Swans on Tea

The question asked at incoherently scattered ponderings: Why would anyone want to get a PhD in sciences?
[T]he bottom line is that 10 years later non-PhD path can provide on the order of 0.5 million more in earnings than the PhD path. And one could argue that the career options after completing PhD and 1 [...]

Humbling at indexed.
Observation: Jessica’s plots vary as either 1/r, r or r2, but I can’t recall any that had an actual inflection point (in my semi-random sampling). There could be some subtle implications in inflection points. No asymptotic functions I can recall, either.

Ran across the tube containing Standards in Science Blogging and My Inbox. I’m interested in standards of science blogging, so I gave it a read. The author almost gets it right when talking about the right way and wrong way to support your argument.
There is a right way and a wrong way to [...]

Giving your new results away too soon
[W]here do you announce your results first: in the title? In the abstract? In the introduction? Or, in the results paragraph? If you wait to long your paper will become a whodunit and readers will get bored and stop reading your paper. If the clue of your paper is [...]

Gender issues in science. Nerd Girls at Bad Astronomy, which begat smart = sexy at Cocktail Party Physics, which begat Flirt harder. I’m a physicist at sciencegeekgirl.
There’s some really interesting commentary to go along with the posts.
I have the sneaking suspicion that this topic is one where it is impossible to be right; there [...]

Sucky Schools - How To Repair Our Education System
Lots of good stuff.
Our schools are fact-junkies. We teach students thousands of useless facts that will be forgotten as soon as the next exam is over. Hell, usually they’re forgotten even before that, and then you see students cramming late into night, only to forget it all [...]

Via Asymptotia, the Physics Today political summary: Where do they stand on science

is up at The Lay Scientist

Are we science-savvy enough to make informed decisions?
Let me guess: no. I mean, really, is this a gimme or what?
Seventy-six percent of Americans say presidential candidates should make improving science education a national priority, according to a national Harris Interactive survey of 1,304 adults in November and December. Results were released this spring.
But [...]

I was once asked, by someone outside of academia, about academic (dis)honesty, and concurred that accusing a researcher of this kind of misconduct is about as serious as you can get. Using data or results without attribution (plagiarism) or worse, outright fabrication of data, are things the scientific community should not (and generally does [...]

The importance of stupidity in scientific research
I recently saw an old friend for the first time in many years. We
had been Ph.D. students at the same time, both studying science,
although in different areas. She later dropped out of graduate school,
went to Harvard Law School and is now a senior lawyer for a major
environmental organization. At [...]

Thoughts on Conferences at Faraday’s Cage is where you put Schroedinger’s Cat
The second case was a conference where the only requirement for approval was an abstract. I realize that some of the more “cutting edge” conferences proceed this way so that people can present their latest results. I don’t like them, however, because many people [...]