BlogHer - science - Comments

I have vivid memories of

caterpillarmom — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:32:58 -0600

I have vivid memories of high school teachers and college professors who delighted in the fact that they "never gave As.....". It continues to confuse me. If the purpose of a test is to determine what the students have learned, and they fail, who looks bad?

We are choosing to focus on Lauren's accomplishments, rather than her (apparent) shortcomings.

understanding the others ways

Vita lingus — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:14:28 -0600

Yes like our ex prime minister refusing to apologise to the stolen generation...Appalling and remarkably thoughtless and cruel......... Let alone the intervention in these communities, under the guise of caring for the children in these communities and

even though Kevin our current Prime Minister has now apolgised the intervention continues.... White anglo saxon society has stolen their culture their land their language .... Hideous and it is the case the world over ... Imperalism is alive and well in one form or another.. it is just becoming more mobile and complex as people try to redefine where they are connected to "PLACE"

Is my geology professor teaching 4th grade?

9to5to9 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:24:30 -0600

This sounds exactly like what happened to me my sophomore year in college. The professor was a fascinating, riveting lecturer. The test were standaradized and from the text-book publisher. They had NOTHING to do with the lecture because the professor never lectured from the book.

OK, I get that college students are adults and, as such, responsible for reading the book and attending the lecture. But there shouldn't be THAT much of a disconnect.

It's even more disturbing that it's happening to your daugher in FOURTH GRADE. That's truly a time for kids to learn the big picture rather than trying to trip them up on every little detail. I realize that many school systems are all about memorization, but, really? Can a kid memorize the entire text? And even if she could, to what end?

Debra Legg
9to5to9

Update

Leslie Madsen Brooks — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:51:22 -0600

Since I wrote this post, the Center for American Progress has released a report on the leaky pipeline for women in science.

Leslie

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Research and Academia
My blogs: The Clutter Museum, Museum Blogging, and The Multicultural Toybox

I think the lack of

Placings — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:45:38 -0600

I think the lack of effective communication skills is not just in our scientists but our graduates in general :) I was traveling through Europe last year for over 3 months (via Eurail pass) and I asked a professor sitting next to me why the quality of graduates in Europe seem to be so high and their research and rapid advancement so prominent and he replied by telling me Americans are still winning Nobel Prizes, lol.

Go figure.

Right on, WW

ClizBiz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:39:04 -0500

Well said. Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my cave eating bugs and leaves.

~ClizBiz

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Animal Concerns, Proprietor, ClizBiz

What's that Lassie? Timmy's down the well?!

Willful Woman — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:27:32 -0500

Cool. Very, very cool. Those critters know what they're doing. But, you're right, we're so disconnected from nature we wouldn't know a sign from nature if it hit us over the head...or until it hit us over the head, I guess.

Willful Woman @ www.besidethestonewall.com

Be true to yourself

Wilma Ham — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:11:25 -0500

Once I died my hair as well to show that I was still young at heart and could still think innovative things. Once I realized that I was willingly putting unwanted chemicals into my body to look as if I was innovative, I could no longer do it.
What was I trying to proof here?
I now hope that the way I am being and what I am doing will show who I am, the color of my hair has no longer anything to do with it.
However to be honest, it took a while to come to that and I now use lipstick more :).

Wilma Ham

www.wilmasblog.com

Gray Hair, What to do?

SkinnyCleanFreak — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:06:14 -0500

As I get more gray hairs, I have that conversations with myself - I should age gracefully, right? Or should I dye it? I still haven't come to a conclusion... I don't want to look old. I still have a thin healthy body - so why should my head look old? At age 53, I still don't have a lot of gray hair, but let's say it's enough where plucking would be impractical.

I too have admired women who have chosen to proudly keep the gray, but I'm thinking I'm not going to be one of them.

Carole

CommonSenseLiving.com

Gray Hair

magsmadison — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 14:04:52 -0500

I love that there is a good reason for my grays. However, I may dislike them even more upon discovering they are actually made by damaged stem cells. That makes me feel even older!

Hear hear!

Grey — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 12:47:09 -0500

As an environmental scientist I am frequently blown away by what I would call an anti-science, almost anti-intellectualism current that runs through society. There seems to be a lack of understanding regarding the basic tenants of science and a lot of disbelief and distrust of scientific principles. I'm almost afraid that people associate science with a political agenda, and therefore have a misplaced mistrust. (This is not to say that there aren't researchers without a political agenda and that there is not misinformation presented by the media, but I talking about science at its purist, I suppose.)

