Future it be now, Vancouver. My column for the December edition of Popular Science UK magazine is online (you have to subscribe to read January’s one, on animal testing). The column first went live just before the Doha climate talks, and focuses on what I see as a lack of government support on communicating climate change. I remembered Mike Shanahan’s blogpost … Continue reading »
Tagged with policy …
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 »
NERC’s great “de” risking strategy
Every time I walk past these posters outside BIS a bit of me dies. On Sunday afternoon someone forwarded me a story from the Guardian saying top UK environmental scientists were being told to use their skills to help “de-risk” oil firms drilling in polar regions. I was a bit shocked. And sceptical. Reading a … Continue reading »
Has climate science moved from prediction to explanatory mode?
I have a pair of Narwhal fingerpuppets. I win. After the idea that “academic freedom is bullshit”, another interesting line I heard at SciFoo which has stuck in my mind: ecologist Ken Caldiera remarking that climate science was increasingly moving from prediction to explanatory mode. Today’s editorial in the Independent – suggesting their was a … Continue reading »
Oh, Canada. Oh, Rio.
Rio 1992, by Alice Bell aged 11. No idea why I still have this, somehow got filed with my swimming certificates. I have a post on Comment is Free arguing this week’s protests by scientists in Canada are not just a local issue, but of global concern. Modern science is a global enterprise: people from … 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 »
Debating climate science
I’m currently working on the pilot for an exciting new undergrad course at Imperial which uses science policy issues to challenge students to think about a range of areas of scientific research (not just their degree stream) and put this in some social, political, ethical, epistemological and cultural context. The topic we’ve picked for the … Continue reading »
Science in the mass media
I’m working a day a week at UCL this term, teaching the ‘Science and the Mass Media’ course in the Department of Science and Technology Studies. Nosey people can see the full syllabus here (pdf). Or, if you want to play along at home, I’ve pasted some of the essay questions below. Yesterday’s news(papers). A couple of thousand … Continue reading »
Making “nullius” public
The latest edition of Index on Censorship’s magazine is devoted to questions of science. To launch it, they held a debate at Imperial College: Data Debate: Is transparency bad for science? (video embedded at bottom of this post). I think it’s fair to say the event didn’t say much new (these things rarely do) but it was certainly … Continue reading »
Badger, badger, badger…
Remember those heady post-election days in summer 2010, when we were all getting used to the idea of not just a non-Labour government, but a coalition one at that? The press was awash with “what does this government mean for [insert special interest group here]?”. Perhaps buoyed by pre-election activity to get “The Science Vote” out, the science press seemed especially keen … Continue reading »
