Scrape wikipedia-science: 266 new, 4 updated, 286 total (kb-cron)

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Briefer_History_of_Time_(Schulman_book)-0.md

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+---
+title: "A Briefer History of Time (Schulman book)"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Briefer_History_of_Time_(Schulman_book)"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:26.564518+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+A Briefer History of Time is a science humor book by American astronomer Eric Schulman. In it, Schulman presents humorous summaries of what he claims are the fifty-three most important events since the beginning of time.
+The title and cover are a parody of Stephen Hawking's book A Brief History of Time. Coincidentally, Hawking later wrote a "sequel" entitled A Briefer History of Time. Hawking's publisher Bantam Books was aware that the title had already been used in a popular science book, but proceeded anyway, stating, "The other book was published six years ago, and Professor Hawking is an international figure."
+
+In 2004, the author released the book under a creative commons license, CC BY-NC-ND 1.0, as a free download on his website.
+
+
+== Description ==
+Schulman's book is intended to be both humorous and educational. It explores why, even though the Universe is expanding, finding a parking space does not get any easier. Furthermore, the book contains a pulp version of the origin of life ("It was a dark and stormy night. In the shallow tide pool, a nucleic acid base collided with a sugar molecule. An amino acid sank beneath the murky depths . . . .").
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Bias_and_Barriers-0.md

