Science Education & Policy

Cupcake Bans At Elementary School Classroom Parties May Reduce Obesity

Nearly one in three American children are overweight or obese, but sugary sweets are often on the menu at elementary school classroom parties.  Previous small-scale studies have found that "kids consume a lot of calories at classroom parties," b ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 2 2013 - 5:23pm

'Science Communication Environment' Putting Vaccine Acceptance At Risk

The biggest threat to vaccine acceptance is not distrust of science, misinformation campaigns or deficit thinking among the public, but rather the failure of government and institutions to use evidence-based strategies, says a new paper. ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 3 2013 - 2:42pm

Confidence In Food Safety Has Declined

Consumer confidence in the safety of foods and beverages sold in the U.S. has dropped over the past five years according to survey results conducted in May/ June of 2013. Among a national sample of 2,100 adults, only one in six express a "great deal&q ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 5 2013 - 5:28pm

Will State Health Departments Lose When Merged With Medicaid Programs?

A new paper analyzed organizational change in state health-related departments from 1990 to 2009. The researchers discovered that in many cases states kept the same organizational structure in place during the 20-year period, even though consolidating pub ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2013 - 4:11pm

Scientists Aren't Good At Judging Work Of Peers- Paper

Scientists should be good at judging the importance of the scientific work of others- it's a peer review culture- but a new paper instead says that scientists are unreliable judges of the importance of fellow researchers' published papers. They& ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 8 2013 - 9:30pm

Conflict Of Interest Standards Improve For Med Schools

U.S. medical schools have made significant progress to strengthen their management of clinical conflicts of interest but a new study concludes most schools still lag behind national standards. The Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) study, which ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 13 2013 - 9:18am

Precautionary Principle Downside: Men Over 75 Undergo PSA Screening Despite Recommendations

We've become a nation of defensive medicine. Health care is expensive not because of drug companies or overpaid doctors or malpractice premiums, but rather the largest cost for health care is administering tests to check off boxes and prevent legal p ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 15 2013 - 9:31pm

Mystery Political Science Theater 2013

In the wave of articles, blog posts and Tweets that are addressing the impact of the shutdown on science, no one has asked the obvious question: If the president care about science so much, why doesn't he care about science? I have argued that science ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 16 2013 - 12:45pm

American Geosciences Institute: Hey, Our Field Is Abysmal In Education Too

The 'education is terrible' trope made the rounds again last week, along with the predictable 'abysmal' charge leveled at teachers and students and attempts to keep America ahead in a globalized competitive landscape. ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 17 2013 - 5:15pm

California Health Plate Gives Way To Montreal Combo Plate

Lifestyle programs focused on high-intensity interval training or the Mediterranean diet have shown results for improving the heart health of people with abdominal obesity, finds a new study. "Each of these lifestyle interventions alone is known to h ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 20 2013 - 12:40pm