Science Education & Policy

Autism's History- First Discovery, New Genes And A Surprising Link To Circadian Rhythms

The autistic disorder was first described, more than sixty years ago, by Dr. Leo Kanner of the Johns Hopkins Hospital (USA), who created the new label ´early infantile autism´. At the same time an Austrian scientist, Dr. Hans Asperger, described a milder ...

Article - News Staff - Mar 31 2010 - 4:40pm

Is Sarah Palin A Creationist?

Sarah Palin, John McCain’s choice for Vice President should he win the November elections, is a worrisome character from the point of view of science education. It is hard to tell whether Palin herself is a creationist or not and, frankly, that’s far less ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Sep 1 2008 - 9:47pm

Innovation Slow-Down in the US?

The technology community in the US ain't what it used to be, argues Judy Estrin, a technology entrepreneur and former Chief Technology Officer of Cisco. She is the author of Closing the Innovation Gap, and she's arguing that "we have a natio ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Oct 22 2008 - 11:02pm

Mimicking Complex Ocean Behavior Experimentally- Not Without Some Wreckage

The ocean as an ecological and physical system is unmatched in its complexity but researchers are getting closer. A team of scientists is studying the complex ocean upwelling process by mimicking nature – pumping cold, nutrient-rich water from deep within ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2008 - 1:47pm

Like Your New Invisibility Cloak? The Chinese Have Already Cracked It

From the 1933 classic "The Invisible Man" to the more recent Harry Potter series, devices that achieve invisibility have been popular parts of film fantasy. In recent years, scientists using special types of 'meta' materials have shown ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 2 2008 - 11:49pm

Dr. Arnold Relman Takes On Industry Support Of Medical Education (again)

In a commentary released today in the September 3rd issue of the medical journal JAMA, Dr. Arnold Relman, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at Harvard and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, takes on the issue of industry support of medical ...

Article - Matthew Brown - Sep 4 2008 - 4:48pm

Fewer Guns Would Mean Fewer Suicides, Say Harvard Researchers

We can keep suicidal individuals from committing suicide successfully by making sure they can't get a gun, say researchers at Harvard School of Public Health. The article in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) was written by Matthew Miller, ass ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 3 2008 - 4:52pm

What Is A Gene? You'll Be Surprised At How Media Outlets Use The Word

What is a gene? You'll be forgiven if you have a few definitions. Even scientists define ‘a gene’ in different ways, so it may come as little surprise that the media also have various ways of 'framing' the concept of a gene. But how journali ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 4 2008 - 9:54pm

Some Global Sea Rise Claims Exaggerated, Says Study

You may have seen projections by some scientists of global seas rising by 20 feet or more by the end of this century as a result of warming, and you may have seen others projecting less than two feet in a worst case scenario. There are a lot of projection ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2008 - 9:44am

Why Girls Leave Science And Math- Confidence, Says Psychologist

Unlike the social sciences, which are overwhelmingly women, and life sciences, which are about 50-50, the hard sciences have a true gender disparity and the search is always on for reasons why. Most parents and many teachers believe that if middle-school a ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2008 - 1:51pm