This graphic that they have been using regularly during the NCAA tournament (and I’ve seen it on other CBS Sports) broadcasts drives me nuts.
Can you figure out why?
*No, it is not that I hate Maryland. In fact, I bear then no ill will at all, now that they are no longer in the ACC to muck things up for my Blue Devils. Go Duke!
Barbie dolls are not real people. The pictures of actors and models in magazines are barely real people (thanks to Photoshop). The actress in this car commercial is not a real scientist.
It does, however, show anyone watching commercials during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament a stylish woman of color driving a nice car and doing complex-looking mathematics* in her head.
It shows someone who is not white, not male, not bearded, not with crazy hair, not with disheveled clothes, not with sub-par social skills doing complex-looking mathematics* in her head.
As we increasingly recognize that recruiting and retaining a diverse STEM workforce requires presenting individuals in that field with whom they can identify, we have a car company showing us that. This actress may not be a real scientist, but my four-year-old daughter won’t know that her concepts of who can be a scientist will have been expanded positively by a commercial while Daddy watched Duke play basketball on TV.
*I do not have the gift for going “oh, that is X equation” on sight. So, I will leave it up to you, dear readers, to evaluate the actual complexity and accuracy of the mathematical imagery.
This week we’re looking at the contentious practice and history of circumcision. We’re joined by Sarah B. Rodriguez, medical historian and lecturer in global health and bioethics at Northwestern University, to talk about about her book Female Circumcision and Clitoridectomy in the United States: A History of a Medical Treatment. We’ll also discuss the medical and ethical implications of infant male circumcision with Brian Earp, University of Oxford Research Fellow in Science and Ethics.
*Josh provides research & social media help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.
Would I like themes from the classic video game space simulator TIE Fighter mashed up with anime visual aesthetics that make me nostalgic for the Voltron cartoon of my youth and electric guitar? You might as well ask my four-year-old if she wants a popsicle. Without further ado, we give you the short Star Wars fan film TIE Fighter by Paul Johnson.
The Finch and Pea 