The Pulp section of The Daily Orange strives to shed light on various moments and members of the Syracuse community. The stories shared during the fall semester of 2019 were no different in their creativity and inspiration. The Daily Orange Pulp staff has rounded up 10 of the most well-written stories of the past semester before heading into the new year.

Emily Mcneill | Staff Photographer

Russell Fearons journey with diabetes began during his sophomore year at SU. He initially felt that the process of drawing blood draws too much attention to the condition. So, Fearon decided to invent a more discreet device: a glucose-monitoring watch.

Fearons invention was showcased at the EmPOWERED to Serve Business Accelerator Program at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. After this article was written, Fearon, along with his project partner Ricardo Sanchez 21, won the first place prize of $50,000 as well as the fan-favorite prize of $5,000.

Lucy Messineo-Witt | Contributing Photographer

T-shirts, tattoos and more than 5,000 Instagram followers can be attributed to SUs construction sensation: Walt the crane. Niko Benelli and his rowing teammates first gave name to the 3-million-pound crane one day after walking back from Marshall Street. The crane is currently being used for renovations to the Carrier Dome.

Walt, one of the largest cranes in the country, is now one of the most popular ones as well due to Benellis efforts. After creating the Instagram account @walt.the.crane, Benelli has attracted the attention of his peers as well as the CEO of the crane company.

Lauren Miller | Staff Photographer

Gianni Villegas used his passions for music to develop into his own career. The SU senior curated his sound through inspiration from Steve Lacy to Colombian salsa, a style of music he always heard growing up.

During his early years at Syracuse, Villegas struggled to connect his IT major with his passions. But during his sophomore year, he dove into music-making and began to merge some of his academics with creating music. Villegass hard work manifested on stage when he opened for S.O.Bs in New York City earlier this year.

Corey Henry | Photo Editor

Outside of the classroom, Cliff Davidson can be found running throughout the neighborhoodeven in the daunting Syracuse winter. For the last seven years, the SU environmental engineering professor has run the same 10-kilometer route almost every other day. The workout is part of Davidsons training for 100 marathons in less than 19 years.

In October of this past year, Davidson ran his 100th marathon: The Empire State Marathon in Syracuse. It was his third time tackling the local competition, but he has been running his whole life.

Elizabeth Billman | Asst. Photo Editor

The #NotAgainSU sit-in, a demonstration made in response to racist incidents and hate crimes in November of this past year, needed help. Adia Santos began a GoFundMe page for student protestors to buy food and supplies.

While the page raised money, members of SU and the local Syracuse community stepped up to provide food and hygiene products. Members of the Syracuse/Onondaga County Chapter of the NAACP and Vegan CNY were among those that offered support.

Diana Riojas | Senior Staff Writer

After Jessica Oh found racist graffiti toward Asian people written in the Comstock Art Facility, students and professors gathered to cover the hate with images of unity. The graffiti was one of at least 16 hate crimes found on SUs campus toward the end of the semester. The mural featured phrases such as SU UNITED and When they go low, we go high, a popular quote from former first lady Michelle Obama.

Students and faculty alike engaged in conversations about safety, as some had not felt safe on campus within the last few days of the semester. For many participating in the painting, the activity provided some peace and empowerment.

Madison Brown | Contributing Photographer

Francisco Rodriguez grew up eating empanadas and fried plantains in the Dominican Republic, and Roberto Lazaro learned how to cook traditional Mexican dishes in Acapulco, Mexico. Now, they both serve authentic Latin American food at restaurants in Syracuse.

Rodriguez owns Las Delicias, a restaurant in the Westcott neighborhood that offers Dominican and Puerto Rican dishes, including mofongo, which is made with fried pork and smashed-up plantains. Lazaro serves Mexican dishes such as fajitas, tacos and chicken tamales at Camino Real Mexican Restaurant II in North Syracuse. Las Delicias and Camino Real Mexican Restaurant II are two of only a few restaurants in Syracuse that are run by Latin American people and serve authentic Latin American food.

Talia Trackim | Presentation Director

After a long career as an executive producer for ABC News and associate professor at Columbia Universitys Graduate School of Journalism, Betsy West set off to create a film capturing the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film garnered both audience criticism and praise because it highlighted Ginsburgs crucial legal activism in regard to the womens movement.

Wests story mirrors that of Ginsburg, as during her time at Syracuse University and thereafter, she was often the only woman in newsrooms and radio stations.The resulting documentary landed her and her co-director, Julie Cohen, Oscar nominations and a Primetime Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.

Diana Riojas | Senior Staff Writer

Throughout her time at SU, Professor Margaret Susan Thompson has seen the campus change. But her fight for womens rights has remained. Thompson uses her voice and platform as an educator to speak out on the current womens movement and personal experiences with sexism in the academic community. She is as a survivor of sexual abuse and offers advice for those struggling with assault.

Thompson brings these conversations throughout all aspects of life, including the church. As a Catholic, she has been outspoken about the treatment of women in the church. However, to achieve any progress in eliminating sex discrimination, harassment and assault, Thompson believes that feminists across all generations must unite.

Courtesy of Austin Cieszko

SU alumna Bri Tolani had been creating EDM songs with acclaimed producers from the confines of her dorm room for years. But on November 20, Tolani took her musical career in a different direction with her debut single, Hazy. The song delves into Tolanis feelings of anxiety and dissociation.

On the same day, a music video, which was produced by and featured SU alumni, was shot mimicking a real-life therapy session. In making the accompanying music video, Tolani hoped to spark inspiration in her fans to share their own difficulties regarding mental health.

Published on December 31, 2019 at 5:49 pm

Read more:
The best-written D.O. Pulp stories of fall 2019 - The Daily Orange

For more than 5,000 high schoolers applying to college each year, Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, checks two critical boxes: Its an extremely good university, and its tuition fees are just $5,790 a year.

But if youre a Mormon student, theres another reason to want to attend: Its the largest and best majority Mormon university in the world. And for women, that comes with an additional perk. The point of Mormon women going to college is to find a spouse, period, says Kate Kelly, an alumna of the college who graduated in the early 2000s. BYU is just about the best place to do so, with a student population of 35,000, and a Mormon-majority community that prioritizes marriage and the family unit. Within 12 years of graduating, 84% of BYU graduates are married.

At BYU, the hunt for a spouse touches almost every aspect of student life, says Kelly, who grew up in the Mormon faith but was excommunicated in 2014 over her push for gender equality. Its the focus of speeches given by religious leaders, meet-and-greet activities, even religious practice, she says. Even at regular compulsory worship, students are split up by marital statusif youre single and lucky, The One may be sat over in the next pew. The pressure was everywhere: BYU is just like a dating factory, she remembers, but [for women] that was the entire point.

