Since 1875, every Supreme Court nominee has received a Senate hearing or a vote ... Senator Patty Murray. Generation Progress highlights the individual senators you can contact directly: Senators, #DoYourJob

Roberta McReynolds writes: The very process of attempting to simplify data storage creates questions and problems I never encounter when I merely toss papers into a box to sort later. Admittedly that system also has drawbacks beyond the obvious fact that I can't locate, let alone remember, 80% of what’s in all those cardboard containers. Besides the risk of a fire hazard, it looks like I’m erecting a monument to hoarding.

More than 180 works, selected from one of the most extensive private collections of Mannerist prints in the world, epitomize the 16th-century’s extravagant and sophisticated style featuring engravings, etchings, woodcuts and chiaroscuro woodcuts by renowned artists and famous printmakers of the era. One of Hopper's early paintings, the oil on canvas was created when Hopper was just 31 and still struggling to establish himself, but it heralds the artist's influential career and prominence as one of America's great realist painters.

"It took only a few minutes," John Roberts said of his inspection of a digital version of the document. "In fact, I realized almost immediately that I was dealing with a genuine alternative setting of an earlier text. I recognized musical ideas found in other Handel pieces while at the same time knowing that I hadn't seen these particular arias before.

As scientists look for definitive proof of a link between Zika and serious birth defects, governments in countries like Brazil and Colombia have offered this piece of advice to their citizens: Don't get pregnant. That guidance, says Wendy Chavkin, professor emerita in Population and Family Health, is as about as helpful as Marie Antoinette's infamous "Let them eat cake."

Editor's Note: Now that the curtain is being drawn on the Downton Abbey saga we have to quickly turn to the resumption of Grantchester, Season Two, and the handsome priest, Sidney Chambers. We found ourselves disarmed by actor James Norton as Sidney and admit we were previously drawn to Robson Green, playing Inspector Geordie Keating. Green was seen in the series, Wire in the Blood, so the combination of the two actors makes Grantchester even more appealing. There is a dark note to the first episode, but a second season must, by all accounts, startle on some level.

After watching a steady parade of people emerge from the lavatory on an extended commercial flight, many passengers are reluctant to expose themselves to the germs left behind. But what if the lavatory could clean itself after every use? Boeing engineers and designers have built a prototype lavatory that uses ultraviolet (UV) light to kill 99.99 percent of pathogens, thus sanitizing all the lavatory surfaces. Combined with touchless faucets, soap dispensers and more, the lavatory of the future could make for a more hygienic, less worrisome experience.

Former First Lady Nancy Reagan says her final goodbye to former President Ronald Reagan during internment services held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. The observance concluded the weeklong state funeral services for Ronald Reagan, 40th President of the United States who passed away on June 5, 2004. US Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Jon D. Gesch

Jo Freeman writes: The chants could be heard three blocks from the Supreme Court. The speeches couldn't be heard from 30 feet. Buttressed against the cold wind by purple knit caps and emboldened by enthusiasm well over a thousand people gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Court Wednesday morning to shout their support for the lawyers arguing the case of Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt.

"As Indian people, our greatest hope is our children. And our kids are really at risk," said Carla Fredericks, director of the American Indian Law Clinic at the University of Colorado Law School in Boulder. "The only way we can help these girls is if we do it cooperatively, with the states, federal government and within our own communities." American Indian women have the highest rates of rape in the country, more than twice that of other ethnic groups. The vast majority of the perpetrators are non-Indian men, according to Amnesty International.   An Oglala Lakota teenager sits in a juvenile detention center in Kyle, South Dakota. Native American girls are five times more likely than wh…

Rose Madeline Mula writes: I also wonder why everyone in the country doesn't agree with my choice of political candidates. I mean it's so obvious that I'm right! And why do I waste so much time on Facebook reading the completely erroneous, poisonous comments they post about my guy or gal? And then why do I wonder why my blood pressure readings are so high?

