Science & Society

ASAN And The IACC, ICD-9-CM Codes, And Wandering: A Call To Reasoned Action

ASAN and the IACC On Monday, I  went through an ASAN petition  to the CDC that appears to have been intentionally hyperbolic and meant to get supporters foaming at the mouth. Since I posted the piece, I've continued to look into the ICD-9-CM, IACC ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Mar 17 2011 - 5:28pm

UK Chief Scientific Adviser In Verbal Meltdown Over Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

The UK Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir John Beddington, is in Tokyo trying to dampen expat fears that the Fukushima nuclear reactors could possibly ruin their lives. I had actually received snippets of this meeting by email and wa ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 16 2011 - 10:34am

Numerical Concepts And Language May Be Linked

Language may have an undervalued role in learning the meanings of numbers.   A study based on research using deaf people in Nicaragua who never learned formal sign language showed that people who communicate using self-developed gestures (homesigns) were u ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 18 2011 - 4:00am

Introduction To Radiation

Given the general fear regarding radiation levels around Japan, this seems the perfect time to give a short introduction to this important topic. There is a lot of confusion regarding radiation and radiation poisoning and this article will try and break it ...

Article - Siju Mammen - Mar 21 2011 - 4:37pm

5% of men and 10% of women believe that the Earth is bigger than the Sun?

Really?  Seriously  according to OK Cupid's analysis of their data from asking 642533 people the question  5% of men (gay and straight) and 10% of women (gay and straight) think the Earth is bigger than the Sun.  This finding is in a posting by Ok Cup ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jul 11 2011 - 9:28am

Get Potassium Iodide Or How Respond To The Present Irrationality?

In Nanjing, that is close to Shanghai, and I suppose also in other places around here*, you cannot buy salt anymore. Every last grain has been bought up. Why? Apparently, some evil guy started the rumor that table salt, which is sodium chloride (NaCl), ca ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Mar 24 2011 - 3:03pm

How The Media Hurt The Japanese People

How The Media Has Hurt The Japanese People First and foremost I have a personal message for the 180 or so heroes who have been working in shifts around the clock to save their nation from a worse disaster than the one that Japan has already suffered. To t ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Mar 24 2011 - 3:02pm

Bracket blowup for Etsy/NASA contest

Back in October I made my picks for the hotly contested Etsy/NASA contest.  And now the winners are announced.  Neither of my picks (stenciled glass bottles and wooden toy blocks for alien children) made it.  And, well, I'll say I'm not leaping u ...

Blog Post - Project Calliope - Mar 22 2011 - 9:35am

Are You Reassured?

There has clearly been enough controversy around the risks and hazards created by the Fukushima reactor problems over the past days.  Part of the controversy seems to originate with the idea that if a risk to public health is being suggested, then this is ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Mar 22 2011 - 2:53pm

A Pattern-oriented Approach to Complexity (PAC), an Introduction

Methodological Stuff: 1. Introduction 2: Patterns 3: Patterns, Objectivity and Truth 4: Patterns and Processes The Pattern Library: ...

Blog Post - Kees Pieters - Jun 17 2011 - 3:54am