Welcome back to our weekly reading roundup!
As long as you’re here, why not subscribe to the Global Comment podcast on iTunes or Soundcloud for interviews with thoughtful and creative people?
And hey: Much like public radio, we’re reader supported. If you enjoy our work, please consider supporting us with a one time or recurring donation.
To Cheat and Lie in L.A.: How the College-Admissions Scandal Ensnared the Richest Families in Southern California (Evgenia Peretz for Vanity Fair)
The college admissions scandal that shocked the US gets a detailed exploration in this piece, which happened to drop at the same moment another scheme was revealed: Transferring guardianship of children to low-income households to take advantage of need-based financial aid, even though wealthy parents hardly need the leg up. These paired scandals clearly illustrate that higher education in America is broken.
Eight months later, the news hit the L.A. private schools as most things did: over the smartphones. Fifty people, including 33 parents—most from L.A. and the Bay Area—had been swept up in Singer’s jaw-dropping college admissions bribery scheme.
Meet the Scientists Who Pollute Lakes on Purpose (Chloe Williams for Atlas Obscura)
Polluting a lake for science might sound bizarre, but that’s exactly what’s happening here. The researchers say the information they need can’t come from work in the lab; they need a natural, if controlled, environment to understand both the mechanics of pollution and how to resolve it. Their work is starting to show results, and not just in the form of a sickening rainbow sheen spreading across the water.
The project is one of the first of its kind, says Jules Blais, professor of biology at the University of Ottawa and one of the project’s leaders. Most oil spill studies are conducted inside test-tubes or after accidental spills.
You can have a church or be a free woman – but having both is a struggle (Lyz Lenz for The Guardian)
For women with deep ties to the evangelical church, a personal awakening can turn into a crisis. In the process of searching for an affirming church that feels like home, with people who are supportive and an interpretation of scripture that resonates, women can feel isolated in a way men may not understand. That’s because many evangelical churches view women as dutiful wives serving their husbands and the church, and nothing more.
Because I could not imagine life outside the womb of my faith, I struggled inside its limitations. I thought there would always be room for me. But the reality was, there was only room for me if I made myself smaller and smaller and smaller, until I disappeared.
Your Doctor Is Instagram Famous. Do Likes Matter in the Exam Room? (Allie Volpe for Elemental)
More and more medical providers are getting active on social media. Some are on Twitter with commentary about medicine and society or informative threads about medical issues. Others are using Instagram to reach audiences with tens of thousands of followers, or they’re taking to Facebook to build a brand around themselves and their practices. It’s a new way of thinking about medical communication and it raises new ethical issues around patient privacy and consent.
Kahng’s down-to-earth strategy is paying off. About 60% to 75% of her new clientele found her via Instagram. “They come in and they’re excited to meet me,” Kahng says. “It’s always fun, because we’re not starting from scratch. They know who I am, and because of that, I am able to relax.”
See a different endangered animal in every U.S. state (Natasha Daly for National Geographic)
This interactive map will give you fascinating, and chilling, insight into the landscape of conservation across the United States. Some species may look familiar, others may be new to you, but all of them are fighting for survival in a rapidly changing world. Habitat loss, climate change, and a host of other human-induced ills are changing the natural world forever.
“Every species that’s protected is potentially the greatest underdog story of all time,” says Christina Meister, a public affairs specialist at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Photo: Kenton Smith