Friday, June 28, 2019

Friday Poem


Image result for chinook salmon

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Nature
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is by the late Brian Doyle.

A tyee salmon is a Chinook salmon especially when of large size--30 pounds (~ 13 1/2 kg) or more. Tyee is pronounced tah yee or tie yee.

Salmon are on the run in Katmai National Park, which has several bear cameras, including one under water. The site is well-used and some viewers are relentless observers and know the bears very well.

The brown bears are great salmon fishers and each has a favorite method. One, a lovely female, likes to sit/stand on the lip of the shelf of a falls and grab them from the air.

Not all of the cameras are working yet.

One of the big boys, Otis has not yet been seen but apparently he has a habit of sleeping in. I hope he is alive.


Thursday, June 27, 2019

New Video on the Philippine Eagle.


Image result for philippine eagle

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
Biodiversity
Sustainability

The Laboratory of Ornithology at Cornell University has released a breathtaking new documentary about an endangered eagle, the Philippine Eagle (aka the Monkey Eating Eagle and the Great Philippine Eagle). It is large, indeed, the largest in terms of length and wing surface. It is not the heaviest, though. The Steller's Sea Eagle and the Harpy Eagle are bulkier.

Here is the stunning trailer.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Belief and Science

Image result for higgs bosonEnvironment & Science Education
STEM
Nature of Science
History of Science
Edward Hessler

While this has been said many other times, I still like reading lines such as the following from theoretical physicists, Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder:

"Look I'm a scientist. Scientists don't deal with beliefs. They deal with data and hypotheses. Science is about knowledge and facts, not about beliefs."

In a relatively recent post on her blog BackReaction, Professor Hossenfelder begins by calling our attention to a comment/question she often hears after public presentations: "Do you really believe that X exists?"  Her response: "Why do you care what I believe? What does it matter for anything."

The essence of Hossenfelder's short and important essay is found in what she has to say about a particle of physics, the Higgs boson (not the only example she uses). "The Higgs-boson and quarks are names that we have given to mathematical structures. ... We use this mathematics to make predictions. The predictions agree with measurements. This is what we mean when we say 'quarks exist': We mean that the predictions obtained with the hypothesis agrees with observation."

She also has some comments to make about philosophy of science, particular the idea of scientific realism, a belief system about which science can say nothing. Philosophers have a lot to say about it.

The essay, "Does the Higgs Boson Exist," was published on May 22 2019. You can read it or watch a short video of her comments. Professor Hossenfelder includes a worthy homework assignment, too, one I've yet to complete but I'm not taking the course for credit (I'll use any excuse.)

Please read or watch.

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Who Owns the Moon?


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Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Solar System
Ethics
Law
Edward Hessler

It is fifty years after the Apollo 11 moon landing and, of course, this has opened a new law discipline. It might have a real name but I'll call it Extra Terrestrial Law until I know better.

This short New Yorker video explores the territory.

And of all the possible music I might have chosen you get this which may or may not be predictive of what's ahead.

Monday, June 24, 2019

Short Takes

Image result for scientists
Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

Climate Dilemma

Sofia Kjellman is a PhD student in climate science at UiT The Arctic University of Norway (Tromso). Recently she was called a hypocrite for flying several times a months for field work and meetings. Since she started graduate school in February 2018 she has taken "34 flight legs." This corresponds to more than 70,000 kilometres (~44,000 miles) and about 5.6 tonnes (~6 tons)  of carbon dioxide. In a career column in Nature, Kjellman considers whether she needs to fly (she decides she does) and what she has done and plans to do to reduce her carbon footprint "while protecting my career."

Juliana v. U.S.

It has been about 4 years since 21 children and adolescents (ages 8 and 19), including Kelsey Juliana filed a suit against the federal government charging that government inaction on addressing climate change violated their constitutional right to life, liberty, and property. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in early June to decide whether the case will proceed to trial in district court in Oregon. In a perspective in the New England Journal of Medicine discuss "the adverse effects of continued emissions of carbon dioxide and fossil-fuel-related pollutants threaten children's right to a healthy existence in a safe, stable environment." The authors and some 80 physicians and doctors and 15 health organizations...have submitted an amicus brief to help educate the Ninth Circuit about this extraordinary threat."

