Wanna know a secret? Of course you do. Ok, it’s not really a secret, it’s just a story that’s a bit closed off. It’s an interesting story, about a military research centre which held an open day, but it’s in a niche academic book with a £55 pricetag. It’s a good book, painstakingly researched and … Continue reading »
Review: Maximum Republic
Some of the monarchy-themed street art in London this sumer. A couple of years back, the Royal Institution made their director redundant. There were various reasons why they did this, but part of me enjoyed the basic idea that they didn’t need a director. I wondered if other scientific institutions might follow. I mean, do universities really … Continue reading »
Should scientists be bolder in public?
I spoke at the London Climate Forum this weekend. This is a rough sketch of what I said. Jeremy Grantham is the investor behind the “Grantham Institute” centres for climate change research at Imperial and the LSE. He recently wrote a provocative opinion piece for Nature, arguing: Overstatement may generally be dangerous in science (it certainly is for … Continue reading »
Advertising the Space Race
Book review of Megan Prelinger’s, Another Science Fiction: Advertising the space race 1957-1962 (New York: Blast Books). A shorter version of this appeared in the August edition of Public Understanding of Science. There’s a lot of loose talk about science fiction; about the great influence fiction has on science or, conversely, a great cultural crash between … Continue reading »
Playing games with science
When you are angry, how do you respond? Do you (a) vent it there and then, (b) read, (c) work out (d) tell yourself there are way more important things to get annoyed about than a bloody Find Your Spirit Animal Facebook app from Greenpeace (which the above screen shot is from) and wonder off … Continue reading »
1958 advert for Shell nature studies guides
You know when you pick up an old book and there’s something tucked inside a previous owner was using as a bookmark? And it’s amazing? This weekend’s find: An advert torn from a 1958 edition of Punch, for the Shell guide to “Life in the Corn”. If you can’t make out the blurb of text, … Continue reading »
Paper on brain bloggers
A bit of brain-y street art, Shoreditch, London. A while ago, I started some research into people who blog about the brain, in particular the ways they see their audiences Sadly, changes in jobs meant I didn’t have time to develop that particular research interest (and I mean sadly, because this study only strengthened my belief that science bloggers are … Continue reading »
Engagement with climate science
I was a speaker at yesterday’s Royal Meteorological Society’s meeting on Communicating Climate Science. I was asked to talk about models of science communication in the light of their new report on climate science , the public and the media, in particular the shift from top-down to more discursive approaches. I also took the opportunity to question the applicability … Continue reading »
JD Bernal: the communist crystallographer
A small sign of political protest at the University of Sussex this morning. I was supposed to go to the JD Bernal Lecture at Birkbeck College a few weeks back; given this year by David Willetts. Except it was cancelled after a perceived threat of “disruptive” political protests. So I found myself with a free evening. I had … Continue reading »
A call for open journalism, and open campaigning, on climate change
A view from the Science Museum’s climate gallery. This was originally published on Greenpeace’s Energy Desk blog and written for a debate they ran at the Frontline Club last month. I might well have written something different today, as I read debate over climate and Sandy and keep track of the anti-gas protest in West … Continue reading »
