Science & Society

Lazy literal translations are no excuse for insensitivity. Bakla may translate as gay and the Philippine culture may respect transwomen in a different manner than we do in the US but the US and EU media ought not call Jennifer Laude,  Jeffery or He even if that is the literal translation of the words! Bakla translates as transwoman not gay man when applied to someone like Jennifer Laude. Many in the media have rather carelessly, or even maliciously, used headlines such as.  Marine Suspected of Killing Transgender Jeffrey 'Jennifer' Laude NBC...really as liberal and…

Having children young and a dysfunctional romantic relationship are the two most frequently cited reasons when low-income mothers are asked about why they find themselves in poverty, say sociology scholars Kristin Mickelson of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Arizona State University, and Emily Hazlett of Kent State University in Sex Roles. They believe that how a woman answers the question of "why me?" when thinking about her own impoverished state influences her mental health and that such answers can also provide clues to whether the woman believes she will ever rise out of…

We’ve been having a lot of interesting items here on Science 2.0 coming from an Anglo-Oz joint venture called The Conversation,.  One that struck me most forcibly has been Masculinity And Terror: The Missing Conversation, linked to a paper When Bad is Cool: Violence and Crime as Rites of Passage to Manhood which stirred all sorts of thoughts in my mind.  That paper is well worth reading, but in their article itself they say (referring to a 1961 book “The Rites of Passage” by Arnold van Gennep): There is plenty of research that shows that masculinity is highly variable and above all…

Pulsars were discovered by a woman, Jocelyn Bell. Credit: Wikimedia By Hazel Hall, Edinburgh Napier University What was the greatest astronomical discovery of the 20th century? Some would say pulsars – highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars emitting beams of electromagnetic radiation. The scientific world was informed of these in a paper published by Nature in 1968. When the press learned that the research team behind the discovery had at one point considered that “little green men” might be sending the signals, journalists queued up for interviews. Then the news got even better: S.J.…

It's Ada Lovelace day. Image credit: unknown By Jan Bogg, University of Liverpool Throughout the year there are special days that see newsagents fill with celebratory cards. Perhaps punched cards would be more appropriate for Ada Lovelace Day, which marks both the mathematical prowess of the woman dubbed the “first computer programmer” and the cultural barriers she faced – those women in science and technical fields still face today. The woman known as Ada Lovelace was born Ada Gordon in 1815, the only daughter of Lord Byron, the famous poet and Romantic who left when she was just a month old…

Though the American economy remains in a malaise, with alarming numbers of people chronically unemployed for so long they no longer are considered unemployed because they can't get unemployment benefits any more, two areas have been exempt from that - government employees and new college graduates. Unlike the rest of the economy, those two sections never had negative growth and now hiring is expected to jump a whopping 16 percent for newly minted degree-holders in 2014-15, according to Recruiting Trends, the annual survey by Michigan State University economist Phil Gardner with responses…

I’ve been interfacing with Organic for 50 years. It’s a little scary to say you have been thinking about anything for half a century, but I did first learn about Organic from my grandfather about 50 years ago, around the time he retired.   He was a WWI vet who became an avid “victory gardener.” By the time I was eight or ten I would help him tend his vegetables or turn his compost pile.  This was in the early 60s, and my grandpa subscribed to “Organic Gardening Magazine” published by the Rodale Institute.  The organic growing system he explained to me was focused on the…

If you have read mainstream media reports on suicides, you recognize a common theme: men are painted as angry and rejected, while women are regarded as sociable and mentally ill. A new analysis of daily newspaper coverage of suicide has far-reaching consequences, write scholars from Medical University of Vienna, because when it comes to suicidal behavior, there is a clear gender paradox: the ratio of men to women who actually commit suicide is three to one, but with attempted suicides it is just the opposite - three women for every one man.  The authors say the findings demonstrate…

The pale blue dot. Credit: NASA By Monica Grady, The Open University World Space Week is one of a series of events co-ordinated by the UN to celebrate the global nature of space exploration. It was established in 1999. Why is it organised this particular week? Because October 4 1957 was when Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth was launched – and that’s when the “space age” began. Ten years later, on October 10 1967, through the auspices of the United Nations, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space…

David Fincher's film shows the desolation of failed suburban promises. Credit: Twentieth Century Fox By Julie McIntyre, University of Newcastle The film Gone Girl (2014) is dividing critics along gender lines. Men see it as a gripping, fresh thriller while women have expressed alarm over a range of issues. Chief in recent days is criticism of the representation of false rape accusations by the main female protagonist Amy Elliot-Dunne (Rosamund Pike), a character who is both misogynist and misandrist. Still, the most haunting feature of Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl (2012) that has been…