News and Issues

In Undaunted the author tells the stories of numerous women who have made their mark on the profession of journalism. Reaching back to the early 19th Century, she begins with Margaret Fuller, who “unstuck the gate” in the 1840s. She carries that history to the current era, exploring several themes. Her own years as a journalist shine through in her writing. Undaunted is a good read. more »

Ferida Woolf Writes: "I’ve been noticing that there are more mushrooms popping up on lawns recently. Brown ones, white ones, flat, round, and, well, traditionally mushroom-shaped. I looked up mushrooms and I think the ones I saw were like Giant Puffballs (Calvatia gigantea)... But whatever kind is local, they are so interesting to see. It makes my daily walk new each time." more »

"A 25-year-old J. Robert Oppenheimer arrived at UC Berkeley in fall 1929 as an assistant professor, and over the next dozen years established one of the greatest schools of theoretical physics in the U.S. — one that continues to this day. He made UC Berkeley’s physics department the center of American thought about the new field of quantum mechanics and how to apply it to atoms, nuclei and even neutron stars."   more »

"A new study suggests that cells preparing to divide can reverse this process and return to a resting state, challenging long-held beliefs about cell division. If interrupted early in their preparation to divide, cells were able to halt the division process, known as mitosis. The finding, led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and reported July 5, 2023, in Nature, could point toward more effective treatments to interrupt the process by which cancer cells divide quickly and spread. Finding  could point toward more effective treatments that could potentially prevent cancer relapse." more »