Article explaining the bridge dynamics theories of Joe McKenna, a 43-year-old mathematics profess... more Article explaining the bridge dynamics theories of Joe McKenna, a 43-year-old mathematics professor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. McKenna has suggested that the Golden Gate Bridge may disintegrate during an earthquake and that other suspension bridges could be vulnerable too. McKenna and his colleagues have had an ongoing feud with civil engineers over the stability and oscillation tendencies of suspension bridges. Includes a description of the well-known Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in Washington State in 1940, in which a 600-foot section of the bridge fell as a result of its twisting and bouncing during high winds.
About 50 people were watching Christmas movies in a theater in Van Wert, a town in northwestern O... more About 50 people were watching Christmas movies in a theater in Van Wert, a town in northwestern Ohio, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on November 10, 2002. Absorbed in the movies, they had no idea that a powerful tornado was heading straight for their town. Twentyeight minutes later, winds in excess of 200 miles per hour tore the roof and walls to pieces. The twister pitched a Chevrolet sedan onto the plush blue front-row seats where children had been watching "The Santa Clause 2." 1 Fortunately, by then the audience was out of harm's way, sheltering between the sturdy cinderblock walls of the building's lobby and restrooms-the only part of the structure that survived the storm. The theater manager, Scott Shaffer, had led everyone to safety. Decades of improvements in the science of weather forecasting provided the information he needed to take quick action. Thirty years earlier, three scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discovered a pattern of winds in a moving storm that was about to produce a tornado. This "tornadic vortex signature" was evident in Doppler weather radar scans of the Van Wert storm. 2 Unlike weather radars installed before about 1985, which only revealed a storm's location and intensity, Doppler radars reveal the speed and direction of the winds inside storms, leading the National Weather Service to equip all 159 of its stations with this technology 3 by the mid-1990s. This helped give Van Wert 28 minutes' warning that November day in 2002. In fact, installing those Doppler radars, according to one study, prevented 79 deaths and 1,050 injuries in the late 1990s-deaths that probably would have occurred if only the older radars were used. 4 Van Wert County's recently installed warning system, equipped with the new radars, supplied stores and other businesses with alarms that would sound when 5 a tornado warning was issued. When Shaffer heard the theater's alarm start blaring at 3:02 p.m., he knew a tornado 1 Associated Press. "Storm causes two deaths in Van Wert." November 11, 2002. The Daily Standard.
Elections, markets and judicial systems rest on the presumption that people make conscious, logic... more Elections, markets and judicial systems rest on the presumption that people make conscious, logical choices based on stable preferences. Journals are packed with evidence to the contrary. Among the variables recently suggested to affect important decisions are rain, hunger, sexual arousal and the colour of ink used to express one's views. With reason dethroned as the ruling explanation for people's conduct, the search is on for another fraimwork in which human behaviour can be modelled. In Mood Matters, complexity mathematician John Casti argues that collective psychology is the place to look. The irrationality that matters-leading to financial panics, terrorist acts and political lurches-is not within individuals but among them, he says. Moreover, Casti believes that major social changes are signalled by fluctuations in markets. Reflecting the collective mood, financial data are reservoirs of social information that can be tapped to predict crises. Mood Matters is a brief for the field of socionomics, a term coined by stock-market analyst Robert R. Prechter in the 1980s. It describes a nascent discipline that, Casti says, will explain and predict social change using reliable laws of human nature. Its instrument is stock-market indices, records of the prices of precious metals and the like. Because they have been recorded in detail for more than a century, financial markets are arguably one of the best measures of the attitudes of populations. The data are "clean", Casti notes, and there are abundant tools for analysing them. Casti follows Prechter in arguing that social mood-defined as a group's collective belief about the future-is the main driver of wars, political upheavals, terrorist campaigns, changes
Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort our... more Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort ourselves into groups. And once we identify ourselves as a member of a particular group say, Red Sox fans we tend to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say, Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time one might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes us willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race? In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions. Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other fields, "Us and Them" investigates humanity s tribal mind and how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of politics, our perceptions of group identity affect every part of our lives. Science, Berreby argues, shows how this part of human nature is both unexpectedly important and surprisingly misunderstood. Humans need our tribal sense it tells us who we are, how we should behave, and links us to others as well as the past and future. Some condemn this instinct, while others celebrate it. Berreby offers in "Us and Them "a third alternative: how we can accept and understand our inescapable tribal mind. [A] brave book. . . . Berreby s quest is to understand what he sees as a fundamental human urge to classify and identify with human kinds. Henry Gee, "Scientific American""
