Adventures in Ethics and Science

Do the math.

Category: Academia

After the open house at the college radio station, I paid a visit to a now-defunct cafe that used to be downstairs from the radio station studio and found the following calculation written on the wall:...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 10:43 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Sprog Blogging: silkworm math.

Category: Critters

The Free-Ride offspring have been using the silkworms as a springboard for discussions of math as well as biology. We started with 16 silkworms hatched from eggs that came home last June. They were joined, a couple weeks after they...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 9:47 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Math and science versus femininity.

Category: Diversity in science

What if we could change the equation?

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 2:19 PM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Sprog Blogging: chatting about math.

Category: Kids and science

Since we're trying to get out of town for the weekend, Casa Free-Ride is a hive of activity. (As we seem to be passing another cold back and forth, it's also a hive of mucus. Ew.) But we have time...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 11:27 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

In which the elder Free-Ride offspring proves there is no largest prime.

Category: Kids and science

It's a proud day for any parent when offspring start getting interested in formal proofs. So I felt a little thrill when the elder Free-Ride offspring sat down with Dr. Free-Ride's better half to consider whether it was possible for...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 11:53 AM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

In which Ann Landers unintentionally blows my mind.

Maybe the advice columnist was into Bertand Russell?

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 6:38 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Monty Hall problem and the nature of scientific discourse.

There's a neat article [1] in the September-October 2008 issue of American Scientist (although sadly, this particular article seems not to be online) in which Brian Hayes discusses the Monty Hall problem and people's strong resistance to the official solution...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 7:10 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Girls, boys, and math.

You've probably already heard the news last week that a study published in Science indicates that the gender gap between girls and boys in mathematical performance may be melting faster than the polar ice caps. The study, "Gender Similarities Characterize...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 12:55 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Fear and loathing in the academy.

Today Chad has an interesting post about attitudes among academics toward math and science versus the humanities and arts. The general attitude Chad sees on display in his academic milieu is that a gappy knowledge of art history or music...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 12:12 PM • 21 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Arcane nerd knowledge revealed: a nice way to solve Rubik's Cube.

Yesterday, one of the elder Free-Ride offspring's teammates brought a Rubik's Cube to soccer practice. While this youngster fiddled with the cube during a water break, I mentioned that I knew how to solve it. I was asked to transmit...

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Posted by Janet D. Stemwedel at 12:29 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks