No link found between gender and performance in physics courses

Dew et al. Gendered performance differences in introductory physics: A study from a large land-grant university. Physical Review Physics Education Research, February 2021.

A new study discredits the stereotype that male students perform better than female students in science, more specifically in physics. Researchers from Texas A&M University analyzed the grades of more than 10,000 students enrolled in four introductory physics courses over a decade-long period and found no evidence that male students consistently outperformed female students in these courses. Their analyses showed that exam success and final grades were largely independent of student gender. In addition to multiple statistical analyses of course-level data, researchers distributed questionnaires to students to see how the results aligned with student perceptions. Interestingly, student responses showed that female students had lower perceptions of their performance than their male classmates. The only class where female students perceived their performance as equal to their male classmates was algebra-based mechanics, in which females outperformed males. This study can be another step in breaking up the preconceived notion of a societal bias based on gender in physics. Moreover, it may help to fight against gender stereotypes that negatively impact so many female students and harm women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) related courses.  All students should have equal opportunities and chances for success.

Air pollution may cause chronic heart disease in children

Prunicki et al. Air pollution exposure is linked with methylation of immunoregulatory genes, altered immune cell profiles, and increased blood pressure in children. Scientific Reports, February 2021.

Exposure to air pollution has been linked to various diseases in adults, but no study had yet extensively investigated its long-term impacts on children. A new study suggests that children exposed to air pollution, such as wildfire smoke and car exhaust, for as little as one day may become more prone to heart disease in adulthood. Researchers investigated air pollution’s effects at the single-cell level in a group of 221 school-aged children (6–8 years). They focused on Fresno, California, a city with some of the country’s highest air pollution levels due to industrial agriculture and wildfires. Using a combination of continuous daily pollutant concentrations measured at central air monitoring stations in Fresno, daily concentrations from periodic spatial sampling, and meteorological and geophysical data, the research team estimated average air pollution exposures for 1 day, 1 week, and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months prior to each participant visit. When combined with health and demographics questionnaires, blood pressure readings, and blood samples, the data showed that polluted air can alter gene regulation in cardiovascular and immune systems of children in a way that can impact long-term health. In particular, exposure to fine particles, carbon monoxide, and ozone over time is linked to increased DNA methylation, a form of epigenetic alteration of DNA molecules that can change their activity without changing their sequence. This inheritable change in gene expression may be passed down to future generations. Researchers also found that air pollution exposure leads to an increase in monocytes, white blood cells that play a key role in the buildup of plaques in arteries and could possibly predispose children to heart disease in adulthood. According to the World Health Organization, air pollution is one of the leading causes of death in children. Children typically breath faster than adults, making them more susceptible to health problems by rapidly inhaling low quality air. With air quality deteriorating globally, we all need to be more careful and conscientious to protect kids from air pollution.

Sleep memories

Clawson et al. Causal role for sleep-dependent reactivation of learning-activated sensory ensembles for fear memory consolidation. Nature Communications, February 2021.

Sleep is very critical for brain functions. Inadequate sleep can impair our abilities to concentrate, think clearly, and process memories. Past studies showed that regions of the brain that are highly active during intensive learning surprisingly show more activity during sleep. However, which biological purpose this “reactivation” of memories during sleep serves remains unclear. To address this question, researchers studied how memories associated with a specific sensory event are formed and stored in mice. They specifically examined how a fearful memory formed in relation to a particular visual stimulus in the brain. By focusing on a specific set of neurons in the primary visual cortex, researchers were able to create a visual memory test. When they ran this test in various conditions, the mice with regular sleep learned to fear the specific stimuli that had been paired with a foot shock. However, the mice with disrupted sleep had no fear association with the visual stimulus. These sleep-deprived mice seemed to process the fact that they should be afraid, but there may have been a lost connection regarding what they were supposed to be afraid of. These observations suggest that sleep-associated reactivation of the neurons encoding that stimulus is required for them to make an accurate fear association with a visual stimulus. These findings have important implications for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorders. In the absence of sleep, the brain seems to manage processing the fact that we should experience emotions, but we may be unable to link those emotions to exact causes accurately. That specification process may be one that goes awry with such anxiety-related disorders.

