I’m planning on taking the general and biology GREs in a few months and plan on doing some studying this summer. To those of you who’ve suffered through them already, what were the best study aids you found?
Finished!
I’m not an undergraduate anymore! It’s taken me awhile – I started college in 2003.
Expect many posts about the GRE and graduate school applications over the next year.
This Is What Climate Change Looks Like
Residents are evacuated in Fieldstone Farms in Franklin on Sunday. (MANDY LUNN / THE TENNESSEAN)
Nashville received more rainfall with this storm than in any other time period of the same length over the entire weather record for the city.
Genome
I attended the very last lecture of my evolution class this semester last Friday. Like all the rest of the lectures, it was impossibly dull. This professor has made facts out of things I thought could never happen, like falling asleep during a lecture on sexual selection. Despite my professor’s best efforts, however, I’m still interested in evolution.
To make up for my terrible professor, I’ve been listening to this fantastic course on human evolution and doing some reading. In addition to reading my textbook cover to cover (twice) to stay awake through lecture, I read Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
Genome is a popular science book and you don’t need to know anything about genetics or evolution to get through it. It’s a bit outdated – a lot has happened in the field in the last 10 years, but the basics are solid and not one part is even a little dull. I particularly liked how the book was structured: a chapter for each chromosome and a related theme. I was worried at first that it would feel segmented, but the themes were well connected and very obviously part of the larger whole. One of the fun things about this book is that he focused so much on what we don’t know and how (then) recent findings created far more questions than they answered. That’s how science works and he captured the excitement of that process well.
What I’ve Noticed
Anti-vaxxers are a blast from the past – who knew whooping cough would still be killing people in developed countries in the 21st century?
Important information that your intro stats professor likely didn’t mention.
While cutting classes and entire programs, reducing pay for already underpaid professors, and laying people off right and left, my university decided to spend $85,000 to install a high tech attendance system.
The lack of real access to high speed internet in the US is going to bite us in the ass someday.
How US income tax brackets have changed since the beginning of the 20th century: a lot.
I’m going to need a new computer soon, and I love my mac, but this makes me a bit reluctant to get another one.
I don’t qualify for poor-people health insurance because of scholarships, which is unreasonable because scholarships can technically only be used for expenses related to education. This woman now has $20,000 in medical bills because of that nonsensical rule.
People who try to back up racist ideas about intelligence with science have a fundamental misunderstanding of heredity.
Why it’s so hard to break down class barriers: powerful people cheat, but judge others harshly. Normal people hold themselves to high standards and are more forgiving of others.
Leopards are adorable as kittens, but they'll eat you when they grow up.
Things to keep in mind when reading social networking studies.
More sexism in science. It’s demoralizing how often this sort of thing happens.
A very different approach to dealing with migraine triggers: don’t avoid them, get used to them. It doesn’t seem to work with pressure changes.
Americans tend to assume that all Hispanic immigrants are illegals from Mexico and are generally down with all kinds of mistreatment of these people. Mexico has a similar attitude towards the Central American immigrants trying to get through to the US.
The Boy Scouts banned gays, but readily accepted and protected pedophiles.
Christian advice on the relationship between scrubbing the toilet and sex. I’m pretty sure it’s directed at the ladies.
A clear example from America’s long history of anti-immigrant sentiment and the social construction of race.
Modern Appliances by Jared
Berry Go Round #27
Berry Go Round #27 is up now at A Neotropical Savanna. If, like me, you’re still wearing wool coats and winter boots and looking longingly at the teeny tiny buds hoping spring will JUST HURRY UP, it might help you forget that it’s 24 degrees out right now. It could also make you even crankier about the weather.
It isn’t all spring flowers, though – Mary points out a great moss post at The Vasculum and Ted MacRae’s post on the astonishingly odd and lovely winter blooming Ozark Witch Hazel.
Next month’s BGR will be hosted at Greg Laden’s Blog. Submit something or volunteer to host another month!
Pretty Things
Secret Garden - bobby pins by everydayglory on Etsy