Rice University is offering a course specifically to address black chemistry and chemical education while promising to touch on "inequities" in the scientific field.Rice‚ the more than 120-year-old university in Houston‚ Texas‚ lists CHEM 125 001 "Afrochemistry" on its course catalog for the 2024 spring semester.The full title of the course was listed as "Afrochemistry: The Study of Black-Life Matter." It has nine students enrolled at the time of this publication (out of a possible 15).The course is available to undergraduates and has the following description:"Students will apply chemical tools and analysis to understand Black life in the U.S. and students will implement African American sensibilities to analyze chemistry. Diverse historical and contemporary scientists‚ intellectuals‚ and chemical discoveries will inform personal reflections and proposals for addressing inequities in chemistry and chemical education."In addition to the alleged black-centric science‚ the description also noted that the course is accessible to "students from a variety of backgrounds including STEM and non-STEM disciplines.""No prior knowledge of chemistry or African American studies is required for engagement in this course."There is no final exam for the course‚ either.As noted by the Daily Caller‚ the course was specifically referenced by renowned theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss in the Wall Street Journal.Krauss cited the class as an example of scientific courses that offer obscure‚ postmodern theories."Today postmodern cultural theory is being infused into the very institutions one might expect to be scientific gatekeepers."Krauss then recalled a sarcastic‚ nonsensical article he had read in 1996 that was meant to mock social commentary that had been injected into the sciences. Unfortunately the article became"[Today] hard-science journals publish the same sort of bunk with no hint of irony‚" he added.After listing "Afrochemistry‚" Krauss explained that while many of these ideas haven't "totally colonized" scientific journals‚ they are "beginning to appear almost everywhere and are getting support and encouragement from the scientific establishment."Other examples cited by Krauss included "Observing whiteness in introductory physics: A case study" and a class in "Chemistry on Feminism and Science as a Tool to Disrupt the Dysconscious Racism in STEM."Krauss further explained that "dissent isn’t welcome" in some cases. An example given was a 2021 case from Mount Royal University in Canada‚ where a tenured professor was fired for questioning whether indigenous “star knowledge” should be in the curriculum for astronomy.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Journalists like Arden Young are keeping the integrity in their practice alive. Young‚ from Sound Investigations‚ recently set her sights on the website Pornhub — which boasts millions of pornographic videos online and over 180 million unique visitors daily. The journalist went under cover to dig up the truth about Pornhub’s disgusting practices‚ straight from the mouths of its unwitting senior employees. She recorded these employees admitting to illicit‚ illegal‚ scandalous practices behind the scenes. The information she exposed is so damning that Pornhub is ironically threatening to sue for lack of consent in recording its employees. Young tells Allie Beth Stuckey that she decided to go after the company because “sexual exploitation has always had a close place in my heart.” This closeness is due to growing up in Hollywood‚ where she was “put in and witnessed a lot of very inappropriate situations.” She zeroed in on Pornhub when she saw a 2020 New York Times article called ‘The Children of Pornhub.’ The article detailed the victims' attempts to get their abuse videos removed from Pornhub. Many of these victims were underage. While Pornhub claimed to change its ways after that article‚ Young and her partner “had a hunch that this just wasn’t the case.” And with the jaw-dropping information Young tirelessly gathered and revealed to Stuckey — it’s clear that their hunch was right. To get the full story‚ watch the episode below. Want more from Allie Beth Stuckey?To enjoy more of Allie’s upbeat and in-depth coverage of culture‚ news‚ and theology from a Christian‚ conservative perspective‚ subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America‚ defend the Constitution‚ and live the American dream.

