Science & Society

More than half, namely 60% of college graduates are female. Is this discrimination against men? And is the currently loudly demanded (and at Missouri University apparently well received) number of 10% Black faculty reasonable, or is this rather racist anti-East-Asian anti-Semitic discrimination? Students of different university majors have different average IQ values. The worst is physics and astronomy with an average IQ of 133, followed by philosophy with 129, both far away from the population average, which very roughly is around 100. The best is social work’s g> = 103. However, high IQ…

Scholars have additional evidence that among U.S. adults some recent cigarette quitters may have done so with the assistance of electronic cigarettes. The research informs the ongoing debate as to whether e-cigarettes are effective aids for smoking cessation or instead promote uptake by non-tobacco users. Scholars analyzed data from the 2014 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) of 36,697 U.S. adults age 18 and over to assess daily e-cigarette use and its association with demographic characteristics and cigarette smoking status. The researchers analyzed e-cigarette use among adults who are…

A recent paper examined the changing nature of family living situations. University of Melbourne Associate Professor Cassandra Szoeke and Katherine Burn, from the University's Faculty of Medicine, Health and Dentistry Sciences, examined both 'boomerang kids' (those who return home) and 'failure to launch' kids (those who never left). The project reviewed 20 studies involving 20 million people worldwide and was published in Maturitas. The research shows: The shifting economic climate and changes in social norms were driving the phenomenon of kids staying at home for longer. The main…

Sixty percent of Australians have been the target of online harassment and abuse, with women and young adults most likely to report being sexually harassed online. One in 10 adults said someone had shared a nude or semi-nude image of them without their consent. The results reveal victims of online harassment and abuse are both male and female, with women twice as likely to be targeted by male offenders and men also twice as likely to be the perpetrators of digital abuse. More than name calling or offensive remarks, digital abuse included sexual harassment, threats and cyber stalking. …

On Twitter #BlackOnCampus is a collection anecdotes of racial aggression and microaggression.  What does science say? What is the context for these tweets?  I am only one person and can only speak for myself.  However, many others on Twitter are sharing their own stories of what it is like to be #BlackOnCampus.   Those who are not from the United States and those who are not black may be surprised to find out that there are still very real issues with racism.  Things have gotten better even during my life time. These days’ racial microaggressions can fit nicely…

If you remodel your kitchen or put in a custom library, chances are that money is lost; when buyers look at the comparable sales for homes in the area, they want to pay based on similar square footage.  Not so for solar installations, in six markets, according to a recent analysis. Researchers engaged a team of seven appraisers from across the six states to determine the value that solar photovoltaic (PV) systems added to single-family homes using the industry-standard paired-sales valuation technique, which compares recent sales of comparable homes to estimate the premium buyers…

Though 97 percent of climate experts believe in climate change, the public remains less convinced, including teens, who are most likely to believe what they are told and so are heavily marketed toward. Only 46 percent of teens think climate change is anything but a natural fluctuation while 57 percent aren't concerned about it. Humanities scholar Diego Román of Southern Methodist University thinks more control over textbook content used by teachers is the answer. A new study measured how four sixth-grade science textbooks adopted for use in California frame the subject of global warming…

“Here’s my bet: the kids are going to win and when they do, it’s going to matter,” prophesized environmentalist Bill McKibben about fossil fuel divestment in 2013. If so, they are going to be led by Quakers, who were among the first to officially say no to fossil fuel stocks. Though Quakers were considered anarchists in the Old World, in America they banned slave ownership way before government did and created Pennsylvania as a commonwealth without social elites, established churches, tithes, high taxes or compulsory military service. Are they thought leaders once again? Yes and no. Almost…

Cultural pressures to avoid anything controversial and the need to show a positive result to get the next grant have led scientists to avoid risk-taking and choose inefficient research strategies, two new University of Chicago papers conclude. Though scholars may complain about funding, the reality is that salaries are higher than ever, with the average faculty member getting a salary of well over $100,000 - there are lots of opportunities for groundbreaking experiments but most scientists choose conservative research strategies to reduce their risk of showing a null result and losing…

Do you believe that biology is a hoax perpetuated by greedy scientists who are catering to a world view in order to keep their funding rolling in? Statistically you are not a Young Earth Creationist (who think the world is a few thousand years old) or the Discovery Institute (none of Intelligent Design makes sense except to the guy who invented it), you are instead likely to be an organic food customer.  It's creationism for the left, distinguished because people in America who believe the world is a few thousand years old are religious, and those tend to be on the right. Not a lot of…