Science & Society

Interstellar: A Spectacular View Of Science But Not Without Compromise

Black holes aren’t black. Warner Bros. By Alasdair Richmond, University of Edinburgh Note: this article has spoilers. In Interstellar ’s near-ish future, our climate has failed catastrophically, crops die in vast blights and America is a barely-habitable ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 10 2014 - 6:05pm

Natural Selection And Homeopathy

Forget the Higgs Boson, the Landing on Comets, Missions to Mars, the Genome Project, Nanostructures and all that. This start of this new millennium looks like the dark ages to me if I have to gauge it from discussions I overhear in public places.  ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Nov 12 2014 - 3:06pm

The British Are In Denial About Their Weight

In America, it is no surprise to see obese people. They know they are obese, they just don't care. In Britain, you see just as many obese people, but they don't care because they don't think they are obese. They don't even think they a ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 14 2014 - 8:30am

'Facebook Murder'- Should Crimes Using Social Networks Get Their Own Category?

Is there such a thing as a Facebook murder? Is it different than any other murder? Legally, it can be. From a common sense point of view, there is no 'hate crime' status that should make a murder worse if a white person kills a latino person or ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 14 2014 - 11:11am

Domesday Book Listing Is Still A Ticket To Being Upper Class In England

What's in a name? Apparently a lot. So much so that social mobility in England hasn't changed much since pre-Industrial times. After William the Conqueror defeated King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, making England a French country ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 17 2014 - 1:31pm

Some Poor People Have Better Health

It is a weekly event in epidemiology- some medical or health outcome is linked to socioeconomic inequality, as if more spending makes people healthy. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 18 2014 - 12:20pm

Family Planning: Involving Men Empowers Women

In America, and to a much less extent in Europe, there can be a lot of angst when an aerospace engineer wears the wrong shirt on television. Women have a great deal of power in western nations, so much so that they can overwhelm science breakthroughs with ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 18 2014 - 11:17am

To Survive A Car Crash, Be Young, Male And Drive A BFC

Vehicle fatalities are the most common cause of accidental death around the world. In the US alone, there are 30,000 deaths in car crashes each year.  ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 18 2014 - 4:30pm

The 27 Club Is A Myth: 56 Is The Bum Note For Musicians

Jimi Hendrix is a member of the so-called 27 Club. A very exclusive club, as it turns out. EPA/Eduardo Miranda By Dianna Kenny, University of Sydney I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. – Groucho Marx Now he’s gone and joined that stu ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 18 2014 - 5:30pm

The Whip, The Lash And The Blood, Sweat And Semen Of Jazz

Dr. Fletcher (J.K. Simmons) and Andrew (Miles Teller) in Whiplash By Lauren Rosewarne, University of Melbourne A decade of piano lessons with a woman who never allowed my lack of passion, prowess or practice ruin a good thing, exists as a mere red herring ...

Article - The Conversation - Nov 19 2014 - 9:00am