Women can’t do math? Child, please. Exhibit A: English mathematician Ada Lovelace, whose 197th birthday is being celebrated today with a Google Doodle, was the world’s first computer programmer. Ever. Ada was raised by a single mom—herself a talented mathematician—who was determined to give her daughter the most extensive scientific education possible to counteract the, er, artistic tendencies she inherited from her ... Read More

A study by Yale scientists has shown that academic scientists are, on average, biased against women. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), tested scientists’ reactions to men and women with exactly equal qualifications. In the study, academic scientists — both men and women — were given an application from a student applying for a lab manager position. The applications were all ... Read More

What happens when women are denied abortions? Sometimes, like Savita Halappanavar, they die. More typically, they give birth, keep the baby, fall below the poverty line, are forced to rely on public assistance, and are unable to keep a full-time job. The first scientific study on women denied abortions was presented last month, and science and entertainment website io9 has the details. Although abortion is a huge political issue, it is very ... Read More

Unofficial Icelandic national hero (and sometime Brooklynite) Björk is back, baby. Her new MOCA-commissioned video for “Mutual Core,” from her 2011 album-cum-educational art installation Biophilia, is just as odd and visually stunning as you’d expect: the singer, decked out in an Ursula-esque blue wig, directs a cast of gravity-defying humanoid crustaceans in a cycle of colliding, kissing, and pushing each other ... Read More

  If you could have your bodily aromas handed to you in a vial, or even in the form of a scented candle, would you want it?  Martynka Wawrzyniak, a mixed-media and performance artist known for her unique use of unusual substances in her art, decided to discover her “essence,” and cultivated it into tangible objects, as well as an art installation.  Wawrzyniak spent a year working on a project in which she acted as ... Read More