Science & Society

Employees who have a sense of unjustified entitlement are more likely to say that their bosses are abusive and mistreat them than their less entitlement-minded coworkers, according to a new paper.  People who exhibit "psychological entitlement" have unjustified positive self-perceptions and are reluctant to accept criticism that would undermine their rosy views of themselves, said lead author Paul Harvey, associate professor of organizational behavior at University of New Hampshire. They can be selfish, narcissistic and believe that they deserve many more rewards and much more praise for…

Athletes are competitive, they are always looking for that extra edge. And the line of right versus wrong can get a little blurry - even in the case of sporting events held for impaired communities. The Deaflympics, held between 26 July and 4 August this summer, had that concern. Do deaf people have a disadvantage in events like running? And if deaf people have a disadvantage, couldn't someone fake deafness to win a medal, the same way a guy could claim to be a girl inside and compete in a women's event?  What about cochlear implants? Are those cheating? Doping in sports is not new and…

As a guy who has never worked in a large company, but has seen start-ups I've been involved with turn out both wonderfully successful and less so, I can tell you that creating a 'culture fit' template for a start-up is essential in being the former rather than the latter. For as much as people who have never run business units or companies want to claim it is only about 'the work' and that each person can somehow be in a performance bubble, that just isn't the case. At a small start-up, culture can kill you in a way that won't happen in a larger organization. But is looking for the best…

Government and academic analysts say that cheaper labor in China is not the reason for Asian dominance in solar panels, but rather larger-scale manufacturing and resulting supply-chain benefits. Echoing the government, these analysts say performance efficiencies, like innovations in crystalline solar cell technology, could equalize prices by enhancing access to materials and expanding manufacturing scale across all regions. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) analysts drafted their own bottom-up cost model to try and…

A case study discusses an example of life insurance discrimination due to genetic test results for cancer predisposition. James (pseudonym), in his early 20s, was denied full life insurance coverage because he revealed that he had discussed genetic testing with a genetic counselor. He was later tested and found to carry a mutation in the MSH6 gene; after disclosing this, he was denied cover for cancer by two other life insurance companies. He then filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission. Dr. Louise Keogh, lead author of the case study from the School of Population and…

I do not care for Bashar Al-Assad and, given his actions, he deserves to be hung by the rebels.  The question must be asked of you Mr President, if rebellion broke out in the USA would you not use force to suppress it? If half of the states, or say, every state west of the Mississippi decided they did not want you to be president would you just let them go?  Would you seek to divide our properties with them and let them go peaceably?     Mr Obama, sir, if your answer is that half of our homeland's landmass could rebel against your administration, and you and your…

Humanities scholars writing in a new paper contend that brushes with the law are often related to 'finances' and therefore if criminals got better financial training when they're released from prison, and get private tutors rather than classroom instruction, their financial stress would be lower. For the paper, 155 incarcerated men in two Midwestern jails completed a lengthy survey to assess their financial knowledge and behavior; 12 men agreed to in-depth interviews. Angela Wiley, a University of Illinois professor of applied family studies and co-author of the article, said that four…

War is in its two-thousandth year of extinction. It is always being declared dead, a sign of cultural progress, and certainly world wars have declined - since World War II, Europe has enjoyed its long period of peace in its history. But whether or any actual war between nations has declined is debated by political scholars. Nations would like to wage war, they are eager, says Bear Braumoeller, author of a paper at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association and associate professor of political science at The Ohio State University, but fewer conflicts than in the past are…

How do you know when your brand has captured the latest wave in popular culture? When it gets mentioned a lot in popular music. Though companies are scrambling to try and get Twitter mentions and Facebook likes, they should instead be paying musical artists to be seen with their products - or at least sing about it. Alcohol is responsible for at least 4,700 deaths per year among young people under the age of 21 in the U.S. and more than 70 percent of high school students have consumed alcohol while about 22 percent engage in heavy episodic drinking. If companies want to get a piece of that…

It used to be that religion impacted politics but now politics is instead changing religion. And the catalyst for how religious people are modifying their other beliefs to achieve a common political goal is abortion. The cozy political lines of the last generation, where Republicans are generally against abortion and Democrats are for it, may get more blurry. The reason is evangelicals; a whole lot of them are Democrats and a whole lot of them are increasingly concerned about abortion. Southern Baptists are the second-largest religious denomination in the US and while Southern Baptist…