Science & Society

New Government Guidelines Won't Impact Alcohol Drinking

New government guidelines claiming a link between alcohol and cancer won't have a direct impact on drinking, but they do raise awareness of harm and so may alter social attitudes towards alcohol, according to an editorial in The BMJ. Professor Theres ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 11 2016 - 8:54am

Netflix Stumbles in its Dramatization of Steven Avery Conviction

Keeping the Gate is a "science and society" blog, which is to mean that it explores the relationship between science and society.  Journalists and producers play critical roles in regulating that relationship.  But the definition of journalism is ...

Blog Post - John M. Collins - Feb 15 2016 - 2:41pm

With 60% Of Academic Clinical Trial Results Not Shared, The Public Has A Blind Spot

Less than 40% of the results of clinical trials conducted at leading academic medical centers were shared within two years of completion, finds a study in the British Medical Journal. ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 20 2016 - 8:30am

Simulating scientific sabotage, with a board game?

Radioactive isotope in your tea, blatant patent theft and manuscript theft by a peer reviewer? Yep, these are all real actions by scientists who have screwed over other scientists just to get ahead. Why? Because in science "There is no prize for seco ...

Blog Post - Caezar Al-Jassar - Mar 2 2016 - 7:47am

Gender Quotas In Mexico Didn't Reduce Quality Of Female Political Candidates

In the 21st century, it seems to be settled that quotas are a bad idea. By picking people based on a characteristic outside their ability to best do a job, it seems to be another term for discrimination.  Some countries have done it anyway. Mexico, for ex ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 22 2016 - 2:48pm

Advocacy Research: How Serious Is The Problem?

A decade ago, the media perception was that the only "advocacy" research (science-y sounding stuff out to achieve a cultural goal) was small groups getting a little bit of money to deny things like global warming. In reality, the public knew bet ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Feb 27 2016 - 12:43pm

Female Genius? Black And Brilliant? Not According To RateMyProfessors

An analysis of more than 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, a site where students write anonymous reviews of their professors, found that words like "brilliant" and "genius" are most often used to describe male professors, and ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 4 2016 - 7:48am

What Most People Don't Realize About The Decline In The US Labor Market

The decline in the fluidity, or dynamism, of the U.S. labor market has been occurring along a number of dimensions, including the rate of job-to-job transition, hires and separations, and geographic movement across labor markets, since at least the 1980s, ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 6 2016 - 8:00am

Artificial Flavors, Preservatives And Dyes Are Gone And Kraft Macaroni And Cheese Fans Didnt Care

Last April, Kraft Heinz announced it would remove artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from its iconic Blue Box, and did exactly that in December. Kraft Mac&Cheese replaced artificial dyes (yellow 5 and 6) with paprika, annatto and turmeric to m ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 10 2016 - 1:00pm

3 State Laws Could Reduce Gun Deaths By 80 Percent, Say Scholars

Scholars are making a bold claim about gun deaths- they say they will be reduced by 80 percent if three laws are enacted. In a study published in The Lancet, state-level data from 2010 on gun-related deaths and 25 state-specific gun laws identified three ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 11 2016 - 7:29am