BYU is just like a dating factory, but [for women] that was the entire point.

But while secular women may see education as a route to a more lucrative or successful career, most of BYUs female alumni never work outside the home, despite having attended a top university. The messaging starts early, Kelly says: Throughout Sunday school and other forms of Mormon education, Mormon girls are explicitly told that their college education is predominantly a back-up, if ever accidentally your husband were to die or you found yourself in a position where you had to earn a living. But otherwise you are not to use it. Statistics bear this out: Male graduates of BYU earn 90 times more than their female peers, with an average salary of $71,900 by the age of 34. Female graduates, on the other hand, earn on average $800 per year. Even the wage gap at other religious universities is not quite so extreme. Female graduates of Huntingdon University, Baptist Bible College, and Maranatha Bible University earn between about $15,000 and $20,000 a year at age 34. Its a little more than a third of their male peers salary, or more than 20 times more than female BYU grads.

Majority-Mormon neighborhoods in the US closely resemble a 1950s ideal: As a 2015 New York Times investigation observes, the male-dominated nature of Mormon culture has kept nonemployment rates for prime-age women extremely highas high, in some areas, as they were for American women in the 1950s.

But Mormon culture, with its reputation for family orientation, clean-cut optimism, honesty, and pleasant aggressiveness, as the historian Jan Schipps puts it, hasnt always looked like this. As far back as the mid-1800s, leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly abbreviated to LDS) encouraged women to apply themselves to work outside the home. The 19th-century LDS prophet Brigham Young, for whom the university is named, thought women might usefully study law or physic, or become good bookkeepers and be able to do the business in any counting house, and all this to enlarge the sphere of usefulness for the benefit of society at large.

As of 2013, however, roughly 25% of Mormon women are in full-time employment, compared to 75% of working women, a number that has likely not changed much in the years since. Thats because, as the Mormon journalist McKay Coppins writes for Buzzfeed, for many Latter-day Saint women, staying at home to raise children is less a lifestyle choice than religious onea divinely-appreciated sacrifice that brings with it blessings, empowerment, and spiritual prestige.

What gives? Over 150 years, as the pressures on the LDS community have shifted, the churchs official stance on womens rights and obligations has grown more rigid and conservative, changing female adherents opportunities and career prospects in the process.

Founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints roots lie in Christianity. There are still overlaps, including a belief in the Holy Trinity and faith in Jesus Christ, but the two have striking differences. Mormonism uses additional scriptures, including the Book of Mormon, and recognizes Smith and other Mormon leaders as prophets. Around 1.5 million members of the church live in Utah, out of 6 million nationwide, with an additional 10 million overseas. Many have converted to the religion after encountering enthusiastic young Mormons; missions, in which LDS members bring the good news of prophet Smith to every corner of the globe, are strongly encouraged by the church.

But theres another important distinction between LDS members and other Christians, which has in turn dictated the changing church policy on womens roles. For most mainstream Christians, scripture remains as it ever was, with no updates in a few millennia. Mormons see it differently. The churchs president, sometimes known simply as the Prophet, serves as a direct line of sorts to God, ready to revise, supplement, or update policies as soon as he hears word. Speaking to CNN, historian Kathleen Flake describes him as Moses in a business suitsomeone who can lead people, write Scripture and talk to God. Revelations appear on a rolling basis, via the churchs most senior members: In October 2018, for instance, the current leader, Russell Nelson, declared it the command of the Lord to use the churchs full name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when referring to it. Continuing to employ nicknames such as Mormon or LDS would be a major victory for Satan, he warned. (Whether for reasons of practicality, forgetfulness, or nostalgia, many members of the church flout these instructions, as do secular news outlets such as the New York Times or CNN.)

[The prophets say] point blank that women are not to work outside the home.

If youre looking for a guide to modern life, the Bible is a challenging place to start. Thats especially true on matters of womens rights: As a thousand-years-old text, its frustratingly oblique on such thorny issues as how women should dress, whether they should work outside the home, and Gods preferred balance of career and motherhood. But for Mormons, His words continue, via the prophets and church leaders, and do indeed address such topics directly. These dynamic revelations have allowed church leaders to communicate Gods word, and fashion an official line on Mormon womens activities.

Its explicit. [The prophets say] point blank that women are not to work outside the home, says Kelly. This is not optional. What Mormons say is, The thinking has been done.

A 1995 church text called The Family: A Proclamation to the World spells it out plainly: By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. These responsibilities, and the family unit, are sacred.

In the churchs earliest incarnation in the early-to-mid 19th century, womens labor was critical to the success of the movement and to help build up Zion, writes the historian Colleen McDannell in her 2018 book Sister Saints: Mormon Women since the End of Polygamy. These initial LDS women were expected to workand in almost any field that they chose, from mens tailoring to studying obstetrics, managing a telegraph office, healing the sick, or even spawning fish in springs. Motherhood was valuable, of course, but it was only the start of what these pioneering souls were expected to do to help. Later, these same women would be swashbuckling suffragettes, fighting to be allowed to vote in US elections, in part to preserve their own right to practice plural marriage, which many felt was key to building community and sharing labor.

While in the early years of the faith, Mormons generally lived apart from other religions, growing affluence led to greater integration. After abandoning polygamy in 1890, church members grew closer to the US mainstream, adopting a far more traditional approach to the family unit. Women were thus confined to the home. Since the 1940s, male and female church leaders had been unequivocal in their celebration of motherhood, to the exclusion of almost every other role for women, writes McDannell. Actively or otherwise, the history of pioneer women was largely forgotten, she explains, with postwar women [] told to concentrate on home and ward life.

Though the mainstream started to liberalize in the wake of the war, LDS policy did not. Instead, church publications, fireside talks, and annual meetings allowed elders to speak out against the cultural changes happening in the secular world. Among these voices was Spencer W. Kimball, one of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, an important all-male governing body tasked with receiving and communicating Gods message. In 1973, he became the churchs president and prophet.

Though guidelines for Mormon womens dress had existed since the 1910s, it was not until the 1950s that Mormon women began to adopt different standards of modesty. In 1951, Kimball, then an apostle, gave a talk on modesty in dress, titled A Style of Our Own. After it was reprinted in the official Church News, many Mormon women opted to kimballize their wardrobe, lengthening hems or buying little jackets to wear with then-popular strapless dresses. Just one week after the talk, an editorial in BYUs Daily Universe noted the noticeable change in attire at the Friday night Banyan Ball among its female students. Fearing the rise of counterculture, other official pamphlets followed, emphasizing modesty in speech and conduct and a feminine, clean-cut Molly Mormon dress style.

