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gregladen | May 13, 2008Carnival of the Liberals is at SIr Robin Rides Away
Carnival of the Green #127 is at Evangelical Ecologist
Encephalon #45 - Life Is Good, Brains Are Better is at PodBlack Blog
mixingmemory | May 13, 2008I was asked to post this. Judging by the list of presenters and the topics, it sounds like an interesting conference.
Announcing the 34th annual meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology
June 26-29, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Registration is now open; deadline Thursday, June 5 -- 12:00pm EST
Note that early registration is suggested, as the reserved hotel block is likely to fill quickly. http://www.ircs.upenn.edu/spp/
The 2008 conference will feature presentations by:
George Ainslie, Michael L. Anderson, Louise Antony
Peter Carruthers, Louis Charland, Anjan…
mixingmemory | May 13, 2008There's a paper by Grabe, Ward, and Hyde in this month's issue of Psychological Bulletin that presents a meta-analysis of 77 studies (correlational and experimental) on the relationship between the media's presentation of (overly) thin women and women's body image issues (from the shrink rap). The studies used a host of measures of body image, including measures of things like perceived body shape, anoretic cognition, body dissatisfaction, thin-ideal internalization, restrained eating, "bulimic symptomatology," appearance self-esteem, etc. For the relationship between media presentations of…
sb admin | May 13, 2008In the final leg of a long and costly lawsuit against the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), U.S. district judge Hugh Lawson ruled in favor of ACGIH, dismissing claims by the National Mining Association and others* that the non-profit, scientific organization violated Georgia's Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act. (A complete case study on this matter appears at DefendingScience.org.) The court also rejected the industry-plaintiff's attempt to resurrect related claims against the Department of Labor, reprimanding them with:Â
"The Court disagrees with…
pharyngula | May 13, 2008The fundagelicals were all up in arms over the human papilloma vaccine — it was recommended for all girls to prevent the sexual transmission of a virus that can lead to cancers of the female reproductive tract. They were agin' it; it might give their womenfolk the idea that sex is not a punishment, and a few thousand dead girls is a small price to pay for sin.
That might change now, though. Clinical testing has revealed that HPV can cause oral cancers in men, and they are recommending that all adolescents, not just girls, should consider getting the vaccine.
Now the religious right is going…
pharyngula | May 13, 2008In the wake of the recent efforts of a School Administrative District in Maine to expel evolution from the curriculum, we now have a pointless poll seeking the vox populi on this badly worded question: "A school board member in SAD 59 wants the topic of evolution dropped from high school science curriculums. Do you agree?"
While I agree that a school board member wants to do that, I think the poll actually intends to ask whether you want evolution dropped from the curriculum.
cmcclain | May 12, 2008
NR-1 is the navy's smallest nuclear-powered and only nuclear-powered research submarine. Launched in 1969, th 145' NR-1 (known affectionately as Nerwin) was designed for deep submergence work on the seabed ranging from recovery, repair, implantation, and observation. Given its nuclear reactor, missions on the bottom can last day limited only by consumables. The submersible possesses bunks for these extended missions. Despite this independence, it generally towed and does not stray far from a surface support ship, currently the MV Carolyn Chouest.
During extended missions, NR-1…
sb admin | May 12, 2008A few days ago, researchers at West Virginia School of Medicine who are involved in the C8 Health Project provided some initial results from the 69,030 participants who live in the vicinity of DuPont's Washington Works plant near Parkersburg, WV. The information was presented at a May 7 public lecture entitled "The C8 Health Project: How a Class Action Lawsuit Can Interact with Public Health: History of Events" (Slides here), and was reported in the Charleston Gazette (here).Â
The data to-date indicate that participants have serum concentrations of C8 (perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA))…
cortex | May 12, 2008The tragedies are so vast they are incomprehensible: thousands are dead after a powerful earthquake in China while up to half a million people in Myanmar may die as a result of post-cyclone epidemics. How does the mind grapple with such nightmarish statistics?
