Culture

In the most comprehensive study of the effectiveness of anti-bullying policies to date, researchers found that compliance with the U.S. Department of Education guidelines in antibullying laws reduced rates of bullying and cyberbullying--the most common forms of peer aggression. The study, which uncovered varying rates of bullying reported across the states, has important implications for educators, policy makers, and researchers. Findings will appear online in JAMA Pediatrics.

"John, Jim, Jake, Josh, Jack ...and Jane." Five out of every six names that appear in the media today are those of men, a McGill-led research team has discovered. Indeed, the more mentions a person receives in the media, the higher the chances are that this person is a man. That's because 82 per cent of the names mentioned in the media are men's. Go ahead and try it!

In pop culture, conspiracy believers -- like FBI agent Fox Mulder on The X Files or professor Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code -- tend to reject the notion of coincidence or chance; even the most random-seeming events are thought to result from some sort of intention or design. And researchers have suggested that such a bias against randomness may explain real-world conspiracy beliefs.

The rising cost of treating and caring for a growing number of cancer patients threatens economic development in low and middle income countries (LMICs), making prevention a key element of health care plans, according to a new commentary.

Strategic voting is an important factor in Canadian electoral campaigns. "People vote strategically when they think neither their first nor their second choice has any chance of winning in their electorate. They vote for their third choice party in the hopes of blocking an outcome that would be even worse," said Jean-François Daoust, a researcher at the University of Montreal's Department of Political Science who studied the phenomenon as part of his doctoral work.

Chocolate chip cookies are nearly universally adored. People like them in all sorts of textures, sizes and tastes. So how can you make your perfect cookie? Using science, of course. October 1 was National Homemade Cookies Day, so for this week's Reactions episode, so American Chemical Society partnered with Science News magazine's Bethany Brookshire (@scicurious) to take a bite out of baking with the scientific method.

While scientists are continuously improving vaccinations to stop the spread of disease, some people continue to opt out and the denial of vaccines comes down on well-known cultural lines: Oregon, Washington and California lead the US and they share both a political and an anti-science mentality. Coming into election season, politicians in those states have been scrambling to show anti-vaccine sentiments are bipartisan and the GOP candidates have done their part to help, giving baffling responses to obvious questions about medicine.

There have been a growing number of anti-gentrification protests in and around London lately. They’ve also been getting louder, angrier, and in the case of the recent #fuckparade riots, more violent.

Whether or not a coastal city floods during a hurricane depends on the storm, tide and sea level, and now a team of climate scientists show that the risk of New York City flooding has increased dramatically during the industrial era as a result of human-caused climate change. During Hurricane Sandy in the fall of 2012 most of New York City's transportation tunnels flooded and the storm surge breached the sea walls on the southern tip of Manhattan Island at Battery Park, flooding subway tunnels.

People tend to associate the ability to think creatively with stereotypical masculine qualities, according to a paper in Psychological Science, which suggests that the work and achievements of men tend to be evaluated as more creative than similar work and achievements produced by women.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made a landmark commitment on climate change during his state visit to the United States. A Chinese cap-and-trade carbon pricing program is scheduled to begin in 2017, and will be the world’s largest carbon market.

More than half (53 percent) of U.S. consumers want to know what’s in their DNA, according to a new survey, yet only 7 percent of respondents say that their doctor has discussed genetic screening with them.

The expert report underpinning the latest dietary guidelines for Americans fails to reflect much relevant scientific literature in its reviews of crucial topics and therefore risks giving a misleading picture, an investigation by The BMJ has found.

Concern about the report has prompted the US Congress to schedule a hearing on the guidelines in October, when two cabinet secretaries are scheduled to testify, writes journalist Nina Teicholz in an article published today.

Current national guidelines on the diagnosis of miscarriage may still be associated with misdiagnoses, and should be reviewed in light of new evidence, suggests a study published in The BMJ today.

The Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists (RCOG) guidelines recommend a miscarriage diagnosis based on an ultrasound scan measurement of the gestational sac diameter (GSD) and the embryo's crown-rump length (CRL).

With yesterday's public announcement by Secretary Clinton, all Democratic candidates for President have now stated their opposition to the Keystone XL Pipeline. We find this development to be deeply disappointing not only for this vital energy infrastructure project, but for the future direction of the party. All eyes now remain on the Obama Administration who for nearly 8 years now, has dithered and lacked leadership on the issue by not taking a stand.