Science & Society

The Lessons Of Economic Transition: Soviet Russia And Communist China

Initial Conditions as the Determinate Factor in Russia and China’s Transition Outcome It is widely acknowledged that China has been vastly more successful than Russia in her transition from a planned socialist economy to a market-based economy.  The liter ...

Article - Ed Chen - Nov 4 2010 - 8:22pm

Forget Consensus- More Telling, Less Discussing, Recommends NC State Paper

Science and technology issues are just too complex, according to results a new survey from North Carolina State University- when it comes to public issues pertaining to science and technology, "talking it out" doesn't seem to work.   The mor ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 4 2010 - 10:36am

More Science Fair Secrets

A good science fair project typically takes less time and is more interesting to do, than a bad one.  Does this make sense?  Do you want to spend extra time having less fun?  As a sequel to last year's "Secrets of a Science Fair Judge", I pr ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Nov 6 2010 - 11:24am

Mercola And Fisher: Anti-vaccine Rhetoric And Fearmongering

Holy crap on a cracker. Here's propaganda and bull handed to us on a platter. You can't dress this up, make it pretty, pretend it to be anything other than an assault on reason and reality. Mercola and Fisher are a nightmare team: fearmongering r ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Nov 8 2010 - 5:52pm

The conservative case for doing something about global warming

"Far from being conservative, the Republican stance on global warming shows a stunning appetite for risk", writes Bracken Hendricks in the Washington Post.    ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Nov 8 2010 - 1:41am

Liberal College Students More Likely Than Conservatives To Vote- So Where Were They?

Voter turnout was huge in 2008- some of that was due to advertising; since Sen. Obama did not limit adhere to campaign finance reform rules the way Sen. McCain did, Obama was able to raise and spend more money than Bush and Kerry did in 2004 combined, spen ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 8 2010 - 1:19pm

Science Is Not Baseball- Almost Everyone's A Winner, Sort Of

I like Nicholas Wade, and think that his latest NY Times piece on basic research is worth reading. However, I take issue with his overly simplistic characterization of how research works: Basic research, the attempt to understand the fundamental principles ...

Article - Michael White - Nov 9 2010 - 2:22pm

Just Another Enemy Of Science: Now Against GMO Food

I posted an article critical of microwave ovens and nanotechnology. This adds to many posts critical of science and scientists. Am I another enemy of science? That last post told lay persons not to heat Ramen noodles in the microwave oven. She cannot under ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Feb 23 2012 - 11:39pm

Science for dummies- now with more poop

What is science? Science is application of the scientific method to problems or questions, and then submitting the story to the scrutiny of others. It’s simple. It’s elegant. It’s self-correcting.It’s LOGIC. BUT. What if your audience was never taught wha ...

Blog Post - Jenny Morber - Nov 13 2010 - 12:15pm

Apocalypse 1955: Growing Up Telepathic

“What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate.” The much-revered writers of the Golden Age of science fiction can be quite rough around the edges, even downright embarrassing on occasion. The writing is hurried, the plots of plot-driven books are distu ...

Article - Michael White - Nov 12 2010 - 3:39pm