Elephants can determine ethnicity, gender, and age from acoustic cues in human voices. McComb et al. February 2014, PNAS.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are the largest land animals on Earth and they have been facing the danger of extinction due to habitat loss and illegal hunting for their ivory tusks. Elephants are also known to be very intelligent creatures and a recent study showed that they can even differentiate between human languages. Researchers at Amboseli National Park in Kenya played two different recordings of human voices for elephants. One group of voices belonged to local Maasai men, who happen to have violent encounters with elephants from time to time while herding their cattle. Other voices belonged to Kamba men, who are farmers or employees of the national park, and usually pose no threat to the elephants. In both cases, researchers played the same phrase, “Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming,” in two different languages. When elephants heard Maasi voices, they demonstrated defensive behaviors, such as gathering together, investigative smelling through their trunks, and moving cautiously away from the stimuli. Interestingly, elephants showed a greater reaction to the voices of Maasi men than Maasi women or boys, suggesting that they can even differentiate the gender and age of humans. In contrast, when they heard Kamba voices, of any gender or age, they did not show any concern. Ability to recognize predators is a crucial skill for many animals, and elephants seem to be capable of pinpointing the ethnicity, gender, and age of a potential predator, perhaps through recognizing acoustic cues in human voices. This ability serves as an early warning system for elephants and it could become very useful, especially when the predator is out of sight.

Set your alarm early to control weight

Timing and intensity of light correlate with body weight in adults. Reid JK et al. February 2014, PLOS ONE

Early sunlight exposure in the morning has been found to lower a person’s body mass index (BMI). A recent study showed that 20-30 minutes of morning light controls approximately 20% of the variation in a person’s BMI. This effect was independent of physical activity, caloric intake, sleep timing, age, or season. Our bodies have an internal body clock called the “circadian clock.” It roughly controls 24-hour cycles of physical, mental, and behavioral activities. Light is the most potent regulator of our circadian clock. It sends strong signals to our brain and body, which in turn regulate our energy balance and metabolism. Previous studies showed that animals with an altered circadian clock gain weight even though they don’t eat more. Similarly, new research with study subjects showed that missing out on the early rays of sun shifts our circadian clock and alters our appetite, satiety, and even the way that our body processes food, which ultimately leads to weight gain. In modern times, we live and work indoors, thus are often not able to get enough light in the morning. While the daylight is the best source, experts think that standing by the windows or even using a strong desk lamp would be sufficient to properly synchronize our circadian clock in the morning.

Mystery of zebra stripes solved

The function of zebra stripes. Caro T. et al. March 2014, Nature Communications

The black and white stripes of zebras have intrigued people for centuries. Scientists have speculated many hypotheses for the purpose of these stripes, such as camouflage, heat management, social implications, etc. A new systematic study analyzed 7 different equid species with stripes on their bodies and mapped their geographic locations. Then, researchers generated a statistical model by comparing the stripe patterns of these animals and their environmental conditions. Strikingly, they discovered a clear overlap between the range of striped animals and where biting flies, like horseflies or tsetse flies, are highly populated. Scientists noticed greater striping among animals in regions where there were more flies. These results suggest that having stripes may protect zebras from biting flies. Zebras, unlike other African hooved mammals living in the same area, are particularly susceptible to biting, as their hair is shorter than the pinchers of the biting flies. A separate work has shown that some flies tend to avoid black-and-white striped surfaces, supporting the hypothesis that biting flies may avoid the striped surfaces of zebras. As much as these results are encouraging, no one actually observed zebras in the wild to see if biting flies avoid landing on them, in part because it’s almost impossible to stay that close to zebras. The next challenge for the researchers is to observe this phenomena live in the wild.

Women in politics

I attended a lecture by Iceland’s Olof Olafsdottir, who is the head of the division for Equality between Women and Men at the Council of Europe a very long title to carry along with the heavy responsibilities that follow

The topic was women in politics in the 43 Council of Europe member states. First of all, it is worth noting that voting rights for most European women were achieved only after World War I (1919 for the US). Statistics on the percentage of women in the government are extremely astonishing,1 although the trend is rather expected. As we move toward southern and eastern Europe, the female percentage decreases. Sweden, Finland, and Norway, are at the top of the list. Half of all Swedish government officials are women. On the other hand, Italy has only 8%, the lowest among European Union member countries.

