Weekend Reads 10/29/16

Monkey 'tools' raise questions over human archaeological record

The capuchins make the fragments unintentionally while bashing rocks into dust, the researchers find. Some scientists say that the results call into question whether some stone tools have been incorrectly attributed to hominins — including 3.3-million-year-old artefacts from Kenya that are the oldest on record.

Elon Musk provides more details about how first Mars colonists will live

The first large ITS spacecraft sent to Mars, nicknamed "Heart of Gold" after the ship in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, would likely be filled mostly equipment to build a propellant plant on Mars. The first crewed mission would then carry perhaps a dozen colonists and the equipment needed to build a "rudimentary" base and finish the propellant plant.

Computer Science Professor Shuts Down Mansplainer Like A Boss

You know why Golbeck was not having this mansplaining BS? Because she’s a goddamn computer scientist who teaches programming classes as a professor at the University of Maryland. That’s why.

The Big 12 hits stop button on expansion: So ESPN avoids faith issue in new coverage?

At the moment – in terms of journalism – there is much more to Big 12 gazing than watching football. Yes, there is a religion-news hook here. The question of whether the Big 12 will add new members to get back to 12 has turned, in part, into yet another battle between LGBTQ activists and allies of traditional religious groups.