Species & Ecosystems

European roe deer are much smaller than their American counterparts. Unlike white-tail deer, roe deer are solitary, have a small home range, and are not territorial. This led graduate student Nathan Ranc to wonder "What makes them stay in such a small space for their entire lifetime?" He and others are studying how roe deer make foraging decisions through a research design that makes smart use of GPS collars and by adjusting the availability of supplemental corn feeding. Additionally, in another project in Italy, researchers are studying roe deer that have been reintroduced to an area where they were hunted to extinction.This presents "ideal conditions to study how their home ranges emerge," or how species become ecosystems. Ranc notes that their work with roe deer is "part of a turn in ecology toward understanding the importance of individual animals' behavior." To put it in a broader context, "studying how animals use space is to understand how humans can conserve and coexist with them." The research is described in Harvard Magazine.

On Vaccine Safety: Results from a Large Survey about Science and Health

A Wellcome Trust Survey on science and health involving more than 140,000 people from 140 countries found that some 80% of respondents worldwide agree that vaccines are safe. France is the outlier--the highest percentage in the world where one in three disagree that vaccines are safe. People living in wealthy countries are more likely to question the safety of vaccines than people living in poor countries. The survey was on science and health and the major findings are nicely summarized in key findings, short videos, infographics, and photographs. In addition the report/chapters may be read on-line. BTW, 57% of those surveyed "don't think they know much--if anything--about science."

Parenting

Many scientists are also parents who do field work. A careers essay in Nature by Emily Sohn describes the experience of several parents who take their kids on fieldwork trips. Because most grants for field work seldom include a line item for paying caregivers, when they must be hired "local norms (must be researched) to work out how much to pay caregivers." Sometimes a research topic as well as locality must be changed. One large interview study of anthropologists on balancing field work and children, by a researcher who switched his research topic when he and his wife had premature triplets, found that "most had family support to help subsidize their research." A husband-wife team who "stayed in a large house with the rest of the field team," brought ear plugs for everyone. It is not clear that they were used, though. A non-parent member of the team thought "that it was good for the team, having a baby around. It was relatively amusing for everyone getting up in the morning and having breakfast with a baby. It gave us all a distraction from work when we needed it.'" A huge issue is health insurance and this requires considerable ingenuity in solving. Human geographer Kelly Dombroski now has a blog (Throwntogetherness) which includes several essays on parenting in the field. Among the benefits for kids is living in another culture and learning a new language, e.g., a four-year old in the story "can speak English, Swedish, Arabic, and some French, thanks to her exposure to a multinational research team." Her father, archaeologist John Ward, says "Life is short: children are part of that, and it's not a hindrance." A University of Minnesota geographer, Kathryn Grace, who studies maternal and child health is among those featured but I leave it to you to learn more about her experience and observations, including how it has affected her teaching. This essay is delightful and includes a fieldwork with children checklist.




Saturday, June 22, 2019

Ants to the Rescue!


Image result for ant

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

In a report in The American Naturalist, we learn that desert harvester ants (Veromessor pergandei) are willing to risk trying to free colony mates entangled in spider webs. They even go further when successful, dismantling the web afterward. According to a short report published in Science, "about 6% of rescuers got stuck in the silk themselves or were captured by the spider lurking nearby."

The article includes a short film of this behavior.





Friday, June 21, 2019

Friday Poem


Image result for poet laureate

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is by Joy Harjo, not the first time I've posted one of her poems. In addition to being a great poem, it also is a pleasure to announce that she was just named Poet Laureate of the United States.

Ms. Harjo is the first Native American as well as the first Oklahoman to hold this position.

Here is a Q & A with Joy Harjo.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Astrolabe Technology


Image result for astrolabe

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Astronomy
Technology
History of Science
Edward Hessler

"Let me start with a confession," begins writer Lee Lawrence in her recent article in Aramoco World, "I am no engineering whiz, but I like to know how things work. I studied religion, and I often write about art, which is how I first became entranced by astrolabes. Their beauty is mesmerizing, but their efficacy as an instrument leaves me perplexed."

Lawrence titled her essay Astrolabe Tech Made...Not So Easy which is a perfect and honest abstract about her struggle and persistence in figuring out the workings of the astrolabe as well as learning how to use it.