Certain countries have undertaken serious reforms to increase female participation. For instance, Spain moved up to 21% when, in the post-Franco era, women took advantage of the rebirth of democracy. France, the symbol of equality, fraternity, and liberty, recently reformed its constitution to grant equal opportunities for women to participate in politics. Even though women had the right to vote and be elected since 1949, the French government was only 27% female as of 2001.

Political systems are a major factor. If political parties and politicians have too much power, the competition is tougher. As a consequence, it is believed that women find it too difficult to deal with process as well as with the power of the positions. Turkey and France are perfect examples of this phenomenon, and so women are likely to be discouraged by the ensuing harsh power struggle.

Paternal leave for fathers

Why does the decision-maker’s gender make a difference? Many people might pose this question. The most current and concrete answer is the case of Sweden, where 50% of the decision-makers are women. A paternal leave law exists in many democratic countries. However there is a major flaw almost all cases only the mother uses her paternal leave while the father does not interrupt his career. The Swedish Parliament passed a law offering a month-long paternal leave to the father that cannot be passed on to the mother. As a result, many fathers who had used the excuse that their jobs were more important and any interruption would be considered a major reversal suddenly decided to use this opportunity to be with their new-born children!

Another major result of the high female presence in the Swedish Parliament is the seen in legislation related to prostitution: both the prostitute and the customer are punished!

Cultural reasons for lower political participation in Muslim countries

Two related factors can account for the major gap between countries having high and low rates of women in their governments: democratic identity and culture. Efficient and older democracies have established a real democratic culture in which individuals are valued and politics is close to the people. Also, culture tends to affect the role of men and women immensely. For instance, Turkish women are very powerful in the household. The division of duties has developed according to Islamic teachings, which assigns specific social roles to men and women according to their nature. Women are more emotional, intuitive, and affectionate, and so are more fit to run the family and the household and to educate the children. Men, on the other hand, are responsible for struggling outside the house to maintain the family. Thus, in most Muslim-majority countries the percentage of women in politics is rather low. However, as the family structure is very strong, fewer social problems are observed.

Gender Equity in Qur’an

It was hard for me to accept this view until I realized that, according to the Qur’an:

– Men and women have the same spiritual human nature.

– Both genders received the divine breath, for they were created with the same human and spiritual nature.

– Both genders are dignified and are trustees of Allah on Earth.

– Woman is not blamed for humanity’s fall. Pregnancy and childbirth are not seen as punishments for eating from the forbidden tree. On the contrary, the Qur’an considers them to be grounds for love and respect due to mothers.

– Men and women have the same religious and moral duties and responsibilities, and both face the consequences of their deeds.

– The Qur’an does not state that one gender is superior to the other. Some mistakenly translate qiwamah (responsibility for the family) as superiority. The Qur’an makes it clear that the sole basis of superiority is piety and righteousness instead of gender, color, or nationality.

– The absence of women as Prophets or Messengers of Allah is due to the demands and physical suffering associated with such figures’ roles, not because of any spiritual inferiority.2

Conclusion

There is no evidence from the Qur’an to preclude women from leading a state. Islam does not forbid or discourage the education of women. On the contrary, Islam authorizes women to have careers in fields such as teaching and medicine. However, a woman’s most essential responsibility is to educate her children and raise a sound family. Raising children is a key social function, for a society’s future and efficient functioning depends on educated generations. Thus, from this perspective, a woman’s responsibility is rather significant and challenging.

I hope that those who are having a hard time with gender equality in Islam take the time to do a little research, because the most logical and convincing answers are there to be discovered.

Footnote

1. All statistics are from the 2001 Report of the Directorate General of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Women in Politics in the Council of Europe Member States.

2. Jamal A. Badawi, Gender Equity in Islam. Online at: www.iad.org/books/GEI.html.