Links for 2010-01-09

"Until now, Teach for America has kept its investigation largely to itself. But for this story, the organization allowed me access to 20 years of experimentation, studded by trial and error. The results are specific and surprising. Things that you might think would help a new teacher achieve success in a poor school--like prior experience working in a low-income neighborhood--don't seem to matter. Other things that may sound trifling--like a teacher's extracurricular accomplishments in college--tend to predict greatness. "

"Today, we get a fascinating new perspective on the issue from Eric Johnson, an assistant professor of law at the University of North Dakota School of Law in Grand Forks. Johnson asks what a court should do with a preliminary-injunction request to halt a multibillion-dollar particle-physics experiment that plaintiffs claim could create a black hole that will devour the planet."

"Watching something originally built precisely as a simulation of the Earth--the 2 in "Biosphere 2" is meant to differentiate this place from the Earth itself, i.e. Biosphere 1--slowly taken over by the very forces it was naively meant to model is philosophically extraordinary: the model taken over by the thing it represents. It is a replicant in its dying throes."

"After the aquarium, we went to see Avatar in 3-D. It was great fun, if somewhat hokey. The tons of dough that went into making all those imaginary plants and animals produced some cool effects for sure. But it was pretty tame compared to what nature has to offer for free. Cameron's blue-skinned Na'vi's couldn't hold a candle to even the simplest crab or skate or seabird. Science IS stranger than fiction. But we always knew that, didn't we?"