Longer Looks: Interesting Reads You Might Have Missed

The New York Times: The Mystery Of How Many Mothers Have Left Work Because Of School Closings 
The pandemic has been a continuing nightmare for parents. This has been particularly true for mothers. Even before the pandemic, child care duties fell disproportionately on women, and this disparity has only grown. But figuring out how many mothers have been pushed out of the labor force specifically because of school closings can be tricky. (Tedeschi, 10/29)

The Washington Post: How Covid-19 Is Changing The Way Mothers Parent Their Daughters 
Grant McCracken, a cultural anthropologist, has been studying how the relationship between mothers and children is changing during the pandemic. He noticed a trend in his own research: Mothers told him that they have been focused on raising and launching successful children into the world. But with day cares closed and babysitters unable to work, grade schools and colleges forced online, extracurriculars canceled and tests such as the SAT postponed, many mothers have been spending more high-quality time with their children — time, he said, that has led them to re-examine some personality traits they wanted to foster in their children: kindness and compassion over competition, and empathy for those who may be struggling. (Kramer, 11/2)

The New York Times: Will The Hardest-Hit Communities Get The Coronavirus Vaccine? 
It is an idea that may never have been tried in wide-scale vaccine distribution: Citing principles of equity and justice, experts are urging that people living in communities hardest-hit by the pandemic, which are often made up of Black and Hispanic populations, get a portion of the first, limited supply of coronavirus vaccines set aside just for them. A committee of experts advising Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is considering the idea. But as it comes into focus, its underlying concepts and execution must be further defined, and the approach may then face legal and political challenges, even as the medical system grapples with the anticipated logistical hurdles of distributing new vaccines. (Kolata, 10/30)

The Wall Street Journal: How A Boy With Autism’s World Turned Upside Down When Pandemic Shut School 
Before the pandemic, 10-year-old Josiah Hood had a team of 17 people helping him with physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy and behavioral therapy at home and at school. When the school he attends for children with developmental disabilities abruptly closed in March, Josiah, who has autism, was suddenly without the structure and routine he needed to thrive. (Jargon, 11/3)

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Live Science: Why Has Our Normal Body Temperature Been Dropping?
Feeling under the weather? Chances are you or your doctor will grab a thermometer, take your temperature and hope for the familiar 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) everyone recognizes as “normal.” But what is normal and why does it matter? Despite the fixation on 98.6 F, clinicians recognize that there is no single universal “normal” body temperature for everyone at all times. Throughout the day, your body temperature can vary by as much as 1 F, at its lowest in the early morning and highest in the late afternoon. It changes when you are sick, goes up during and after exercise, varies across the menstrual cycle and varies between individuals. It also tends to decline with age. (Gurven and Kraft, 11/2)

The New York Times: Scientific Journals Commit To Diversity But Lack The Data 
On June 16, three weeks after the killing of George Floyd set off a wave of protests that would blaze across the globe, Joël Babdor received an unexpected email. It was an invitation for Dr. Babdor, an immunologist at the University of California, San Francisco, to write a blog post to share his “personal experience as a Black man in academia,” the email said. The sender was a marketing manager from Springer Nature, a company that publishes Nature and thousands of other scientific journals. Springer Nature most likely needed little introduction, the email noted to Dr. Babdor, “since you have published with us before.” Dr. Babdor recalled being excited and flattered by the message. But then, he said, “I started to spiral.” (Wu, 10/30)

Scientific American: Media Multitasking Disrupts Memory, Even In Young Adults 
The bulky, modern human brain evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago and, for the most part, has remained largely unchanged. That is, it is innately tuned to analog information—to focus on the hunt at hand or perhaps the forage for wild plants. Yet we now pummel our ancient thinking organ with a daily deluge of digital information that many scientists believe may have enduring and worrisome effects. A new study published today in Nature supports the concern. The research suggests that “media multitasking”—or engaging with multiple forms of digital or screen-based media simultaneously, whether they are television, texting or Instagram—may impair attention in young adults, worsening their ability to later recall specific situations or experiences. (Stetka, 10/28)

The Wall Street Journal: What Makes People Abuse Robots 
If a person starts abusing a robot, will other people intervene if the robot’s friends show sadness? That was the objective of a new study by researchers at the Interactive Machines Group at Yale University. As robots become increasingly present in public and work spaces, in roles such as security guards and baristas, harm from humans is surprisingly common. Robot researchers say photos of people punching, kicking, even beheading these machines are popular online. (Miller Rubin, 11/2)

The New York Times: Reasons To Sign Up For A Health Savings Account 
If you’re eligible for a health savings account, now may be a good time to open one. H.S.A.s can help you pay for medical treatment and medicine that insurance doesn’t cover. Typically, money is deposited into an H.S.A. before taxes, grows tax free and is tax free when you withdraw it as long as you spend it on eligible expenses. (A few states tax contributions to H.S.A.s, or earnings from interest or investment gains.) (Carrns, 10/30)