Numerous studies have been done trying to assess the degree to which mathematical ability is inborn or learned. Especially since the era of brain imaging made neurological enquiry realistic.
For example, in a 2011 study, Melissa Libertus, a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University, displayed briefly flashing groups of blue and yellow dots on a computer screen to 200 four-year-old children. The children had to estimate which group of dots was larger (in number). They also were given a standard test of early mathematical ability that measures numbering skills (counting items on a page), numeral literacy (reading numbers), and elementary calculation
Continue reading Are our brains hard-wired for numbers?
[Editor’s note: This is reprinted from The Conversation, 18 Dec 2013. The original article is authored by Michael Rose and Jonathan Borwein.]
The warmth on your face, the scenic view outside — such delights are delivered to you by countless photons from the sun. But believe it or not, these photons move in much the same way as an inebriated person wandering home from the pub, or the initial whiff of coffee as you open a bag of beans.
Let me explain.
Travelling at the fastest speed known to physics, these photons crossed from the sun to the Earth in
Continue reading Tipsy tottering, sunlight and the smell of coffee: it’s all random
In July 2012, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner startled the world of physics by establishing the Fundamental Physics Prize, with awards of $3,000,000 each to nine physicists, including well-known cosmologists Alan Guth, Andrei Linde, Juan Maldacena and Edward Witten, among others. These physicists now constitute a committee to select future awardees. The 2013 awardee was Alexander Polyakov for his work in quantum field theory and string theory. In December 2013, the 2014 awardees were announced, which are John Schwarz of Caltech and Michael Green of Cambridge.
In 2013, Milner, in partnership with Google founder Sergey Brin, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and
Continue reading Yuri Milner to award $3M prizes to mathematicians
The 2012 edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) are in, and once Asia leads the way, with China, Singapore, Taiwan, Korea and Japan scoring very well, while many first-world nations, such as Australia, the U.K. and the U.S., lag behind.
In Canada, which placed 13th overall in mathematics, “alarm bells went off” as
[m]ath scores, the focus of 2012 PISA tests whose results have just been released, declined 14 points in nine years in Canada. And the country produced fewer students who were high achievers – 16 per cent were at Level 5 or
Continue reading PISA international test scores show Australia, Canada, UK, USA lagging
Homer contemplates pi
Mathematics in the Simpsons
In a newly published book, Simon Singh presents a too little-known back story about the Simpsons TV show: underlying much of the clever screenplay are numerous references to somewhat sophisticated mathematics both in the Simpsons and in the follow-up Futurama.
Simon Singh is no stranger to either mathematics or show business. He directed an award–winning BBC documentary on Fermat’s Last Theorem and authored the best-selling book Fermat’s Enigma on the same topic. He is a physicist by training, with a Ph.D. from Cambridge and is engaged in a host of science
Continue reading Pi in the Simpsons
Fundamental, wide-ranging and curious research is the basis of a country’s development. Cuts to CSIRO won’t help. CarbonNYC/Flickr
Like many scientists, I was apprehensive in advance about the Abbott government’s approach to science policy. Would it be pragmatic but fact-based or would it be ideological and politically driven?
Sadly it has only taken two months to discover that it is the latter.
As a relatively recent immigrant (2008), who has chaired the precursor to Compute Canada (the national high performance computing organisation), NATO’s Physical Sciences and Engineering Technology Panel, and the National Research Council of Canada information institute (CISTI)
Continue reading Australia needs fundamental research to build a great country
One of the most perplexing side-effects of the Information Age is the means it unfortunately grants to many pseudo-scientific and science-denial movements to gain foothold and mutually strengthen numbers. Gone are the days when everyone would read or listen to common, well-researched, professionally written news.
Nowadays, everyone can withdraw into a self-imposed cocoon of “personalized” (and often erroneous) information. This includes big players such as Fox News — as Americans, Brits, and Australians hostage to the Murdoch empire know only too well. In reaction, liberals rely on their own reinforcement via MSNBC and similar venues.
Recently American palaeontologist Donald Prothero
Continue reading When skepticism becomes denial: The unholy alliance between science denial movements
Introduction
Once again, Texas has joined a list of U.S. states that are fighting a rear-guard war against the progress of modern science.
On September 9, 2013, the National Center for Science Education and the Texas Freedom Network issued a joint news release expressing alarm at comments made by members of a Texas state committee reviewing proposed science textbooks for the state. If a publisher’s textbook does not obtain the highest rating, because of ill-informed comments by the state review panel, then it is likely that the textbook will not be approved by local school districts. In fact, a sub-par
Continue reading Please mess with Texas: Texas textbook fiasco threatens US science
For many years, educators in the U.S. have been able to do little more than cry at the disappointing test scores. For example, in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which tests mathematics and science, U.S. eighth graders ranked 11th in mathematics and 10th in science. While not disastrous, these scores are not very impressive for a nation that claims to be the world’s pre-eminent force in science and technology.
By comparison, Australian eighth graders ranked 19th in mathematics and 12th place in science. In Europe, Ireland, Belgium, Finland, England and Russia did fairly well in
Continue reading Massachusetts leads the way in science and math education
On 21 Aug 2013, at the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio), an employee was struck by lightning, as he was clearing guests away from the museum’s zip line, in the wake of an approaching thunderstorm. Fortunately, the employee was not seriously injured and was quickly released from a nearby hospital.
But according to a commentary in Slate by Mark Joseph Stern, other troubles are brewing for the museum, which is operated by Answers in Genesis, a leading creationist organization headed by Ken Ham.
The Creation Museum, according to its official website, features 70,000 square feet
Continue reading Troubles beset Kentucky’s Creation Museum
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