Last month, I chaired an event on science communication and political divides at the Biochemical Society. As taster, here’s a bit from about half way though, from panelist Steve Cross: Within all kinds of science communication, not just the stuff you think is controversial [e.g. climate change, GMOs] there is a big political divide and … Continue reading »
Filed under events …
Is science media just about selling us stuff?
Last month, I chaired a debate at the Royal Institution exploring the different expectations scientists and journalists have for science media. I was asked to write up my notes for the Guardian science blog, and picked out three questions from the many we discussed on the night. 1. Is climate change a qualitatively different issue … Continue reading »
Being noisy about science
Here’s the podcast for an event on the sounds of science I chaired at Charles Darwin House last week. The inspiration for the event was mainly just that I like making a noise. I also like listening to podcasts and I quite like science too. Moreover, I think that the noises made by and about … Continue reading »
Identifying arguments in climate science
George Bush used to say, in his generous way, that the science [of climate change] is uncertain. But it’s an almost content free statement because science is about uncertainty. Lord Oxburgh FRS, Imperial College, 30th January 2012. That quote comes from a debate on climate science in the mass media we held at Imperial last week, part of the pilot … Continue reading »
Science and craft
Mendel’s pea, by some of last year’s science communication MSc students There seems to be more and more events happening which I can only describe as science-craft. I thought I’d write about it, and did a post for the Guardian Science blog. There are overlaps here with sci-art projects, just as there are overlaps (sometimes … Continue reading »
Science and its spam filter
Yesterday, I was part of a panel entitled ‘Blogs, Bloggers and Boundaries?’ at the Science Online conference. You can see an abstract for the panel over on Marie-Claire’s Shanahan’s blog (scroll down to second half of post). My talk spoke in quite general terms about science and social boundaries. I did this using an analogy … Continue reading »
The brain: the new weather?
What’s with the brain these days? This was the question Steve Woolgar started off a conference on Neurosociety, held at the Saïd Business School late last term (see also my post on STS and the Bernalian nightmare). Why do we increasingly seem to feel the need to explain, plan and sell with reference to research … Continue reading »
Science, citizens and everything else
I have a post over on Research Blogs about the Science and Citizen conference last week. The event was a bit of a birthday party for the House of Lords’ 2000 Science and Society report. It might seem ridiculous to run an international conference to toast a decade-old select committee report. It is. It’s also … Continue reading »
Uncertainty (again)
I’m blogging from the Science and Citizenship Conference. It’s being held partly to mark a ten year anniversary of the Lord’s report on Science and Society. Much of the programme was based on workshops considering key theme’s in the report. I took part on one about uncertainty and risk, and thought it was worth sharing … Continue reading »
Engaging audiences: rethinking “difference”
I’m blogging from the Co-Curation and the Public History of Science & Technology conference at the Science Museum (picture is of an exhibit) Saturday’s programme started with a “provocation” (or keynote talk) entitled “New Ways to engage people” from Andrew Pekarik of the Smithsonian’s Office of Policy and Analysis. Pekarik is an exceedingly smooth speaker. … Continue reading »
