Recent news reports and commentaries have again drawn attention to a “numeracy crisis” that threatens the economies of first-world nations.
In the U.S., a 2009 report by the National Academies again highlighted the desperate need to improve mathematical education, particularly at the K-12 level, where so many otherwise talented students either fall behind or lose interest. The report’s Summary concluded
Mathematics education has risen to the top of the national policy agenda as part of the need to improve the technical and scientific literacy of the American public. The new demands of international competition in the 21st century require a
Continue reading “Numeracy crisis” threatens first-world economies
Introduction
In one respect, science and religion have been largely reconciled since the nineteenth century, when geologists such as Charles Lyell recognized the evidence for a very old earth, and, within a few decades, most mainstream religious denominations accepted this view as well.
But much to the consternation of scientists, young-earth creationism, which holds that the earth is only about 6000 years old, continues to be promoted in some quarters, and remains very popular with the public, especially in the United States. A 2010 Gallup poll found that 40% of Americans believe that “God created humans in their present form
Continue reading How old is the earth? Calculate it for yourself
Given the ever-growing importance of science and technology in modern life, particularly in first world nations, why don’t we see more scientists in leading governmental positions?
This dearth is particularly stark in the U.S. Among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, only three have bonafide scientific credentials (one physicist, one chemist, one microbiologist). An additional 24 or so have medical training, but this is still a small fraction of the total. Instead, top legislative and executive positions are dominated by the legal and business professions [NYT Op-Ed].
In a recent study of the composition of the Australian
Continue reading Scientists in politics: What is the score, and what can be done?
[Note: A condensed and revised version of this article was published here in The Conversation, an online forum of academic research headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.]
These are painful times for those hoping to see an international consensus and substantive action on global warming.
In the U.S., Republican Presidential candidates appear to be moving from open-minded views to outright denial. In June 2011, current front-runner Mitt Romney said “the world is getting warmer,” and “humans have contributed,” but in October 2011 he backtracked to “My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet.” Newt Gingrich moved
Continue reading Global warming denial and scientific integrity
Introduction
Both traditional creationists and intelligent design scholars have invoked probability arguments in criticisms of biological evolution. They argue that certain features of biology are so fantastically improbable that they could never have been produced by a purely natural, “random” process, even assuming the billions of years of history asserted by geologists and astronomers. They often equate the hypothesis of evolution to the absurd suggestion that monkeys randomly typing at a typewriter could compose a selection from the works of Shakepeare.
One creationist-intelligent design argument goes like this: the human alpha-globin molecule, a component of hemoglobin that performs a key
Continue reading Does probability refute evolution?
One would surely think that first-world nations, in a bid to retain leadership in science and technology, and to fend off the very real challenge of the “Asian tigers” (India, China, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan), would pull all stops to ensure that university students in mathematics, computer science and related fields obtain the very best education possible.
To a certain extent, this has been done with relatively more funding in these fields (particularly computer science) from national sources, compared with many other academic disciplines. Yet there are storm clouds ahead.
For instance, in the U.S., leading computer science departments, stung by
Continue reading Poor-quality math and computer science courses threaten technological leadership
[Note: A condensed and revised version of this article was published here in The Conversation, an online forum of academic research headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.]
Introduction
What do iPhones, Twitter, Netflix, cleaner cities, safer cars, state-of-the-art environmental management and modern medical diagnostics have in common? They all are made possible by Moore’s Law.
Moore’s Law stems from a seminal 1965 article by Intel founder Gordon Moore. He wrote
The complexity for minimum component costs has increased at a rate of roughly a factor of two per year. … Certainly over the short term this rate can be expected to continue,
Continue reading Moore’s Law and the future of science and mathematics
[This is a repost of an article that appeared on 21 Dec 2011 at Science Meets Religion.]
One of the most common refrains in news and commentaries, from both the religious right and the secular left, is that modern society is in sharp decline: skyrocketing rates of crime, divorce, teenage sex, teenage births, drug abuse and war (especially in the 20th century). There is also concern that modern society’s focus on science and technology is leading to a widening of the gap in living conditions and educational opportunities between prosperous first-world nations and impoverished third-world nations.
The religious right blames
Continue reading The great decline of Western society: What are the facts?
[This is a repost of an article that appeared on 23 Dec 2011 in The Conversation].
Recently there was an excellent, and much read, article on The Conversation entitled There’s no place for pseudo-scientific chiropractic in Australian universities which made the case against chiropractic “medicine” all too well.
Dodgy doctors are dodgy wherever they live and are trained. Despite the value of a good and not-too-vigorous back massage (or perhaps some mild acupuncture), neither alternative medicine nor chiropractic make the grade as health sciences.
The article, by John Dwyer of the University of New South Wales, made me reflect
Continue reading Chiropractic: crackers now, and crackers way back when
Many will greet the title of this piece with considerable skepticism — in this day and age how could one possibly talk about a decline in violence? Yet it is true. Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker begins his new book The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined as follows:
This book is about what may be the most important thing that has ever happened in human history. Believe it or not – and I know that most people do not – violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most
Continue reading The remarkable decline of violence
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