Science Education & Policy

For Better Learning, Make Some Mistakes

If you take an online practice test, which answer is most likely to stick with you, the ones you got correct or that one you got wrong? A new paper finds that making mistakes while learning can benefit memory and lead to the correct answer, but only if th ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 27 2014 - 1:31pm

Don't Believe In Global Warming? Women Won't Vote For You

In the United States, Democrats have long insisted that women should vote for Democrats, because abortion was the most important issue. Abortion is not really an issue any more. It was allowed by states prior to the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision and ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 28 2014 - 10:43am

US Wildlife Bans On GMOs And Neonics Lack Transparency And Scientific Rationale

By Val Giddings, Genetic Literacy Project With little fanfare, last summer the U.S. Fish  &  Wildlife Service announced it would formally ban the use of seeds treated with neonicotinoid pesticides, (a newer, safer generation of seed treatments to prot ...

Article - Genetic Literacy ... - Oct 30 2014 - 9:38am

Reverting To The Standard Before School Lunches Were Politicized Would Lead To More Childhood Obesity

In 2012, the Obama administration made the National School Lunch Program, which has provided free or reduced-cost meals in more than 100,000 public and non-profit private schools and other child-care institutions nationwide since 1946, into a political fo ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 1 2014 - 5:42pm

Affordable Care Act: Playing Politics Can Be Hazardous To Your Health

Proponents of the Affordable Care Act are getting exactly the cultural result they wanted. They are able to declare victory because of a decrease in health care costs but don't mention it is because there has been a decrease in people using their insu ...

Article - Elaina George - Oct 30 2014 - 12:30pm

Vermont GMO Labeling Law Exempts Herbal Supplements Made By Initiative Sponsors

During the 1920s, the cartoonist Rube Goldberg became immensely popular churning out cartoons that depicted devices that performed simple tasks in impossibly indirect and convoluted ways. In 1931, the Merriam-Webster dictionary even adopted the word “Rube ...

Article - Jon Entine - Oct 31 2014 - 10:24am

Just 4 Minutes Of Physical Activity Improves Student Learning And Behavior

Improved behavior and learning in the classroom by primary school students can be achieved in just for minutes according to new research by Brendon Gurd.  Since the education industry needs to buy something, they can put a "FUNterval" in the bud ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2014 - 10:32am

Cui Bono? B-corporations And The University

California and Arizona recently began registering ‘benefit corporations.’ A small California non-profit university with which I’m acquainted has commenced the transition to for-profit, b-corp status. ...

Article - Fred Phillips - Oct 31 2014 - 10:50pm

Big Ag Spending Is Not Why GMO Labeling Laws Fail

As happened in both California and Washington state referendums in recent years, what seemed like an easy path to victory for supporters of a mandatory GMO labeling law in Oregon has turned into a dog fight as the voting nears, while voters in Colorado ap ...

Article - Jon Entine - Nov 2 2014 - 9:52am

Is Labeling GMOs Really About Our “Right To Know”

If one believes the backers of mandatory labeling initiatives in Colorado and Oregon, Tuesday’s vote is simple common sense: It’s about the “right to know” what’s in our food. This is the beguiling message pushed by a myriad of activists linked to such or ...

Article - Jon Entine - Nov 3 2014 - 10:54am