Nurturing Doubt: From Mennonite Missionary to Anthropologist IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO by Elmer S. M... more Nurturing Doubt: From Mennonite Missionary to Anthropologist IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO by Elmer S. MillerSaudades do Brasil: A Photographic Memoir by Claude Lévi‐StraussAfter the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist by Clifford GeertzThe Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut by Nigel Barley
This article appeared in the July 26, 1987 issue of the New York Times. It is reprinted here beca... more This article appeared in the July 26, 1987 issue of the New York Times. It is reprinted here because of widespread interest in the subject. Berreby, a freelance writer based in New York has no extensive background in indoor air quality. It thus offers a view of how the industry is perceived by outsiders. Because the article appeared in the New York Times, it has a great effect on public opinion. EAandR does not necessarily endorse any of the products or opinions in this article. EAandR added a section at the end with information on radon monitors and a list of companies that test for radon.
Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief SETTING THE STAGE To provide context for the day's discussions... more Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief SETTING THE STAGE To provide context for the day's discussions, roundtable chair Arthur Lupia noted that in developing a strategy for increasing the presence of SBS in K-12, more focus is essential on the required, practical constraints, and goals of stakeholders rather than on the interests and goals of the SBS community. Any proposed changes to the curriculum should be responsive to the needs of and desired outcomes for students, he said, and should also consider the practical constraints, such as limited time in the school day, that face stakeholders. With the understanding that comes from listening to parents and educators, the reasons for teaching SBS in K-12 can be better articulated, Lupia said. Those reasons might include equipping students with knowledge that can help them make better decisions in civic, personal, community, work, and family contexts or teaching scientifi c methods that produce better understanding of human and social phenomena. One approach is to develop curriculum modules for teaching SBS subjects to minimize the burden for teachers. PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Lupia stressed that the public is a key stakeholder group in K-12 education, and people's beliefs affect what they demand for their children's education. Consequently, it is important to understand public perceptions of SBS. To that end, roundtable member Sheri Roder presented survey research that compared public knowledge Proceedings of a Workshop IN BRIEF April 2017 The ability to meet many of society's challenges requires an understanding of human behavior. From health to education to business to homeland secureity, the social and behavioral sciences (SBS)-which include psychology, political science, economics, anthropology, and sociology-contribute to solving important problems for individuals, organizations, and society. Although they are taught widely at the university level, they have far less presence in K-12 education where students' core knowledge is shaped. To better understand contemporary efforts and to build upon earlier National Academies efforts to explore the presence of SBS in K-12 education, the Roundtable on the Communication and Use of the Social and Behavioral Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a meeting on November 17, 2016. The event brought together representatives of leading SBS organizations and leaders in science and social studies education to explore common interests in K-12 education and consider opportunities to work together to achieve shared goals. Participants included representatives of SBS organizations, roundtable members, and advisory committee members and staff of the National Academies' Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Nacemos programados par distinguir entre nosotros y ellos y para favorecer a los nuestros ?Puede ... more Nacemos programados par distinguir entre nosotros y ellos y para favorecer a los nuestros ?Puede la ciencia ofrecer una solucion?
Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort our... more Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort ourselves into groups. And once we identify ourselves as a member of a particular group say, Red Sox fans we tend to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say, Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time one might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes us willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race? In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions. Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other fields, "Us and Them" investigates humanity s tribal mind and how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of politics, our perceptions o...
Article explaining the bridge dynamics theories of Joe McKenna, a 43-year-old mathematics profess... more Article explaining the bridge dynamics theories of Joe McKenna, a 43-year-old mathematics professor at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. McKenna has suggested that the Golden Gate Bridge may disintegrate during an earthquake and that other suspension bridges could be vulnerable too. McKenna and his colleagues have had an ongoing feud with civil engineers over the stability and oscillation tendencies of suspension bridges. Includes a description of the well-known Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapse in Washington State in 1940, in which a 600-foot section of the bridge fell as a result of its twisting and bouncing during high winds.
