Category Archives: science

Science as Prescription

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

The current edition of Newsweek is chock-full of stories that will make you happier and healthier. Or not. The writers have fallen victim to the false reasoning that you can apply scientific results to your own particular case.

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Censoring Science

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

When is it appropriate for scientists to withhold information to scientific communities? To lay communities? Such thorny questions brought folks into the arenas of scientific circles recently when the New York Times reported that two prominent publications, Science and Nature, … Continue reading →

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What Does Your Theory Look Like?

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

When I think about what I’m grappling with concerning science, Indian ways-of-knowing, and western ways-of-knowing, I imagine a picture. The current metaphor allows me to picture ways-of-knowing as a constellation, like an image of the Milky Way. I imagine a … Continue reading →

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Look under the Light

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

I learned a lot from an illustrated storybook I received when living in Iran, called Once the Mullah. The mullah lived in a village with this wife and children, and offered advice to the local denizens. He was sometimes wise … Continue reading →

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Exploitation and Scientific Discovery

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

One of my graduate students is at the tail-end of her thesis on science communication: a look at how folks talk about a best-selling book in online conversations. She defends her thesis this week. The book, The Immortal Life of … Continue reading →

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The Art and Science of Science

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

The new movie Moneyball raises the spectre of science vs. art in filmic detail. My guess is that folks will take from the baseball movie confirmation of the views they had when they entered the theatre. If you are a … Continue reading →

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The Balance Imperative and Native Concerns

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

In journalism classes we teach the balance imperative. Get both sides of the story. But as journalism critics we acknowledge that being balanced doesn’t mean the story always gets told.

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Prairie Voles

Posted on October 2, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

Sense of smell is primal. Sometimes, riding the bus into work, I smell my seat-mates, which is not always pleasant. Sweat, vomit, cigarettes and booze smells waft downwind.

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Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

The film Contagion takes a peek at the CDC folks in Atlanta and shows that they care about one another: it’s the other folks that cause them grief—the feds and the locals. I think they got it right. I was … Continue reading →

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Contagion

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Cynthia (Istá Thó Thó) Coleman Emery

I’ve delayed reading the reviews for the new film Contagion until I sort though my feelings. When I worked at the CDC my colleagues didn’t suit up in the Day-Glo orange hazard gear but they did venture to outbreaks to … Continue reading →

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