The future is a façade. It's a thing that's there but hollow‚ the regime of make-believe. We're headed toward the prevalence of forms without substance.At the height of the COVID-19 panic‚ the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health ordered the closure of beaches. Just past the peak of that madness‚ though‚ health officials decided they wanted to encourage exercise‚ so they modified the order: They opened the oceans to swimmers but kept the beaches closed. Swimming was allowed‚ but swimmers couldn't lounge in the water. Recreation was forbidden. Only "active exercise" was to be tolerated‚ and the sand could only be used as a path to access the site of that exercise. Beach chairs were for killing grandma. There will still be people in uniforms or with elegant job titles who tell you about rules‚ but you won’t believe them. And neither will they. While that order was in place‚ I took my daughter to Mother’s Beach‚ a protected place in Long Beach with gentle waves along the side of a bay. Consider this my confession: We recreated. Joining other families‚ we put our butts on the sand. And we kept them there. We went into the water‚ too‚ but mostly to wade around and fail to perform permissible exercise activities under the published governmental protocols.After about 20 minutes of illegal beach-lounging‚ we watched a lifeguard putter up in a boat‚ cut the engine‚ and pick up a microphone. “ATTENTION!” he said over a loudspeaker. “The beach is closed. The water is only to be used for active exercise. All persons on the beach must enter the water and begin swimming or leave the area immediately. You may not remain on the beach.”Then he immediately throttled up the engine and puttered away‚ not even looking back‚ and the 40 or 50 people on the beach shrugged and went on with their day. He didn't care‚ we didn't care‚ he didn’t care that we didn’t care‚ and everyone knew that everyone else didn’t care. A government employee did what the formal rules said he was supposed to do‚ for form’s sake only‚ and then made sure he wasn't around to watch people ignore what he said. Nonsense empties and hollows. You listen to the cops‚ or any other authority‚ when you trust them and believe they’re trying to protect your community. Sometimes‚ you grudgingly listen to them because they develop a reputation for being dangerous‚ and so you go through the motions of obeying them without trusting them. And sometimes‚ they know they work for idiots who make stupid rules‚ and officials and citizens join in the project of ignoring the whole dumb show as much as possible. Ask a military recruiter if you doubt it. The growing stupidity of American institutions leads to a decline in respect and willing participation. Dr. Saint Anthony Fauci shrugged and told a congressional committee this week that there was never any science behind the public health rule demanding six feet of social distancing. That standard‚ he said‚ "sort of just appeared." LOL‚ YOLO. Caveat emptor‚ chumps.But here’s what real human beings thought of that lighthearted whoopsie‚ with the casual punctuation of social media: “I watched my grandma slowly die from cancer over zoom because we had to be ‘6 feet apart’ she spent a year in pain and lonely because they wouldn’t let us hug her or go by her. Now as it turns out ‘Fauci just made that up’... No COVID amnesty and no mercy.”So what happens next time? Public health institutions will remain and even grow‚ and they’ll go on making rules and telling people about those rules. Will you care? Will anyone?Military personnel can’t just wander away from work without mentioning it to anyone‚ but the secretary of defense did just that for the better part of a week‚ informing neither the person above him nor the person below him in the chain of command that he was in the hospital for a while. How do you punish sergeants and captains who don’t tell anyone where to find them for a while when the person at the top of the Department of Defense doesn’t bother with that same expectation?Claudine Gay resigned as the president of Harvard University after critics presented plausible claims of plagiarism in her work. The university acknowledged only that she had used "duplicative language" without citations. She keeps her job as a tenured Harvard professor‚ returning to the faculty after failing as a leader. What does enforcing plagiarism allegations against undergraduates look like in the post-Gay academic environment?Italians famously know that they have a government but don't concern themselves about the thing too much. Sample headline: “It’s Been 25 Years Since Anyone in Italy Trusted the Government.” Americans are well down the road to having institutions that only rate a distant contempt. There will still be people in uniforms or with elegant job titles who tell you about rules‚ but you won’t believe them. And neither will they. The only path that leads away from that destination is to end the double standards and the dismissive shrugging at failure. You can rate the likelihood of those outcomes yourself.