Over the same period, church leaders grew more didactic about womens roles. In the first year of his presidency, in 1973, Kimball sketched out a cozy image of the ideal family unit, which is still cited by church authorities as a key text on mothers employment outside the home. The husband is expected to support his family and only in an emergency should a wife secure outside employment, he said, in a fireside talk. Her place is in the home, to build the home into a heaven of delight I beg of you, you who could and should be bearing and rearing a family: Wives, come home from the typewriter, the laundry, the nursing, come home from the factory, the caf.

Though these comments resemble so many other conservative critiques of the period, they have far more heft in a Mormon context: Kimball was, after all, speaking as Gods proxy. Rather than suggestions or even commentary, these were divine ordinances from the churchs highest spiritual authority, to be taken as seriously as the words of any ancient prophet.

While most of American Christianity was liberalizing, Mormonism was doubling down on male leadership.

These comments came at the tail end of a push by church leaders to, as McDannell puts it, consolidate power, standardize doctrine, and coordinate the various programs across individual churches. One effect of correlation, as it was called, was to limit womens influence within the church. At this time, most of American Christianity was liberalizing, decentralizing, and opening up to the possibility of women in the pulpit. Mormonism, meanwhile, was doubling down on male leadership and placing more power in fewer handsand further away from women.

The rest of the US was grappling with scripture of a different sort. Since the early 1960s, the rise of second-wave feminism and of thinkers such as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan had changed how women thought of their lotencompassing professional prospects, work-life balance, and what they were prepared to tolerate. Mormon women were not immune to these rumblingsthough, like their secular peers, they found little consensus.

In perhaps the best snapshot of these many different views, the independent Mormon journal Dialogue released its pink issue in 1971, which dealt primarily with questions of womens rights. Edited by Claudia Lauper Bushman, an LDS member who would later become a history professor at Columbia University, it paints a picture of women considering their options and obligations from all angles. Although we sometimes refer to ourselves as the LDS cell of Womens Lib, we claim no affiliation with any of those militant bodies and some of us are so straight [conventional] as to be shocked by their antics, Bushman explains in the introduction. We do read their literature with interest.

For some of these writers, parenthood and the home is ample spiritual and personal nourishment: a veritable homily to motherhoodBless Sesame Street! That psychedelic learning feast!extolls its joys above all else. But not all found the life of a stay-at-home parents so straightforward. Another writer explores the challenges of balancing a frowned-up writing career with being mother and stepmother to five boys. On occasions when an unexpected visitor appeared at the door, the writer notes, she felt obliged to hide her typewriter and assume her position by the ironing board.

In all honesty, we are not always completely satisfied with our lives as housewives.

The group behind this issue of the journal were emphatically not against men, Mormonism, or the value of a structured family unit, but a strong sense of questioning the status quo comes through nonetheless. Far from calling for mass abandonment of husbands or burning of bras, many of its writers advocate for women to have more choice and a less prescribed role. In all honesty, we are not always completely satisfied with our lives as housewives, Bushman wrote. And even among those who were, it seemed a shame that women with strong career orientations faced terrible pressure to marry, and disapproval if they pursued their special interests outside the home.

The churchs leadership, however, was moving in almost precisely the opposite direction. In 1978, recognizing some of these countercurrents, apostle Ezra Taft Benson spoke out about these feelings of discontent among young women who wanted more exciting and self-fulfilling roles than to be wives and mothers. Church policy, he argued, leaves little room for that: This view loses sight of the eternal perspective that God elected women to the noble role of mother and that exaltation is eternal fatherhood and eternal motherhood. Like Kimball before him, Benson was setting down scripture. That eternal perspective might not have always been so explicitbut it was now.

Ordinarily mostly apolitical, the church applied its clout in 1979 to wage an out-and-out war against the pro-gender equality Equal Rights Amendment, on the grounds that it did not recognize the vital differences biologically, emotionally, and in other ways between men and women, as one church elder put it. Sonia Johnson, an LDS woman who campaigned in favor of the Amendment, was summarily excommunicated on the grounds of teaching false doctrine.

In the decades since, the church has grown still more conservative in its stance on womens roles. In 1987, Mormon prophet Ezra Taft Benson gave a sermon in which he encouraged women to quit their jobs. Then, in the early 1990s, six high-profile Mormon intellectuals, many of whom were outspoken LDS feminists, were excommunicated. Next, in 1995, the church published its official view on how family should be composed, noting the divine design of a one-income family. The following year, church president Gordon B. Hinckley reiterated the message at the annual General Conference, an annual gathering of members: It is well-nigh impossible to be a full-time homemaker and a full-time employee. (Only women, it was strongly implied, could be the former.)

Nearly two and a half decades later, many of the same arguments about managing work and domesticity are still being thrashed out. Though many LDS women find motherhood to be empowering and spiritually fulfilling, plenty of others struggle to live up to that Mormon ideal of divine, domestic bliss. Those who seek professional goals instead, or as well, often find themselves marginalized from the LDS community in the process. Kellys LSAT cohort at BYU had maybe two women in a class of over 50, she remembers; at law school, she discovered that only men were permitted to be leaders in the Mormon lawyers association, the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. At the associations meetings, she was directed to a separate room where all the wives were, despite being a member in her own right. In her most intimate community, these professional choices were very frowned upon, especially by her then in-laws.

Online, LDS feminism has surged in popularity, with the internet providing a forum for hundreds of young LDS feminists to congregate, share links, or question commonly held assumptions about how Mormon women should behave or live their lives. Forums such as Im a Mormon Feminist or Young Mormon Feminists have become places where womens voices have primacy. Often, these explore the best way to be a liberal feminist and follow Mormon teaching. The group blog Feminist Mormon Housewives, for instance, is only very barely tongue-in-cheek, if at all. At the same time, a majority of LDS women still dismiss the feminist movement as irrelevant to their lives or even hereticalon Twitter, one young Mormon woman self-identifies as not a feminist in her bio, while another notes: Anything that can convince women to kill their own babies and pursue something as fleeting as career over family cant be of God.