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+---
+title: "Beyond Bias and Barriers"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Bias_and_Barriers"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:18.489740+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (ISBN 0309100429) is a major report about the status of women in science from the United States National Academy of Sciences.  Published in 2006, the report closely examines the data, proposed explanations, and possible responses to the relative dearth of women in science and engineering higher education in the United States.
+
+
+== History ==
+The report was written by the "Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering", a panel at the National Academy of Sciences. The committee was chaired by Donna Shalala,  and included college presidents, provosts, professors, scientists, and policy analysts. Committee members included:  Alice M. Agogino, Lotte Bailyn, Robert J. Birgeneau, Ana Mari Cauce, Catherine D. DeAngelis, Denice Denton (who committed suicide before the release of the report), Barbara Grosz, Jo Handeslman, Nan Keohane, Shirley Malcom, Geraldine Richmond, Alice M. Rivlin, Ruth Simmons, Elizabeth Spelke, Joan Steitz, Elaine Weyuker, and Maria T. Zuber.
+As is typical with NAS reports, after the Committee drafted the report, it underwent a peer review process within the NAS, in this case reviewed by another Committee of nineteen members.
+
+
+== Conclusions ==
+The report first notes and documents significant gender gaps throughout the academic pipeline in the sciences, finding that the numbers of women in the sciences decrease "at every educational transition" from high school through fully tenured faculty positions. For instance, over the past 30 years women have earned more than 30% of the doctorates in the social and behavioral sciences and more than 20% in the life sciences; but they hold only 15% of the full professorships in those fields. Minority women are "all but absent from professorships".
+The report then goes on to review ideas about the sources of the gender gaps, ultimately finding that the problem is "unconscious but pervasive bias", "arbitrary and subjective" evaluation processes, and a historic system which bases childrearing and family responsibilities on the concept of a professional spouse with a stay-at-home "wife". Specifically the report found significant evidence of bias: women are paid less, promoted more slowly, receive fewer honors, and hold fewer leadership positions. Although progress has been made in some areas—women are nearly at gender parity with men in entering graduate school in biology; when women are considered for initial promotion to associate professor they succeed at the same rates as men—there are still significant gaps.
+The report found that widespread ideas about women's and men's differences were largely irrelevant, including theories advanced such as cognitive abilities or preferences, career aspirations and ambition, or productivity and work ethic issues.
+Finally, the report reviews a number of potential solutions and makes a variety of recommendations to level the playing field and "stop the leaks" in the leaky pipeline. These steps include~~ Different types of reform that will help mitigate eliminate biases. National Academy of Sciences
+
+alteration of academic procedures for hiring and evaluation ("promotion and tenure"), at the institutional level;
+additional support for working parents at the institutional level;
+efforts across the field to monitor hiring practices
+efforts to institute blind-review in peer review processes to eliminate gender bias;
+and other efforts.
+
+
+== Reception and influence ==
+The report was widely well-received, received significant media coverage, and sparked a number of institutional-level meetings in the months after its release. In general its even-handed and data-rich approach was lauded, although John Tierney, a New York Times opinion columnist, suggested that the report must have been biased because its committee was largely made up of women. In response, Donna Shalala denied that the gender of the scientists biased their scientific findings, and pointed out that while the committee itself was largely made up of women, the committee's work was peer-reviewed by a National Academy of Sciences committee of 19 that included 10 men.
+A number of educational institutions held meetings or established committees to implement recommendations from the report, including Harvard University, M.I.T., University of Texas, Iowa State University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Boston University, Stanford University, and the National Science Foundation,
+The American Council on Education (ACE), a higher education umbrella organization, took the recommendation from the report to monitor hiring practices, and agreed to convene its member organizations to examine ways to do so. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) also convened a meeting at its annual conference.
+Critics have pointed out that in comparing the representation of women in the hiring pool (recent PhD recipients) versus among recent hires (assistant professors), approximations were used as mentioned in Notes on page 17 of the report; these overestimated both the representation and the utilization of women.  One was taking the representation of women among professors from the Survey of Earned Doctorates; as noted in the report, this ignored all professors who received their PhDs abroad.  Also data from the Survey of Earned Doctorates represent samples of those surveyed.  A third approximation is introduced by combining disciplines which show opposite trends in the utilization of their hiring pools, such as chemistry and chemical engineering.  More accurate data and comparisons are available from the Nelson Diversity Surveys (Table 11), which give more accurate comparisons by including all professors regardless of national origin, by getting populations instead of samples, and by treating the disciplines separately.
+
+
+== See also ==
+Association for Women in Science (AWIS)
+Women in science
+Women in medicine
+United States National Academy of Sciences
+
+
+== References ==
+National Academy of Sciences, Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (National Academies Press, 2006) (ISBN 0309100429)
+Laurel Haak (National Research Council) and Alice Agozino (Committee member), "Beyond Bias and Barriers: Press for the National Academies' Report", last updated Feb. 2, 2007 (available at Agozino's website, last visited Dec. 1, 2007).
+Ana Mari Cauce, "Women in Science: Looking Beyond Bias and Barriers," Editorial, The Seattle Times, (Dec. 19, 2006).
+Doug Lederman, "The Real Barriers for Women in Science", Inside Higher Ed, (Sept. 19, 2006).
+Cornelia Dean, "Institutions Hinder Female Academics, Panel Says", New York Times, (Sept. 18, 2006).
+National Academy of Sciences, "Broad National Effort Urgently Needed to Maximize Potential of Women Scientists and Engineers in Academia", Press Release, (Sept. 18, 2006).
+Tabitha M. Powledge, "Beyond Bias and Barriers" (Science Careers", Science, (Oct. 13, 2006).
+Lonnie Shekhtman, "Experts Meet at AAAS to Evaluate Ways to Recruit and Retain Women in S&T", AAAS News Release (Oct. 30, 2006).
+Maxine Singer, "Beyond Bias and Barriers", Editorial, Science, v.314, n. 5801, p. 893 (Nov. 10, 2006).
+John Tierney, "Academy of P.C. Sciences", Editorial, New York Times (Sept. 26, 2006).
+
+
+=== Footnotes ===
+
+
+== Further research ==
+Powerpoint presentation used for NAS press conference
+
+
+== External links ==
+Institute for Women in Trades, Technology and Science (IWITTS)

