Science & Society

On Rachel Carson's Birthday, Let's Talk About Her Dislike Of The Organic Food Movement

Rachel Carson, who launched the modern environmental movement with her 1962 book “ Silent Spring,” was a highly private person. But on one occasion she allowed an interviewer to ask, “What do you eat?” Her sardonic answer: “Chlorinated hydrocarbons like e ...

Article - The Conversation - Jun 5 2023 - 10:03am

Fewer Black Men Than Women Vote Democrat And A PNAS Paper Suggests That May Be Because They're In Jail

A new demography paper argues that there is a reason more black women have voted for Democrats than men have since 1980- more black men are in jail. ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 12 2023 - 3:16pm

Has Science Been Restored To Its Rightful Place?

In 2008, I was as excited as anyone about the chance to correct some public relations mistakes made by the Bush administration in the nascent years of blogging.  Obviously some of the 'Republicans are anti-science' stuff was because when you are ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jun 21 2023 - 9:25am

Ocean Gate's Titan Submersible: A Suboptimal Shape and A Tragedy.

M ost if not all deep submergence vehicles that take people to the deepest parts of the ocean have a spherical pressure hull, not a cylinder. There is a simple reason for this: symmetry. The spherical symmetry of these crafts ensures that the pressure and ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jun 22 2023 - 5:49pm

No Uk Daily Mail, Humans and Dinosaurs DID NOT Live At The Same Time.

T he UK Daily Mail published a story with the misleading headline “Humans DID live with dinosaurs…” The story then talks about placental mammals that coexisted with dinosaurs. This shows a lack of basic knowledge by the writer, the editors and anyone else ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Jun 27 2023 - 12:36pm

Climate Doomsday Narratives Are Working, Say Media Academics

A decade ago surveys showed that Millennials were less concerned about environmental claims than Baby Boomers or Generation X. The reason was speculated to be environmental fatigue. Millennials saw that government recycling was only making China rich and A ...

Article - News Staff - Jul 8 2023 - 5:31am

Is Barbie Damaging The Body Image Of Girls?

Launched in 1959, named after the inventor’s daughter Barbara, and owned by 99% of 3-10 year old girls in the USA, Barbie has been a popular request on young girls’ Christmas wish lists for 55 years. So, should we buy them? What are these toys teaching ou ...

Article - The Conversation - Jul 20 2023 - 8:09pm

Generational Labels Were Always Fake- But They Are Great Marketing

Pew has announced they will no longer use 'generational labels' and instead use age cohorts. It makes sense demographically but it never made sense that anyone used them in the first place.  When I was born, the Baby Boom was an event- a post-Wor ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jul 27 2023 - 11:36am

Fact Checking Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer'

Unless you hate movies, you know this weekend was "Barbenheimer"- two highly regarded, very different films were on track to smash some records. And they did. "Barbie" did over $150 million while "Oppenheimer" did $80 million, ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Jul 27 2023 - 7:17pm

In 2023, Coming Out Is Still Complicated, And Not Just Because Of Straight Family Members

With historically high levels of LGBTQ2+ visibility, hardly a TV show exists where no matter how small the character list, someone isn't a sexual minority, a new paper says that coming out can still mean drama- even from those inside the LGBTQ2+ commu ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 3 2023 - 10:09am