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Why Scientists and Journalists Don’t Always Play Well Together
Forbes: A few months ago I came across a blog post written by a well-credentialed scientist, the gist of which was that he’d recently given his last interview to a journalist. So horribly were his words misrepresented in the subsequent article that he finally had to draw the line—he’d not contribute to public science schlock ever again. He was infuriated, and with good reason; not only did the article reflect poorly on him, but the focus of the research he discussed was lost in the resulting muck.
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Home builders need to look beyond the focus group to learn what buyers want
Washington Post: What do home buyers want? For more than two decades, home builders have sought to answer this perplexing question by sifting through the information gleaned from focus groups. Typically, the people who participate are looking for a new home or have recently purchased one. The builders ask them questions and incorporate their responses into the making of the next subdivision. But the focus group input does not dramatically affect the sales, and the builders fume that “buyers are liars.” Not at all, said Dan Ariely, a professor of behavioral economics at Duke University. The problem is the subject under discussion, not the truthfulness of the respondents.
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Baby’s Palate And Food Memories Shaped Before Birth
NPR: Want your child to love veggies? Start early. Very early. Research shows that what a woman eats during pregnancy not only nourishes her baby in the womb, but may shape food preferences later in life. At 21 weeks after conception, a developing baby weighs about as much as a can of Coke — and he or she can taste it, too. Still in the womb, the growing baby gulps down several ounces of amniotic fluid daily. That fluid surrounding the baby is actually flavored by the foods and beverages the mother has eaten in the last few hours.
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Defining Economic Interest
The New York Times: Republican resistance to raising taxes represents a distinctly minority view. The latest New York Times/CBS poll shows that only 34 percent of adults believe that taxes should not be increased on households earning $250,000 or more to lower the budget deficit. Even this modest percentage surprises me, because only about 2 percent of American households report income above this amount. Most conservative economists argue that higher tax rates at the top would hurt everyone because they would lower economic growth. I don’t buy this argument for a variety of reasons that I’ve explained elsewhere. However, the argument seems pretty easy to sell.
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Md. couponing expert teaches the art and science of saving through clipping
The Washington Post: “Do y’all know what the Clipper is?” Kimberly Pepper-Hoctor asked her class one recent night in a library meeting room about an hour south of Washington. A woman sitting near the front stirred her purse and extracted the latest edition of the Clipper, a direct-mail magazine loaded with coupons. She held it up for the 24 other mostly middle-age women who had come to learn as much as they could about paying as little as possible for their groceries and other household goods. “I like you,” Pepper-Hoctor told her new teacher’s pet, who smiled broadly.
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Study: Tweens aim for fame above all else
CNN: What do tweens value most? If you are thinking honesty or self-acceptance think again. What they value above everything else, according to a new study from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), is fame. Other individualistic values, such as financial success and physical fitness are also high on the wish list. The study, published in the Journal of Psychology Research on Cyberspace, found children aged 9 to 11 now hold “fame” as their No. 1value. Fame ranked 15th in 1997. This raises red flags for researchers, who say the shift in values over the last 10 years may have a negative effect on the future goals and accomplishments of American youth.
