All posts in Social
The Contagion of Violence
When Professor Plum killed Dr Black, in the library, with the candlestick it was for no other reason than murder is a disease. Murder is infectious and the contagion of violence is everywhere. Violence begets violence.Violence within nations and cultures. [...]
Weekly Science Picks
The midlife crisis is more complicated than first thought. It might be time to stop blaming troubled marriages and feeling obsolete in a sea of younger colleagues. A study published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences has [...]
The Science Surrounding James Bond
Bond. Double Bond. That was a quip a lab partner of mine cracked during a sophomore chemistry class and I have not forgotten since. And it is a perfect lead in for this week’s post as I take you through [...]
Payload
Science Fiction This may not be the usual topic for a blog post normally displayed on Australian Science, but when our editor Danica mentioned she saw this great Aussie short and asked if one of us writers wanted to do [...]
Ada Lovelace Day: celebrating women in science, technology, engineering and maths
In the 1800s, Ada Lovelace, an English mathematician, worked with inventor Charles Babbage on a plan for an “analytical engine.” Though the device was never actually made, it is considered the first computer model, and Ada Lovelace, the first computer [...]
Amy Cuddy at TED: Your body language shapes who you are
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect [...]
Weekly Science Picks
Sigh, my photo caption sums it all up… But here are the news stories that caught my eye and I hope you find them interesting as well. Maybe reading them will inspire your own work or to dig deeper for [...]
ScienceOnline 2013 – be a part of the program, and participate!
ScienceOnline2013 conference will take place Jan. 31-Feb. 2 in the McKimmon Conference Center on the campus of N.C. State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. For those not familiar with ScienceOnline conferences, ScienceOnline started in 2007 as a one-day conference with [...]
Is Communication a Lost Art?
So how far away are we from planet Earth morphing into Holodeck 5 and we all have Geordi La Forge glasses? There are several pairs of augmented reality glasses already on the market, many from brands you’ve probably never heard [...]
Anticipation of Public Speaking
Public speaking has always presented an important happening. Not only because of the things that are said during it, which are ususally of great significance or have some special meaning, but also because of the anxiety it causes in speakers. [...]
Lonelier Than Ever
My childhood was spent on a dairy farm in Los Angeles County. Telephones were still luxuries. It was a big deal when we got a four-party line (yes! four households shared the same line). Phone bandwidth was expensive. Only the [...]
The Chemistry of Fragrances
Perfumes have always presented something beautiful an almost mysterious. In the past they were only available to higher classes and the well off once but luckily nowadays almost everybody can smell nice. Basics: Perfume (English: /ˈpɝː.fjuːm/) is a mixture of [...]
Global Web, Society and Knowledge at #WWW2012
The 21st International World Wide Web Conference, (#WWW2012) for web professionals is over. Lyon convention center (Lyon, France) gathered many prominent computer and social science specialists, web and mobile technologies creators, internet researchers and scholars, developers, users and commercial ventures – actively [...]
How many genes does it take to vote?
“2 genes predict voter turnout” If it was as simple as that we can forego all the campaigning. That was the headline that came with a 2008 study — a watershed moment — in which two authors claimed that they [...]