By Erin E. Templeton. This week saw the announcement of several of the 2013 Nobel Laureates: François Englert and Peter W. Higgs for Physics; Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel for Chemistry; James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof for medicine, and Alice Munro for literature. Munro’s win is particularly significant: she is the first Canadian author to win the prize. Here is The New York Times on Munro’s award. Also, over at Salon, Daniel D’Addario has given us “8 things to know about Nobel Laureate Alice Munro.” While the outgoing President of the University of Michigan herself has not recieved a prize(yet), she left a fine gift for current and future Michigan students. The Chronicle reported earlier this week that Mary Sue Coleman and her husband Kenneth M. Cleman were gifting $1 million to support study abroad scholarships. More...

By Adeline Koh. Knowledge is changing. In the world of print knowledge, internalized knowledge of facts once signaled expertise. But in the age of smartphones, Google and Wikipedia, this knowledge is now at our fingertips. How important, then, is it for our students to have this knowledge memorized?
Does this change our notion of what constitutes “learning”? Are closed-book exams, the mainstay of print knowledge, still useful? Professionals rarely have to undertake closed book exams in real life. Lawyers conduct research for cases. Programmers google code. More...

By Ann Adjie Shirley-Henderson. After a few drinks with male scientists at a bar, I was hit with the question, “So what do you babes in the sciences want?” The quick answer I gave, after suppressing an obscenity, had to do with creating a level playing field. But that’s not what I really want. I want retribution, remuneration, and recognition, right now. But I would settle for an even split between male and female scientists in all favorable factors for success, immediately. More...