Science Education & Policy

Injecting Some Science Into School Lunch Policy

First Lady Michelle Obama may mean well, but overturning school lunch policy based on the beliefs of someone who was paid $300,000 per year to do community outreach for a university wasn't really helping the poor children for whom a school lunch may ...

Article - News Staff - May 27 2014 - 12:54pm

Schools Are Not In The Healthy Lifestyle Business- And That's Why They Aren't Good At Mandating It

Despite claims by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Obama administration that gaining more control over school choices will lead to healthier kids, school-based schemes to encourage children to eat healthily and be active have little eff ...

Article - News Staff - May 27 2014 - 7:27pm

How To Save Medicare $5 Billion- Stop Random Assignment Of Low Income People To Part D

The federal government could save taxpayers over $5 billion in the first year by changing the way the government assigns Part D plans for Medicare beneficiaries eligible for low-income subsidies. ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 3 2014 - 5:00am

Concerned About Increasing Levels Of Doubt Over Climate Science? Thank Journalists

Once the public loses confidence in the ability of journalists to be trusted guides for the public, it is hard to regain it. Scientists don't trust journalists because they get a lot of science wrong. The public doesn't trust journalists because ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 8 2014 - 8:47pm

Goldilocks Education: To Get Better Test Scores For Your Kids, Home Spending Needs To Be Just Right

Banks have long expected that you should spend a third of your income on housing. Now humanities academics say that would help low-income families get optimal brain power for their children also.  But don't overspend to try and get into a better neig ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 9 2014 - 5:26pm

Green Economics: Levy A Carbon Tax, Redistribute It To People, Employment Booms

Last month, the National Climate Assessment report did what the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has repeatedly asked science bodies and journalists not to do, no matter how well they mean and how much they want to defend science: it claimed th ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 10 2014 - 8:07am

$77 Billion Worth Of Physician Billings To Medicare- What Does It Really Mean?

In April, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the most detailed data in its history about $77 billion worth of physician billings to Medicare. In analysis of the data, sites like Science 2.0 and The New York Times showed that onl ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 10 2014 - 9:31am

No Child Left Behind Didn't Hurt Teacher Job Satisfaction- Let's See How Common Core Does

Take a quick guess; what law addressed a problem everyone in America knew we had, was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, it had Republican John Boehner and Democrat Ted Kennedy hugging on the dais, met all of its targets and was still vilified i ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 10 2014 - 10:08am

Vermont Climate Assessment Takes Up Where Its GMO Assessment Left Off

The quirky, tiny state of Vermont is 600,000 people who are simultaneously hard left and hard right. They voted in Bernie Sanders as a Senator, a guy who won't be a Democrat because that party is not socialist enough for him. They passed a law that p ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 11 2014 - 8:09am

Father's Day Science: 12 Minutes Of Exercise With Kids Will Improve Their Attention And Reading Comprehension

A new study has found that 12 minutes of exercise can improve attention and reading comprehension in adolescents. In the paper, all kids saw improvement in selective visual attention up to 45 minutes after exercising. Selective visual attention is the abi ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2014 - 10:37am