Despite this curiosity, church leadership shows no sign of updating its perspective from the one stated some decades ago. Suggestions that women enter the leadership, for instance, have been shot down vehementlyin 2013, Kelly and a group of LDS women started the organization Ordain Women, the foundation of which eventually led to her excommunication on charges of apostasy. But, in what might be read as a conciliatory spirit from the leadership, smaller challenges have been more successful. In late 2012, a group of Mormon feminists launched the first Wear Pants to Church Day; since then, female church employees and missionaries have had the right to sometimes wear dress slacks while working. In 2015, women first gained the right to serve on high-level church councils.

LDS women seeking to make ends meet tend to look for the gray area, working inside the home, by selling products on Etsy or monetizing being a blogger or influencer. Multi-level marketing schemes, in which people sell products to their friends or neighbors, are also hugely popular as a way to follow church policy while contributing financially. Theres so much pressure in LDS culture to be a stay-at-home mom, Mormon mother and Lipsense lipstick consultant Alyx Garner told the Utah CBS affiliate KUTV. Direct sales isnt the most lucrative way to make a livingGarner might make $1,250 in a monthbut its a compromise between her need to have an income and her desire to adhere to church policy.

Its a miserable situation.

Even as the church remains steadfast, Mormon households are still subject to larger economic forces. Throughout the US, only the very wealthiest families can easily get by on one salary. Now in her 80s, Bushman has spent the last decades of her life in academia, specializing in domestic womens history. She encounters many women who would like to follow church policy, but simply cant afford to. Its a miserable situation, she told Quartz, Theres very little support for at-home mothers, and families can now hardly get along with less than two incomes.

Its not hard to see how this failure to modernize places undue burden on women. If they dont work, their families may struggle economically. And if they do, they face tremendous social pressure, or the implication that they are bad mothers. Women who rely on childcare, for instance, must tolerate the shame of literally going against the word of their religion, which considers motherhood a divine service [that] may not be passed to others. Its a bindand one that many women struggle to disentangle.

For the LDS leadership, the challenge is also tremendous. Having adopted such a cut-and-dry approach to womens roles, it is hard to argue that God has changed His mind, or that earlier prophets were mistaken. But with more Mormon women continuing their education, marrying later, and embracing mission work, some leaders are making moves toward a more permissive approach. Speaking in 2011, church elder Quentin Cook praised stay-at-home mothersbut added that those sisters who worked outside the home were not necessarily any less valiant.

Excerpt from:
The Brigham Young University wage gap tells the story of Mormon feminism - Quartz

Scenes from Seattle tech, clockwise from top left: Amazon buildings going up; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella; the Riveter wins Startup of the Year; Sounders FC celebrate MLS Cup win. (GeekWire Photos)

It was another big, busy year in tech around the Seattle region, whether it involved the largest companies or the scrappiest startups.

GeekWire was there to cover the innovation and ideas, conduct the interviews, watch new office buildings take shape and old ones fall to rubble. Opposing sides battled politically, and a tech-backed soccer team battled its way to another championship for the city.

Dreams of the next big thing had companies and workers setting their sights as close as South Lake Unions bustling tech hub, on the cloud floating above it all or as far away as the moon and deep space.

Keep scrolling for some of the stories of 2019 that captured our attention and images we used to try to help capture yours. We look forward to sharing more in 2020.

At home in Seattle and on the other side of the country, Amazon dominated a variety of news cycles. The tech giant cancelled plans to build part of its so-called HQ2 in New Yorks Long Island City neighborhood, and also announced it was moving a key division and thousands of employees out of Seattle and across Lake Washington to Bellevue. CEO Jeff Bezos even made big news on the personal front as he and his wife MacKenzie Bezos announced they were divorcing after 25 years.

Microsofts resurgence in 2019 began with a look back, as it knocked over a historic part of its Redmond, Wash., campus to make way for a major new redevelopment that will position the tech giant for its future on the Eastside. GeekWire sat down with CEO Satya Nadella and President Brad Smith to get more insight into where the company is headed.

Related: GeekWire founders Todd Bishop and John Cook also recapped the extraordinary year for technology and innovation emerging from and impacting Seattle and the Pacific Northwest during the latest GeekWire Podcast. Listen for their insights here:

While President Trump continued to poke at Amazon and Jeff Bezos on Twitter, Democratic candidates looking to replace Trump came to Seattle to seek supporters and fire up crowds. And Seattle politics were again an interesting show to watch, especially as it related to Amazons attempts to upend the City Council and oust Councilmember Kshama Sawant.

Movers and shakers were definitely moving and shaking up the Seattle regions real estate scene. Online travel giant Expedia ditched Bellevue and moved across Lake Washington to take over and redevelop a huge campus on the Seattle waterfront. Tech giants such as Google and Apple wanted their own bigger piece of Amazons prime South Lake Union surroundings. And F5 Networks bucked the campus trend by moving on up, into a gleaming new skyscraper at the southern end of the city.

The race for space showed no signs of slowing down in 2019. Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin unveiled a lunar lander and the moon itself showed off during a much-photographed red-hued eclipse. Read aerospace and science editor Alans Boyles complete recap of the Year in Science.

A pizza robot plopped pepperoni on a pie right before our eyes, but other high-profile startups failed to rise beyond initial expectations. We saw the closure of high-tech football helmet maker Vicis, high-priced headphone creator Human, scientific wellness startup Arivale, and online beauty brand Julep, among others.

With an ownership group rooted in tech, the Seattle Sounders FC maintain a strong connection to that community, and they rewarded their fanbase with another MLS Cup title when they topped Toronto in November. The Seattle Seahawks paid tribute to late owner Paul Allen by making him the 12th inductee in the teams Ring of Honor. And Seattles baseball stadium took on a new name and hue as T-Mobile Park became the home of the Mariners and magenta made a splash.

At GeekWire events throughout the year, we welcomed some of the biggest names in tech and innovation to share their stories around a broad base of subjects. Startup founders, scientists, sports heroes, unicorn creators and more joined us at the GeekWire Bash, GeekWire Cloud Summit, GeekWire Awards, GeekWire Sounders Day, GeekWire Summit and other happenings around Seattle.

Bill Gates stood in line for a Dicks burger in Seattle before he sat down for a GeekWire interview and we were intrigued by both circumstances. Melinda Gates also joined us to talk about her new book and her insights around tech and philanthropy. Other geeks and entrepreneurs wowed us with robots and their own intriguing projects.

We geeked out over natures flashes over Seattle during a rare lightning storm as well as the man-made flashes from New Years fireworks booming off of the Space Needle. The Red Arrows of the UKs Royal Air Force also did a colorful fly-by, and north of Seattle in Everett, Wash., we got ready to fly out of a new passenger terminal at Paine Field. It was just some of the stuff that wasnt strictly tech, but that deserved a second geeky look.