I wanted to add two great blogs to your list:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/ I think many are familiar with the Bad Astronomer for debunking bad science in the media, but Phil discusses a number of topics outside of that.

http://sciencebasedmedicine.com/ This is an excellent blog/science resource that deals with controversial medicine issues and the misinformation about alternative medicines. They have some great information regarding the anti-vaccination movement in this county and the dangers inherent in that movement.

Thanks for tackling this topic!!!

Grey is a slightly neurotic twenty-nine year old single mother of three boys, scientist, environmentalist, feminist, and frugalista who handles life with humor and blogging at http;//2ndverse.blogspot.com/

It is a multi-layerd problem

Gena Haskett — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:47:20 -0500

I don't think the Beeb does it perfectly but they better than American broadcast media in terms of presenting information. They got the shift in technology and user participation faster than American media. The BBC continue to provide content that the world appreciates.

Even PBS is a little suspect because of corporate funding issues.

There are good reporters. But you have/had an infrastructure that prevented them from being full participants. If there is a budget crises in a school district you rarely saw an article that talked about the impact on inadequate science education for students that would impact their ability to get a job.

You rarely see science based articles about the organic foods in mainstream women's magazines. ConAgra wouldn't stand for it and the magazines couldn't afford the loss of advertisers. Question the safety of HFCS next to an ad for Karo syrup? I don't think so.

People are talking about science issues. They want to make sense of science issues and their world. The dispensers of that information do a poor job. That is why there is such an great time for the worst kind of PR, video PR and entrepreneurial opportunists to have a say.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

There Are Other Factors That Affect Science Communication

Gena Haskett — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:46:22 -0500

If a segment of population has had a history of medical exploitation then they bring that to the table in being hesitant to get vaccinated. They will distrust before verifying. If there is no easy way to evaluate the benefits and liabilities of vaccination some people are going to go with their feelings.

If someone writes a book or a pamphlet telling them they should not do it and there is no accessible resource for them to verify what are they supposed to do?

Keeping people ignorant of science issues has a monetary benefit that shouldn't be ignored. I use to drink a beverage that claimed to have extra vitamins. One day I read the label. I stopped drink it that moment and haven't touched at it again.

It was only when I was ready to know that I could learn the truth.

Thanks for reading.

Gena - Out On The Stoop

Vaccination Issue

MLOKnitting — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:05:24 -0500

I think the most effective way to get across to mothers what it means to not vaccinate is to present them with the pictures of the victims of the diseases that we vaccinate against. I was a history major who actually saw those pictures. Nobody who sees those pictures - and has a lick of sense - would choose not to vaccinate.(Not vaccinating due to egg allergy is not choosing not to vaccinate!)

Images have a much greater impact on people than numbers. This is the reason that Ross Perot's pie charts and bar graphs were so effective.

MLO / Melissa

skilled science journalist?!?!?!?!

MLOKnitting — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:01:38 -0500

I believe the last skilled science journalist might have existed in the 1970s. I have to say the science reporting in any field that I have been involved in has, for lack of less colorful language, been piss poor and sensationalistic. Now, that may be because of editorial standards lessening and the refocus on silly celebrity news - as well as pandering to the most base of the population.

I have really lost all respect for US science reporters. About the only easily available general science reporting that isn't a science-only resource I can recommend to anyone is the BBC. I have found less overall misinformation there than anywhere else.

Part of the problem is the lack of knowledge around statsitics and the scientific method. Both can be manipulated. (Having worked in research arenas, I know that data is manipulated to get desired results.) Even such esteemed journals as JAMA can no longer be trusted due to the politicization and monetization of science. (That is a whole other issue.) But the lack of basic education in both statistics and science has left the general public easily manipulated. Spin the findings - while not lying - and they can say what you want them to say.

I know I have read blogs, books, journals, and articles while asking questions about who was excluded and what criteria was used and then realized that no one is going to realize a 2 times greater incidence is going to be the only thing heard without anyone realizing that incidence is only .05%! That is a very common way of manipulating the public. And that is only one issue in the lack of science communications. Until people's innumeracy and lack of science education is fixed, this problem isn't going to go away from having even more journalism and English majors or folks who couldn't do science continuing to be the main conduits of scientific information to the public.

MLO / Melissa