Education Research

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"Just a Theory": 7 Misused Science Words

scientificamerican.com

by Tia Ghose

April 2, 2013

From "significant" to "natural," here are seven scientific terms that can prove troublesome for the public and across research disciplines

Hypothesis. Theory. Law. These scientific words get bandied about regularly, yet the general public usually gets their meaning wrong. Now, one scientist is arguing that people should do away with these misunderstood words altogether and replace them with the word "model." But those aren't the only science words that cause trouble, and simply replacing the words with others will just lead to new, widely misunderstood terms, several other scientists said. "A word like 'theory' is a technical scientific term," said Michael Fayer, a chemist at Stanford University. "The fact that many people understand its scientific meaning incorrectly does not mean we should stop using it. It means we need better scientific education."

$250 Million For A 14-Year-Old's Big Idea: Origami Owl

smallbusiness.yahoo.com

by Karsten Strauss

October 24, 2013

All Isabella "Bella" Weems really wanted was a used car. That desire set in motion a chain of events that led to the Arizona teenager spearheading what is now a multi-million dollar enterprise that she may someday control.

Weems, now 17, is founder of Origami Owl, a custom jewelry company whose direct sales business model turns would-be entrepreneurs into salespeople and evangelists. The company, which she founded in 2010 at age 14, generated $24 million in revenue in 2012 and this year expects to reach $250 million, according to the company. Origami Owl takes on independent associates - known as "designers" - who buy products at a discount and then peddle them to others for a marked up price. One of the favorite points of sale are "jewelry bars," or private parties at someone's home or another venue operated by a "hostess" (the hostesses get discounts and some free products too). The company has about 50,887 designers.

'Junk' DNA Found To Have Important Purpose

Personal Liberty Alerts

by Upi - United Press International, Inc.

September 6, 2012

So-called "junk DNA," genetic material in our cells long considered without purpose, plays a vital role in regulating our genes, international researchers say.

A study of the 98 percent of the human genome that is not, strictly speaking, genes suggests more than three-quarters of entire allotment of DNA is active at some point in our lives, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. "This concept of 'junk DNA' is really not accurate," said Richard Myers, one of the leaders of the 400-scientist Encyclopedia of DNA Elements Project, nicknamed Encode. "It is an outdated metaphor to explain our genome."

'Masked' toxins in food should be subject to safety regulations

bakeryandsnacks.com

February 19, 2013

Regulatory limits on the levels of moulds and toxins present naturally in foods produced from grain crops should be expanded to include so-called "masked mycotoxins," suggest researchers.

The warnings come from researchers based in Italy who explain that 'masked' mycotoxins - that change from harmless to potentially harmful forms of moulds when already in the body - are not currently covered by regulations. Writing in Chemical Research in Toxicology, the team note that many health experts regard mycotoxins as a serious chronic dietary risk factor; ranking them a greater risk than any potential health threats from pesticides or insecticides.

'The Godzilla of Earths!' New planet weighing 17 times greater than Earth discovered

RT

June 3, 2014

A humungous Earth-like planet found by US astronomers has changed the perception of planet formation. A rocky world found by Kepler space observatory should by rights have become a giant ball of gas, but has remained a planet for billions of years.

The newly discovered Kepler-10c planet has been dubbed 'Mega-Earth' thanks to its diameter of 29,000 kilometers and an estimated weight 17 times greater than Earth, which has a diameter of 12,742 kilometers. This makes Kepler-10c the biggest rocky planet ever discovered. The new planet is circling a very old Sun-like star, Kepler-10, some 560 light years from Earth. If you look up in the sky this star can be seen in the Draco constellation, which is 300 million light years away.

11 Psychological Tricks Restaurants Use To Make You Spend More Money

businessinsider.com

by Maggie Zhang

July 14, 2014

Ever notice that you don't see dollar signs on a menu? That's a deliberate choice.

Eating out is such a common activity, we don't really think about the work that goes into creating a fine dining experience. Yet behind the scenes, menu engineers and consultants put careful thought into the way you choose what foods you eat. Here are 11 of the sneakiest psychological tricks restaurants use to make you spend more money...

13-Year-Old Looks at Trees, Makes Solar Power Breakthrough

theatlanticwire.com

by Adam Martin

August 19, 2011

Aidan Dwyer did a much better job on his 7th grade science project than any of us.

While on a wintertime hike in the Catskills, he noticed the branches of trees held a spiral pattern as they ascended. He wondered if that could possibly serve some purpose, looked into it, and learned about the Fibonacci sequence, which is a mathematical way of describing a spiral. Then he studied tree branches more closely and found their leaves adhered to the sequence. Then he figured out that if he arranged solar panels the way an oak tree arranged its leaves, they were 20 to 50 percent more efficient than the standard straight-line solar arrays. That is why the American Museum of Natural History gave him a Young Naturalist award, and published his findings on its website.

18 heads found at airport were sent for cremation

CNS News

January 15, 2013

Authorities at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have held up a shipment of 18 human heads sent from Rome and bound for a facility in the U.S. where they would be used in anatomical research.

A spokeswoman for the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, Mary Paleologos (PEHL'-ee-oh-loh-gohs), says the heads were properly preserved, wrapped and tagged as human specimens and there is no suggestion of foul play. It was not immediately clear why customs officials had held up the shipment.

2 Reasons Smart People Don't Get Hired

businessinsider.com

June 12, 2014

Here's why your smartest friends probably have the biggest gaps on their resumes, despite having loads of relevant experience and pedigree educations.

Despite having "loads of relevant experience, lots of personality, and even pedigree educations," there's a good chance that your most brilliant, overachieving friends and acquaintances are those who have suffered the longest periods of unemployment, says Maurice Ewing, PhD, chief executive and founder of Conquer, in a recent LinkedIn post. Seems illogical, right?

35 Inconvenient Truths: The errors in Al Gore's movie

scienceandpublicpolicy.org

by Christopher Monckton of Brenchley

October 18, 2007

A spokesman for Al Gore has issued a questionable response to the news that in October 2007 the High Court in London had identified nine "errors" in his movie An Inconvenient Truth.

The judge had stated that, if the UK Government had not agreed to send to every secondary school in England a corrected guidance note making clear the mainstream scientific position on these nine "errors", he would have made a finding that the Government's distribution of the film and the first draft of the guidance note earlier in 2007 to all English secondary schools had been an unlawful contravention of an Act of Parliament prohibiting the political indoctrination of children.

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