Science & Society

Do Blockbuster Movie Sequels Make Money? You Bet

If you're anything like us, you're wondering how shockingly bad films like Battle for the Planet of the Apes get made. The simple reason is that sequels, even bad ones, tend to make more money than original films, according to a new study in the ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 6 2008 - 10:35am

Women More Likely To Avoid HIV Prevention Brochures Showing Men

A new study in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology reviewed the behavior of participants exposed to various HIV brochures. Researchers found that both men and women were likely to avoid gender-mismatched brochures. Women, however, were more likely to ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 10 2008 - 2:03pm

This is Why Politicians Shouldn't Be In Charge of Study Sections, Part 2

The NY Times today has a profile on Congress's 3 PhD physicists. Congressman Vernon Ehlers (R, Michigan), PhD, tells the NY Times that he has had to stop his Congressional colleagues from trying to cut funding for research on game theory and ATM- appa ...

Blog Post - Michael White - Sep 28 2012 - 9:18pm

You Know The Meeting You Are At Is Too Big When...

Now- I confess I was really impressed with how ASM handled this enormous meeting I was just at. If you are going to have a big meeting, ASM does a smashing job. And I can see how such big meetings can have their appeal- the diversity of work and activitie ...

Article - Jonathan Eisen - Jun 12 2008 - 12:07pm

First Universal Theory Of Humor Explains Our Success As A Species

CARLISLE, England, June 13 /PRNewswire/-- Published today, The Pattern Recognition Theory of Humour, by Alastair Clarke, answers the eternal question about the nature of humor. Clarke explains how and why we find things funny and identifies the reason hum ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2008 - 4:48pm

61% Of Brits Think Their Extra-Terrestrial Doritos Advertisement Will Work

Today Doritos makes history, taking the UK’s first step in communicating with aliens as they broadcast the first ever advert directed towards potential extra terrestrial life. The transmission is being undertaken as part of the Doritos Broadcast Project, w ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 13 2008 - 9:16am

An Open Access Pioneer- Trent Reznor

Normally, everything I write about here is at least indirectly connected to science in some way. However, today I am drifting into the world of music. The New York Times had an article a few days ago about Trent Reznor (Trent Reznor’s Frustration and Fury- ...

Blog Post - Jonathan Eisen - Mar 11 2009 - 12:37pm

The Contrarian View- An Argument For Selling Kidneys

It's an urban legend we've all read- you meet some nice girl in Thailand and you black out and wake up in a bathtub without a kidney. Kidneys, and other replaceable organs, have value because the wait list is long and someone has to die to donate ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 14 2008 - 9:51am

Top 10 Health Items To Take With You On Summer Vacation

Whether your summer vacation plans involve staying close to home or crossing the globe, you'll want to put as much thought into protecting your health while traveling as you do choosing your destination. A new report, Healthy Travel: A 10-Minute Consu ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 15 2008 - 3:46pm

Is Impact Factor An Accurate Measure Of Research Quality?

The International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM), the International Mathematical Union (IMU) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) today released the Citation Statistics report. The report is written from a mathematical ...

Article - News Staff - Jun 18 2008 - 10:35am