This incredibly clever instrument--a portable computer in its time, perhaps the first--was used "to compute the next eclipse at any location on any date; know where the planets were or had been; and tell when the sun would rise and set, any day, anywhere." In addition, it could be used to tell time, calculate height and assist in direction.

Lawrence learns how to make one but is not as successful as she hoped in learning how to use it. Her essay describes the parts of the astrolabe, how they work, Lawrence's construction of an astrolabe and her effort in learning to master it. In addition, illustrator Ivy Johnson provides a quick and interesting history of the astrolabe in a comic paneled format. The idea was influenced and made possible by a variety of people. I thought Lawrence did very well in learning how to tell time using her astrolabe.

Lawrence's essay is beautifully illustrated and includes a link to a video featuring her effort.  Inside the essay is a reference to the Astrolabe Generator (The Astrolabe Project: An Obsession in Progress by Richard Wymarc) which is a trove of information and videos, some by scholars, as well as instructions on how to construct a customized astrolabe using a laser.


Wednesday, June 19, 2019

This Nose Knows: The Smell of Numbers

Image result for asian elephantsEnvironmental & Science Eduction
STEM
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Behavior
Edward Hessler


A paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science caught the attention of the editors of the British science journal Nature

A research team led by Joshua Plotnik (Hunter College) "presented Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) with two buckets, each holding a different quantity of sunflower seeds that were hidden from sight. After using their trunks to give each a good sniff, the animals tended to pick the bucket with more seeds." This talent may be unique among animals.

In Inverse, senior author Joshua Plotnick describes how this study began. “As part of a conservation education program my colleagues and I created for middle school students, we designed a study looking at whether elephants could follow human pointing cues to find food in buckets,” he says. “They couldn’t, which surprised not only me but also the elephant handlers (mahouts) in Thailand.” The mahouts, who had seen elephants retrieve tourists’ dropped sandals many times before, had always assumed the animals were responding to people pointing out the objects.

“This led me to a big turning point in my research focus,” says Plotnik. “What if the elephants weren’t following the pointing cue, but were instead using their ears and nose to guide their behavior (i.e., their ears helped them localize the directionality of the mahout’s voice while their noses led them to the smell of smelly feet).”

The short summary published in Nature may be found here. And here is a film from the journal Science showing the elephants using their noses to judge quantities.  It is a very clever experiment, one that appears to avoid the researchers providing cues to the elephants (see Clever Hans).




Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Climate: By The Numbers


Image result for carbon emissions

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Earth Science
Edward Hessler

I should look at this graph more often, perhaps two to four times per year.

Take a look at recent data from Mauna Loa Observatory (MLO) on atmospheric CO2.

Quite an achievement.

Here is another update, a first. We've managed to exceed 415 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It occurred on May 11, 2019.

How long will we continue to overachieve?

Monday, June 17, 2019

Environmental Films


Image result for film festival

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Nature
Miscellaneous
Edward Hessler

"Since 1979, outdoor enthusiasts and environmental activists alike have flocked to the mountain town of Telluride, Colorado, to watch the drama of the natural world unfold on the big screen.
"Grist, the media sponsor of this year’s Mountainfilm Festival, reviewed a few of our favorite docs from more than 150 films. In the following features and shorts, newts dance underwater to a jazzy soundtrack, salmon hurtle through the air, and a mud explosion wreaks havoc on an Indonesian village."

 Here is the link to eight of the films the Grist team reviewed.

Saturday, June 15, 2019

Google Doodle June 15, 2019


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Environmental & Science Education
Society
Culture
Edward Hessler

Today's Google Doodle (June 15 2019) celebrates the Jingle Dress Dance which originated with the Ojibwe tribe.

The doodle was designed by Ojibwe artist Joshua Mageship Pawis-Steckley.

CNN has a nice story about the doodle with lots of information and a link or two.

Great Science Shots


Image result for golden ratio

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

The British scientific journal Nature has posted May's sharpest science shots.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Friday Poem


Image result for worker

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

In introducing this poem, Ted Kooser, writes that his father once said to him, "Ted, all work is honorable," this, after young Kooser had made fun of the profession of a classmate's father.