Read the original:
Year in pictures: Tech giants, startups, politics, soccer and more put focus on Seattle in 2019 - GeekWire

Mandeep Kaur (36), a media professional working in the corporate sector, was passing by Mumbais slums in 2014 when she witnessed the social-economic inequality. She thought how she could bring about a change in the lives of people living in the slums. Finding her true calling in the social sector, she decided to do something about it.

Mandeep quit her stable job in media marketing and started working with NGOs to understand the sector better. She realised there was a huge talent gap in the social sector, which led to the birth of Tribes For Good in 2014.

Mandeep Kaur, Founder & Programme Director-India, Tribes For Good

Mumbai-based Tribes For Good is an experiential learning programme for people who are looking to understand the social sector and bring about a change.

To this date, the organisation has successfully trained over 1,000 volunteers and has created an impact across 50 social enterprises. It currently has its networks in the urban slums of Mumbai - Malwani, parts of Goregaon, and Dharavi.

In India alone, over two million social impact businesses are working to develop solutions to the countrys most pressing social and environmental issues, and reports suggest that more than 50 percent of these businesses are understaffed, leaving an opportunity for businesses to double their impact.

To help the young minds understand how he or she could drive the change, Tribes for Good guides them through a series of steps.

Mnadeep interacting with the local community and the participants

Also Read

To give an insight, TFG trains students, professionals, and retirees from countries like Australia, the US, and Europe on innovations at the base of the pyramid in India. They want to give back but arent sure how, says Mandeep.

The flagship programme of the organisation, called Young Changemakers, is suitable for young adults who are likely to be the future entrepreneurs, consultants, and diplomats, and want to participate in social, economic, and environmental issues affecting India. The programme also helps to sensitise people and build essential problem-solving skills. It lets participants understand their responsibility towards future generations.

TFG's Social Impact Journey focuses on developing a deeper understanding of peoples potential to bring about a social change. This is a week-long, curated expeditions of discovery and insights in India where the participants work on a dedicated project. It is mostly focused on womens empowerment and youth, and lets participants use their management skills, bridging the talent gap faced by the social impact organisations.

The last programme is aimed at sustainability, which are curated day experiences or day walks for individuals to give them an introduction to the sustainability scene in India.

Getting local community on board

These programmes are run along with vetted non-profits or social enterprises that have a strong influence on the community. The professionals are chosen as they have been working in the communities for years and hence there is trust, care, and openness to new ideas.

At present, Tribes For Good comprises of mentors from diverse backgrounds including engineering, law, and management professionals across the globe. Besides, the team also has well-known people such as Deepa Krishnan, founder of Magic Tours; Anusha Bharadwaj, a social entrepreneur; and Pradeep Mahtani as advisors on board.

To begin with, the organisation maps the area that the communities want to work with - be it financial inclusion, digital inclusion or even improving their comprehension skills.

Participants

Also Read

Speaking about the challenges, Mandeep says, visitors, travellers, and students they bring in to work with marginalised communities sometimes find it difficult to adapt their services quickly. She says, participants should overcome their assumptions on safety, lack of amenities, and bias.

Building in-roads with the communities through organisations and great personal outreach and involvement was one of the challenging tasks, including adapting the services in an agile fashion to cater to the different people, she says.

The organisation is creating email marketing, videos, and business communication workshops for Aftertaste, which is a social enterprise it has partnered with that uses art as a form of empowerment to uplift low income women.

The video and communication material has been used for fundraising and to positively impact the bottom line of the organisation.

TFG also runs basic financial literacy training like using ATM and BHIM UPI to increase the financial inclusion and building on key components of trust, access, and comfort.

Mandeep along with the participants and the local community

Adelina Kriplani, an alumnus of TFG, shares that she could not only learn about the social space but also about whether the changes she, as an aspiring changemaker, strives for in the social sector are truly occurring.

Adelina was intrigued about how NGOs strive to make these changes, and if she, as a young recently graduated volunteer, really had any valuable skills that could contribute to creating sustainable change. It was those questions that led her to Tribes For Good.

Mandeep says, she looks forward to reaching out to a greater number of people by partnering with students, individuals, and retirees.

She says, Over the last year, we have doubled the number of organisations that we have worked with and have expanded to Bengaluru and Delhi. We are also looking at attract more mentors who can work on social impact projects.

(Edited by Megha Reddy)

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Originally posted here:
This Mumbai organisation is enabling changemakers and bridging the talent gap in social sector - YourStory

Coveas director of HR and learning Lisa Meigh and chief operating officer Adrian Furness collected the award from Stephanie Denton

Following last month's Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance Awards, we caught up with all the winners. Today, we talk to Lisa Meigh, director of HR & learning at Cova, about the insurer's win in the Staff Empowerment category.

Can you explain what Cova has done to create an empowered staff culture across the business?

Cova Insurance has a clear strategic goal to be a great place to work. Our inclusivity strategy supports this goal by ensuring we do the right thing for our employees. We believe getting this right makes our business stronger and delivers better outcomes for our customers.

Our broader D&I strategy has helped to drive employee engagement and establish a culture where our people feel empowered to get behind the issues that matter to them.

Cova Minds is a mental health initiative led by employees and sponsored by a Cova Insurance executive director.The initiative has been driven by the passion, kindness and energy of our people who have taken ownership to facilitate an organisational cultural shift around attitudes to mental health.The outcome has been to establish a safe and supportive work environment, where mental health can be openly discussed without judgement.

To support this, weve trained up mental health first aiders, trained dementia friends, partnered with a mental health advocate (Luke Ambler) to run resilience workshops, openly shared personal stories of mental health, held well-being events such as yoga, created chill-out rooms in each site, and run vulnerable customer workshops to increase the empathy within our organisation for those suffering with mental health or dementia.

Since it was launched, what has the response/impact been?

Since the launch of Cova Minds, we have seen a positive turnaround in attitudes towards mental health at work.It has been inspiring, honest and brave of our people, including members of our senior management and executive team, to share personal stories of how they have dealt with mental health challenges.The impact has been powerful.

We now have over 30 mental health first aiders covering all sites to ensure help is always at hand and we have over 460 dementia friends, all providing extra support for our people and customers who might be struggling with the mental health issues.

The key to the success of this initiative has been empowering our people. We believe that by really getting this right, our business is stronger, and we can deliver better outcomes for our customers.

