Science

JEREMIAH "Lump" Worthem entered the it's-heating-up part of the basketball recruiting process expecting to make all five of the permissible official visits. Instead, he cut things short after two and, in retrospect, could have done so after one. Robert Morris it is for the 6-6, 205-pound Worthem, a senior small forward from Math, Civics and Sciences Charter. "I felt Robert Morris in my heart during the visit, which was three weekends ago for their football Homecoming," Worthem said.

As regulation came to an end, the score read 1-1, and for the second time in a matter of hours, Mastbaum's fate rested on penalty kicks. The Panthers' season ended, though, as Science Leadership won the penalties round, 4-2, to earn the final playoff spot in the Public League boys' soccer C division. Both goalkeepers stood out, with Matt Rinaldi making 13 saves for the Rockets and William Heard stopping 11 shots for Mastbaum. In a rare occurrence, four teams found themselves tied for second place at season's end, requiring the league to hold a playoff to determine the second seed.

As regulation came to an end, the score read 1-1, and for the second time in a matter of hours, Mastbaum's fate rested on penalty kicks. The Panthers' season ended, though, as Science Leadership won the penalty round, 4-2, to earn the final playoff spot in the Public League boys' soccer C division. Both goalkeepers stood out, with Matt Rinaldi making 13 saves for the Rockets and William Heard stopping 11 shots for Mastbaum. In a rare occurrence, four teams found themselves tied for second place at season's end, requiring the league to hold a playoff to determine the second seed.

I AM A VETERAN Philadelphia public-school teacher who is on sabbatical, and short of burying my head in the dirt the last two weeks there was no avoiding the brouhaha regarding a student wearing a "Romney-Ryan" T-shirt on dress-down day and comments her teacher admittedly made to her at a Philadelphia public high school. I would like to chime in with some additional perspective pertaining to the teaching profession. Like George W. Bush has said on numerous occasions about the presidency, "This is a hard job. " The craft of teaching is science with research-based curriculum, lesson plans and best practices, but it is also art with an intuitive sense for putting the science successfully into practice and making it work.

Laquan, 13, has a charming smile that draws people to him. He communicates his feelings well, and easily expresses his wants and needs. Laquan enjoys talking with adults and delights in receiving attention from them. He is a good listener. Very creative, Laquan delights in drawing scenes and characters that appear in the monster and alien books he loves to read. He is also very athletic and plays a variety of sports, including basketball and football. He especially enjoys watching football games on television.

By Mary Woolley A Nobel Prize is the most widely sought-after and treasured global recognition of our times, and rightly so. The achievements of the laureates, including this year's winners, have had a far-reaching impact on our lives, from discoveries related to stem-cell research to those involving quantum particles. Yet unlike Olympic medalists, the winners of the prizes for medicine and physiology, physics, and chemistry - respectively, John Gurdon of Britain and Japan's Shinya Yamanaka, Serge Haroche of France and American David Wineland, and Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka - will not be celebrated by a broad segment of society.

Target wrote the book on targeting. The retail giant utilizes what's called "predictive analytics" to influence the purchasing habits of its customers. And now, that same level of sophistication is shaping our political campaigns as they seek to drive their vote to the polls Nov. 6. Two books tell the story when read in tandem. The first is Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business , which reveals how Target assigns its clients a code, referred to internally as a Guest ID, which tracks what we buy. What data does Target collect?

MISSOURI Senate candidate Todd Akin caused a firestorm over the weekend when he explained why he believes there are no exceptions that would allow abortion, even in cases of rape: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down" and not get pregnant. Akin may have been referencing some of the ancient Greek texts that had similar strange views about how the human body functions. For example, people in ancient Greece believed that hysteria was caused by the womb detaching itself and wandering around the body, causing all kinds of problems.

On Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., creepy critters and butterflies infest the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University for the fifth annual Bug Fest. Families can also sample bugs as a culinary treat. The festival marks bug month and the academy's yearlong bicentennial celebration, and its theme is butterflies from around the world. The academy's "Butterflies" permanent tropical garden exhibit will showcase birdwing butterflies from Asia and Australia and the colorful green species Ornithoptera priamus . Roaches also participate, showing their competitive skills during the Roach Race 500, where you can cheer and support your favorite insect runner.

By William C. Kashatus Recent DNA and genealogical evidence uncovered by Ancestry.com researchers suggests that President Obama is a descendant of one of America's first documented African slaves. What surprised many is that Obama's connection to slavery is through his white mother, not his black father. According to Joseph Shumway, a member of the Utah-based research team, Obama is a descendant of John Punch, the first African recorded as legally "enslaved for life" in colonial Virginia.