“The vast majority of scientists believe that humans have evolved over time (98%; Pew Research Center, 2015). However, recent public opinion polls indicate much more variability in the views of the general public; only 65% of Americans (Pew Research Center, 2015), 61% of Canadians (Angus Reid Public Opinion Polls, 2012), and similar amounts of British […]
Tag: celebrity
Noseworthy on Contagion Effects of Celebrity Memorabilia (study)
What do Britney Spears’ (chewed) bubble gum, Bernie Madoff’s footstool and Lady Gaga’s fake fingernail have in common? They’ve all been sold at celebrity memorabilia auctions. Professor Theodore J. Noseworthy [pictured] is an expert on the so-called ‘contagion’ effects of such celebrity memorabilia, and says (in a Schulich.School of Business press release on the subject) […]
Cover image orientation in celebrity cookbooks (new study)
If you a reader, collector, participant, or are in any other way connected to, or interested in Celebrity Chefs’ Cookbooks you may have found yourself wondering whether the chefs pictured on the book covers predominantly tend to present their right cheek to the camera or their left cheek? In that case, thanks to Dr Annukka […]
Watson and Crick and Pippa Middleton’s bottom
A three-page study called “And Bringing Up the Rear: Pippa Middleton, Her Derrière and Celebrity“, written by a Birkbeck, University of London scholar, Janet McCabe, marks Britain’s instant new status as top dog and intellectual driver of an entire academic field. It is, in that respect, as mentally electrifying as was a one-page study called A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic […]
Study: “Pippa Middleton, her derrière and celebrity”
In 2009, shortly before the launch of the scholarly journal Celebrity Studies, I took a quick look at the academic field of celebrity studies. Now, five years later, the journal is serving up scholarship that virtually defines that field. One of its finest studies centers on a British citizen named Pippa Middleton: “And bringing up […]
Faculty action figures
Very few universities have had realistic ‘action figures’ made of their faculties and staff. One exception is the University of the Ozarks in Arkansas, where Dr. Jesse Weiss (Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies) has produced a collection of them. The professor hatched the idea via his hobby of customizing action figure models from […]
13 unclean to 1 clean: TV cooking
Doug Powell‘s Barfblog highlighted an unappetizing study (by Powell and colleagues) about the food safety practices visible on TV cooking shows: “Spot the Mistake: Television Cooking Shows as a Source of Food Safety Information,” Mathiasen, L.A., Chapman, B.J., Lacroix, B.J. and Powell, D.A., Food Protection Trends, vol. 24, no. 5, May 1, 2004, pp. 328-334. […]
Celebrity, academia’s new growth industry
As the world economy melts down, scholarly publishers have identified at least one new growth industry: the study of celebrity. The Routledge empire, founded in 1836, leads the way. This is perhaps a natural step. Routledge has helped many academics to become celebrities. Its website explains: “We have published many of [the] greatest thinkers and […]