david syring
5,261 Flips | 63 Magazines | 4 Likes | 5 Following | 6,306 Followers | @davidsyring | Anthropologist, educator/learner, social justice seeker, food systems researcher, botanically obsessed, arts lover, dweller in place.
What a Grieving Orca Tells Us
People know a famous community of killer whales as individuals, with their own names, families, and personalities—which has made their woes even harder to take.<p>The first half of the killer whale’s scientific name—<i>Orcinus orca</i>—comes from the Latin for “of the realms of the dead.” For one population …
Whale WatchingNew theory paints more sophisticated picture of ancient Easter Island
<b>(CNN) —</b> For decades, mystery has swirled around what happened to the founding population of the remote Easter Island, known for its towering stone statues depicting large carved heads. A long-held theory suggests that after the islanders set up camp and carved the giant statues, they destroyed …
ArchaeologyCommon words that came from the Vikings
Probably you’ve never studied Conversational Viking, let alone claimed to speak it.However, the language of the Vikings, Old Norse, has influenced …
Public RelationsThe Literary Canon Is Mostly White. Here's an Alternative Latin American Reading List
1<p><b>If you have to read:</b> <i>Catcher in the Rye</i> by J.D. Salinger<p><b>Try:</b> <i>I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter</i> by Erika L. Sánchez<p>Holden Caulfield is the classic …
LiteratureRook at this mess: French park trains crows to pick up litter
Six crows trained to pick up cigarette ends and rubbish will be put to work next week at a French historical theme park, according to its president.<p>“The goal is not just to clear up, because the visitors are generally careful to keep things clean” but also to show that “nature itself can teach us …
Birds"Edge of the Knife" World Premiere - Press Release
<b>MEDIA RELEASE</b><p><i>For immediate release</i><p><b>World Premiere of Haida-language film “Sg̱aawaay K’uuna (Edge of The Knife)” announced for 43rd Toronto</b> …
British ColumbiaHow non-English speakers are taught this crazy English grammar rule you know but have never heard of
English grammar, beloved by sticklers, is also feared by non-native speakers. Many of its idiosyncrasies can turn into traps even for the most confident users.<p>But some of the most binding rules in English are things that native speakers know but don’t know they know, even though they use them every …
LanguageBooker prize longlisting leaves Sabrina's publishers struggling to meet demand
Readers have been scrambling to get hold of copies of Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina since it became the first graphic novel ever to make the Booker prize longlist last month, with bookshops desperately seeking new stock of the surprise bestseller.<p>Waterstones head of fiction Chris White said that the book, …
BooksWe’ve started living climate change, not just studying it, scientists say
Dozens of heat-related deaths in Japan this summer offered a foretaste of what researchers warn could be big increases in mortality from extreme heat.
Climate ChangeGene-editing startups ignite the next 'Frankenfood' fight
(Reuters) - In a suburban Minneapolis laboratory, a tiny company that has never turned a profit is poised to beat the world's biggest agriculture firms to market with the next potential breakthrough in genetic engineering - a crop with "edited" DNA.<p>Calyxt Inc, an eight-year-old firm co-founded by a …
GeneticsNative Tribes Are Taking Fire Control Into Their Own Hands
Sometimes Vikki Preston is inching her way through the forest when she comes across a grove of tan oak trees that feels special. The plants are …
ForestsHouseplants 101: How to Propagate Plants
As a garden designer who also loves making homemade gifts, I often propagate my houseplants. Giving away or swapping the plant babies is a rewarding …
PlantsThe 6 classics from The College Board: 101 Great Books list you should read right now
We know <i>The College Board: 101 Great Books Recommended for College-Bound Readers</i> can seem like an endless list of dusty tomes written by authors who …
BooksPlants Are the World's Dominant Life-Form
Flora make up the majority of Earth’s biomass, followed by bacteria
National Academy of Sciences18 German Words That Honestly Just Make So Much Sense
Use these to build up your ~wortschatz~.<p><i>This article was first published in English.</i><p><i>This post was translated from German.</i>
LanguageScientists say your “mind” isn’t confined to your brain, or even your body
You might wonder, at some point today, what’s going on in another person’s mind. You may compliment someone’s great mind, or say they are out of their mind. You may even try to expand or free your own mind.<p>But what <i>is</i> a mind? Defining the concept is a surprisingly slippery task. The mind is the seat …
The BrainWhen did Aboriginal people first arrive in Australia?
Many Aboriginal Australians would say with conviction that they have always been here. Their ancestors and traditional learnings tell them of this …
Anthropology73 Years Later, the "A-Bomb" Ginkgo Trees Still Grow in Hiroshima
"There’s a huge paradox at the heart of this ginkgo story."<p>On August 6, 1945, an Allied plane dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, creating a …
HiroshimaDonald Trump, Barack Obama, and the war over change - Vox
How demographic change is fracturing our politics.<p>In 2008, Barack Obama held up change as a beacon, attaching to it another word, a word that channeled everything his young and diverse coalition saw in his rise and their newfound political power: <i>hope</i>. An America that would elect a black man …
Political ScienceHow to Prepare for Class Without Overpreparing
<i>Image: iStock</i><p><i>By James Lang</i><p>I’ll get right to the point, because I know you don’t have much time. A new semester is looming, and you are overwhelmed. …
Farmers to hold urgent summit over 'crippling impact' of heatwave
The National Farmers' Union will hold a "drought summit" amid fears the heatwave could seriously affect crop supplies.<p>Emergency talks on tackling the …
FarmingRespecting the Value of Food: Eating What We Grow
Hannah Semler, founder of food system consulting, Whole Crops, and co-founder of online farmers market, FarmDrop, guides her work with a simple …
AgricultureOpinion: How Not To Talk About Race And Genetics
<i>Jonathan Kahn, James E. Kelley Professor of Law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law</i><p><i>Alondra Nelson, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Columbia</i> …
AnthropologyBodies believed to be those of 95 black forced-labor prisoners from Jim Crow era unearthed in Sugar Land after one man’s quest
Today the city of Sugar Land is a sprawling suburb southwest of Houston, home to Imperial Sugar Co., shopping malls and endless cul-de-sacs. But more than a century ago, it was a sprawling network of sugar cane plantations and prison camps. Sugar Land was better known then as the Hellhole on the …
Black HistoryThe Myth of Racial Purity in Roman Britain
<i> This model at the Museum of London depicts the first bridge over the River Thames, which was built by the Romans in the first century. Steven G.</i> …
ArchaeologyAncient Tools Discovered in China Confound Accepted Theory of Human Migration
"This has been one of the high points in my career."<p>Earth is littered with evidence of intrepid, ancient peoples who had one big thing in common …
AnthropologyNew Thoughts on Human Evolution
JENA, GERMANY—According to a report in <i>The Atlantic</i>, an international team of scientists led by archaeologist Eleanor Scerri of the University of …
Teaching and Scaffolding Student Talk
One of the strongest draws towards reading Literacy Essentials: Engagement, Excellence and Equity for All Learners has been the many research-based …
Six Books that Will Change the Way You Think
Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, Adam Grant, and Daniel Pink have selected the six Spring Finalist books for the Next Big Idea Club.<p>The votes are in! …
Black Lives MatterNo single birthplace of mankind, say scientists
The origins of our species have long been traced to east Africa, where the world’s oldest undisputed <i>Homo sapiens</i> fossils were discovered. About 300,000 years ago, the story went, a group of primitive humans there underwent a series of genetic and cultural shifts that set them on a unique …
East Africa