The poet's bio is short.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Getting To Know You

Image result for doctor and patientEnvironmental & Science Education
STEM
Medicine
Health
Edward Hessler


You wanna' go where everybody knows your name.--Cheers Theme

What a difference a small change in practice can make for both patients and attending physicians.

Surgeon Dr. Benjamin Schwartz is a gynecologic cancer specialist. He and his team made a seemingly small change in how they prepare for surgery and it "has forever changed the way we now practice medicine."

The idea occurred when Schwatrz was being mentored about his two decade career by another physician who revealed that he had prostate cancer. He told Schwartz that his doctor "had asked to meet with him and his family, and then asked the family members if he could email them."  He wanted them to tell him "stories about the patient--his likes and dislikes, what made him special, and other information that would help his caregivers know and relate to the person behind the prostate cancer diagnosis."  It had a positive effect on him and his family.

So Schwartz "followed suit." He told a patient what he had in mind and then asked the patient's permission to email family members. In the first case, the patient's husband mentioned that his wife was a Pink Floyd fan. So when the patient entered the surgical suite Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb was being played. The next patient was a member of a gospel choir in her church and was greeted with gospel music.

Schwarz's team wondered why the music was being changed and he "explained how it wasn't about the music but making a human connection." The team wanted to know about the emails and "wanted to read them too." The team's standard practice had been to approach a surgery by taking "a pre-surgical pause to prepare before the patient entered the operating room. It's a scripted process in which we discuss important elements of the case." 

In hospital talk patients are often referred to not by name during discussions but as "the cervical cancer patient in Room 303." Schwarz writes that after the change in practice "we know who they are."

"In a recent case, Daniel, a patient's 13-year-old grandson, wrote about his grandma's special meatballs at their Sunday dinners and how he was terrified he'd never see her again or have her be part of those special dinners. 'Please do your best today.'" Schwartz said what you would expect: it "resulted in a hyper-sense of focus."      

You may read Schwartz's full essay in STAT. I hope you will. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

For Caterpillar Fans


Image result for the very hungry caterpillar

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Children
Early Childhood
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

NPR's Neda Ulaby provides some particulars about a certain book, one I hope you have read at least once: first published in 1969, one sold every 30 seconds, nearly 50 million copies have been sold, translated into 62 languages

From Penguin Kids: The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been crawling its way into kids’ hearts for 50 years, and what better way to celebrate than by giving him a brand new cocoon! With a beautiful golden anniversary jacket (with an oversized “50” logo), along with a new introduction letter from Eric Carle himself, this anniversary edition will be sure to delight Caterpillar fans of all ages. Bonus content features an appreciation by prominent children’s literacy advocate Dolly Parton, as well as an essay on the history and significance of the Caterpillar, including rare images of the original sketches and historic photos.

Author Eric Carle, now 89, talks about the book in this 2-minute long video.

Here you can take a look inside the 50th anniversary edition.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Art of Quantum Mechanics

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Art and Environment
Cosmology
Edward Hessler

More than once I wish I could tour an art exhibit inspired by science with a scientist deeply familiar with the science.

A new art exhibit at the Center of Contemporary Culture, Barcelona, Spain on quantum mechanics is such a candidate (I'm not going.). Fortunately a real scientist did and recorded her impressions.

Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder, a researcher who is involved in the search for experimental evidence for quantum gravity, was in Barcelona giving a talk about her work. She learned about the exhibit, went and made a short video using existing material.

The video has a wonderful title: Quantum Mechanics: Still Mysterious After All These Years.

Take a peek.

The video was posted on Hossenfelder's blog (Back Reaction) which includes comments on technical topics, music videos she produces as well as talks on topics, book reviews and insightful comments on the current state of theoretical physics.

By the way Dr. Hossenfelder announced recently that she will be coming to the University of Minnesota this fall to give a talk. I don't think the dates are settled. Hossenfelder is the author of a recent book titled Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray.

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating


Image result for snail

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Behavior
Edward Hessler

I haven't read The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating (2010) by Elisabeth Tova Bailey. This book, a natural history and memoir, won the John Burroughs award for nature writing in 2011. It has received rave reviews and appears destined to become a classic, if it isn't already.