The answer is simple: it doesn't. Paul Slovic, a psychologist at the University of Oregon, has demonstrated that suffering on such a epic scale falls into one of the brain's many blind spots. His experiments are straightforward: he asks people how much they would be willing to donate to various charitable causes. For example, Slovic…
esiegel | May 12, 2008What the heck has this world come to? All over the internet, this picture of an Orangutan trying to fish with a stick has been shown:
But what's the story behind this? Is this evidence that humans are not unique among the Great Apes as tool-users?
Not quite. According to the Daily Mail, this is an orangutan that had extensive exposure to humans; this jungle setting is actually where they reintroduce orangutans into the wild from zoos, private homes and (yikes) butcher shops. This particular orangutan actually doesn't successfully know how to fish; this was something he copied from nearby…
pharyngula | May 12, 2008The Irish Independent has a poll at the bottom of their main page: "Are you in support of the Catholic Church retaining its key role in Irish schools?" It's very evenly split, 49% yes, 51% no, which represents some solid opposition already. I had no idea that the church controlled 90% of the primary schools in Ireland, but it's a good sign that the church seems to be interested in reducing its authority.
gregladen | May 11, 2008Well, it's like this... "Like many people in Minneapolis' Bryant neighborhood, Patty Crawford was outside minding her business on a sunny Mother's Day afternoon. Then she looked up to see an SUV barrelling through her front yard at freeway speed. ... Through the flying chunks of what had been her lawn, a screaming flock of squad cars soon appeared. ... She quickly called for the kids to take cover. Then there was the deafening smash and the tinkling of shattered glass. ... "We all just stood there and whimpered," Crawford said later Sunday afternoon. "Really, any of us could have been in…
sciencetolife | May 11, 2008Seed Magazine editors, now hard at work on the next issue, want to see the typical or not-so-typical places where our bloggers (and their readers) do science.
For the chance to get your scientific work space featured in Seed, please send a photo of it to art@seedmediagroup.com by Tuesday, May 13th at 5:00pm EST. Please write "Where I Do Science Photo Submission" in the subject line, and send as high a resolution image as you can.
Read more here.
grrlscientist | May 11, 2008tags: shoes, Japanese shoes, social behavior, fashion psychology, streaming video
A friend sent me these images today, claiming that these are "all the fashion rage in Japan". I find that hard to believe and besides, just looking at them makes me hurt all over. Anyway, I don't want to scare you away immediately, so I have arranged these shoes so the styles evolve from less to more insane. That way, you can build up your tolerance.
Okay, these shoes are a little too much, don't you think?
And this pair of shoes makes me wonder how the wearer can walk in them without having a very good…
pharyngula | May 11, 2008Sometimes the NPR Series "This I Believe" peddles a short dose of codswallop, but today's is pretty good.
pharyngula | May 10, 2008Would you believe a school in Minnesota suspended three eighth graders for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? Outrageous. The pledge is ridiculous to begin with and replaces conscientious thought with blind obedience, and I think it ought to be rejected everywhere, but to punish students for refusing to kowtow to McCarthyite relics is absurd.
Greg Laden wants us to crash this poll. It's a bit redundant, fortunately, since the forces of reason are already leading, but let's tip it farther.
Here's the silly poll:
Did school officials react properly to the students who did not stand…
moleculeoftheday | May 9, 2008Previously I've mentioned triethylammonium acetate, and ammonium carbonate. These are salts formed by mixtures of volatile stuff - triethylamine, acetic acid, ammonia, and carbon dioxide. Awhile ago I made one I hadn't ever made before.
This one was triethylammonium bicarbonate, which is weird. You take triethylamine (about 100g), water (about 500mL), and a bunch of dry ice or a tank of CO2, and set something up to bubble gas in while it stirs. Oddly, the triethylamine won't go in at first (since when it's not charged, it's pretty nonpolar), so as you bubble in the carbon dioxide, you make…
jlynch | May 9, 2008Believe it or not, on Wednesday, 177 Republicans disagreed that "the House of Representatives celebrates the role of mothers in the United States and supports the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day" this following a 412-0 vote in favor (H.Res 1113). Flip-floppers! Why do they hate mothers so? Next they’ll vote against apple pie.
Votes of AZ representatives was along party lines. I’m sure the moms of Renzi, Franks, Shadegg & Flake are suitably impressed. Someone’s going to have to do some ’splaining come Sunday.
HT to Josh.