Science & Society

When Science Finally Catches Up To ESPN

(I recently discovered this series of entries about fixing science journalism, begun in February.  Because I just joined up, I wasn't able to add my two cents.  So I thought I'd add it now, since, hey, who couldn't use two cents?  My apolog ...

Article - David Sloan - Apr 9 2010 - 9:47am

A nice profile of a local researcher

Decisive Advantage by Chris Potter in the Pittsburgh City Paper. If I had a kid who might want to go into research for a living, I'd want them to read this story. It gives some insight into what is actually involved in doing research, even though it ...

Blog Post - Adam Retchless - Apr 10 2010 - 9:21am

Join A Godless Hive of Drink Soaked Liberal Empiricists

If you live in London, then you could do worse than join a Westminster Skeptics night out getting paralytic about science. Westminster Skeptics promote an evidence-based approach and critical thinking in the areas of policy, media, and legal reform. They h ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Apr 10 2010 - 11:14am

63 Years Old Solo Balloonist Reaches North Pole

63 Years Old Solo Balloonist Reaches North Pole Jean-Louis Etienne has made the first solo balloon voyage to the North Pole, traveling 3,130 kilometers- 1,945 miles- in five days from Norway to the tundra of eastern Siberia. Jean-Louis Etienne has always ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Apr 11 2010 - 5:26am

The World Needs to Embrace Science

One of my top 5 favorite TED talks from TED 2010, Michael Specter speaks about how society needs to embrace science. We shouldn't place more importance on ideology than scientific data, on politics over common sense. When we fight scientific progress ...

Blog Post - Andrea Kuszewski - Apr 12 2010 - 5:37pm

Do a network experiment, get a free book

Albert Laszlo Barabasi is a scientist who has long been studying networks and self-organization, and he's got a new book coming out: Bursts: The Hidden Patterns Behind Everything We Do He's setup an online experiment in networking, based on some ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Apr 12 2010 - 10:19pm

Lands Of The Midnight Sun

Lands Of The Midnight Sun This is a list of dates and latitudes where the sun doesn't set for days on end. It might be a useful resource for anyone interested in the Arctic or Antarctic. I've posted it under 'science and society' becau ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Apr 13 2010 - 12:13pm

What Is The Most Important Field Of Science For The Public?

A while ago, I read an argument that understanding economics is more important than understanding evolution. The author's point is that evolutionary theory does not provide the layman with particularly useful information, whereas economic theory has m ...

Article - Adam Retchless - Apr 14 2010 - 9:30am

Helping Academics Lose Their "Ivory Tower" Reputation

Researchers from North Carolina State University are making an attempt to help academia lose its "ivory tower" reputation by connecting students to their local communities. The new research project lays out guidelines that can be used to develop ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 13 2010 - 5:53pm

Gene Patents Stifle Innovation, Block Competition

Exclusive licenses to gene patents are supposed to spur development of new technologies for gauging disease risk but actually do more to block competition in the gene testing market, say researchers from the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy (I ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 14 2010 - 1:19pm