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binas_(book)-0.md

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+---
+title: "Binas (book)"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binas_(book)"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:21.945407+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The Binas (Often written as BiNaS or BINAS) is a Dutch science reference work (a handbook) for the higher levels of secondary school, consisting largely of tables and formulas. The name stands for biologie, natuurkunde, scheikunde (biology, physics, chemistry). It is compiled by NVON (Dutch Association for Education in the Natural Sciences) and has been published by Noordhoff Uitgevers since it became the standard reference work allowed at the central examinations in 1975. An English version of the Binas is also available.
+
+
+== Contents ==
+The Binas is divided into five chapters: general, physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Each chapter consists of multiple tables, each with specific information. These tables can be short or can span up to a few pages. To find information, students can use the alphabetical register in the back. The Binas does not make use of page numbers, but instead the register refers you to a table number.
+
+General. This chapter contains an extensive overview of units of measurement and quantities in the International System of units. This chapter continues in the back of the Binas with safety and environment.
+Physics. The contents of this chapter include physical constants, physical properties of materials, and isotopes. Additionally, it contains information about astronomy, electricity, etc.
+Mathematics. This chapter contains just one table with a number of mathematical formulas.
+Chemistry. The tables in this chapter contain information about chemicals, elements, materials, and reactions. In the back of the Binas, there is a periodic table.
+Biology. This chapter contains tables about general concepts of biology, such as: DNA, cells, circulatory system of the human body, reproduction, etc.
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochemical_Predestination-0.md

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+---
+title: "Biochemical Predestination"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biochemical_Predestination"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:23.099297+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Biochemical Predestination is a 1969 book by Dean H. Kenyon and Gary Steinman which argued in support of biochemical evolution.
+In the book, Kenyon and Steinman conclude that "Life might have been biochemically predestined by the properties of attraction that exist between its chemical parts, especially between amino acids in proteins." They argued that life originated with the chemical properties of amino acids causing them to be attracted to each other, forming long protein chains, most important in every living cell. Kenyon believed that proteins were directly formed by attraction between amino acids without DNA coding, and that these were derivatives from non-living raw chemicals in a conducive environment.
+In 1976 Kenyon was persuaded by the young Earth creationist arguments of A. E. Wilder-Smith.  In the 1982 foreword he wrote to What Is Creation Science? by Henry M. Morris and Gary Parker, Kenyon said that he no longer accepted the pro-evolution arguments in Biochemical Predestination. At the Edwards v. Aguillard trial he provided an affidavit in support of creation science and noted the book as one of his publications. In 1989 Kenyon became a co-author of Of Pandas and People which rebranded creation science as intelligent design.
+
+
+== Analysis ==
+The theory propounded was summarized by Stephen Berry, a chemist; "describing the following causal chain: the properties of the chemical elements dictate the types of monomers that can be formed in prebiotic syntheses, which then dictate the properties of the occurring polymers, which finally dictate the properties of the first eobionts and all succeeding cells." Kenyon's work was about virus production.
+Intelligent design proponent Stephen C. Meyer says that the book provided a new approach which came to be known as "Self-organization".
+
+ 
+Kenyon began to doubt his theory in the mid-1970s after a student posed the question to him as to how the first proteins could have been assembled without specific genetic instructions. On a fellowship at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley during the 1969–1970 academic year, he reviewed literature on the relationship of science and religion. He began to rethink his Christian faith, and  explored the topic further in a 1974 sabbatical at the University of Oxford. In 1976, a student gave him a book by the young Earth creationist A. E. Wilder-Smith, and "Eventually, several other books and articles by neo-creationists came to my attention. I read some of Henry Morris’ books, in particular, The Genesis Flood. I'm not a geologist, and I don't agree with everything in that book, but what stood out was that here was a scientific statement giving a very different view of earth history. Though the book doesn't deal with the subject of the origin of life per se, it had the effect of suggesting that it is possible to have a rational alternative explanation of the past." In 1976 he wrote a new section for Morris and Whitcomb's The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications. In the 1982 foreword he wrote to What Is Creation Science? by Morris and Gary Parker, Kenyon said that he no longer accepted the pro-evolution arguments in Biochemical Predestination. At the Edwards v. Aguillard trial he provided an affidavit in support of creation science and noted the book as one of his publications. Kenyon subsequently became a co-author of Of Pandas and People which rebranded creation science as intelligent design.
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Physics-0.md

