Science & Society

Nature -- presumably through the mechanism of Darwinian selection -- has endowed us with a balanced system of pains and pleasures that correspond respectively to the sort of things we should avoid or seek in order to further our survival and reproduction. It is not surprising that the brain produces a sensation of pain when we bleed: if it didn't we may run the risk of bleeding to death without noticing (or noticing too late). Similarly, it is hardly surprising that our brain releases pleasure chemicals (literally, neural drugs) to reward us when we do something useful, like finding and…

The latest news on napping would have you believe that it’s a harbinger of doom.  The Research Institute at the California Pacific Medical center studied communities of elderly women and linked napping and excess sleep in general to increased death from anything. By this logic, the entire nap-happy nation of Spain should watch out for falling pianos. The authors of this study are quick to point out that these results are not intended as a mandate for the end of naps.  In fact, research generally touts the positive effects of putting your feet up for a while.   Napping for…

As researchers continue to examine the role of sweeteners in the diet, it's important that people understand the differences among various ingredients used in scientific studies, according to the Corn Refiners Association (CRA). Interchanging two distinctly different ingredients, such as pure fructose and high fructose corn syrup, creates factually incorrect conclusions and misleads consumers. Recent studies using pure fructose that purport to show that the body processes high fructose corn syrup  differently than other sugars due to fructose content are a classic example of this…

Carl Zimmer discusses his piece in Science. It’s about the 2005 discovery of potential blood vessels from none other than T-Rex.  The trouble is that now there are a few scientists who aren’t all that convinced, instead saying that the vessels are in fact just a bunch of bacterial goo! That’s all fine and dandy, but what I liked was this comment by one of the original authors, Mary Schweitzer Something that is not fully appreciated by the outsider is that science is a process. One makes an observation, forms a testable hypothesis about the observation, gathers data, and the data either…

Economics is always called the dismal science, because it has science pretensions yet never makes accurate predictions.   The outlook, according to economists, is always rather bleak. But given the current state of the economy, economists are downright ecstatic, because they can be relevant again.  And, in this case, it turns out they are a lot more optimistic than unemployed people are about the future. You know when economists are cheery things must be pretty bad.    Wake Forest economic historian Robert Whaples says he and the "vast, vast majority" of economists…

Despite the increased popularity of geek culture – movies based on comic books, videogames, virtual worlds – and the ubiquity of computers, the geek's close cousin, the nerd, still suffers from a negative stereotype in popular culture. This may help explain why women and minorities are increasingly shying away from careers in information technology, says Lori Kendall, a professor in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The popular stereotype of the nerd as the sartorially challenged, anti-social white male hasn't faded from…

Three Representatives and one Senator are calling for additional FDA regulatory authority to ensure better oversight of dietary supplements, after a GAO report released today detailed FDA's lack of ability to identify and properly act on safety concerns regarding dietary supplements. While the Food and Drug Administration does have some authority regarding dietary supplements, the agency's purview is limited to post-market action. The Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 says that the manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that the product is safe and the product label…

If you are a side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana), then you have an orange, a yellow or a blue throat (easily determined by looking in mirror). If your throat is orange, then you are a big, bad machine and will easily kick the ass of anyone with a blue throat and steal his lady lizards. Ah yeah. If your throat is blue, you are a wuss but not a complete wuss, and can still defend your women against the über-wussy yellow-throats. If your throat is yellow, you are weak but deft and can sneak amongst the meat-headed orange-throaters and covertly snog their women (but the blue-throated…

As a journalist I have seen many misunderstandings not only in the field of science. The relationship between journalists and other kind of professionals, for example medics professionals, is also hard. But you have to consider that it happens also because scientists and medics does not understands quite well the real nature of news and how they are produced inside the media companies. What is, after all, news in science? What kind of scientific news the generic public are looking for? I have seen a lots of news releases that's finishes its "life"…

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced the winners of its 2008 Science Writing Awards today. The winners -- two scientists, a journalist, a children's book author, and a public television producer -- will receive four prizes of $3,000, engraved Windsor chairs, and certificates of recognition. "These outstanding science communicators have each improved the general public's appreciation of physics, astronomy, and related sciences through their wonderfully creative endeavors," says Catherine O'Riordan, AIP Vice President, Physics Resources. "We are pleased to be able to recognize…