Science & Society

Despite the publicity of high-profile celebrities having their iPhones hacked and private pictures distributed across the Internet, a new paper confirms that substantial numbers of teens are sexting – sending and receiving explicit sexual images via cellphone. Though the behavior is widely studied, the potentially serious consequences of the practice led the researchers to more accurately measure how frequently teens are choosing to put themselves at risk in this fashion. The study surveyed 1,130 undergraduate students about their experiences sexting in high school. Nearly 20 percent reported…

We all have the legal right to refuse health care. Credit: Warren Goldswain By Margaret Brown, University of South Australia Have you thought about how you would want to be treated if you cannot make your own decisions? You may be unconscious after car accident, you may be so ill you cannot communicate, or you may be dying and cannot convey your wishes. Would you want to be kept alive on life support if there is no hope of recovery? If you are 93 with advanced dementia, would you want to be resuscitated and die in intensive care on life support? Or would you rather be at home, in your own bed…

Dr. Steve McKnight is President of the American Society For Biochemistry And Molecular Biology and chairman of the biochemistry department at the University of Texas-Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He has probably also made a few enemies among young researchers in the society he manages.  In a recent column at the ASBMB website he launched a SCUD missile at the current generation of biomedical scientists, stating that "the average scientist today is not of the quality of our predecessors" and that well-funded government biomedical research attracts riff-raff who never would have…

In modern times, doctors in medical school and residency are steeped in a 'teach to the protocol' environment, mandated by the government and the threat of lawsuits if bold efforts don't work. With the gradual takeover of health care by governments, creativity and and initiative are going to decline even further but some hospitals still engage in high hospital care intensity (HCI) and they have lower rates of patients dying from a major complication, called failure to rescue.  Aggressive treatment is what everyone wants, but the economic reality is that such efforts will only be…

UCLA psychologists using a scale of responses to scenarios are saying that white Americans may view diversity and multiculturalism negatively as the U.S. moves toward becoming a minority-majority nation. The psychologists divided 98 white Americans from all regions of the country — half male, half female, with an average age of 37 — randomly into two groups. One group was told that whites will no longer be the majority in the U.S. by 2050; in fact, this is likely to be true as soon as 2043, according to some projections. The second group was told that whites would retain their majority status…

In third place, Oxford University is the top UK institution in the World University Rankings 2014-15. Image:  Andrew Matthews/PA Archive By Steven C. Ward, Western Connecticut State University From the “best beaches” to the “best slice of pizza” to the best hospital to have cardiac surgery in, we are inundated with a seemingly never-ending series of reports ranking everything that can be ranked and even things that probably shouldn’t be. Over the last few decades, schools and universities in many parts of the world have become targets of this ranking mania. Some of these are official,…

Oh no – not that mistake again. Credit: Flickr/Alex Proimos, CC BY-NC By Will J Grant, Australian National University and Rod Lamberts, Australian National University UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH: What do we actually mean by research and how does it help inform our understanding of things? Understanding what’s being said in any new research can be challenging and there are some common mistakes that people make. Have you ever tried to interpret some new research to work out what the study means in the grand scheme of things? Well maybe you’re smart and didn’t make any mistakes – but more likely you’…

The need for caution when any anomaly is revealed in new research. Credit: Flickr/Adam Gerard, CC BY-NC-SA By Michael J. I. Brown, Monash University UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH: What do we actually mean by research and how does it help inform our understanding of things? What if research throws up a result that calls for a new way of thinking? How do we handle that? There are many misconceptions about science, including how science advances. One half-truth is that unexpected research findings produce crises, leading to new theories that overturn previous scientific knowledge. Sometimes science…

Mental illness has been under a lot of criticism in the last few years. The public feels like the psychology field over-medicates people based on subjective symptoms and recent high-profile violent acts all involved people on psychiatric medications. But there is still recognition that some mental illness is exculpatory and not just bad behavior. That is less so with drug addicts. While addictions are called a disease, and everyone gives lip service to that idea, when it comes to public policy the truth comes out. The public doesn't support insurance, housing, or employment policies…

Women ask why there aren't more women in lists of top scientists. Credit: Katrina Cole, CC BY-NC By Victoria Metcalf, Lincoln University, New Zealand A steady infiltration of scientists onto Twitter has accompanied the growing recognition that a social media presence is just as important as taking the podium at a conference. Social media is leading to new ways for scientists to collaborate and communicate. Indeed, mentions on Twitter can amplify a researcher’s scientific impact. But like all social media forms, it’s not always playing nicely together in the playground. List wars Science…