ريتشارد دوكنز's Blog, page 682
September 23, 2015
I Stand with Ahmed Mohamed
Ahmed and us at the Robotics Competition in Dallas #IStandWithAhmed pic.twitter.com/SkI3I8DDo8
— مرام (@sudanibae) September 16, 2015
When I was in middle school, I was way into model rocketry. My best friend and I would build these elaborate rocket kits, then (having researched the pertinent ordinances) launch them from approved areas of public parks. We even started up a 4-H club on model rocketry, though it never really took off (as it were).
One day, we were walking through our New Jersey suburb on our way to a park to do a launch, rockets and wires and so forth poking out of our backpacks. A police car rolled up next to us, and the officer asked what we were up to. I don’t recall whether we flashed our hand-made rocket club membership cards, but we explained what we planned to do, and what we had researched about how to do a safe and legal launch. He let us go with a wave.
Had we done the same today, the result would likely be different. In our post-9/11 haze, the officer would probably zero in on my friend’s Pakistani ancestry and the dangerous look of all those rockets and incendiary engines. My own scruffiness wouldn’t help.
A photo shared by Ahmed Mohamed's family, of Mohamed in cuffs at the police station for building a clock. Image via Anil Dash's Twitter stream.
The absurd persecution of Irving, Texas, student Ahmed Mohamed stirred up that memory. Mohamed, who started a model robotics club in middle school, wanted to impress his 9th-grade engineering teacher. So he built a digital clock and brought it to class. The teacher was suitably impressed, but warned the student not to show the clock—wired into a pencil case—to other teachers. But when the alarm started beeping in a later class, the jig was up. According to his interview with the Dallas Morning News:
Image of the clock, distributed by the Irving, TX police department.
“She was like, it looks like a bomb,” he said.
“I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.’”
The clock was confiscated, and a few hours later, Mohamed was taken out of class and interrogated by police without access to his parents or legal counsel. The Muslim student of Sudanese descent was handcuffed, paraded through the school, and hauled off to city jail, all while wearing his NASA t-shirt.
“He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Mohamed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, told the News. In a letter to parents, the school district described responding to a suspicious-looking item,” not clarifying whether the clock or the child inspired their suspicion; they suspended Mohamed for three days. The police department has declined to press charges (having earlier threatened charges for building a “hoax bomb”). Scientists at NASA, MIT, tech companies, and other engineering mainstays have offered their help when Mohamed is ready for college or a career in engineering, and President Obama asked Mohamed to show him the clock at the White House.
There’s a lot to unpack in this incident. The district failed to abide by its own policies (which forbid “false accusations,” encourages punishment to be balanced by a student’s disciplinary record, and recommends “discipline techniques that keep the student in the best educational environment–the classroom”). The student’s teachers, school administrators, and town police apparently couldn’t tell a clock from a bomb, which is scary. And they couldn’t tell an enthusiastic student from a terrorist, which may be worse.
It’s hard to imagine they’d have made the same mistake if Ahmed Mohamed was named James Smith, if his ancestry weren’t Arab (from sub-Saharan Africa), or if his complexion a bit paler. Nor is it likely he’d have faced the same scrutiny and punishment under those circumstances.
I was also struck by Mohamed’s remark to the News: “He remembers the shocked expression of his student counselor—the one ‘who knows I’m a good boy.’” There were people present with the power to advocate on his behalf, but they stood silent in the face of injustice. That’s a powerful lesson for a 9th grader, one unlikely to be outweighed by the subsequent outpouring of support.
Data from Breaking Schools' Rules: A Statewide Study on How School Discipline Relates to Students' Success and Juvenile Justice Involvement showing the effect of detentions on students' contact with the criminal justice system.It’s also a reminder of the tragic consequences of “zero tolerance” policies adopted by many districts since the ‘90s. Where once a district could have kept the police from getting involved, and could have reconsidered disciplining Mohamed once they realized that there had been a misunderstanding, these policies take away that discretion. These policies transform discipline problems into legal problems, a school’s “permanent record” into a criminal record. That has dramatic consequences.
A groundbreaking study of Texas disciplinary records found that a shocking six in ten students had been suspended or expelled from school because of some infraction. You’ll be shocked to learn that there’s a racial disparity: controlling for 83 other variables, they found that African American students were still 31% more likely to be disciplined than comparable students of other races. Controlling for the differences between students and districts, students who were disciplined were three times as likely to be involved in the criminal justice system in the subsequent year. It’s not surprising that if you force students out of class, they might have more time for and inclination toward subsequent mischief. And a student’s disciplinary record can be used against him or her in criminal proceedings. These policies thus shunt certain students (racial minorities and students with disabilities, most notably) out of classrooms, into jails, and set them on a course for prison, rather than college.
