Science & Society

There's a presidential election happening, in case you didn't know. If you talk to the fringes who are most actively mobilized, they certainly feel the differences are key; if John McCain gets elected, Democrat zealots contend, abortions will be banned and Creationism will be taught in science classes. If Barack Obama is elected, Republican zealots contend, the tax rate will be raised to 100% and gay porn will be taught in science classes. What's surprising is how the average voter believes one rich politician is more likely than another to enact substantial policy changes, on issues like…

No one talks about John McCain's religion, though conservative Christians are supposed to be Republican.   Democrats are the more secular, liberal party, it is said, yet they have defended Barack Obama's link to his  controversial pastor. During the campaign of 1960, when Catholic John F. Kennedy was running on the Democratic ticket, religion became an important voting issue, and it comes up again from time to time.   Voters in 1960 were concerned about a President who might listen to The Pope while John Kerry's Catholicism was barely worth a mention in 2004.  More often…

Plentyoffish.com, a free online dating site which generates revenue from sending members to other dating sites, has recently released data that promiscuity among women has doubled since 2004. The site tracked 315,478 users going to casual only dating sites in 2004. Of those users, the number of women who were looking for sex through the intimate encounter option was about 9%. Among users tracked in 2008, the number of women who were looking for an intimate encounter rose to 18%. The statistics are surprising given that the male:female ratio of Plentyoffish.com members looking for long term…

Uncovering the reasons for why we as humans choose our entertainment media has plagued communication researchers for decades. In the wake of non-answered questions of how such media entertainment affect the masses and their world views, after discussions of violence, sex, news media and so forth have affected our very psychology, we are left with an alarming amount of information, and none of it extremely helpful. We affect entertainment media as it affects us. This argument is analogous to the genes vs. environment argument that has raged in the scientific community who are as equally…

Twenty-four years, a political party and a gulf of ideology separates the first two women to share the nation’s major party tickets. But has the way the media talks about Sarah Palin and Geraldine Ferraro changed? Not so much, according to ongoing research by members of “the Palin Watch” at The University of Alabama.   Newspapers around North America have used similar media frames to describe these very different women, who made vice-presidential runs at different times and for different parties. Both of these women’s candidacies were framed by the media around, 1) their questionable…

If Barack Obama is elected president on Nov. 4, and current polling suggests that is the case, he will come into office with something few presidents get and all envy: both houses of Congress controlled by his own party. With Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the helm in the House, and Majority Leader Harry Reid presiding over what may be a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, Obama, Pelosi and Reid will be able to fundamentally change the size, nature and scope of government. This doesn’t just sit well with Joe the Plumber, who worries that Sen. Obama’s plan will take away some of his hard-earned…

What it's like to live and breathe Scientificblogging.The Interview - Sometime in September Graduate students are always looking for part time jobs to subsidize their livelihood. So, when I scaled back my course schedule from four classes to two, I started searching for some work on Craigslist.org.  Some science website was looking for interns, so I sent in my resume, never thinking I'd get a call back. What they'd want with an English major I have no idea--- That same night, I get a call. The voice on the phone says, "It's Hank Campbell, with Scientificblogging." He sounds nice,…

I have been reading a blog entitled (wouldya believe it?) Catholic bishops back sex education for primary school children. Now it's not the blog itself, but a couple of the comments have set me a-thinking.  One says: Sure Start will be made nationwide and ultimately the plans of Ed Ballsis that children are educated from the age of two in such placesbecause inequalities and values can be established before the age of 5. (Sure Start is a government programme, and Ed Balls is the name of our Minister of Education.)  Another commentator recalls a cartoon relating to an earlier sex…

From Cosmic Variance: It’s usually not a good idea to have one of your parents call the department on your behalf. I'm surprised this even needs to be said.

Andrew Sullivan on the extreme sport of blogging: A columnist can ignore or duck a subject less noticeably than a blogger committing thoughts to pixels several times a day. A reporter can wait—must wait—until every source has confirmed. A novelist can spend months or years before committing words to the world. For bloggers, the deadline is always now. Blogging is therefore to writing what extreme sports are to athletics: more free-form, more accident-prone, less formal, more alive. It is, in many ways, writing out loud. I would add that in a technical area like science blogging, being '…