The importance we place on our people is evidenced through our Gold Investors in Peoplestatus and Best Companies Employee Engagement survey results. Over 90% of our people say Cova Insurance can be trusted by customers/clients, and weve been named one of the top 75 companies to work for in Yorkshire & the Humber.

We also hold the highest available accolade from the Institute of Customer Service, ServiceMark with Distinction, for our personal lines, commercial & high net worth claims departments.We think this really shows that employee engagement goes hand-in-hand with delivering great customer service.

Where could this initiative go next?

Weve had an unprecedented reaction to our resilience workshops that we ran with Luke Ambler.

They were so popular thatweve extended these and will run more on a range of topics, all aimed at giving our people the tools to be able to deal with mental health issues.

How supportive is the group in terms of raising the profile and boosting the acceptance of D&I across the business?

The group have been unbelievably supportive in raising the profile and acceptance of mental health issues in the broader context of workplace inclusivity. It doesnt get much more real than people in high profile roles talking about their own mental health challenges to convince others that its OK to talk.

We believe one of the reasons the mental health message has resonated so powerfully across the business is that mental health affects so many people in so many ways.Its the number one cause of disability worldwide, with one-in-four of us experiencing it at some point. Within our business alone, this represents around 500 employees, emphasising the importance of reducing the stigma of mental health as a key element of our commitment to workplace inclusivity.

What was it like being a winner at the inaugural Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance Awards?

It was an incredibly proud moment, not just for me but for our amazingly passionate people across our business the people that have been owning and driving our D&I activities and making Cova Insurance such a great place to work.

We brought the award straight back and gave it to our D&I ambassadors and the award is now being circulated around our offices. This award was a recognition of the importance we place on empowering our staff and we couldnt be more delighted.

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Diversity and Inclusion in Insurance Awards winner: Cova - Insurance Age

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From a Lewis Capaldi gig and a jazz piano festival to a historical exhibition about our central bank, it's a nice mix of cultural activities this month

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In partnership with Singapore Art Museum (SAM), Ilham Gallery presents ILHAM x SAM a.k.a. The Body Politic And The Body. The collaborative art exhibition features artworks from SAM, plus art adaptations and loans from Malaysian artists. The artworks are aimed at igniting conversations about the socio-political landscape of Malaysia, its history and impact on society. Some of the highlights include Long Lost Memories by Ahmad Fuad Osman, Quiet Rooms by Nadiah Bamadhaj and The Voyage by Mohammad Din Mohammad.

Find out more here.

In conjunction with the 60th anniversary of Bank Negara Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery is currently having an exhibition tracing the growth and development of the central bank. Offering a rare insight into Bank Negara, one can learn more about the pivotal moments in the nation's banking and financial history, as well as some interesting facts you may not know such as the motivation behind the Kijang logo.

Click here for more details.

Founded by renowned jazz pianist Michael Veerapen, the Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival returns to KLPAC with an exciting line-up that includes Fazz, Frankie Sixes, Wei Li Cheah Quartet and many more. The festival also features free workshops with Mei Lin Hii, Justin Lim, Julian Chan, Wan Gigi and Tay Cher Siang, as well as a forum on music directing with Veerapen, Genervie Kam, Dato Mustafa Fuzer Nawi and Roslan Aziz.

Click here for the complete details.

Rising to fame with the emotionally powerful Someone You Loved, Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi will take to the stage for the first time in Kuala Lumpur at Life Centre. Lewis will perform a number of his hits such as Bruises and Mercy.

Find out more here.

Choreographed by Gen. T Honouree 2018, Suhaili Micheline and London-trained dance artist Kenny Shim's Woman-On-Man-On-Men features two dance routines, Pendatang Pampers and Wet Room. Both tackle dominant male characteristics, behaviours and egos in corporate spaces as well as personal relationships in a response to the new wave of women empowerment.

Click here for more details.

With good food, live music and beautiful lanterns, the Lights Water Fest at the Sepang International Circuit promises to be great fun for the whole family, culminating in lighting your own lanterns and floating them on the lake.

Click here for more details.

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The 6th edition of the marathon is expected to attract more than 10,000 runners who will be competing in 6 different categories from the 42km full marathon to the 1km Kids Dash. Themed "Futuristic", participants will be flagged off at Persiaran Flora Cyberjaya.

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Arts Exhibition Concert Light Festival Marathon January 2020 New Year

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What's On: January 2020 Kicks Off The New Year With A Culture-Packed Calendar - Malaysia Tatler

JoseRizal has been the subject of funny memes often highlighting his image of being a chickboy, and playing with the many over-the-top theories about him (i.e. that hes the father of Hitler, or hes the real Jack the Ripper, etc.). The debate about who between him and Andres Bonifacio should be considered the National Hero continues to rage on online as wella battle that also takes place in the classrooms. Put the removal of Philippine history as a subject in high school into the pot and youve got a formula for the propagation of confusion and misinformation about our local heroes and their contributions.

Such is the nature of discussions in the online world. There is high access to information, but the challenge is how to filter which information is useful, true, or fake and which narratives are reasonable or politically weaponized. The comments section is a cancerous, toxic debate place where everyone can voice their opinion, informed or not. Also, the creation and spread of fake news supported by armies of online trolls is an effective tool to drown dissent and amass political clout. In the recent two elections, Rizals image and memes turned political, for the purpose of supporting certain candidates, further confusing what Rizal truly stood for.

Though Rizal being used in advertisements is not a new phenomenon (Rizal in brand of soft drinks, matches, funeral homes, cement, bank, etc.), this reflects Renato Constantinos bookVeneration Without Understanding,which shows our tendency to take Rizal for granted. This is reinforced by the thesis of Mike de Leons film Bayaning Third Worldwhich upholds the idea ofkanya-kanyang Rizal(to each his own Rizal) as the persona of the National Hero has been used by all sides in political debates and messaging.

So what is the essence of Rizal in the time of fake news? Three timeless writings of Rizal that touchon the issue of truth and reason may enlighten us.

If Rizal along with other propagandists like Marcelo H. Del Pilar and Antonio Luna were alive today, they might find the phenomenon of fake news as nothing strange. During their time, they themselves were subjected to similar fabrications and attacks from newspaper editorials.

As members of the Propaganda Movement, they were engaged in an information campaign, and part of their advocacy was to push for reforms in the Philippines. They advocated for equal rights, better justice and education, and the transfer of parishes to Filipino secular priests. This advocacy drew the ire of certain people in power in Spanish colonial Philippines, the Spanish friars who cling to their influential stature among them.