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+---
+title: "Biological Physics"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_Physics"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:24.208368+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life: With new art by David Goodsell is a book by Philip Nelson, illustrated by David Goodsell. The fifth printing was published by W. H. Freeman in late 2013. It is a work on biology with an emphasis on the application of physical principles.
+
+
+== References ==
+Altman, Russ B. (June 1, 2005), "Teaching Biology and Physics Together (Book Review: Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life)", Biomedical Computation Review: 30.
+Dobson, Christopher M. (November 25, 2004), "Crossing the boundary (Review of Biological Physics)", Nature, 432 (7016): 444–445, Bibcode:2004Natur.432..444D, doi:10.1038/432444a.
+Doniach, Sebastian (November 2004), "Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life", Books, Physics Today, 57 (11): 63–64, Bibcode:2004PhT....57k..63N, doi:10.1063/1.1839381
+Hagen, Stephen J. (2004), "Post-Use Review. Biological Physics: Energy, Information, Life", American Journal of Physics, 72 (10): 1359, Bibcode:2004AmJPh..72.1359N, doi:10.1119/1.1783904.

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Vermilion_Fish-0.md

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+---
+title: "Book of Vermilion Fish"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Vermilion_Fish"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:25.338101+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Book of Vermilion Fish (simplified Chinese: 朱砂鱼谱; traditional Chinese: 硃砂魚譜; pinyin: Zhūshāyú pǔ; Wade–Giles: Chu-sha-yü-p'u) is the first monograph on goldfish in the world, written by Chinese writer Zhang Qiande (simplified Chinese: 张谦德; traditional Chinese: 張謙德; pinyin: Zhāng Qiāndé; Wade–Giles: Chang Ch'ien-te) (1577－1643) in 1596 during the Ming dynasty.
+
+
+== See also ==
+Fishkeeping
+
+
+== References ==
+A. C. Moule: A Version of the Book of Vermilion Fish. In T'oung Pao. Second Series, Vol. 39, Livr. 1/3 (1950), pp. 1–82.

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca's_Brain-0.md

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+---
+title: "Broca's Brain"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broca's_Brain"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:27.721378+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Broca's Brain: Reflections on the Romance of Science is a 1979 book by the astrophysicist Carl Sagan. Its chapters were originally articles published between 1974 and 1979 in various magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New Republic, Physics Today, Playboy, and Scientific American.  In the introduction, Sagan wrote:
+
+As long as there have been human beings, we have posed the deep and fundamental questions. ... If we do not destroy ourselves, most of us will be around for the answers. ... By far the most exciting, satisfying and exhilarating time to be alive is the time in which we pass from ignorance to knowledge on these fundamental issues.
+
+
+== Title ==
+The title essay is named in honor of the French physician, anatomist and anthropologist Paul Broca (1824–1880). He is best known for his discovery that different functions are assigned to different parts of the brain. He believed that by studying the brains of cadavers and correlating the known experiences of the former owners of the organs, human behavior could eventually be discovered and understood. To that end, he saved hundreds of human brains in jars of formalin; among the collection is his own brain. When Sagan finds it in the Musée de l'Homme, he poses questions that challenge some core ideas of human existence such as "How much of that man known as Paul Broca can still be found in this jar?"—a question that evokes both religious and scientific argument.
+
+
+== Contents ==
+A major part of the book is devoted to debunking "paradoxers" who either live at the edge of science or are outright charlatans. An example of this is the controversy surrounding Immanuel Velikovsky's ideas presented in the book Worlds in Collision. Another large part of the book discusses naming conventions for the members of the Solar System and their physical features. Sagan also discusses science fiction at some length. Here, he mentions Robert A. Heinlein as being one of his favorite science fiction authors in his childhood. Near-death experiences and their cultural ambiguity is another topic of the essays. Sagan also criticizes ideas developed in Robert K. G. Temple's book The Sirius Mystery, published three years earlier in 1975.
+In the final section of the book, "Ultimate Questions", Sagan writes:
+
+My deeply held belief is that if a god of anything like the traditional sort exists, our curiosity and intelligence were provided by such a god ... on the other hand if such a god does not exist then our curiosity and intelligence are the essential tools for survival. In either case the enterprise of knowledge is essential for the welfare of the human species.
+
+
+== Reception ==
+Kirkus Reviews stated that, as an essayist, Sagan was "no Bronowski", and overall judged the collection to be "a mixed, often surprising bag of treats".
+People considered that—aside from the "strangely touching" chapter about Broca's preserved brain—the book as a whole "rambles", with "plenty of science ... but little romance."
+
+
+== References ==

