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 »
Tagged with events …
Science communication and political divides
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 »
“Do your pupils have an energy gap?”
The Big Bang Fair, a big science and engineering event for schoolkids was held in Birmingham last month. Led by Engineering UK and supported by various government departments, charities, learned societies and businesses, it’s an annual event that’s been going for a while. They seem to have taken down the list of 2012 sponsors, but … Continue reading »
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 »
Sounds of Science
BBC Madia Vale Studios, before a recording last year. It’s world radio day! I don’t know about you, but I’m celebrating. I love the radio. I think I just like noise. Maybe it’s because my Dad was a musician. He usually worked from home, on what are probably best described as “musicians’ hours”, so there was a steady … Continue reading »
Pondering PUS
The Public Understanding of Science journal, volume 1. The main journal in my field, Public Understanding of Science, is twenty next year. I recently had to look up an old paper in the first edition, and it was slightly depressing to see how little has changed. Still, the fact that I find much of it still … 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 »
