Opinion
dmunger | April 9, 2007The debate about Chris Mooney and Matthew Nisbet's recent Science article has gotten quite contentious. Nisbet and Mooney contend that if scientists hope to persuade the public to value science, they must take heed of recent research on "framing." In other words, they claim, scientists are failing at presenting their message effectively.
So what exactly is this "framing" stuff anyway? Matthew Nisbet might not agree that this is all there is to it, but I thought this article in the APS observer offered a nice summary of what we're talking about:
People are more likely to take risks when they…
dmunger | April 5, 2007In a recent opinion piece appearing in the Washington Post, Jason Johnson argues that in today's cut-and-paste world, the term paper is becoming irrelevant:
Today I plagiarized multiple documents at work. I took the writing of others and presented it to my supervisor as if it were my own. It was an open secret that my entire report, written "by Jason Johnson," had been composed by others and that I had been merely an editor. Instead of a reprimand, I was rewarded with a post-briefing latte.
In the fast-paced world of today, Johnson claims, no one has time to worry about who the real "author"…
dmunger | March 8, 2007There's been a lot of news about robots lately, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to synthesize what's going on in this field and offer a bit of speculation about where robotics is headed.
First: From Neurodudes comes news of an artificial robotic limb that not only responds to nerve impulses but also has the potential to give feedback to its human host -- as if she was sensing her environment with her own hands. Is this the first cyborg? What's next -- direct mind control of machines?
Actually, a company is working on just such an interface -- a video game controller that works by…
dmunger | February 1, 2007Today I'm going to be working with some students in Greta's course "Psychology Goes to the Movies" to help them write CogDaily-style reports on scholarly research. With any luck, you'll see their reports here this summer! I thought CogDaily readers might be interested in some of the principles I'll be sharing with Greta's students, so I'm reprinting them below. If you have any other suggestions for them or other science writers, feel free to add them in the comments section.
1. Find interesting research
This may seem like an obvious step, but there are a couple of problems with the way…
dmunger | January 10, 2007For some reason I can't resist watching Steve Jobs' Apple keynote speeches. I watched six years ago when he introduced the iPod, and I watched again last night when he introduced his latest "revolutionary" product. People were amazed when the iPod was introduced -- but a little shocked by the price. I didn't buy an iPod then, but I finally did break down and buy a $99 shuffle when it was released a year or two back.
So what about the iPhone? By all accounts, it's an amazing device, offering not only a telephone, but also email, messaging, a beautiful web browser, and of course, iPod…
dmunger | January 8, 2007Gualtiero Piccinini writes:
I always put my papers online. I used to publish online a penultimate version, under the assumption that since it's not identical to the published version, it's ok. Lately, taking a cue from the copyright form of Australasian Journal of Philosophy, I've started posting the last version sent to the publisher (before proof corrections)
While some authors cross off the relevant portions of agreements before signing, Piccinini signs the publishers' copyright forms as they are. Clearly the practice of posting your articles online violates many of these agreements.…
dmunger | January 2, 2007I was on the way out the door for a vacation when the journal Nature published its much-anticipated report on the results of its open peer review experiment, but I did want to offer a few comments on the report, even if I'm arriving to the discussion a bit late.
Peer review, of course, is the gold standard for academic publishing. I believe one of the reasons for Cognitive Daily's success is our clear delineation between reports on peer-reviewed research and commentary on news items reported in the popular press (you can always click on the Just the Research tab above to see only reports on…
dmunger | December 14, 2006Clinician Dr. Louann Brizendine is quoted in the New York Times as saying that she doesn't do research because "I don't want to give patients a placebo. It's cruel." The interviewer pushes her on the issue, pointing out that in the long term, controlled studies are necessary in order to determine the efficacy of treatments. Her reply: "I am glad someone does it, but I'd rather help each female brain that walks into my clinic walk out in better shape."
Adam Kolber wonders if something might have been lost in the transcription of the interview, but I don't doubt that Brizendine's sentiments may…
dmunger | December 4, 2006Over at The Quarterly Conversation, I've written a review of George Lakoff's book Whose Freedom?
In case my personal politics haven't come through in my CogDaily posts (and I do make an effort to assume a neutral perspective here), you'll get a good sense of my views in this review, where I point out that though Lakoff's invocation of cognitive science in support of his claims is problematic, Steven Pinker, Lakoff's most vocal critic, is guilty of similar overgeneralizations:
If Lakoff's cog sci-based explanation of how the Republicans spun their way into power is this unconvincing, then one…
dmunger | November 18, 2006Larry Moran thinks I have the wrong idea about teaching evaluations and "thin slicing":
Unfortunately, Dave Munger seems to draw the wrong conclusions from this study as he explains in an earlier posting [The six-second teacher evaluation]. In that article from last May he says ...
