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Ferida Wolff's Backyard's Weather Puzzles: A Strange Time of Year Here; Jigsaw Puzzles As Cognitive Enrichment
Ferida Wolff writes: "Sometimes there is ice on the morning windshield and by afternoon jackets aren’t needed. Snow may be predicted but we haven’t seen a snowstorm yet. One day the wind was so aggressive that it moved things sideways. Another day was so foggy that it was hard to see beyond a few feet. The weather has been puzzling for a while now." And another source: "Solving jigsaw puzzles is a low-cost, intrinsically motivating, cognitive leisure activity, which can be executed alone or with others and without the need to operate a digital device." more »
What Should I Read? The New York Public Library Selects Best Books of 2019 for Kids, Teens and Adults
Titles include: The Roots of Rap: 16 Bars on the 4 Pillars of Hip Hop by Carole Boston Weatherford, a picture book that traces the history and heroes of rap and hip hop; Pet, the fantasy novel for teens by Akwaeke Emezi; the soon-to-be adapted for television Normal People by Sally Rooney; Library of Small Catastrophes, a book of poetry by Alison C. Robbins; and a picture book about a father-daughter motorcycle ride Mi Papi Tiene Una Moto by Isabel Quintero and Zeke Peña. (Editor's Note: Don't forget the NYPL book Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers, A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom from the Files of the New York Public Library ... see illustration)
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Off the Wall: American Art to Wear at the Philadelphia Museum; Body-related Forms to Express a Personal Vision
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is presenting a major exhibition that highlights a distinctive American art movement that emerged in the late 1960s and flourished during the following decades. Focusing on iconic works made during the three decades between 1967 and 1997, the exhibition features 115 works by 62 artists. It examines a generation of pioneering artists who used body-related forms to express a personal vision and frames their work in relation to the cultural, historical and social concerns of their time. more »
US National Institutes of Health: Understanding Allergic Reactions to Skin Care Products
Many allergic reactions start when immune system cells known as T cells detect a foreign substance, called an antigen, and attempt to neutralize it. A common mechanism for allergic reactions involves T cells recognizing parts of proteins, or peptides. However, personal care products contain other types of compounds that were believed to go undetected by T cells. Researchers set out to uncover how such chemical compounds in personal care products could trigger a T cell reaction. The research team was led by Drs. Annemieke de Jong of Columbia University, D. Branch Moody of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Jamie Rossjohn of Monash University and Cardiff University School of Medicine. more »