LINKS - February 21st, 2024
Welcome to LINKS — my attempt to provide Rhapsody readers with five interesting stories that tell us something about what it means to be human. LINKS is published every Wednesday. Have a link you want to share? Drop it in the comments.
Scientists Find Genetic Signature of Down Syndrome in Ancient Bones
By Carl Zimmer, The New York Times
“Scientists have diagnosed Down syndrome from DNA in the ancient bones of seven infants, one as old as 5,500 years. Their method, published in the journal Nature Communications, may help researchers learn more about how prehistoric societies treated people with Down syndrome and other rare conditions.”
Opinion: The twisted irony in Alabama’s court decision on embryos
By Mary Ziegler, CNN.com
“The irony in the Alabama court’s decision is that more Americans who want to be parents will be unable to achieve that dream. The ruling is extraordinary not only in declaring personhood before birth but also in applying the idea to embryos that haven’t been implanted in the uterus. But the ruling is not just bizarre; its consequences may be profound.”
Liberal socialism now
By Matthew McManus, aeon
“Liberal socialism is a political ideology that combines support for many liberal political institutions and rights with a socialist desire to establish far more equitable and democratic economic arrangements. The latter point is put plainly by Michael Walzer in his book The Struggle for a Decent Politics (2023), in which he writes that, while ‘liberal socialists are not “egalitarianist”, they are serious about equality – more so, generally, than liberal democrats.’ This deeper concern for equality relative to classical liberals becomes apparent when we look at when liberal socialism emerged and how its major figures defended its core arguments.”
Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out
By Derek Thompson, The Atlantic
“Something’s changed in the past few decades. After the 1970s, American dynamism declined. Americans moved less from place to place. They stopped showing up at their churches and temples. In the 1990s, the sociologist Robert Putnam recognized that America’s social metabolism was slowing down. In the book Bowling Alone, he gathered reams of statistical evidence to prove that America’s penchant for starting and joining associations appeared to be in free fall. Book clubs and bowling leagues were going bust.”
Newfound immune cells are responsible for long-lasting allergies
By Tina Hesman Saey, ScienceNews
“A specialized type of immune cell called type 2 memory B cells or MBC2s hold the memory of proteins that cause allergies, two independent groups of researchers report February 7 in Science Translational Medicine. Memory B cells are important for long-lasting protection against infectious diseases, but this subset is primed to make the type of antibodies that lead to allergies.”