Posted in Ethics, Human Sciences, Media, Technology on Apr 25th, 2009 No Comments »
Here are a couple of articles I have come across in the past few days, that I thought you might find interesting:
Yes, Looks Do Matter: A social-scientific take on Susan Boyle. (If you missed all the brouhaha about Susan Boyle, check out this video.)
Twilight: The Hidden Market
I have been sort of avoiding Twilight, but this [...]
Posted in Ethics, Human Sciences, Language on Apr 17th, 2009 No Comments »
On the annual “Day of Silence” (of the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network), NYT columnist Judith Warner provides an article, Dude, You’ve Got Problems, on bullying and name-calling involving words such as “gay”, “fag” or “queer”. It’s an interesting read, as is the profusion of comments that follow – Warner clearly touched on a contentious [...]
Posted in Human Sciences on Apr 13th, 2009 Enter your password to view comments
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Posted in Human Sciences on Apr 13th, 2009 No Comments »
We already discussed how language reflects the patriarchal structure of society; here is an article on how patriarchal society has influenced the way buildings (and their amenities) are designed…
“New Ballpark Statistic: Stadium’s Toilet Ratio”
Posted in Human Sciences, Politics on Mar 31st, 2009 2 Comments »
As we were reading “Female Rulers and Their Consorts” I mentioned to you that one example of women leaders becoming social males was that of Margaret Thatcher and her lowered voice. You can find more information about her and about the importance of voice pitch in politics here:
Margaret Thatcher’s Vocal Changes
Male and Female Voices in [...]
Posted in Human Sciences, Language, Natural Sciences, Sense Perception on Mar 12th, 2009 3 Comments »
We will be discussing the article “The Egg and the Sperm” tomorrow, but here are a few pre-class reflection questions:
1) What are the stereotypical male/female traits? Identify and write them down.
2) Do the textbooks examined in the study reflect any of these stereotypical traits?
3) Does your biology textbook (whether from IB Biology or from lower [...]
Posted in Ethics, Human Sciences, Natural Sciences on Mar 4th, 2009 1 Comment »
Some more articles you might find interesting to peruse:
In a Helpless Baby, the Roots to our Social Glue: Here’s an article for those of you who take IB Anthropology.
Ethics Quandary at Harvard Medical School: Should universities receive funding from pharmaceutical companies?
Posted in Human Sciences, Natural Sciences, Religion on Mar 4th, 2009 2 Comments »
Darwin’s God
Posted in Human Sciences on Feb 28th, 2009 No Comments »
Another thing I love is running. Other than for reasons of injury or days of laziness (and, once, cultural/safety considerations when I was in Kashmir), I had never seriously considered that anything could prevent one from running. Because of this, I find this NYT article entitled Barriers Fell, One Year, One Step at a Time [...]
Posted in Emotion, Ethics, Human Sciences on Feb 9th, 2009 No Comments »
Lisa Belkins raises the question“How many children is too many?” on her blog, providing a link to a first interview with the mother, Nadya Suleman. The blog entry itself was posted only a couple of hours ago, but the comments from readers are multiplying by the minute, which seems to suggest how strongly the public [...]
Posted in Human Sciences on Feb 8th, 2009 2 Comments »
Mistresses of the Universe
Posted in Emotion, Human Sciences, Natural Sciences, Religion on Dec 30th, 2008 1 Comment »
I am on a roll… posting, just in case you are planning to stay up late tomorrow night and get bored at some point.
Anyhow: An NYT article on how religious belief and piety promote self-control.
Posted in Human Sciences on Dec 29th, 2008 2 Comments »
I don´t know if I ever mentioned the Milgram experiment in class (if I did, I did not use the name), which was conducted in the aftermath of World War II to investigate how so many ordinary Germans participated in cruelties committed by Hitler´s regime. The 1963 experiment was conducted in the US, and results [...]
Posted in Human Sciences, Politics, Religion on Nov 26th, 2008 6 Comments »
Two academics, Richard N. Rosecrance and Ehud Eiran, make the interesting proposal that Israelis and Palestinians should become Europeans – that is, should join the European Union. The article does not say where the authors are from, though the first name seems to be Jewish, and the second either Jewish or Arabic (I tend towards [...]
Posted in Human Sciences, Media, Reason on Nov 24th, 2008 No Comments »
In a recent post I linked to a New York Times article discussing the value of SAT exams. This morning the newspaper published some letter responses from readers, which provide some food for thought.
Posted in Human Sciences on Nov 18th, 2008 No Comments »
Some time ago I posted a link to tests (Harvard Test and University of Chicago Test) that allow you determine your subconscious racial bias. Today the New York Times published a related article, discussing test results and making some interesting points:
“In Bias Test, Shades of Grey”
Posted in Emotion, Human Sciences on Oct 13th, 2008 No Comments »
I don’t know whether or not you are following the elections in the US. Last week, there were reports of John McCain being booed at one of his own rallies when he stated that Obama was a decent man and that he would fight against him “with respect”. Today, Slate posted an article reflecting [...]