So we do appear to be quite effective at making judgements about teaching ability even after viewing only a total of 6 seconds of actual teaching, and without even hearing the teacher's voice.
This is dead wrong. Students are good at evaluating something after six seconds but it sure as heck ain't teaching ability…
dmunger | November 17, 2006In 1981, the economist Lester C. Thurow wrote an article for the New York Times entitled "Why women are paid less than men." If you have a subscription, you can still read it on the Times web site. My copy comes from an anthology I edited in 1992. Thurow's conclusion:
The decade between 25 and 35 is when men either succeed or fail. It is the decade when lawyers become partners in good firms, when business managers make it onto the "fast track," when academics get tenure at good universities, and when blue collar workers find the job opportunities that will lead to training opportunities and…
dmunger | October 30, 2006Yesterday I spent a delightful several hours having lunch with Chris Mooney (of Seed, Scienceblogs, and war on science fame) and attending his talk in Durham, NC. I also got to meet fellow ScienceBloggers Abel Pharmboy and Coturnix.
At lunch, the conversation centered on a favorite topic here at ScienceBlogs, Science Journalism. Chris made what I felt was a very cogent point which explains the Greg Easterbrook phenomenon: from the perspective of the top magazines, good science journalism is journalism that makes a controversial point. Easterbrook provides controversy, so he keeps getting…
dmunger | October 11, 2006Janet Stemwedel and Chad Orzel have each written excellent posts on the necessity of improving science journalism. Janet argues that what's needed is to improve science education:
If there were an actual clamor for science reporting that was detailed, informative, and grounded in fact -- a clamor not just from scientists but from the people, speaking in large numbers -- then news organizations would have no choice but to provide it, lest they lose their audience (and ad revenue) to someone who would. Right?
Right! Of course we need a more educated public. Then journalists would be forced to…
dmunger | October 2, 2006Today's Zeitgeist points to a cute editorial cartoon.
The cartoon's joke is that all the studies that have been done connecting violent media to real youth violence, or soda consumption to childhood obesity, are just a big waste of money because it's obvious these things are connected. Now I have to agree that these things all seem quite obvious to me, but given the huge number of comments our posts on the impact of violent media always seem to generate, clearly this isn't a cut and dried topic.
We've also discussed some violent games which don't appear to lead to violent behavior. If all…
dmunger | August 30, 2006The local newspaper here in Charlotte was aghast that SAT scores (a test used to help determine college admissions in the US) fell in North Carolina this year, even though the article goes on to point out that nationwide the scores dropped even more.
So what's up? Are schools letting the kids down? Is the new test harder (this year a writing section was added, though the format of the remainder of the test remains the same, and the writing section isn't included in comparisons)? The College Board, which administers the tests, claims that the difference can't be attributed to the longer tests…
dmunger | June 23, 2006Jonah Lehrer now has two posts slamming Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. The second post, currently ScienceBlogs' most emailed story, offers the ultimate slam, proclaiming that Gladwell is the "new Freud," a mere "prose stylist" who "wasn't particularly interested in the neurological foundations of his theories."
As I've said before, I agree with much of what Jonah is saying, especially when it comes to Gladwell's over-reliance on anecdote and over-generalizations about experimental results. And I'm certainly impressed, as Jonah is, with Gladwell's insightful analysis of current events and politics…
dmunger | June 19, 2006Breastfeeding is the topic of the day here at Scienceblogs, inspired by a New York Times article on the subject.
I want to make the case that breastfeeding isn't always the best choice. As the Times article points out, research isn't exactly on my side: Breastfeeding is associated with higher IQ, decreased risk of obesity, lower rates of infections, and even better health for mothers of breastfeeding babies.
Some of these effects, especially regarding rates of certain infections, are dramatic. But others are not so much. The obesity research, for example, cites a reduction in BMI of about .05…
dmunger | May 31, 2006Courtney Martin makes an interesting argument about the phenomenon she calls The Paradox of the Perfect Girl. It's the result of the recent upsurge of girls outperforming boys academically:
The perfect girl is everywhere. She is your niece, your daughter, your friend's genius kid. She is the girl who makes the valedictorian speech at your son's graduation and the type-A class president in the skimpy black dress that he brings to the prom. The perfect girl is thin and hungry, not for food, but for honors, awards, scholarships, recognition. The Princeton Review book is the perfect girl's bible…
dmunger | May 15, 2006Every so often on Cognitive Daily, someone will post a comment asking for help on a paper they're writing for school. It's pretty clear where these people come from: they've done a Google search on video games or whatever it is that interests them, and our post is the first thing they've found that seems like it might be remotely relevant to the topic. Often, I'm not especially happy to answer the question they've asked, because usually it's not a very good question.
Examples of bad questions are:
Questions that are readily answered by simply reading the post where the commenter has posted…