... and do it quite well, thank you very much!
Spotted first at Skepchick: Girls Doing Science, Kicking Ass
Not only were all three top winners girls, but 47% of the entrants this year were girls. Woo-hoo! After just finishing the audiobook of Susan Jacoby's "The Age of American Unreason" this was just the little pick-me-up I needed. Now if more Americans could locate Iraq on a map... but I digress.
This is one of those news stories that at first glance, I'm very happy to hear, but then upon further thought, I wish it actually wasn't a big deal.
As part of my job doing astronomy outreach, I was leading a group of girls on a tour of our department and we were talking about how just a couple of days before - for the first time ever - when the commanders of the space shuttle and the International Space Station greeted each other after docking, it was two women shaking hands and hugging. And one of the girls, probably about 12 years old, said "It will be great when that doesn't have to be big news", or something close to that. I could have hugged her! Not only was she right, but if more girls her age have that attitude it won't be a big deal someday.
By the way, some of the bonus prize that some of the various winners (there are actually around a thousand prizes given out) get are a trip to the Nobel Prize ceremonies and naming rights for asteroids. How cool is that?!
Here's a round-up from Science News
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