Science & Society
Divorce rates have gone down; the oft-cited 1970s statistic that 'half of all marriages end in divorce' was never really correct, but the belief that it was made divorce much more common.
More young people today are also avoiding divorce by avoiding marriage. As a result, more than half of all American children will have an unmarried mother - and regardless of all of the cultural whitewashing and rationalizations that cultural apologists engage in, the absence of a biological father increases the likelihood that a child will exhibit antisocial behaviors like aggression, rule-breaking and…
Illegal aliens who have been deported from the United States are more than 2.5 times more likely to be rearrested after leaving jail, and are likely to be rearrested much more frequently than those who have never been removed, according to a new RAND Corporation analysis.
The new work bolsters federal immigration plans to focus immigration enforcement efforts on immigrants who previously have been removed, because they pose a bigger criminal threat.
The analysts looked at long-term recidivism rates among two groups of removable immigrants who had been released from the Los Angeles County jail…
How much science is in pop music? Can pop culture enhance science communication?
A sociology duo recently explored the occurrence of science in the lyrics of Taiwanese pop music. Their results revealed that expressions from the field of astronomy and space research are notably prominent in the lyrics. Most texts address emotional states, while the latest scientific topics are only rarely mentioned.
“In many countries, and that includes Austria in particular, there is a distinct gap between the sciences and the population, which must be bridged. Popular culture and the entertainment media,…
A study of 1,500 Americans found that media reports about behavioral genetics create unfounded beliefs about what genes can and cannot do, which defeats the purpose of scientific reporting, according to a new analysis.
American adults lead the world in science literacy so results may be even more profound in other countries, where political interests control more of scientific policy.
Study participants first read a news article about research on the influence of a gene on one of the following three traits: breast cancer, political ideology (liberal or conservative), or the tendency to go…
Hank |
Since it's Science 2.0, the most popular articles are not going to be the same as mainstream media, with Miracle Vegetables and Scare Journalism and outrage over an ESA engineer's shirt.
Like us, the articles nominated by readers
Polymorphism in Mental Development by Samuel Kenyon
MicroRNA- The Unexpected Pain Neurotransmitter by Jennifer Wong
R.I.P Portuguese Science by Catarina Amorim
Let's Lift The Earth! By David Brin
How To Make A Baby...a Question Of Gastrulation by Sarah Harrison
Spending More For Organic Does Not Buy You Pesticide-Free by Steve Savage
Does BPA Make You Fat? By…
It's no secret that a happy worker is a productive worker and a new analysis by scholars at The University of Texas at Dallas finds that family-friendly policies are beneficial for increasing productivity of employees. Yet the benefit for employers is unclear, since that may be offset by the same turnover rates.
Family-friendly policies are a big concern in science academia. Though free from the 'corporate' environment, most academic labs are a small business - they have a grant recipient who pays a small team. In a small business, every person is important so when it comes to family planning…
Do you have a right to high-speed Internet or can Internet Service Providers (ISPs) create different tiers for different customers?
In Florida and in Pennsylvania, there are toll roads. People pay the fee and get to a destination along the toll road quicker. Yet when it comes to pricing Internet connections, there is belief that everyone should have the same high-speed video streaming, regardless of what they pay. Can customers get something for nothing?
Probably not. More cars on a highway that can all go 160 MPH won't get people from place to place faster. A recent economic model by…
Government and non-profit employees have higher public service motivations than corporate managers, according to surveys of government and non-profit employees in Georgia.
They don't simply do the minimum when it comes to eco-friendly initiatives, they also engage in discretionary programs. They just care more than other people, which is a nice bonus, since it is well-known that government workers have higher salaries than the private sector in the United States. It is why if they leave government service, they often take years to get back to their government salary levels.
The results in…
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Psychics, homeopaths, magic soap buyers, anti-vaccine and anti-energy people, they all share one thing in common - no, no, not the same political party (good guess, though!), they embrace organic food.
And if you don't also embrace their giant swath of superstitious crackpottery, they might depart in a huff.
Now that Big Organic is a $105 billion industry, I suspect they would like to quietly but assuredly start to distance themselves from the cranks who got them there. A key person at The Soil Association, which Andy Lewis at Quackometer notes was founded on the principles of Biodynamics and…
But what do you want unconsciously? Julien Behal / PA
By Steffen Böhm, University of Essex and Aanka Batta, University of Essex
Another month, another important UN climate change conference. The latest is in Lima, the capital of Peru. Thousands of experts from the world of politics, business, academia and civil society – and Leonardo DiCaprio – have flown around the world to urge us all to curb our carbon emissions.
Recent meetings have failed to make significant progress. Yet, this year there are high hopes that the US-China climate deal and the New York UN Climate Summit will allow Lima to…