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_for_Brontosaurus-0.md

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+---
+title: "Bully for Brontosaurus"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bully_for_Brontosaurus"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:29.999030+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+Bully for Brontosaurus (1991) is the fifth volume of collected essays by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. The essays were culled from his monthly column "This View of Life" in Natural History magazine, to which Gould contributed for 27 years. The book deals, in typically discursive fashion, with themes familiar to Gould's writing: evolution and its teaching, science biography, and probabilities.
+
+The title essay, "Bully for Brontosaurus", discusses the theory and history of taxonomy by examining the debate over whether Brontosaurus should be labelled Apatosaurus. In "Justice Scalia's Misunderstanding", Gould dissects and decisively rejects Antonin Scalia's dissent in the United States Supreme Court case Edwards v. Aguillard that overturned the last creationist statute in the country. Gould claimed his favourite essay to be "In a Jumbled Drawer" which discusses the debate between Nathaniel Shaler and William James over whether the improbability of our having evolved necessitates divine intervention (Gould, like James, argues no); the essay includes a letter from former President Jimmy Carter as a postscript, which discusses the issue.
+The essay "Male Nipples and Clitoral Ripples" dealt with the issue of adaptive arguments. It derives from some work by Elisabeth Lloyd, whose subsequent 2005 book was dedicated to Gould (and her parents), and uses the case of the female orgasm to expand on the subject of adaptiveness in both depth and breadth.
+
+
+== Reception ==
+
+A reviewer for Kirkus commended the author and his skill stating that the "essays are illuminating, instructive and fun to read." Publishers Weekly agreed on the account that the essays are "wonderful disquisitions."
+
+
+== References ==
+
+
+== External links ==
+
+
+=== Reviews ===
+Taking a Chance on Evolution Archived 2008-05-20 at the Wayback Machine — by John Maynard Smith, NYRB
+The Stan Musial of Essay Writing — by John Noble Wilford, The New York Times
+Book review — Danny Yee

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Splash_(book)-0.md

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+---
+title: "The Big Splash (book)"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Splash_(book)"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:19.604305+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The Big Splash: A Scientific Discovery That Revolutionizes the Way We View the Origin of Life, the Water We Drink, the Death of the Dinosaurs, the Creation of the Oceans, the Nature of the Cosmos, and the Very Future of the Earth Itself is a 1990 book written by Louis A. Frank with Patrick Huyghe.  In the book, Frank claims to have found scientific evidence that every year, millions of small comets (made of ice and water) strike the Earth's atmosphere, and that these comets created Earth's lakes, rivers and oceans.
+While many scientists disputed Frank's hypothesis, he continued to argue that there are tests which can be performed which would either rule it out or confirm it.
+
+
+== Authors ==
+Louis A. Frank was a Carver/James A. Van Allen Professor of Physics at the University of Iowa, and principal investigator for the auroral imaging instruments for NASA's Dynamics Explorer mission.
+Patrick Huyghe is a science writer.
+
+
+== References ==
+
+
+== External links ==
+Book Review: Overbye, Dennis (November 11, 1990). "IN SHORT: NONFICTION - THE BIG SPLASH: ..." The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-28.
+Excerpt: "The Original Discovery". Small Comets. University of Iowa. Retrieved 2007-07-28.

data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billion-Dollar_Molecule-0.md

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+---
+title: "The Billion-Dollar Molecule"
+chunk: 1/1
+source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billion-Dollar_Molecule"
+category: "reference"
+tags: "science, encyclopedia"
+date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:03:20.809877+00:00"
+instance: "kb-cron"
+---
+
+The Billion-Dollar Molecule is a book by journalist Barry Werth about the founding and early research efforts of the American biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals, which was founded in 1989 by Joshua Boger and was among the first biotechnology companies to adopt an explicit strategy of rational drug design as opposed to techniques based on combinatorial chemistry.
+This book is notable as an inside look at a biotechnology company, and the stresses and marketing pressures on funding research into drug design. This book is a mixture of finance and technology.
+In February, 2014, Barry Werth published a follow-on book, The Antidote, that looks at Vertex 20 years later after his original effort.
+
+
+== References ==