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Solving the Equation - Tips for Parents of Girls

Parents, like educators, influence how girls perceive the fields of engineering and computing as well as their own abilities and can encourage their daughters to develop interest and confidence in these fields. Parents also play an important role in exposing their children both to the fields of engineering and computing generally and to women in these fields at early ages, when their implicit biases are forming. • Cultivate a growth mindset in your children. Teach them that the brain is like a muscle that gets stronger and works better the more it is exercised. Teach them that passion, dedication, and self-improvement, not simply innate talent, are the roads to genius and contribution. • Introduce your daughters to engineering and computing. • Encourage your daughters to pursue mathematics and take calculus. • Introduce your children to women and men with whom they can identify in engineering and computing fields. • Question the idea that certain people (often with strong programming skills) are cut out for computing while others are not. • Provide girls with opportunities to tinker, take things apart, and put them back together. • Encourage your daughters to play and work with boys. • Encourage your sons to play and work with girls.

From AAUW’s Solving the Equation Report, lots more good stuff: http://www.aauw.org/research/solving-the-equation/

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Who knew? Being altruistic and kind are characteristics that can be taught and nurtured, and parents have a responsibility to teach that!

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Expiration and “sell by” dates waste tons of food, click the link to see more. 

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It’s ant season! They sneak into our house every spring, these seem to be the most useful non-toxic tips I’ve found. 

It’s a compliment, I’m sure . . . The way ants are descending on my kitchen. The sticky sweet smell of homemade strawberry jam is irresistible if I do say so myself. But after watching them take an afternoon dip in my coconut oil I’m not feeling very hospitable. I draw the line at coconut oil, [&hellip

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Parabens in food??

Looking for another reason to avoid processed foods? EWG finds that propyl paraben is an ingredient in a number of snack foods, for preservative purposes I’m guessing. http://www.ewg.org/research/propyl-paraben

I’ve been avoiding parabens in personal care products for years now, so it’s surprising industries found it ok to add to food! 

Parabens are likely endocrine disruptors, affecting development, reproductive, neurological and immune systems.

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That “new scientific breakthrough discovery” you just read about on that news site/blog/Facebook page? It’s almost certainly wrong. This article from Vox is a seriously important thing that, if you care about science, you really need to read, like right now. 

My take: The tendency of the media to report on what is *NEW* in science is indicative of what I think is the largest perspective gap between scientists and nonscientists. 

The general public (<- apologies, I hate how homogenous that word is, because there is no single “general public”, but I have to use it here) seems to crave novelty and has a tendency to view every scientific finding as forwardprogress and individually meaningful, but science is a an ongoing process of self-correction and repetition. It doesn’t have an “end” and any single study is almost certainly wrong, or at the very least doesn’t tell the full story.

This is why I have tried to steer clear of reporting on “breaking” science news in my own efforts here on OKTBS. Science communicators and journalists, we need to make a commitment to covering science as a process and not as a series of breakthroughs. When science IS reported that way, we run the risk of losing people’s trust when science later must later correct or contradict itself, which is something that will absolutely happen, because that’s what science does. We must also make people comfortable with the idea uncertainty and science-as-a-process is a good thing!

I’ll shut up now. Go read this.

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Make your own hand-sanitizer and avoid the alcohol and triclosan!

One of my all-time favorite messages for families is: Go to your kitchen cabinet before your medicine cabinet.   

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Are you the Next MacGyver? Thirty years ago, the original MacGyver created enormous interest around engineering with the exploits of Angus MacGyver, a spy who used his powers of engineering in every episode to solve problems.

According to Lee Zlotoff, the show’s creator: “I literally could not tell you how many times people have come up to me and said, ‘I became an engineer, or I went into the sciences because of MacGyver.’”

In the spirit of that show, in 2015, we are looking for TV ideas that will feature female engineers or female protagonists who will use their powers of engineering to solve problems.

We’re not looking to reboot the MacGyver franchise or bring back guys with mullets. We are asking: “Can you out-MacGyver MacGyver?” Can you imagine that next female hero that will inspire a generation of young women to see themselves as engineers?

http://www.thenextmacgyver.com

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Interesting opinion gaps between scientists and the public, more here - http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/01/29/public-and-scientists-views-on-science-and-society/

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Hmmm, who to pick?!

Science needs women, and we need YOUR help.

I’m teaming up with Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls for an awesome project to celebrate women in science. But we can’t do it without YOUR help! We want you to make a short video telling us which female scientist inspires you, and why. Grab your phone, turn on your webcam, or fire up your vlog and tell us why that #ScienceWoman means so much to you. We’ve got something really special planned for all your submissions. You’ve probably got questions, so visit http://bit.ly/1FTAKiF for all the details on how you can get involved!!

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"The New York State attorney general did some sophisticated testing.  His report concludes that major supplement retailers—GNC, Target, Walgreens and Walmart—are selling herbal supplements that do not contain what the labels say they contain or contain unlabeled ingredients that could be allergenic."

Wow.

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These two stories came up next to each other in my Environmental Health News email update this morning. One country is actually creating artificial weather in order to create more rain (by ROCKET-LAUNCHING chemicals into the clouds, wtf). While another country is devastated from floods, losing infrastructure, homes and lives. 

My friends, THESE are the effects of climate change. It's real, it's here, we are making it worse and worse.

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First full growing season a few years ago at Brooklyn Grange Farm - a rooftop farm in NYC. 

http://brooklyngrangefarm.com/

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One of the most infuriating marketing scams I have ever witnessed is that of “air freshener.” I used to buy into all of it: Vanilla scented Glade Plug-ins in the hallways and Febreeze on my old stinky couch. Truth is these air freshening products do not “freshen” the air by any stretch of the...

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Nice work jtotheizzoe!

What you need to know about climate change in 24 easy steps: to.pbs.org/climatesci1