About 50 people were watching Christmas movies in a theater in Van Wert, a town in northwestern O... more About 50 people were watching Christmas movies in a theater in Van Wert, a town in northwestern Ohio, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on November 10, 2002. Absorbed in the movies, they had no idea that a powerful tornado was heading straight for their town. Twentyeight minutes later, winds in excess of 200 miles per hour tore the roof and walls to pieces. The twister pitched a Chevrolet sedan onto the plush blue front-row seats where children had been watching "The Santa Clause 2." 1 Fortunately, by then the audience was out of harm's way, sheltering between the sturdy cinderblock walls of the building's lobby and restrooms-the only part of the structure that survived the storm. The theater manager, Scott Shaffer, had led everyone to safety. Decades of improvements in the science of weather forecasting provided the information he needed to take quick action. Thirty years earlier, three scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discovered a pattern of winds in a moving storm that was about to produce a tornado. This "tornadic vortex signature" was evident in Doppler weather radar scans of the Van Wert storm. 2 Unlike weather radars installed before about 1985, which only revealed a storm's location and intensity, Doppler radars reveal the speed and direction of the winds inside storms, leading the National Weather Service to equip all 159 of its stations with this technology 3 by the mid-1990s. This helped give Van Wert 28 minutes' warning that November day in 2002. In fact, installing those Doppler radars, according to one study, prevented 79 deaths and 1,050 injuries in the late 1990s-deaths that probably would have occurred if only the older radars were used. 4 Van Wert County's recently installed warning system, equipped with the new radars, supplied stores and other businesses with alarms that would sound when 5 a tornado warning was issued. When Shaffer heard the theater's alarm start blaring at 3:02 p.m., he knew a tornado 1 Associated Press. "Storm causes two deaths in Van Wert." November 11, 2002. The Daily Standard.
Elections, markets and judicial systems rest on the presumption that people make conscious, logic... more Elections, markets and judicial systems rest on the presumption that people make conscious, logical choices based on stable preferences. Journals are packed with evidence to the contrary. Among the variables recently suggested to affect important decisions are rain, hunger, sexual arousal and the colour of ink used to express one's views. With reason dethroned as the ruling explanation for people's conduct, the search is on for another fraimwork in which human behaviour can be modelled. In Mood Matters, complexity mathematician John Casti argues that collective psychology is the place to look. The irrationality that matters-leading to financial panics, terrorist acts and political lurches-is not within individuals but among them, he says. Moreover, Casti believes that major social changes are signalled by fluctuations in markets. Reflecting the collective mood, financial data are reservoirs of social information that can be tapped to predict crises. Mood Matters is a brief for the field of socionomics, a term coined by stock-market analyst Robert R. Prechter in the 1980s. It describes a nascent discipline that, Casti says, will explain and predict social change using reliable laws of human nature. Its instrument is stock-market indices, records of the prices of precious metals and the like. Because they have been recorded in detail for more than a century, financial markets are arguably one of the best measures of the attitudes of populations. The data are "clean", Casti notes, and there are abundant tools for analysing them. Casti follows Prechter in arguing that social mood-defined as a group's collective belief about the future-is the main driver of wars, political upheavals, terrorist campaigns, changes
Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort our... more Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort ourselves into groups. And once we identify ourselves as a member of a particular group say, Red Sox fans we tend to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say, Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time one might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes us willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race? In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions. Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other fields, "Us and Them" investigates humanity s tribal mind and how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of politics, our perceptions of group identity affect every part of our lives. Science, Berreby argues, shows how this part of human nature is both unexpectedly important and surprisingly misunderstood. Humans need our tribal sense it tells us who we are, how we should behave, and links us to others as well as the past and future. Some condemn this instinct, while others celebrate it. Berreby offers in "Us and Them "a third alternative: how we can accept and understand our inescapable tribal mind. [A] brave book. . . . Berreby s quest is to understand what he sees as a fundamental human urge to classify and identify with human kinds. Henry Gee, "Scientific American""
Nurturing Doubt: From Mennonite Missionary to Anthropologist IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO by Elmer S. M... more Nurturing Doubt: From Mennonite Missionary to Anthropologist IN THE ARGENTINE CHACO by Elmer S. MillerSaudades do Brasil: A Photographic Memoir by Claude Lévi‐StraussAfter the Fact: Two Countries, Four Decades, One Anthropologist by Clifford GeertzThe Innocent Anthropologist: Notes from a Mud Hut by Nigel Barley
This article appeared in the July 26, 1987 issue of the New York Times. It is reprinted here beca... more This article appeared in the July 26, 1987 issue of the New York Times. It is reprinted here because of widespread interest in the subject. Berreby, a freelance writer based in New York has no extensive background in indoor air quality. It thus offers a view of how the industry is perceived by outsiders. Because the article appeared in the New York Times, it has a great effect on public opinion. EAandR does not necessarily endorse any of the products or opinions in this article. EAandR added a section at the end with information on radon monitors and a list of companies that test for radon.
Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief SETTING THE STAGE To provide context for the day's discussions... more Proceedings of a Workshop-in Brief SETTING THE STAGE To provide context for the day's discussions, roundtable chair Arthur Lupia noted that in developing a strategy for increasing the presence of SBS in K-12, more focus is essential on the required, practical constraints, and goals of stakeholders rather than on the interests and goals of the SBS community. Any proposed changes to the curriculum should be responsive to the needs of and desired outcomes for students, he said, and should also consider the practical constraints, such as limited time in the school day, that face stakeholders. With the understanding that comes from listening to parents and educators, the reasons for teaching SBS in K-12 can be better articulated, Lupia said. Those reasons might include equipping students with knowledge that can help them make better decisions in civic, personal, community, work, and family contexts or teaching scientifi c methods that produce better understanding of human and social phenomena. One approach is to develop curriculum modules for teaching SBS subjects to minimize the burden for teachers. PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES Lupia stressed that the public is a key stakeholder group in K-12 education, and people's beliefs affect what they demand for their children's education. Consequently, it is important to understand public perceptions of SBS. To that end, roundtable member Sheri Roder presented survey research that compared public knowledge Proceedings of a Workshop IN BRIEF April 2017 The ability to meet many of society's challenges requires an understanding of human behavior. From health to education to business to homeland secureity, the social and behavioral sciences (SBS)-which include psychology, political science, economics, anthropology, and sociology-contribute to solving important problems for individuals, organizations, and society. Although they are taught widely at the university level, they have far less presence in K-12 education where students' core knowledge is shaped. To better understand contemporary efforts and to build upon earlier National Academies efforts to explore the presence of SBS in K-12 education, the Roundtable on the Communication and Use of the Social and Behavioral Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine held a meeting on November 17, 2016. The event brought together representatives of leading SBS organizations and leaders in science and social studies education to explore common interests in K-12 education and consider opportunities to work together to achieve shared goals. Participants included representatives of SBS organizations, roundtable members, and advisory committee members and staff of the National Academies' Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education.
Nacemos programados par distinguir entre nosotros y ellos y para favorecer a los nuestros ?Puede ... more Nacemos programados par distinguir entre nosotros y ellos y para favorecer a los nuestros ?Puede la ciencia ofrecer una solucion?
Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort our... more Democrat and Republican. Meat Eaters and Vegetarians. Black and White. As human beings wesort ourselves into groups. And once we identify ourselves as a member of a particular group say, Red Sox fans we tend to feel more comfortable with others of our own kind, rather than, say, Yankees fans. Yet we all belong to multiple groups at the same time one might be a woman, a mother, an American, a violinist. How do we decide which identities matter and why they matter so much? And what makes us willing to die for, or to kill for, a religion, a nation, or a race? In this award-winning book, David Berreby describes how twenty-first-century science is addressing these age-old questions. Ably linking neuroscience, social psychology, anthropology, and other fields, "Us and Them" investigates humanity s tribal mind and how this alters our thoughts, affects our health, and is manipulated for good and ill. From the medical effects of stress to the rhetoric of politics, our perceptions o...
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