Ahmed Mohamed is unlikely to wind up anywhere other than a top college at this point. (Just imagine the application essays he’ll write!) But students like him, students from non-European backgrounds, practicing non-Christian religions, and engaging in non-standard hobbies, can easily be set on a course that deprives them of the education and opportunities they deserve. Not all of them wind up at the center of a social media maelstrom, and some wind up in trouble as a result of their own misconduct. Rather than helping direct impressionable young people away from trouble, the systems in place exclude them from the help and support they need. (Zero-tolerance policies were originally promoted as a response to the utterly discredited idea of “super-predators,” irredeemable youth who needed to be imprisoned as early as possible. The idea never made sense, failed to generate any empirical support, and is generally derided now, but the policies it inspired still cause harm decades later).
For those of us concerned about STEM education, the incident in Irving is troublesome. Ahmed Mohamed probably won’t lose his love of engineering over his ill treatment, but what lesson did other students in his school learn from it? Are they more likely to experiment with electronics now, or will they see science as dangerous, scary, and even shameful? I’m thinking especially of other students of color in his school, and how the accumulation of incidents like this (including a highly-publicized similar incident from 2013) push them away from science classrooms, away from any interest in STEM careers, away from a personal interest in science. The role of racial, ethnic, and religious bias here is hard to escape, and even with all the support Mohamed has received after his disgraceful treatment, that mistreatment is likely to linger in the memories of a lot of people who recognize themselves in Mohamed. Ahmed Mohamed did what every science teacher should want students to do, and I can only hope his science teachers are fighting for him and others like him behind the scenes.
Ahmed Mohamed will come out of this all right. Early Wednesday morning, he tweeted: “Thank you for your support! I really didn’t think people would care about a muslim boy. #Thankyouforstandingwithme #IStandWithAhmed.” At a press conference he appeared strong, confident, and excited to transfer to a new school. I worry more about all the boys and girls who have encountered similar discrimination, especially the victims of racism, stereotypes about nerds and science, and out-dated and ineffective zero-tolerance policies. I stand with Ahmed, and I hope that we will stand with all those others, too.
Being In Nature Benefits Health – But How?
Photo credit:
In his essay, Walking, Thoreau said: "In wildness is the preservation of the world." The same might go for our health. Credit: SNEHIT/Shutterstoclk
Time spent close to nature is good for our health, numerous studies have shown. What is much harder to establish, however, is how and why this occurs. Now a paper claims the immune system may be the primary pathway through which exposure to the natural world can lead to a wide array of health benefits.
There Were More Selfie-Related Fatalities Than Shark Attack Deaths This Year
Photo credit:
Stefano Carnevali/Shutterstock
Let’s face it: People do stupid things. All the time. Even the most intelligent are not immune to idiocy, and common sense is not a prerequisite for a high IQ. So there is a plentiful supply of people who think it is a good idea to put themselves into a highly dangerous situation for the sake of a photographic memento to share on social media.
Scientists Discover A New Human Virus
Photo credit:
SebGross/Shutterstock
During the 70s and 80s, thousands of people around the world were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after receiving transfusions of blood containing these viruses. Back then, screening wasn’t so stringent, nor was the assessment of who is eligible to donate. Now we have better techniques to identify such agents, we should be able to avoid catastrophes like these from happening, which is why a team of scientists has been on the hunt for new transfusion-transmissible agents that we might want to know about.
Researchers Uncover The Human “Death Smell”
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Rescue dog working. Susan DeLoach/shutterstock
Researchers are closing in on exactly what it is that cadaver dogs are sniffing for when they’re deployed. That uniquely human “smell of death” may be created when a combination of compounds, called esters, is released by a decomposing body, according to findings published in PLoS ONE this week.
Is This Really What A Big Mac Does To Your Body In An Hour?
Photo credit:
Popartic/Shutterstock
Another day, another dramatic infographic. This time, we’ve moved away from shocking suggestions of what sugar- and stimulant-laden drinks apparently do to your body within 60 minutes, to the unappetizing after-effects of eating a Big Mac.
Created by Fast Food Menu Price, this supposedly gives you a breakdown of the effects of Big Mac ingredients over a period of one hour, nicely segregated into 10-minute time periods. It goes as follows:
Bizarre Snubfin Dolphin Spotted
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Rare snubfin dolphin seen off the coast of Australia. Queensland National Parks / Facebook
A rare, shy and extremely cute snubfin dolphin was spotted off the coast of Australia a few days ago.
