Science Education & Policy

Darwin invented the phone, Newton discovered fire

It's that time again for a look at how dumb the public is about science. One in ten children thought the telephone was invented by the Queen, with Darwin coming in second place. One in twenty thought the first man on the moon was Luke Skywalker, or po ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 14 2010 - 4:03am

A Brief Guide to Ignoring Bad Science Teachers

Much has been written about how inspirational teachers can turn students on to a subject they perhaps would otherwise have let drift away. But what do you do if you're really into a subject but have a poor teacher who is doing their best to turn you o ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 18 2010 - 1:30am

Mind Hacks Over Stacks Of Facts

Textbooks are not mere non-fiction books. Whereas you can feel free to doubt what ispresented in a typical non-fiction book (mine excluded), textbooks are a record of the true facts and principles in a field. Textbooks, you see, should not be questioned.  ...

Article - Mark Changizi - Mar 18 2010 - 6:05pm

Show Off Your Own Creative Engineering: Rube Goldberg Machine Contest

The public's fascination with the intricate machinery in the video for "This Too Shall Pass" by OK Go may help promote the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. This is an annual competition for students to show off their creative engineering skill ...

Blog Post - Richard Mankiewicz - Mar 20 2010 - 4:22am

On Peer Review

In Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel asks some questions about peer review — its purpose and its effect — prompted by strong online criticism of a peer-reviewed paper that was published with at least some significant review comments ignore ...

Article - Barry Leiba - Mar 26 2010 - 8:52pm

Bloggy Crashes COPUS

Bloggy recently crashed a meeting of The Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS).  What is that, you ask?  Okay, I never heard of it either but their website says they are a "growing grassroots network of universities, scientific soci ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Mar 25 2010 - 9:08pm

Lego Turing Machine

Lego Turing Machine I just came across a wonderful teaching aid: Our success in implementing the Turing Machine as a physical device is exciting because the Turing Machine theoretical construct is such an iconic part of computer science. The Robotic Turin ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Mar 29 2010 - 9:56pm

Congress Pushes For Public Access To Research

Legislation introduced today in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) would require federal agencies with annual extramural research budgets of $100 million or more to provide online access to research no later than six months after p ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2010 - 6:40pm

Acknowledging The Function Of Scientific Bloggers

Researchers who blog are a rare and endangered species. As far as rarity is concerned, it is easy to understand why that is so. Scientific research is a round-the-clock occupation, not your regular nine-to-five job. If a researcher has spare time, he or sh ...

Article - Tommaso Dorigo - Oct 25 2017 - 5:50am

Scientists In Parliament: The More The Merrier?

The UK has a General Election looming on 6 May, thereby giving newspapers enough hot air to puff up their websites. But what should their science writers talk about during such times? With the launch of Britain's Science Party, science journalists can ...

Article - Richard Mankiewicz - Apr 27 2010 - 8:22am