Over at the New York Times' Upshot, there's a pretty interesting study that outlines just how much elementary school teachers' biases can influence girls' attitudes towards math and science. Some of findings aren't particularly surprising: girls from low-income homes are disproportionately affected and early… » 2/07/15 3:00pm 2/07/15 3:00pm

Sage advice from a genius. » 12/07/14 2:30pm 12/07/14 2:30pm

Wanna see the STEM gender gap illustrated so starkly that Marie Curie may very well rise from her grave to gnash her teeth? The Carnegie Science Center offers one workshop explicitly for Girl Scouts, and it's about the science of beauty products. » 10/01/14 6:10pm 10/01/14 6:10pm

For the first time in its 78-year history, a woman has bagged a Fields Medal, essentially the Nobel Prize for mathematics. Born in Iran, Maryam Mirzakhani did her doctorate at Harvard and is currently a professor at Stanford. Obviously, she is terrifyingly brilliant. » 8/12/14 6:20pm 8/12/14 6:20pm

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference is happening right now and while the event is bringing us some exciting news (iOS8 sounds like it is going to be amazing and useful and whatever I'll buy it because it is simple and shiny) it's also bringing some troubling pictorial evidence that the gender gap in silicon valley… » 6/03/14 8:30pm 6/03/14 8:30pm

Earlier this week at TechCrunch Disrupt, Grace Choi presented an idea for a product that could revolutionize the beauty industry. » 5/08/14 3:10pm 5/08/14 3:10pm

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has gathered data comparing countries all over the world on their track record of gender differences in various skills, degrees, work, and wages. It's an interesting cross section of opportunity, gender imbalance, and culture. The OECD even took into… » 3/09/14 12:30pm 3/09/14 12:30pm

GoldieBlox has inspired much enthusiasm among adults. The concept—disrupt the pink aisle! provide girls with an alternative to princess-mania!—is the stuff TED talks and viral videos are made of. But are the toys actually any good? Those videos aren't just a P.S.A. campaign—they're advertisements. And there, the… » 2/11/14 3:20pm 2/11/14 3:20pm

Late last week, Emily Graslie of Brain Scoop posted a new video in which she explains exactly why it's so difficult to be a woman in a STEM field: While she gets a lot of support and positive feedback, many "fans" simply want to discuss her appearance and how fuckable she is. » 12/02/13 2:50pm 12/02/13 2:50pm

I hope you're ready to be blown away, because everything about this video has got it all: a hearty rejection of princess dogma, children scream-singing about female empowerment, a giant Rube Goldberg machine... » 11/19/13 5:15pm 11/19/13 5:15pm

All the way back in 1842, when humans still spent all their time huddled around in the dark, gnawing on potatoes and reveling in abject confusion (basically), brilliant genius Ada Lovelace penned the world's first computer program. Nowadays, Ada Lovelace is a women-in-STEM hero; annually, we honor her and celebrate… » 10/11/13 12:30pm 10/11/13 12:30pm

To celebrate the first anniversary of Curiosity's landing on Mars, Mattel has issued a special Barbie doll. And yes, she's wearing pink. » 8/07/13 12:40pm 8/07/13 12:40pm

Today's Google Doodle celebrates Maria Mitchell, the first female astronomer in the U.S. who discovered a comet in 1847. (Be sure and read about her fascinating life... dome parties?) Just last week, the Doodle honored molecular biologist Rosalind Franklin. Yay lady scientists! » 8/01/13 5:50pm 8/01/13 5:50pm

Last year, Stanford engineering student Debbie Sterling founded GoldieBlox, a construction toy meant to "prove to the world that engineering for girls is a mainstream concept." The company strives to encourage little girls to remain interested in engineering by engaging them in story-oriented building (the way boys… » 7/08/13 7:45pm 7/08/13 7:45pm

High school, what a time! What was your favorite part? Passing notes? Giggling at handsome fellows and dames? Causing a small explosion in science class, being taken into police custody, and getting sent to the slammer? Wait, what the hell? » 5/10/13 4:30pm 5/10/13 4:30pm

In the not-so-distant future, when humanities majors (the unskilled laborers of academia) become so commonplace that they make Falstaff’s birthday a national holiday on which people are only allowed to talk to each other in heroic couplets, anyone who studied a hard science (i.e. not sociology) will be treated like a… » 4/28/13 12:30pm 4/28/13 12:30pm

Denigrating grandmothers for their supposed lack of technological prowess is bullshit because a) big fucking deal you can use a computer — your grandmother was probably old enough during the moon landing to roll her eyes when Neil Armstrong read his cheesy "one small step" line, and b) grandmothers are really crafty,… » 3/24/13 2:30pm 3/24/13 2:30pm

On Monday, a whopping four members of the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to hear testimony about the H-1B visa program, which helps U.S. employers temporarily employ foreign workers in highly-specialized occupations. These are usually STEM occupations, and, according to yesterday's stark testimony from engineer… » 3/19/13 12:55pm 3/19/13 12:55pm