Starting with garments worn by members of the Frisian branch of the house of Nassau in the Golden Age, the exhibits will feature vibrantly colored French silk gowns and luxurious velvet gentlemen's suits of the eighteenth century, classically-inspired Empire dresses and bustles of the Fin de Siècle culminating in twentieth-century French haute couture by Dior and Yves Saint Laurent.

"As you are aware, the WASP stepped up to serve during a time of great need during World War II," the lawmakers write. "It is clear the main reason the WASP were not commissioned at the time was cultural hang-ups on the role of women in the military..."The men who flew the same missions as the WASP before, alongside, and after these women would have been able to earn eligibility for Arlington National Cemetery."

Exercise by itself isn't always enough to take off the weight. Now, evidence reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology helps to explain why that is: our bodies adapt to higher activity levels, so that people don't necessarily burn extra calories even if they exercise more.

The question was: "Why get a tattoo?" To me, achieving age 60 was a chance to thumb my nose at society, a don"t-give-a-damn-what-anyone-thinks time to stray from conformity. So there'll be critics; who cares? After many in my age group have endured the collapse of a long marriage, kids who grow up and leave, and loved ones who die too soon, we get our priorities straight, and a barb tossed our way is harmless.

The researchers found that 13% of African American, 10% of Latino, and 7% of white students were involved with weapons. Of those who carried weapons, 17% also had shot or stabbed someone in the previous 12 months. Compared with those who reported no weapon involvement, adolescents who initially reported involvement with weapons were 4-6 times more likely to be involved with weapons a year later. It also was found that boys were 2-4 times more likely than girls to be involved with weapons.

Joan L. Cannon writes: There seem to be gaps in teaching and learning that are made by those habits of society and custom and plain laziness that we should to try to bridge. Certainly lessons as such are  necessary, but the curriculum needs imagination and revision. While working for certification in  the state where I was teaching as a substitute in a public high school, my class was assigned a  paper on Sex Education.

Oregon’s move to pharmacist-prescribed birth control is an attempt to increase access to the drugs and reduce unintended pregnancies, which make up more than half of all pregnancies in the United States. It also is part of a movement toward team-based medical care, in which doctors and other medical professionals together oversee patients’ care.

After rising steadily for nearly a century, the share of older Americans who live alone has fallen since 1990, largely because women ages 65 to 84 are increasingly likely to live with their spouse or their children. Older adults not only are less likely to live alone today than in 1990, but they are also less likely to live in nursing homes or other group quarters. In 2014, 3% of older Americans lived in nursing homes or other group quarters, down from 6% in 1990.  

Dulwich Picture Gallery is presenting an exhibition of paintings and prints by Nikolai Astrup (1880-1928), one of Norway’s finest twentieth-century artists. Along with Edvard Munch, Astrup expanded the artistic possibilities of woodcuts to capture the lush, wild landscapes and traditional way of life of his home in western Norway, powerfully capturing the myths and folklore of the country.

On February 11, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed, by voice vote, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (S. 524), as amended, sponsored by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). Among other provisions, the bill would authorize a pilot program to pr…

The ringing bell that LIGO heard early in the morning of Sept. 14, 2015, was the result of two massive black holes merging together 1.3 billion light-years away. As the two black holes spiraled around each other, they radiated energy in the form of gravitational waves. While they merged into one even more massive black hole, they released three solar masses of energy. Imagine a Hydraulic and electromagnetic system that also compensates for the tidal stretching of Earth's crust!

Joan L. Cannon writes: A marriage would be a partnership in the profoundest sense. It would be the most welded commitment possible. It would presume without doubts ultimate mutual trust. It would be physically passionate, emotionally profound, mutually dependent, fully understanding of differing opinions but pliable and accepting and curious, respectful and humorous, and above all, appreciative. Maybe that is simply an annotated statement about love.   Sign  WHO IS THE EXPERT? Not for the first time I saw a call for a contest for manuscripts on marriage. As a theme/subject for…