Bailey, bedridden with a chronic illness, encounters a forest snail. She then spent her days lying in bed, observing the snail.

Ms. Bailey has a wonderful webpage about this book, one of the most appealing webpages I've seen. It has questions (with answers), two audios of carrot crunching (one of the snail and one of her to which she playfully adds numbers: the snail has 2642 teeth; she has 32), a video of the snail, an excerpt, a biography with photographs, a book trailer (a Moby Award finalist), a screen saver, an entry on its use in medical humanities, and more.




Monday, June 10, 2019

The Amyloid Hypothesis


Image result for alzheimer's

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Health
Medicine
History of Science
Nature of Science
Edward Hessler

STAT's Damian Garde narrates a short animated film (~6 m) on the history of the credibility of a hypothesis, the idea that amyloid plaques cause Alzheimer's disease.

This hypothesis "eventually became drug industry dogma." Garde asks, "How did nearly two decades of failure not convince the brightest minds in pharma that it was time to move on?

It is complicated, another story on how science works and a reminder that the puzzles presented by the natural world are difficult.





Saturday, June 8, 2019

Birth of a New Volcano


Image result for volcano

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Earth Science
Earth Systems
Geology
Edward Hessler

"The birth of a new volcano is a rare occasion. What began as a fissure in the cornfield of a local farmer in 1943, rose to a height of 336 meters (~1100 feet) within a year. During its nine-year lifespan, the (resulting cinder cone) volcano completely covered the villages of Paricutin and San Juan Parangaricutiro in Mexico, with only part of the church's structure surviving the lava."

This short film by the BBC shows how quickly the world changed for two small communities in Mexico.

Friday, June 7, 2019

Friday Poem


Image result for prairie

Environmental & Science Education
Poetry
Art and Environment
Edward Hessler

Today's poem is by Jane Hirshfield.

And if for no other reason than that I love this song by the Williams, Linda and Robin I add ie. They sang it at a Macalester Prairie Home Companion. Fifty years ago the class of 1969 graduated. They are back to commemorate this event this week-end. Ah, a second reason.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Play, Play, Play and Play Again!


Image result for children playing

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Early Childhood
Edward Hessler

A short, wonderful (and wonder-filled) film on early childhood education with early childhood educator Kisha Reid leading the way.

Minds at work in a play ground aimed at developing minds.

Wednesday, June 5, 2019

No Fly Climate Science


Image result for airplane

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Climate Change
Culture
Society
Edward Hessler

There are Earth scientists and academics who either don't fly or who fly less. They are motivated by by the threat of global warming believing that it's important to align their daily life choices with that reality. Actions not words.

They focus on the academic community "because academics are expected to attend conferences, workshops, and meetings. Many academics, including Earth scientists, have large climate footprints dominated by flying. Meanwhile, colleges and universities ostensibly exist to make a better future, especially for young people. We want out institutions to live up to that promise."

Earth Scientist Dr. Peter Kalmus founded No Fly Climate Science. Members make their own decisions about their travel but "try to fly as little as possible while pushing for systemic change, especially through (their) home institutions.'"

You may learn more about him here. Kalmus is a climate scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The 17 May 2019 issue of Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) has an in depth article about this group. However, only the summary is available to non-members.

Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Two Minutes


Image result for clock

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Miscellaneous
Biodiversity
Edward Hessler

Do nothing but watch this tor two minutes.

Soothes the soul.

Monday, June 3, 2019

Signs of a Minnesota Summer


Image result for summer

Environmental & Science Education
STEM
Biodiversity
Nature
Edward Hessler

When spring seemed to be a-coming on, I posted an illustrated guide on signs of a Minnesota spring. It was written and beautifully illustrated by Greta Kaul (MinnPost).

Ms. Kaul has just published, again in MinnPost, an illustrated guide on signs of a Minnesota summer. The analysis is limited in the same way the spring guide was: "to observations in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area and to phenomena that have three or more recorded observations over time."
The data are from the Minnesota Phenology Network to which you will find a link in Kaul's guide.

So is it summer yet? Depends on who you ask. There are two major ways to think about the seasonst. One was developed by meteorologists; the other, by astronomers. Meteorological summer is from June 1 to August 31. Kaul's lovely essay and watercolor guide was published on May 31. So summer it 'tis by one account.

