Letters Remain

Month: December 2008

  • Journal Requires Authors to Submit to Wikipedia

    Despite the growth of open access, most scientific journals are still closed and the access debate rages on. Now, however, the closed access RNA Biology has chosen another option: it requires all scientists submitting an article for publication to also create a Wikipedia article outlining their findings. From the journal’s new submission guidelines: At least…

  • Iran’s Sexual Revolution

    Taking the lead from Pardis Mahdavi’s latest book, Passionate Uprisings, The Nation looks at Iran’s ‘sexual revolution’ in these days of political dissent and upheaval. Somehow, one suspects that the grassroots push to change sexual mores cannot be totally divorced from the effort, on the part of feminist activists but also some reformist parliamentarians and…

  • The Carbon Footprint of Various Meats

    From an article discussing the effect farm emissions have on the environment: a graph depicting the different amounts of carbon dioxide produced from rearing various animals for consumption. It’s interesting to see how various foodstuffs compare, but I’d really like to see another comparing pounds of CO2 to pounds of protein (rather than just raw product). via…

  • Debating Cryonics

    Cryonics: the low-temperature preservation of humans and animals that can no longer be sustained by contemporary medicine until resuscitation may be possible in the future. When one discusses cryonics, topics as diverse as futurology, medicine, technology and philosophy are debated. A few weeks ago a number of high–profile bloggers, headed by the excellent Overcoming Bias, have been…

  • The Importance of Teasing

    Outlawing teasing as a form of bullying is a step too far, says psychologist Dacher Keltner in The New York Times, as current research shows that teasing is “a form of social play […] essential for learning to manage complex social interactions”. The reason teasing is viewed as inherently damaging is that it is too…

  • (Bad) Science Review, 2008

    The third annual ‘celebrity audit’ from the charity Sense About Science has been released, and it makes for amusing—and depressing—reading. The campaign, targeting celebrities who promote theories, therapies and campaigns that make little or no scientific sense, this year takes a swipe at Tom Cruise, Jim Carey, Barack Obama and Demi Moore, among others. In…

  • The Atheist Demographic Disadvantage

    There may be a number of reasons why theist people have more children than non-believers, as Anthony Gottlieb–former executive editor of The Economist and author of The Dream of Reason–suggests in this article from Intelligent Life. Like other demographers, Eric Kaufmann expects western Europe to become markedly more religious in the course of the 21st…

  • Improving the Public’s Perception of Science

    Prof. Chad Orzel of Uncertain Principles highlights a number of ways we can all help to improve the public’s perception of science. Buy and promote science books Demand science from the media Support science education across the board Train and/or support science teachers Encourage science students in other careers Encourage good commuicators Reward outreach Written primarily…

  • Seven Tactics for Selling a Home

    Redfin, a U.S.–based real estate brokerage, recommends seven tactics for selling a home: Don’t overprice your property Set your price to show up in web searches Debut on Friday Stay engaged Market the property online When selling your home, stay put If you can, wait to list your property until neighbouring foreclosures are off the…

  • Making Donations Easy

    Each year, in late December, I make a charity donation. Over the years I’ve chosen a charity in many different ways, but one thing has always been constant: I always choose projects that aim to improve science education. However, one thing has been constantly improving: the ease of actually choosing, and this year it couldn’t…