issued new guidance telling its examiners how to avoid applying Alice. In response to that proposal, more than 1,500 of you told the Patent Office to re-consider its guidance to make sure that granted patents are limited to those that are eligible for protection under Alice. Unfortunately, the Patent Office wouldn’t do it. The office and its director, Andrei Iancu, refused to adapt its guidance to match the law, even when so many members of the public demanded it.

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Posted on May 12, 2020

By Andy Soth/PBS Wisconsin

A highly contagious disease put the population in a panic. The government’s response became politicized. Less affluent neighborhoods bore the brunt of the outbreak. The best medical science of the day was doubted. An aggressive protest against public health enforcement broke out. There was even an impeachment.
It was 1894 in Milwaukee, a city divided on ethnic lines. In the north, a well-established German community. In the south, a growing settlement of Polish immigrants.

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Posted on May 11, 2020

By David Rutter

Don’t panic. Don’t you dare panic. We’re cool and chill. Both of them. We need normalcy in this glorious spring.
“Here in the nation’s capital, there is anxiety and concern, but no outward sign of panic. As a matter of fact, there are signs of normalcy . . . “
Well, actually there’s a little sign of panic and very few signs of normlacy.
In fact, lots of panic. Being scared bleepless is biologically appropriate.

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Posted on May 8, 2020