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Treacherous Terrain: A Career in Academic Medicine

Image result for stanford universityEnvironmental & Science Education
STEM
Women in Science
History of Science
Medicine
Edward Hessler

Die Luft der Freiheit weht--the wind of freedom blows. Unoffical Motto, Stanford University  

This is a longer than normal post. It is divided into sections which I hope are useful.

Introductory Comments

The mileposts in Dr. Frances Conley's neurosurgical career at the Stanford University School of Medicine are like bright stars shining in a crisp winter night sky. 

First woman (1966) to be admitted to a surgical internship, the first female (1975) faculty member in any surgery division, the fifth woman (1977) to become a board certified neurosurgeon in the United States, the first woman (1982) to receive a tenured professorship in neurosurgery at any U. S. medical school, and a year later (1986) the first woman to be granted a full professorship. 

Like any summary of life as a list, it is one of omissions, e.g., a successful research career, the first women's winner of the Bay to Breakers 12K (1971), a master's degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, member of the Medical Faculty Senate, training of surgical residents (mostly men).

Stanford University was founded in 1885 in memory of Leland Stanford, Jr., the only child of then Senator Leland Stanford and Jane Lathrop Stanford. Stanford had made a fortune in railroads. Stanford University, like Cornell University, was to be open to both women and men. Stanford envisioned a university where "females shall have equal advantages with males." A place where "its motto applies equally to all regardless of gender, race, age, marital status, or sexual orientation."
Image result for female surgeon

Resignation

So given the University commitment to equal advantage what led, Dr. Conley at age 50 to resign her position as a tenured full professor of neurosurgery from the Stanford University School of Medicine?  And why did she announce this so publicly in a long letter to six editorial pages of which four of the newspapers were in the Bay area?

In Walking Out on the Boys (FSG 1998), Frances Conley describes her reasons. I strongly recommend this book.

It is more than fair to say that Dr. Conley "had it all" in her career except for one vital ingredient, "personal dignity." In her letter, Dr. Conley noted that "even today, faculty are using slides of Playboy centerfolds to 'spice up' lectures; sexist comments are frequent and those who are offended are told to be 'less sensitive.' Unsolicited touching and fondling occur between house staff and students with the latter having little recourse to object. To complain might affect a performance evaluation. The subsequent ramifications could damage career paths and may extend well into the future." And for some medical students at Stanford it did. Those stories are heart wrenching.

Conley continued by describing her "work environment of the past 24 months as 'hostile.' Triggering the resignation was a decision that precipitously turned what I had hoped to be a temporary situation into a permanent one with regard to departmental leadership. (Conley, not interested in this position did not apply.) Now at age 50 and looking ahead to the next 10 to 15 years of my career, I decided I didn't need to continue hearing myself described as 'difficult.'"

"As a fellow faculty member, I felt I had the right to express an honest difference of opinion but found any deviation on my part from the majority view often was announced prominently as a manifestation of PMS or being 'on the rag.' I find myself unwilling to be called 'hon' or 'honey' with the same degree of sweet condescension used by this department for all women-- nurses, secretaries, administrative assistants, female medical students."

A few months following her resignation after initiatives for change in procedures, policies, and practices were announced. Dr. Conley rescinded her resignation, determined to work toward the implementation of those changes.

Leadership

Image result for stanford
What leaps from the pages is that leadership in the Stanford Medical school was generally positional...by authority. Only a very few of the leaders she described were interested or felt any responsibility in helping subordinates/younger and less experienced learners grow.  This practice was not viewed as part of the leadership territory. This is an academic community where a commitment to teaching and learning is assumed (by those outside the institution and expected and hoped for from students).

Conley writes about the selection of leaders during her time there. I hope and think some of this has changed. "In academic medicine," the process "is wrong.  It favors those who have built their careers by intimidation and fear. Candidates for department chairs and deans submit a curriculum vita, give a seminar or general rounds, interview with a few faculty, and are promoted on the basis of a written record of academic achievement, one or two days of sociability, and the basis of who know whom. Non one bothers to call the head nurse of the operating room or the other 'little people' at the candidate's present institution to inquire whether or not the staff enjoys working with him or her, whether or not he or she treats subordinates fairly, whether or not a passion for developing a passion for developing the careers of others has been evident. We tend to forget that love and respect can also confer immense power."

