research
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Science
Does ’16 and Pregnant’ Convince Teens Not to Get Pregnant?
Yesterday, researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research released a new paper looking at the effect of watching the MTV shows 16 and Pregnant and its spin-offs Teen Mom and Teen Mom 2 on teen birth rates. They claim they have found causal evidence to suggest that in areas in which the show is more popular, teen pregnancies are…
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Guest Bloggers
Differentiating the Good from the Bad in Stem Cell Research
When it comes to stem cell research and treatments, consumers are often considered to be the group most likely to be taken advantage of by snakeoil salesmen. However, having your MD or PhD does not guarantee immunity to the tricks of scam artists, especially in the competitive, financially-motivated world of research publishing. Thankfully, a few organizations and companies are coming…
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Science
Excuse me, is this stool taken?
Entomology has a unique advantage over other sciences. Physicists like to boast about their giant Hadron, but they needed the help of large federal programs to get it up. Entomologists know that it’s not all about size. We are skilled at building our own equipment, cobbling together spare parts for unique uses, innovating with common household objects, and sometimes—we even produce…
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Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 7.2
Good morn… errrr, afternoon folks in the Skepchick-verse. Hey, you all know I’m an astronomer, right? I am belatedly taking over the Quickies for a bit while Mary goes off saving the universe from hostile aliens bent on enslaving the human race. Seriously, our work is never done. Hope you enjoy your fresh, hot serving of quickies! A mass exodus…
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Parenting
On the Abuse of Social Science
Cross-posted on Queereka. One of the reoccurring talking points of opponents of marriage equality is that social science research demonstrates that children do better with a heterosexual couple than any other type of parenting situation. For an example, see this exchange between CNN’s Brooke Baldwin and hate-group leader Tony Perkins. Note how she fails to challenge Perkins on his oft-repeated…
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Science
Roaches with Jet Packs
You might have noticed a lot of news lately about robot designs based on insects. Insects are great models for robots because bugs have an extremely stable and efficient model of locomotion: the tripod gait. At any time, roaches have 3 feet on the ground–even when they’re running. This tripod structure makes insects extra-resistant to tripping or tipping over. Biomimetics is the…
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Science
Roaches and Woodpecker Conservation
Most humans–and I include quite a few entomologists in that category–love to hate roaches. This is a sad thing, because the vast majority of roaches never set foot (feet?) in a kitchen. The few species that tap-dance around in your sugar bowl are just a tiny piece of a huge spectrum of amazing roachy biodiversity in the world. Over 99%…
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Idiots Pretend to Do Science, Get Fooled by Magician
I know many of you reading this are working scientists, and so of course you’re familiar with the famed medical journal, International Journal of Yoga. For those of you who don’t subscribe, you’ll be excited to learn that IJOY has just published this solid, peer-reviewed paper called Investigating paranormal phenomena: Functional brain imaging of telepathy. Better yet, it’s available online!…
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