Category: The Universe

Attention, Jane Austen Fans!

Here’s a book you might like.

Robert reports:

My pal Polly Shulman (New York literary whiz, book reviewer, and freelance science writer/editor extraordinaire) has just turned her jaw-dropping talents to something new: YA fiction. Her book Enthusiasm, which comes out on February 16, looks like just the sort of thing some MuseBloggers should ♥ to the nth power.

I’ll try to get Polly on the blog to talk about books, the writer’s life, and those wild parties at Lemony Snicket’s house. Meanwhile, you can find out more about Enthusiasm from her publisher, Penguin Books.

Added February 8: NEW! Read Polly’s interview in Newsday.

15 States Flunk School Science

How does your state measure up?

Last month the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit education-research group in Washington, D. C., gave letter grades to public school science standards and curricula in 49 of the 50 U.S. states*. Here’s how they stacked up. (You can read the full report here.)

A: California, New Mexico, Indiana, Virginia, South Carolina, New York, Massachusetts
B: Arizona, Colorado, Minnesota, Illinois, Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia
C: Washington, Utah, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island
D: Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Maine
F: Alaska, Hawaii, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, New Hampshire

* They skipped Iowa because it doesn’t publish school science standards.