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In my opinion, there is no way to administer a math test that will identify inborn ability. So people who think the greater presence of men in high-end math and science positions is a result of the distribution of inborn abilities generally rely on the observation of (a) big gender gaps, (b) long-standing gender gaps, or (c) widespread gender gaps, to make their case. More »
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T-shirt designers sometimes seem embroiled in a race to the bottom of the offensiveness barrel. However, one purveyor gives us hope with its cute new shirt for girls who get As in math. More »
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It's the kind of finding to warm the hearts of us liberal, Larry-Summers-hating,  gender-egalitarians.  Summers — you saw him in The Social Network as the Harvard president who had no patience for the Winklevoss twins (he didn't have much patience for Cornel West either and probably many other things) — suggested that the dearth of women in top science and engineering positions was caused not so much by social forces as by innate sex differences in math ability (more here and many other places). More »
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In education circles, there has been a lot of concern about women and math. More »
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Last year was the first year ever that more PhDs went to women than men. Now will academia eventually reflect the shifting paradigm? More »
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The latest salvo in OkCupid's ingenious campaign to woo us with data is the discovery that iPhone users have the most sex. But these meticulous statistics, interesting as they may be, are probably falling on deaf ears. More »
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The Times's John Tierney is the latest of several to take the Larry Summers tack of questioning women's natural aptitude for science. Here's what's wrong with this argument, in three easy points that even the simplest ladybrain can understand. More »
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The Onion's list of ways the Pill changed women's lives includes gems like "women are now able to learn math" and "heralds the start of all '60s montages." But what about the all-important period control? More »
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It's National Pi Day, and to celebrate, perhaps you should follow these instructions from the folks at Instructables in order to make yourself a Pi Cake, which, as we all know, is vastly superior to a Pi pie. [PiDay.Org], [Instructables] More »
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The Christian Louboutin Barbie has already sold out on Net-a-Porter, despite a $150 price tag. But when you consider the real-life price of Barbie's new wardrobe? That starts to look really reasonable! Read on for the breakdown: More »
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A math professor has apparently developed a formula for "the right age to fall in love," and claims it "does seem to fit a lot of couples." We smell a new Lori Gottlieb book. [Reuters] More »
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Do you know what will get kids off the street corners? Rapping about math. You might think it's dorky, but that's only because you haven't actually heard it. Once you do, you'll know it's dorky. [Everything Is Terrible] More »
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On the heels of news that Danica Patrick might switch from the Indy Racing League to NASCAR, we decided to compare athlete Danica Patrick to mathlete Danica McKellar. More »
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A new review of studies from around the world shows that where girls lag behind boys in math (and it's not everywhere), the cause is likely culture, not biology. More »
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Danica McKellar: "Doing math is like going to the gym for your brain. It will make you a sharper, wittier person, better able to handle any problems that come up, even social ones." [Variety] More »
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Mathematician and former Wonder Years actress Danica McKellar is featured in this month's Esquire as part of the feature "Women We Endorse." Writer A.J. Jacobs talks with McKellar about her favorite number, the probability of an Esquire reader getting a date with her, and other things not related to her best-selling books for girls about math. When asked if there are other "hidden celebrity geniuses" McKellar names Natalie Portman and Mayim Bialik of Blossom, and Jacobs suggests "you guys should do a calendar or something." [Esquire] More »
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• An Australian rabbit named "Rabbit" totally saved his family from a fire. (That's not him at left.) There's a pretty good joke about this kind of thing. • Help from your daughter-in-law makes you less depressed, if you're an elderly Chinese woman; help from your son, apparently not so much. • Girls just as good at math as boys throughout primary and secondary school. Raise your hand if you're surprised. More »
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American women are few and far between at the upper levels in the "hard" sciences, otherwise known as physics and chemistry as opposed to biology and medicine. A new group of studies suggest that women — who, according to the Boston Globe constitute "20 percent of the nation's engineers, fewer than one-third of chemists, and only about a quarter of computer and math professionals" — are rarities in these fields because they are opting out of them, not because of the paucity of opportunities available. "Substantial numbers of women - highly qualified for the work - stay out of those careers because they would simply rather do something else," the Globe's Elaine McArdle writes. In countries where women have fewer economic choices, like the Philippines, Thailand and Russia, the disparity between men and women in the hard sciences is far less substantial. More »
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On this morning's Today show, Ann Curry interviewed Alia Sabur, who, at 18, became the youngest professor in the history of the United States. Sabur, now 19, is refreshingly adorable and normal — certainly mature for her age, but completely humble about her achievements. She teaches physics and math at Southern University in New Orleans, a school so destroyed by Katrina that students are still attending classes in trailers. Sabur wanted to teach there because she wanted to help Katrina victims but knew she wasn't good at building houses. "I tried to do what I'm good at," Sabur explained. A voice over notes that Sabur "loves celebrity gossip websites," and pans to a shot of Alia looking at Jezebel. Full clip above. More »
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Mariah Carey is going all out to promote her new album, and ever since we learned its title, E=MC², we've been dying to know what the hell it's supposed to signify. In the clip above, from an interview Mimi did for WalMart, she tries to explain herself, saying it was mainly a joke, since she's actually really bad at math. More »
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Best Comment of The Day, in response to British Paper Says Women Just Can't Do Math: "Math is a douche. He cheated on me with that whore Science." We say: And that perv Anthropology watched! • Worst, in response to Anna Wintour Is Silently Judging You: "I'm judging Anna, and she's just as fooking butt-ugly frightening making her sultry face as she is making her stern pissed off face." We say: Zzzzzzz. If you're going to be a Mean Girl, can you at least make your insults snappy? More »
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A new survey by a numeracy campaign about basic math skills in British adults has been released, and it reports that one in three women have trouble adding sums mentally, while only 18% of men do. The results of the poll help to underscore the obnoxiousness of the London newspaper the Daily Mail: while the BBC report on the survey attributes the demographic gender split to women's lack of "confidence" in their own quantitative abilities, the Daily Mail takes the opportunity to imply that women are stupid and only need math skills for things like buying shoes. "34 per cent [of women]- said she had trouble adding up prices in her head while out shopping," the paper laments. More »
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A new study published in the January/February 2008 issue of the journal Child Development states that girls have caught up with boys in terms of math courses — and their friends influence them. Girls look to their close friends when making important decisions, the study found, and girls with friends who make good grades took more high-level math than other teens. Ditching the Plastics to hang with the Mathletes, à la Mean Girls, is a scientifically wise choice! [EurekAlert] More »
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Ever since ex-Harvard President Lawrence Summers said that women are not succeeding in math and science careers because of innate biological differences, there have been numerous articles written, some supporting Summers and some trashing him. Though no one has come to a definitive conclusion, everyone agrees that there are too few females pursuing high level math and science careers. An article from the December issue of Scientific American attempts to summarize all the important sociological and statistical studies about women in science and finds that in the bell curve of mathematical ability, most women end up clustered around the middle, while men more often fall on the high and low ends of the ability spectrum, meaning there are more male math geniuses, and more male math morons, then there are women in either category. More »
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Natalie Portman is a known smarty-pants. That whole Harvard education and blah blah blah. And now she's going all Winnie from The Wonder Years on us and is trying to teach kids that math is cool! She's guest-editing next week's Scholastic math magazine. Do kids in grade school even know who Natalie Portman is? Last time we heard, Garden State isn't on regular rotation in the 2nd grade video library. [Huffington Post] More »
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