COMMENTARY: AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Dr. Stephon Alexander asks big questions. How did the space and time that govern our universe come into being? Intrigued at an early age by quantum theory, Einstein's theory of relativity, and string theory, he now works to unify them in his search for a theory of quantum gravity.
"There's a world of phenomena and theories that do very well in making cell phones work," he explains. "But at the same time, other evidence we are calling 'dark matter' is still absolutely mysterious. My discoveries come through calculations as I tease nature into revealing her secrets."
Alexander has long personal experience confronting the unknown. At age eight his family moved from Trinidad to the Bronx in New York City. "My childhood was full of surprises," he remembers. "I learned that you can't always hold on to things; it taught me the idea of embracing the unknown. Our culture tells us to try and control situations. Instead, I've always coped with unexpected events by making up theories about why they may be happening."
After earning a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Brown University, Alexander completed postdoctoral work at Imperial College in London and the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. He is now an assistant professor in the Penn State Physics Department.
During a typical day, Alexander and colleagues perform mathematical gymnastics, filling blackboards with diagrams and equations. "That interaction as we deal with a completely open slate is my favorite part," he says. "Highlights come in those moments when I've had a crazy intuitive idea ... explored all kinds of calculations and subtleties ... and then after months of work found that my hunch was absolutely correct. Those moments rarely happen, but when they do, it's amazing."
As Alexander explains, the process is intense. "You can get stuck at any stage and then it's impossible to sleep or think about anything else. For me, playing and composing music can help my mind relax, the way a muscle would relax, and allow me to think more freely."
Alexander notes many parallels between his passions for the tenor saxophone and physics. "Exploring a physics problem is like jazz improvisation—understanding the basic rules and themes lets you take off in spontaneous new directions. Music allows me to understand physics on a simpler, yet deeper level.".… Read More
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Across the country, many students of color who participated in the National School Walkout on Wednesday tried to deliver a simple message: Reducing gun violence is about more than stopping mass shootings in schools. It’s also about addressing how violence affects communities of color.
“I know a couple of people ... had mixed feelings towards the walkout, because they felt if it was a black student being gunned down or black students being shot or shot at, it wouldn’t have got so much coverage,” Jaelah Jackson, a 15-year-old who participated in the school walkout in Brooklyn, told the Guardian. “They felt like minorities and African-Americans are diminished. They aren’t really represented and their cases aren’t presented as equally.”
In recent weeks, students have pointed out that race has played a role in how the media and politicians responded to the Parkland student activists, noting that when gun violence takes place in black communities, it doesn’t get the same attention.
Black activists say the Parkland students’ calls for gun control has sparked political debate and reform much faster than gun control advocacy from black and brown youth or campaigns from racial justice groups, like the Dream Defenders or the Movement for Black Lives.
This leads to a larger question about who gets empathy in America, which issues are deemed important, and the types of activism and activists the public responds to. Students all over the US weighed in on this, with protests that addressed how gun violence and race are deeply linked.
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Protests were held across Brazil after a popular Rio city councillor and her driver were shot dead by two men in what appears to have been a targeted assassination.
Marielle Franco, 38, was a groundbreaking politician who had become a voice for disadvantaged people in the teeming favelas that are home to almost one-quarter of Rio de Janeiro’s population, where grinding poverty, police brutality and shootouts with drug gangs are routine.
Richard Nunes, Rio’s head of public security, said there would be a “full investigation” into the deaths, which came despite the military taking charge of policing in the city last month after a surge in violence.
Two police officials told Associated Press that two men in a car fired nine shots into the vehicle carrying Franco and her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes on Wednesday night. A press officer in the back seat was injured, but survived, the officials said. Both officials said it appeared Franco was targeted.
Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International condemned the killings, while friends, colleagues and politicians paid tribute to Franco.
On Thursday afternoon crowds gathered outside Rio de Janeiro’s council chamber chanting “not one step backwards” ahead of a ceremony in honour of Franco inside. Many wept as her coffin was carried inside.
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Shares of Snap fell another 2 percent Friday, a day after Rihanna instructed her 60.9 million Instagram followers to delete the app.
It's the second time in a month an A-lister has done some serious damage to Snap's market capitalization. The stock plunged as much as 5 percent to session lows on Thursday following the pop star's post.
Earlier this week, Snapchat users began to notice an ad featuring 30-year-old pop icon Rihanna and her former boyfriend, Chris Brown, for the game, "Would You Rather?" The ad, which asks users to choose between slapping Rihanna or punching Chris Brown, seems to reference — and make light of — the couple's infamously abusive relationship.
Although "Would You Rather," the mobile video game advertised, was not produced by Snap, the ad would have had to undergo and pass a review process before publishing. A Snap spokesperson said the majority of video advertising on Snapchat is purchased through a self-serve advertising platform, which is subject to review. Snap's advertising policy forbids "shocking, sensational, or disrespectful content."
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A documentary shines a spotlight on the grim relationship between race and cancer. New York Times: Black Cancer Matters
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Like many people, I attribute my cancer to bad luck. So the feature-length documentary “Company Town” shocked me. It contends that the economic consequences of racial discrimination increase cancer risk. Watching the movie led me to realize that wretched statistics on cancer mortalities are also linked to racial inequalities. Black cancer should matter, but has it mattered in the past and will it matter in the future?
“Company Town,” released in 2016 and available March 20 on iTunes, was co-directed by Natalie Kottke-Masocco and Erica Sardarian. It opens with gospel vocalists singing the words “run down to the river,” a deeply ironic injunction in Crossett, Ark., a setting where a Georgia-Pacific paper and chemical plant — owned by the billionaire Koch brothers — stands accused of polluting local waters. The movie depicts rural people dependent for a livelihood on an industry that they believe is sickening them by contaminating their environment. Most of the men and women dealing with cancer in the area are African-Americans.
We see David Bouie, a Baptist minister who worked in the facility for 10 years, pointing out the houses on his lane. “It’s all around us … cancer, cancer,” he says. “Door-to-door cancer.”
It is difficult to establish a causal connection between hazardous wastes and cancer; however, “Company Town” presents a formidable case. The air, earth and water of Crossett, with its population of about 5,500 people, have been spoiled by harmful fumes and vapors, by chemicals discharged into unlined basins, by fiber products and ash hidden in fields beneath a few inches of dirt and behind fences that do not solve the problem of carcinogens leaching into creeks and wells. Congregants in Pastor Bouie’s church speak as or about the children and adults dying in what amounts to a lethal cancer cluster.
Pastor Bouie organizes his neighbors with the help of a woman who serves as the Ouachita Riverkeeper and a whistle-blower who had been a safety coordinator in the mill. Together, they gain the attention of representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. At hearings, a number of these officials proffer placating but prevaricating reassurances.
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