- Pysch-out sexism – “The innocent, unconscious bias that discourages girls from math and science.” From luciano.
- NASA completes 52-year mission to find, kill God – “According to officials, God was killed this morning on the moon by a highly trained team of seven astronauts. He was reportedly lured into a trap after coming into contact with the Voyager 2 probe, which was transmitting a false message that NASA wanted to broker a truce with God on “neutral ground.”” From Jay.
- Is the Navy trying to start a robot apocalypse? – “Whenever the military rolls out a new robot program, folks like to joke about SkyNet or the Rise of the Machines. But this time, the military really is starting to venture into robot-apocalypse territory: swarms of little semi-autonomous machines that can team up to manufacture complex objects (including, presumably, more robots).” From cerberus40.
- Questioning the annual pelvic exam – “A new article in the Journal of Women’s Health by Westhoff, Jones, and Guiahi asks “Do New Guidelines and Technology Make the Routine Pelvic Examination Obsolete?””
- Cute Animal Friday! Elyse has found the cure for all your woes, corgi puppies herding a cat. Bibliotequetress sent in these fox photos that made me “Aww” out loud. Siobhan shared polar bear cubs playing in the snow. And last but far from least, my friend Ellen demanded that this baby platypus (aka a puggle!) be officially recognized for its cuteness. Someone send me a puggle and a corgi pup, stat!
I needed Cute Animal Friday more than you can know. FSM what a week.
Re: Sexism. I did not see anything in the article that supported the conclusion that it was the teacher’s behaviors that caused the difference, and perhaps a aversion on the part of the women to being taught by a man.
Does anyone know how they came to the conclusion that it was an unconscious behavior of the teacher’s?
@hkdharmon: Where do you see that conclusion? To me, the article is vague about where the “unconscious bias” is supposed to lie.
NASA story: to quote Donald Rumsfeld, ‘We got him’.
The gender-bias article makes depressing reading because it implies that the under-representation of women in science is self-perpetuating – too few women professors -> fewer women choosing careers in science -> too few women professors.