Fresh Politics, New Media

I'm sure that Michael LaCour hoped to make the front page of The New York Times many times over during his career as a Princeton political scientist -- preferably being featured in articles that talked about groundbreaking research (and real results), not his fabrication of a study with Columbia University political scientist Donald Green on the impact of political canvassing on public opinion toward same-sex marriage. The story of the "great gay marriage hoax" is a compelling one for academic researchers, policy activists, and the general public alike. The revelation by Green that the data may have been fabricated , has many reputable news organizations issuing retractions and apologies including Ira Glass over at This American Life . And plenty of academics were jamming up Retraction Watch, making it hard to access Ivan Oransky's breaking post as well as Brockman, Kalla, and Arronow's Irregularities in LaCour (2014) that noted the study's problemat...

Here's a great "picture of the day." It was featured in the print edition of today's New York Times  in the National section. Look at Obama's excitement over the marshmallow launcher. What a cool science fair project! If only I could have made a marshmallow launcher back in my day. And for more on the Obama administration's plan to promote STEM education, check out this post on the NYT's blog, The Caucus.

Aasif Mandvi, Daily Show correspondent offers a funny piece on the Republican war on science. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes , Political Humor & Satire Blog , The Daily Show on Facebook The science fair kids in the video certainly seem a lot smarter than the GOP nominees featured in the beginning of the video or Noelle Nikpour, the Republican strategist. I'm putting my money on the kids and science.

While my research primarily focuses on political entertainment, public opinion, and new media, I also spend a fair amount of time looking at issues in science communication -- everything from public participation on controversial issues like stem cell research to studying how citizens learn about and engage with new scientific and technological advances like nanotechnology . Unfortunately and even with recent outreach efforts, levels of scientific literacy are strikingly low among the general public . An article by Cornelia Dean in today's Science section of The New York Times  argues:  When asked to name a scientist, Americans are stumped. In one recent survey, the top choice, at 47 percent, was Einstein, who has been dead since 1955, and the next, at 23 percent, was “I don’t know.” In another survey, only 4 percent of respondents could name a living scientist. Dean continues on to chronicle the efforts of groups like Ben Franklin's List (the scientists' version of Emi...