feminism
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Book Club
First Mary Sue? First SciFi?
... the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princesse, The Duchess of Newcastle publishes a book that has been called the first example of science fiction and the first occurrence of the Mary Sue trope. Its full title is The Description of a New World, Called the Blazing World and while I don't exactly recommend reading it, you should know about…
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Feminism
The Confidence Gap May Not Predict the Gender Pay Gap: Indignant Thoughts on That PNAS Paper
Why is everyone in the world over-interpreting their data this week and coming for women in science? How can authors get all the way through graduate school and still not understand how not to over-interpret their data? Perhaps in an effort to cause hypertension and make the blood vessels in my head explode, a reader of the blog sent me…
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Activism
Do Not Fall Prey to Nature’s Trap Without Changing Your Behavior
Yesterday I wrote about a problematic new paper from Nature Communications suggesting that trainees are disadvantaged by being mentored by women mentors. This morning, as I try to engage with my laboratory, home school my children, clean the house and do laundry because my physician husband has clinic, and try to eek out some small amount of time for myself,…
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Quickies
Quickies: Fighting Nazis with data, following the research on diversity trainings, and more…
It’s been a whole MONTH since I’ve posted here…. oops. If you know an educator, send them chocolate or beer or puppies or whatever makes them happy because this semester is ROUGH. Here are a few things that have grabbed my interest despite my life steeped in class prep, grading, and committee work. In my astronomy class, we’ve recently been…
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Quickies
Quickies: Toxic hand sanitizer, side benefit of face masks, racism in NH policing, and more…
Your Friday Quickies are late again… because virtual academic conferences are surprisingly just as tiring as in-person events. First off, check your hand sanitizer bottles. The FDA has recalled 77 products to date that contain methanol, aka wood alcohol, the toxic kind that can make you blind. And yes, it’s even dangerous when applied to your skin. H/t to Bethany…
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Featured
With Warren’s Concession, There’s Only One Path Forward…
I am an Iowan and, as an Iowan, I had the privilege of participating in our nation’s first caucus. I caucused for Warren. I think she’s brilliant. She’s kind, she listens, she’s thoughtful, she’s truthful. she’s a genius. She’s not perfect, but I like that she’s clearly trying to do better. She is everything in the world that our current…
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Quickies
Quickies: Barrier Busting DJ, Identified Flying Objects, Hacking NASA…
Hey, y’all. It’s officially summer! Well, in the Northern Hemisphere, at least. Happy winter to our Southern Hemisphere friends! That little fact of opposite hemispheres having opposite seasons is helpful when I teach Astronomy 101. It also makes my geographically diverse Instagram feed confusing at times. Okay, enough chit-chat, we have some news and animals for you…
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Anti-Science
Maybe “the integrity of female athletics” is a bad idea
I can’t stop thinking of this photo of Lynsey Sharp being hugged by fellow White lady Melissa Bishop after losing to Caster Semenya. The recently announced ruling that will force Semenya to take drugs to lower her natural testosterone levels has been widely discussed for the completely scientifically unfounded, racist, sexist, and homophobic, not to mention simply inhumane, dumpster fire of…
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