Science & Society

Worried About Terrorism Hot Spots? Here Are 5 U.S. Places To Avoid

Over 30 percent of all terrorist attacks from 1970 to 2008 occurred in just five metropolitan U.S. counties, according to a report published today by researchers in the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a De ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 31 2012 - 1:47pm

An Excellent Study On Denialism

The Wall Street Journal published an excellent case study in denialism on Friday, in the form of a letter from sixteen scientists seeking to perpetuate gridlock in climate policy.  While nothing they have to say raises any scientific issues about climate c ...

Article - Robert Cooper - Feb 13 2012 - 10:52am

Forbes Takes Down Anti-Science Beliefs At NPR

Who has more credibility to the NPR audience, a scientist or someone who runs an organic yogurt company?  It depends on the issue, of course.  When it comes to global warming, science is awesome but when it comes to food security for poor people, science i ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Feb 24 2012 - 1:04am

From Aaronson to Žerovnik: Scientists are lining up to boycott Elsevier

Many publishers attract a significant amount of bile from scientists. However, most bile is reserved for that titan of publishers, Elsevier. Now, many academics are signing on online pledge called The Cost of Knowledge, where you can pledge to boycott Else ...

Blog Post - Oliver Knevitt - Feb 3 2012 - 1:22pm

Robopocalypse Now

Robopocalypse, see also here on Boing Boing, is a novel by roboticist Daniel Wilson, who foretells a global apocalypse brought on by artificial Intelligence (AI) that hijacks automation systems globally and uses them to wipe out humanity. Computers and no ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Feb 6 2012 - 12:42am

Use by date?

In the USA, it is, I understand, a great insult to call a member of the fair sex a “Tub of Lard”.  So folks from across the Pond may do a slight double-take when they read          Tub of lard found fit to eat after 64 years   ...

Blog Post - Robert H Olley - Feb 4 2012 - 2:46pm

The Problem With Defining Life

The problem, in a word, is language. Carl Zimmer’s recent article Can Life Be Defined in Three Words raised just that issue. He referred to the many attempts that have been made by scientists to define what life is, and in doing so, unwittingly exposed som ...

Article - Steve Davis - Apr 28 2012 - 9:09pm

Technological Symbiosis

After reading Sascha's excellent article [Robopocalypse Now] regarding the effect and direction of robotic/AI development and its coevolutionary influences, it occurred to me that perhaps a shift in how we view such developments could promote a more i ...

Article - Gerhard Adam - Feb 6 2012 - 9:12pm

Sex Education Doesn't Work For Anyone, So Conservatives Are Stupid

" Sex education is failing to reduce adolescent birthrates in conservative states, according to a new study" begins a somber Livescience piece. Oooh, that's juicy.  We all want to talk about how dumb conservatives are. And if it's a stu ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 7 2012 - 8:13pm

The Rise Of Open Access Scientific Publishing

Accessing the absolute latest in scientific communications directly by the independent amateur or citizen scientist has been a financially daunting prospect for decades; practically impossible. ...

Article - Matthew T. Dearing - Feb 8 2012 - 10:02pm