Diesel engine manufacturer Cummins agreed to pay $1.675 billion to settle civil cases brought against it by the Biden administration and California for allegedly "cheating" emissions laws‚ according to a Wednesday press release from the Department of Justice.According to the DOJ‚ the settlement agreement is the largest ever for a Clean Air Act violation and the second-largest environmental penalty.Cummins was accused of "installing emissions defeat devices on hundreds of thousands of engines‚" violating the Clean Air Act and California law. The defeat devices‚ which can be a part or software‚ allow vehicles to circumvent emissions testing requirements.In addition to the civil penalty‚ Cummins also agreed to invest over $325 million to remedy the defeat devices. Approximately 630‚000 Ram 2500 and 3500 pickup trucks will be recalled to replace the engine control software. The manufacturer's recall only involves software updates."Cummins will also extend the warranty period for certain parts in the repaired vehicles‚ fund and perform projects to mitigate excess ozone-creating nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from the vehicles and employ new internal procedures designed to prevent future emissions cheating. In total‚ the settlement is valued at more than $2 billion‚" the DOJ reported.In 2015‚ the Environmental Protection Agency warned vehicle manufacturers that it would begin conducting special testing to discover potential defeat devices.Cummins' defeat devices "artificially reduced the effectiveness of the emission controls – and increased NOx emissions – during normal driving outside of the standard test conditions‚" the DOJ claimed.As part of the settlement agreement‚ Cummins must pay the California Air Resources Board approximately "$175 million to fund mitigation actions or projects that reduce NOx emissions in California through CARB mitigation programs."The manufacturer was also ordered to offset NOx emissions by working with railroad locomotive owners to replace 27 high-emitting diesel engines with "new‚ low-emitting diesel or electric engines." Cummins will also fund 50 projects to reduce idle time for diesel-powered switch locomotives.Attorney General Merrick B. Garland reaffirmed the DOJ's commitment to "vigorously enforcing environmental laws that protect the American people from harmful pollutants.""The types of devices we allege that Cummins installed in its engines to cheat federal environmental laws have a significant and harmful impact on people's health and safety. This historic agreement makes clear that the Justice Department will be aggressive in its efforts to hold accountable those who seek to profit at the expense of people's health and safety‚" Garland stated.Cummins has denied any wrongdoing."Today marks another step toward concluding that four-year review‚" Cummins said‚ Fox News Digital reported.The company pointed to comments it made in December regarding the settlement‚ adding‚ "As Cummins said then‚ we are looking forward to obtaining certainty as we conclude this lengthy matter and continue to deliver on our mission of powering a more prosperous world.""We remain committed to advancing our Destination Zero strategy — Cummins' vision for achieving a zero-emissions future — which is driven by decarbonization and aimed at promoting economic growth while using fewer of the world's resources‚" it continued.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors‚ sign up for our newsletters‚ and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Combining the best of the entire RTS game genre‚ including Command and Conquer‚ StarCraft 2‚ Warcraft 3‚ and more‚ Stormgate‚ the debut work from Frost Giant Studios‚ finally has its first open beta on the way. Founded by former Blizzard developers‚ who also worked in conjunction with Chris Metzen before his return to World of Warcraft‚ Frost Giant successfully funded Stormgate after a hugely popular Kickstarter campaign. Now‚ the classic-style strategy game will be playable for the first time during Steam Next Fest. Continue reading Ex Blizzard devs’ huge new RTS game gets first open beta MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best RTS games on PC‚ Best strategy games on PC

Final Fantasy 16 producer and FF14 director Naoki Yoshida says he thinks a younger generation of developers should make the next Final Fantasy game‚ rather than it being left in the hands of “the same old guys.” The beloved game developer spoke to PlayStation’s Shuhei Yoshida for the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences‚ where he discussed the future of the legendary Japanese RPG series and what it might look like. Continue reading FF14’s Naoki Yoshida doesn’t want “the same old guys” to make FF17 MORE FROM PCGAMESN: The best MMOs‚ FF14 Dawntrail release date‚ FF14 Island Sanctuary guide

It's been a great week for gaming laptop deals‚ and the hits just keep coming with the Acer Nitro 5‚ currently at its lowest-ever price on Amazon - just $949.99 - meaning you're saving over $350. Some of the best gaming laptops on the market right now are priced well over the $1‚000 mark‚ and it can often be difficult to find any good specs for less than this. That's why it's important to keep an eye on deals‚ and the underrated Acer Nitro 5 is a steal for under $1‚000. Continue reading Grab this underrated RTX 4060 gaming laptop for 27% off while you can MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best gaming monitor

In the battle between the MOBAs‚ there’s one god-like battle arena game that continues to contend for its seat on the MOBA throne. The mythological queen to League of Legends’ fantasy king‚ as it were‚ Smite has earned its place on the dais. Now‚ a decade on from the original Smite release date‚ Smite 2 has been announced. Continue reading One of the most underrated MOBAs of all time is getting a sequel MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Best MOBAs‚ Best multiplayer games‚ Upcoming PC games

What are the available Palworld jobs? While we have incredible animals like giraffes and elephants roaming around doing absolutely nothing‚ it’s fair to say they could contribute something to society. In Palworld‚ Pals are used to benefit local communities by generating electricity or mining ore‚ doing things that need to be done. No matter how big or small the Pal is‚ if there’s something that needs doing‚ you can be sure the best creature is on the job. In this utopian Palworld society‚ Pals have more work to do than most humans. Remember‚ some of the creatures in the Palworld Paldeck are capable of breathing fire‚ creating electricity‚ and spitting huge amounts of water‚ they’re beasts capable of performing miracles. Don’t feel too bad putting your Pals to work‚ there are much worse alternatives in this open-world game like being turned into food. Continue reading All Palworld jobs and work explained MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Palworld pals‚ Palworld starter‚ Palworld system requirements

WATCH Nancy Pelosi Short-Circuit When CNN Anchor Says Trump Could Very Well Be President Again (Video)