Parents and their Leaves in the United States and Canada: Comparisons and Constraints from University Administrators and a Child’s Education Perspective

Academic institutions in North America offer a wide range of paid leave. Although the benefits of paid parental leave — both for the mental and physical health of parents and children, and for gender equality in the workforce — are widely acknowledged, we were surprised that there was no easy way to look up and compare leave policies across academic institutions. We both felt strongly that parental-leave information should be easily accessible to people deciding where to pursue their degrees or apply for academic positions.

By contrast, the United States has no federally mandated paid parental leave. It is required of companies with more than 50 employees to give them 12 weeks of leave for specific reasons including the birth of a child. All US universities are included in the database. Although there are 11 states and the District of Columbia with their own mandated paid leave policies, this is not very common. Within these constraints, US and Canadian universities have a lot of latitude to decide the type, amount and length of paid parental leave that they offer.

The Parents’ Pay: A Survey of Paid Leave Policies for Undergrads and Undergraduate Students in Canada, and a Search for new collaborators

Compiling this database required scouring universities’ websites and contacting human-resources representatives. With our young children and full-time work keeping us busy, we, ironically, did not have time to collect the data. The university paid the two undergrad research assistants to help us, they were based at John Stinchcombe’s laboratory at the University of Toronto.

Once we started looking at the policies, the first major determinant of the amount of paid leave at universities that jumped out was, unsurprisingly, country. Canada has a legislated paid parental leave that provides up to 50% of salary for up to 50 weeks for the parent who gives birth and up to 35 weeks for the other parent. These rates are flexible; parents can reduce their salary further to acquire more weeks’ leave. A couple can take a maximum of 59 weeks paid at 45% or 59 weeks paid at 33%. These rates are often topped up by the employer for only a small amount of time.

A person who is in an academic stage like an undergrad or graduate student can’t get federal leave because they don’t have enough work hours. It is then up to the individual university to have a policy in place that allows these groups to take paid leave.

We have only scratched the surface of analysing these data, so we are looking for collaborators interested in conducting more in-depth analyses, expanding the database beyond North America, and publishing findings.

A microscopy-based brain imaging method based on a prototype lens and the last days of Arecibo (Portugal)

Trailblazing mathematician and computer scientist Evelyn Boyd Granville says that Black role models helped to inspire her ground-breaking career in the US space programme, early IBM software development and senior roles in academia. He was 99 years old and died of old age. 6 min read.

A microscope can allow scientists to peek at the brain and not have to reconstruct it from individual brain slices. The tissue is translucent before it becomes embedded in a material that expands when water is added. At the heart of the method is a type of lens that is usually used to identify pixel-sized defects in flat-panel displays. The prototype microscope’s resolution is comparable to that of high-resolution imaging using standard confocal microscopy. It’s also fast: it can image an entire mouse brain in less than a day.

Three years ago the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed, and is no longer funded. Russia’s Moon mission is important for science and there is a useful database of parental- leave policies in the US and Canada.

Source: Daily briefing: See moving photos of the last days of Arecibo

Refugees aren’t as supportive of refugees as they once were: the effects of repeated humanitarian crises and a possible bias towards Ukrainians over others

People in Europe are as supportive of refugees now as they were seven years ago, found researchers who explored the effects of repeated humanitarian crises and possible biases towards Ukrainians over others. The data show that most people do not have the extreme negative views expressed by “the loudest voices” in the political arena, says public-policy researcher and co-author Dominik Hangartner. Respondents did favour certain demographics over others: in both 2016 and 2022, they were more likely to favour younger refugees over older ones, women over men, and Christians over agnostics and Muslims. Critics highlight that the findings deal with personal perceptions and might not reflect national attitudes or refugees’ own experiences.

ProMED, the e-mail alert system that has been key to reporting emerging outbreaks such as COVID-19 and Ebola, is in crisis. The staff members of ProMED went on strike after they were not aware of the paid subscription model. ISID told ProMED that their pay was going to be delayed. Staff members are calling on ISID to share the system’s operations and financing with another organization, and to ensure transparency and independent leadership, because ProMED is in a limited capacity.

Almost half of more than 200 large species of fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and cephalopods identified by researchers in China’s coastal habitats are on the international Red List of endangered or vulnerable animals. Yet 78% of them aren’t on China’s own Red List. Out of 50 large coastal animals that are considered very important for their ecosystems, only 17 are protected in the country. A lot of news about the giant panda can be found, but there aren’t many news stories about megafauna in China.

Source: Daily briefing: See moving photos of the last days of Arecibo

Launch of the first uncrewed lunar mission in 47 years: Russia’s first lunar mission and its first landing in the icy South Pole

Russia has launched an uncrewed spacecraft to the Moon’s south pole — its first lunar mission in 47 years. It is expected to see a lot of activity in the coming years because of the water ice, which would be the first landing in the region. The mission will land on August 21, but the chief of the Russian agency described it as being high risk and with a 70% chance of success.