The editorial attacks tried to discredit theIlustradosby spreading exaggerated, prejudiced or even false claims against them. Rizal and his comrades answered back with articles and essays via allied newspapers and magazines and their own newspaperLa Solidaridad.

In RizalsEl Filibusterismo, one often overlooks the character of Ben Zayb, the writer for a newspaper who exaggerates reports and changes the details to make his stories interesting. He also writes to please authorities and could be considered a sipsip (suck-up).

One such instance is when he writes a story where a friar single-handedly faced off with 50 bandits who tried to take away tens of thousands of pesos. Zayb wrote his exaggerated version of the story first without checking the facts. And when he went to confirm the details, to his dismay he found Padre Cammora nursing a concussion after being robbed of a mere 50 pesos by three bandits. Zayb berates the injured friar saying you know nothing of what actually happened to you.

Rizal said on Chapter 36 of El Fili that his articles can be likened to wine laden with poison the articles of Ben Zayb take effect may it be read or not by Filipinos.

Reading about the fictional exploits of Ben Zayb maybe comical but they could be interpreted as people who create and spread fake news for ones personal gain. Rizal said on Chapter 36 ofEl Filithat his articles can be likened to wine laden with poison the articles of Ben Zayb take effect may it be read or not by Filipinos. In the context of fake news, once it spreads, the damage has already been done. Peddlers of fake news can be likened to Ben Zayb.

RizalsLetter to the Young Women of Malolosis a must-read not just to understand the importance of empowered women in society but because of the importance of having ones own mind. The letter is most notable among Rizals other writings as it is one of the few written in Tagalog and touches on three key issues: women empowerment, true Christianity, and the importance of critical thinking.

Before ending the letter, Rizal lays down seven points of reflection. On the third point he writes that, ignorance is slavery, for the mind reflects the person: a person without ones own mind has lost his humanity; one who blindly follows another elses will is like a beast led by a leash.

Ignorance is slavery, for the mind reflects the person: a person without ones own mind has lost his humanity; one who blindly follows another elses will is like a beast led by a leash.

But the most striking would be his sixth point where he writes: everyone is born equal, naked and without chains. Not created by God to be enslaved, not endowed with intelligence to be blinded, and not adorned with reason to be deceived by others. It is not pride to refuse to worship a fellow man, to enlighten the mind, and to reason out everything. The arrogant one is he who wants to be worshipped, who misleads others, and wants his will to prevail over reason and justice."

How to Deceive the Native Landis a must-read for teachers and students of history and Rizal. Often overlooked as an editorial response to an editorial published byLa Voz de Espaa, a pro-friar publication that severely attacks the dignity of Filipinos, it is one of Rizals most relevant writing which deals with freedom of expression and the search for truth. Here, Rizal writes that, neither hiding the truth and fanaticism, nor oppression or superstitions ever have united nor will they ever unite peoples. On the other hand, liberty, rights and love bind different races around the same flag, a single aspiration, and one destiny.

In the writings of Rizal, we find the word obscurantism which means the deliberate prevention of the spread of knowledge or truth. In their advocacy, obscurantism, not ignorance, is the enemy of reason. For ignorance can be cured with knowledge and reason, while obscurantism is deliberate misinformation.

The editorial attacks were meant to discredit Rizal and the other ilustrados. Discrediting valid concerns and criticism in the pursuit of unity is hypocritical and deceptive. Ones responsibility is to uphold the truth even at the cost of ones personal comfort nor safety.

In the writings of Rizal, we find the word obscurantism which means the deliberate prevention of the spread of knowledge or truth.

Rizal and other propagandists did not fold to public harassment but rather continued for the sake of justice and reason. In a similar way, modern-day misinformation never unites a nation, it just turns people against one another, and obscurantism furthers this division. Alas, a divided people are easily conquered and oppressed.

Finding the truth might be difficult but should never be taken for granted. Those calling out the wrongs of society should never be dismissed nor discredited for society is not perfect and the first step to addressing a problem is talking about it. All attempts to deceive, misinform, and take advantage of confusion and ignorance are all attempts to suppress truth and free expression.

At this age, fake news and weaponized political narratives are deception. They will persist as long as a few people, especially those in power, benefit from them. Rizal after all warned that to deceive the native land is the greatest crime of all crimes.

*This article is based ona public lecture Controversies, Misconceptions, and Fake News: Rizal in Social Media first delivered in June 30, 2018 in Rizal Shrine Calamba.

John Ray Ramos is a part-time history instructor in the Ateneo de Manila University and in the Institute of Formation and Religious Studies. He also teaches Politics and Government. He finished his bachelors degree in history and is finishing his masters degree in Public Administration in the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is the author of Bayani Biographies: Jose Rizal and co-authoredBayani Biographies Andres Bonifaciopublished by Kahel Press.

2019 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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What Rizal taught us about the pitfalls of spreading and reading fake news - ABS-CBN News

By Express News Service

SAMBALPUR: In a novel attempt, doctors at the District Headquarters Hospital in Sambalpur have started providing music therapy to the patients.Music and sound systems have been installed in all the wards and OPD of the hospital to help patients and their attendants relax through devotional and soft music. No sound systems have, however, been put up in operation theatres, labour rooms and Mother and Child Health Care Centre of the hospital.

CDMO Sashi Bhusan Patel said music is being played for patients in the DHH from Sunday and for the purpose, 15 sound boxes have been installed.Besides devotional and soft music, the sound systems are being used to create awareness on health issues as well as cleanliness, harmful effect of gutka and appealing people not to spit in the open. More sound systems will be installed in the hospital soon, he said.

An attendant of a patient, Ramchandra Khadia of Gaudpali under Jamankira block, lauded the move and said they are getting various information and updates through the system. Apart from the information, the music is having a relaxing effect on everyone and improving the patientcare atmosphere in the hospital, he said. Patients from across the district besides neighbouring ones depend on the DHH for their healthcare needs. Although the DHH has a sanctioned 149 beds, it accommodates over 268 patients in 15 different wards.

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Music therapy for patients in Odisha Hospital - The New Indian Express

Happy New Year 2020: Make promises to yourself and stick by them.

Another promising 366 days lie ahead with New Year 2020 as we draw curtains to Year 2019. It is also time to make New Year resolutions to yourself and assess how you were able to keep up with the last year's promises. Did you kick the bad habit you had promised yourself? Did you manage to read the books that you had wanted to finish? Did you learn the language, or travelled where you wished to? And, did you hit the gym and got into your old jeans? Well, some promises are never meant to be broken, especially the ones you make to yourself. If you were not able to keep up with the New Year resolutions of last year because of some reasons, it's time you reflect why you missed those and add them to your New Year resolutions list this year. If you were able to keep up with the last year's resolves, pat yourself on the back and prepare another set of new year resolutions for 2020. It's a great feeling to make promises and live by them. Happy New Year!