The snubfin dolphin, classified by the IUCN Red List as a vulnerable and near threatened species, is believed to belong to a pod of snubfins that travel the Hinchinbrook Channel.
First Signs Of Global Warming Appeared In 1940s
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It is in the tropics, not the poles, where the first indications of global warming emerged. Credit: Frazao Production/Shutterstock
Only recently has it become possible to detect the effects of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions on global temperatures. However, by examining data on a regional basis, climate scientists have found indications of global warming dating to the 1940s.
New Material Made From 1 Billion Tiny Magnets Changes States Like Water
Photo credit:
PSI/Luca Anghinolfi
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) announced they have created a synthetic material with magnetic properties capable of changing states – just as water changes from solid ice to liquid or steam – with temperature change. Constructed from 1 billion tiny magnets, this new material may be the future for the world of electronics as it could facilitate information transfer.
September 22, 2015
What’s Behind VW’s Downfall and Secretive Emissions Deals
Volkswagen AG admitted on Tuesday that 11 million of its diesel vehicles worldwide use the software that helped the carmaker cheat on U.S. federal emissions tests. This revelation comes as the U.S. Department of Justice launches a criminal probe against the company and officials in European Union and South Korea launch their own investigations. Despite the backlash against the German automaker, VW’s use of emission control devices isn’t illegal or even surprising. The company’s downfall was instead using this technology to try to game the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s secretive emissions certification process.
Most cars use software-controlled systems to adjust engine emissions when the vehicle needs more engine power to climb a steep incline or pull a heavy load. These emission control devices, called AECDs, can also dial up emissions controls to keep leadfoot drivers from abusing warrantee-protected engine parts. Algorithms programmed into these devices determine when a vehicle needs a boost by analyzing engine temperature and revolutions per minute, vehicle speed, transmission gear and other conditions.
For additional Scientific American coverage of the Volkswagen emissions scandal, see Volkswagen Uses Software to Fool EPA Pollution Tests
A carmaker or engine manufacturer’s legal staff typically negotiates AECD performance with the EPA or directly with a state agency such as the California Air Resources Board (CARB). Carmakers must meet emissions parameters established by that agency in order to sell their vehicles in the U.S.
These negotiations sound mundane but they actually are highly secretive. More stringent emissions controls make vehicles less fuel efficient, which consumers don’t like. And the ability to ease such restrictions can confer a competitive advantage, says Daniel Carder, director for the Center for Alternative Fuels Engines and Emissions at the University of West Virginia. “You don't want your competitors to know your strategy by letting them know what your AECD [settings] are,” he says. “If you’re able to successfully negotiate your AECDs with the government and your competitor wasn’t, then you’ve got a leg up.” Carder and his colleagues tested VW’s vehicles at the request of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a nonprofit research group, and submitted their findings to the EPA and CARB in 2014. VW admitted to the regulators earlier this month that it had installed so-called emissions “defeat devices” on several of its models.
When car companies exceed their negotiated emissions limits, it is often an oversight, Carder says. The carmaker may have failed to prepare its vehicles to deliver appropriate emissions levels under all testing conditions, or they simply were not informed of the exact conditions. It’s the difference between telling students exactly what an exam will cover so that they can prepare properly and giving them a vague idea of what they can expect, he adds. Emissions testing could be improved by providing carmakers with greater transparency regarding these conditions.
Despite any problems with the current approach to emissions testing, VW’s problems, however, clearly were not the result of an oversight. The company surreptitiously installed additional AECDs in five types of four-cylinder diesels—the Audi A3, Beetle, Golf, Jetta and Passat—that were not specified in their application for emissions certification. These systems included an algorithm that used the position of the steering wheel, vehicle speed, the duration of the engine’s operation and barometric pressure to determine when the vehicle was being tested and then dial back emissions to meet EPA standards. During normal driving conditions, however, those vehicles would ramp up their engine power by reducing the effectiveness of the emission control system. This generated up to 40 times the amount of smog-producing nitrogen oxides (NOx) permitted by the U.S. Clean Air Act.
VW came clean when the EPA and CARB said they would not certify the company’s 2016 model year vehicles until it explained its skewed emissions readings and ensured the 2016 vehicles would not have the same problems. (pdf) Now VW faces several investigations, a possible management shakeup and up to $18 billion in EPA fines.
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