On Academia

Dr. Conley has harsh words for academic institutions. "The academic environment has become too imperious, too arrogant, too complacent, to be sufficiently introspective to observe and correct its own faults, let alone those of  our society.  Evolution within academia has made  it dependent on outsiders with power--e. g., industry and wealthy alumni donors. Its liberal environment is a masquerade; in fact, academic centers are suffocating under a heavy cloak of unspoken conservatism, and increasingly are unwilling to accept any risk. Universities take inordinate pride in holding themselves out as enlightened places that create and respond to change, places that disseminate absolute truth and the most up-to-date research. However, they also possess all the foibles of institutions. Currently, their real desire is to maintain a comfortable status quo, exuding peace and tranquility especially for the benefit of the press. Because vexatious issues rarely are allowed to surface, and in fact find a comfortable underground burrow, an amazing tolerance for behavioral irregularities has developed in universities. ...  It is true that in my one brief skirmish with it, the 'system' worked for me--but only because it was prodded by a tenacious media and presented with incontrovertible evidence. Even then, there was no revolution--not even reform."

Personal Insights

Conley readily admits her faults, e.g.,  like surgeons generally she was strongly opinionated, blunt and self-confident. She also shows a remarkable openness to self-examination. There were "some tough questions to answer for myself. Why had I been so blind? If not blind, exactly, just willing to look the other way? ... Up to 1991 I was willing to be a "good sport" and accept harassment, rather than challenge or question it and risk alienation, dismissal, or not being promoted. Instead, I chose to join the existing system, and had use that system, created by and for men, very well. ... Not wanting to lose my quasi membership  in the surgeons' club, I had never done anything to stop behavior that was repulsive to me and ultimately damaging to my self-respect and dignity. Instead I had developed a fine art of repartee. I, too, could be insulting, using our dirty language to turn their faces red. ... Now, after the Senate meeting (with current medical students), I realized I might well have damaged the professional lives of others, because my own inaction, over the years, was as responsible as any other factor for perpetuating the sexist climate medical students found abhorrent and were now fighting."

A Contrast in Educational Experiences

Conley spent her "first two undergraduate years at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia, an all-women's school. The time there had been liberating and exhilarating.  I saw women as professors and student body presidents, women who sparkled with wit and intelligence and where highly motivated to do something important with their lives. At Bryn Mawr I learned I had the intelligence to do whatever I wanted in life. That lesson, unfortunately, was incomplete. The unfinished message was that intelligence and capability would not be enough. In addition, I would need to wage a lifelong battle to overcome imprinted cultural expectations, especially those defining a woman's limits, and be willing to persist in the face of misogynistic antagonism." 
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The Lecture Circuit

Following the publication of her editorial and many articles about it as well as media appearances, Conley was asked to speak at many medical schools (including the University of Minnesota). There she sometimes talked with administrators and met with medical students. The stories she heard from medical students "were no different than what I had heard at Stanford. Common to all of them was the fact that women were treated differently, and the male students who attended these sessions agreed." 

During these trips Conley found that "the solution to the harassment/discrimination 'problem' at most medical schools was to appoint a relatively low-level administrator (usually a woman) to be 'sexual harassment coordinator,' or 'ombudsperson.'Very few of these had a direct reporting relationship to the top dog--president, dean, chancellor, provost. However, I discovered two exceptions: Merle Waxman at Yale and Mary Rowe at MIT. Both have direct access to their respective president's ear and a true commitment from those at the top to eliminate those societal diseases."

In Closing

Certainly there have been changes in how women are treated. Some followed from her action and the response of medical schools across the country but I have no idea of what a woman's life in medicine is like today. Certainly any visit to websites of medical schools will show that the respective departments have a mix of women and men. I don't know anything about parity in leadership positions such as department chairs, heads, deans, and administration.  

This report of a medical student, while not a scientific study is still enough to indicate that the kinds of obstacles and attitudes Conley faced still persist. This report is teeth chattering. The lesson for me is that real change is very elusive and resisted both covertly and overtly.

I think it will be a while before the wind blows free for everyone but I hope that it will.