While we all have our sets of resolutions depending on where we are and where we should be headed. Here are some common New Year resolutions that you can take a cue from and add to your list of resolutions for the coming year.

Practise yoga, meditation for inner balance: While we keep focusing on looking fit in the body, the crucial aspect of mental well-being often takes a back seat. This year, take the New Year resolution to focus your energies towards of mental well-being and being fit from inside. Right yoga and meditation tools would help you get necessary awareness about your body and you will feel more enthused and energized about life than ever before.

Keep plants, learn gardening: With rising global warming and contaminated foods that we get at homes, it's time to learn some basic gardening and grow your own herbs, lemons, chilies and fruits. Sure it would need some investment in terms of time and energy, but seeing the flower and fruit sprout would be a fruitful experience. It will be great for home and also for your health and well-being. Good for environment too!

Learn new musical instrument: Music connects you to your inner self and heals you from within. While listening to nice music can be alleviating, creating your own music piece would give you another high! So what are you waiting for, grab that guitar, piano, drum set, flute, sitar or harmonium, and make your own melody.

Learn new language: Language connects us but can also sometimes act as a barrier in the way we communicate our thoughts and emotions. It would be a good time to learn a local and global language as it will open up your understanding to a new world, culture and communication would no longer be a hindrance to understand another person. It will be a connecting chord worth investing in.

Travel to new places: Travelling to new places is a great learning experience. It opens up your eyes to new possibilities and also tests your survival skills in a new territory. You can go to a relaxing place, a historical sojourn or an adventurous journey, the experience would be absolutely worth it and add to your personality.

Read more books: Books are indeed one's best friends. It would be a good idea to unwind and pick up the books you had always wanted to read and add to your knowledge base. Hit the bookstore or download some e-books and get reading this new year.

Socialise and meet people, don't just text them: Caught up with texting and sending emojis, many of us have literally cut ourselves out from the "real world" and have forgotten to emote, express and reach out. In the coming year, make it a point to reach out, meet people in person and not just stick to online chats.

Learn to cook new dishes: Cooking is quite liberating and cooking the way you like your dish is very empowering feeling. Knowing what goes into your meal and then to your tummy can bring a great consciousness towards food and your personal well-being. Learn quick meals and stop dependence on your family or online orders to fill your belly, get into the kitchen and get inside that apron! You would come out very happy.

Set a goal and buy something you desire: That new dress, or a new phone, or long boots, or a vehicle, play station, home appliance, whatever it is that you have set your heart at; you must buy this year as it would give you a sense of achievement. Doing something for yourself always gives a kick and is sure a very satisfying felling. So build your goal and work towards achieving it.

All the best and a happy new year 2020!

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Happy New Year 2020: New Year Resolution Ideas You Can Use - NDTV News

Curious kids have a thirst for knowledge and now we're sharing their questions with you.

So this year, The Conversation US jumped on a great idea dreamed up by our colleagues in Australia and launched a series of articles meant to answer questions kids ask, but that everyone probably wonders about. The Conversations editors collect childrens questions and then look for scholars who can provide clear answers based on their own research and expertise.

Below are a few of our favorite Curious Kids articles from the past year. And whatever your age, if you have a question youd like an expert to answer in 2020, send it to [emailprotected]. Curiosity has no age limit!

Why is money green?

This one could only have come from an American kid. Marek, age 12, asked the question; history Ph.D. student Jonah Estess gave an answer.

It turns out that green ink is hard for counterfeiters to get right on their phony bills. And in the quirks-of-history department:

Also, there was lots of green ink for the government to use when it started printing the money we have now. The green color also does not fade or decompose easily.

Why do old people hate new music?

Maybe Holly, age 14, got sick of adults yelling turn that racket down and decided to ask this question. Psychology researcher Frank McAndrew had some ideas for her.

As they age, brains get worse at telling apart chords, rhythms and melodies. Another factor: Grownups might gravitate to the music they listened to back when they were young and their emotions were more intense. Or it might come down to whats called the mere exposure effect just hearing something more tends to make you like it more.

When youre in your early teens, you probably spend a fair amount of time listening to music or watching music videos For many people over 30, job and family obligations increase, so theres less time to spend discovering new music.

If you barely ever hear the latest bangers, you might not like them either.

What can you learn from an animals scat?

Verity Mathis from the University of Floridas Florida Museum of Natural History confirmed that Cora, age 9, was onto something with this question. Poop is a window into animals hidden lives.

Scat can tell us a lot about an animals diet, habits and movement, so scientists like to study it both in nature and in the lab. Outdoors, scat can identify what animals are present in an area. Then researchers take it to a lab, dry it out and dissect it for clues about the animals diet.

Researchers can even extract DNA from scat, a hands-off way to learn more about whats going on with a particular population.

Why do feet stink by the end of the day?

Our inbox suggests that kids are very interested in all things gross and smelly. Indiana University microbiologist Bill Sullivan took a stab at this question from Helen, age 6.

He points the finger (toe?) at a harmless type of bacteria that live all over peoples skin, happily eating up dead skin cells. The stinkiness problem arises inside your warm, moist shoes conditions the bacteria love and take advantage of to chow down and multiply.

Like anything else that eats, these bacteria make smelly waste. It is their waste that gives sweaty feet their funky odor: It contains stinky chemicals like those made by skunks and rotten eggs.

Where does the sand on the beach come from?

Kids write in with big questions about how the Earth works, too. Sly, age 6, posed this one that many an adult relaxing at the shore might have wondered about.

University of Washington geomorphologist David Montgomery explained that theres more to beach sand than meets the eye.

It has stories to tell about the land, and an epic journey to the sea. Thats because mountains end their lives as sand on beaches.

Its a story of erosion. And the sizes, shapes and colors of the individual grains of sand you see can tell you about the kinds of rocks they originally came from.

What are you wondering?

Over the past year, we had a blast hunting down answers to about everything from stargazing with binoculars to why kids arent very patriotic these days to what makes pizza so infernally delicious. Thank you to all the kids who were curious enough to ask questions and keep em coming in the new year!

Editors note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversations archives.

[ Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. ]

Maggie Villiger, Senior Science + Technology Editor, The Conversation

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Image: Reuters

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5 Questions You Didn't Know You Needed the Answers To - The National Interest Online