longhand & scribblings

How can you research without knowledge?

2012-01-24T20:40:00.000Z

SCIENCE is a subject for the inquisitive. It is an exploration of all avenues of human intrigue, seeking answers by experimentation to every question, from the silly, through the mundane to the mind-bending. From ‘why is the sky blue’ to ‘which crabs are the fightiest’ through, of course, to the applied sciences, looking for solutions to disease and issues that affect us and our planet, science seeks truth in the most fascinating of questions and challenges. We are enriched by the knowledge it unveils.

Source

To achieve this, science as a subject needs a vast base of specialists working on a wide range of models. But, of course, times are tight, funds are spread thin, and inevitably science is taking a hit. Specialists are disappearing, unable to justify funding for their work from research councils, who are, in turn, under pressure to prioritise work with human applications. The diversity of projects is diminishing and the range of organisms being observed is narrowing. Our knowledge base, consequently, is taking a hit.

Recently, the University of Birmingham announced plans to close its teaching programmes in Biological Recording, including its Masters course, held at the Field Studies Council site in Preston Montford, Shropshire. The closure of these courses, I believe, is a serious blow to science in the UK.

But first, a disclaimer. I have been associated with the University of Birmingham for 8 years, studying there first for my undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences. I'm now there studying for a PhD, with extracurricular interests in the wider School of Biosciences, being on student and postgraduate committees. I'm currently in talks to represent doctoral researchers of the School of Biosciences on a certain social media platform in an official, endorsed capacity. You'll understand then that I choose my words carefully here.

I'm disappointed in the university for making this decision, but I acknowledge that its hands are tied. The academic world is changing - indeed it has been for a while - and not for the better.
Read more »

To Whom It May Concern

2011-11-20T11:31:00.002Z

To Whom it may Concern

Many of us, though not all in this year of 1988, recognise the following things:

1. All political and religious differences that at present slow down, entangle and strangle progress in the world will have to be solved in a civilised manner.

2. All other life forms have as much right to exist as we have and that indeed without the bulk of them we would perish.

3. Overpopulation is a menace that must be addressed by all countries; if allowed to continue it is a Gadarene syndrome which will cause nothing but our doom.

4. Ecosystems are intricate and vulnerable; once misused, disfigured or greedily exploited they vanish to our detriment. Used wisely they provide boundless treasure. Used unwisely they create misery, starvation and death to the human race and to a myriad other lifeforms.

5. It is stupid to destroy things such as rainforests before we know how they function and what is in them, especially because in these great webs of life may be embedded secrets of incalculable value to the human race.

6. The world is to us what the Garden of Eden was supposed to be to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were banished, but we are banishing ourselves from our Eden. The difference is that Adam and Eve had somewhere else to go. We have nowhere else to go.

We hope that by the time you read this you will have at least partially curtailed our reckless greed and stupidity. If we have not, at least some of us have tried...

All we can say is learn from what we have achieved, but above all learn from our mistakes, do not go on endlessly like a squirrel in a wheel committing the same errors hour by hour day by day year after year century after century as we have done up to now.

We hope that there will be fireflies and glow-worms at night to guide you and butterflies in hedges and forests to greet you.

We hope that your dawns will have an orchestra of bird song and that the sound of their wings and the opalescence of their colouring will dazzle you.

We hope that there will still be the extraordinary varieties of creatures sharing the land of the planet with you to enchant you and enrich your lives as they have done for us.

We hope that you will be grateful for having been born into such a magical world.

Written and buried in a time capsule in 1988 by Gerald Durrell

What if?

2011-11-07T14:06:00.000Z

Source: Survival International

When it comes to recognition of scientific achievement...

2011-10-20T21:52:00.004+01:00

...AUSTRALIA has the right idea.

Last week Prime Minister Julia Gillard awarded the annual Prime Minister's Prizes for Science: recognition, at the highest level of government, not only of the achievements of Australian scientists but of the importance of the subject itself. As Gillard said in her ceremony speech:

This year the urgency of embarking on our clean energy future has brought science to the centre of our national debate, it's very centre, and that's as it should be.

The 2011 winners of the Prime Minister's Prizes for Science
Source

Professors Ezio Rizzardo and David Solomon took the top prize for devising techniques for the generation of polymers that we now take for granted, but which were discovered when it was thought chemistry had taught us all it ever could. The Science Minister's Prize for Life Scientist of the Year, a prize devoted to young career scientists whose achievements advance, or have the potential to advance, human welfare or benefit society, went to Associate Professor Min Chen. Chen discovered a new form of chlorophyll in the stromatolites of Shark Bay, Western Australia, which has the potential to boost research into improving the efficiency of energy collection in solar cells and crop production. The Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year went to Professor Stuart Wyithe, recognized for his work on the physics of the formation of the universe. Brooke Topelberg and Dr Jane Wright were also recognized for their outstanding efforts to teach primary and secondary school children.

Here in the UK there are many and varied prizes for science, but nothing quite like this. As the home of many of the finest scientific establishments, societies and institutions in the world, we regularly recognize scientific endeavour, achievement and communication. But given the importance of science in our lives, in policy and business, it wouldn't go amiss for our own government to exhibit some faith in the scientific community and present some form of formal recognition for those who conduct research here. This, particularly, in a time when government cuts are hitting the scientific community hard. I call for a UK Prime Minister's Prize for Science.

But I wonder - who do you think should win?

Julia Gillard's speech can be read in full here.

Male, female, other, other, other, other, other

2011-09-18T22:22:00.006+01:00

THERE are many things in life that are difficult to get your head around. I imagine many, like myself, struggle to understand much of theoretical physics, with up to 11 dimensions required to explain its more complex models. Three dimensions are easy, for they are what we see all around us, and with the help of analogies a fourth dimension is not too much harder. But beyond that things get tricky.

Here’s another concept that is difficult to get your head around: the single-celled organism Tetrahymena thermophila has not two distinct genders — our male and female — but SEVEN.

Tetrahymena thermophila

So let's talk about sex.

Read more »

9/11: Love your neighbour as yourself

2011-09-08T20:28:00.005+01:00

SUNDAY is the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. I'm certain that you will have caught at least one mention of this anniversary from the news, TV, radio or online. For many this will be an occasion of great sadness, and to them I offer my condolences. I was too young to really appreciate what happened that day, and certainly too young to understand how the world changed, and how it reacted, as a result. The images were shown so much that, in addition to my lack of understanding of the situation, they almost became normal. But they truly are horrific - in searching for a suitable image for this post I found a photo set I really rather wish I hadn't. The images weren't graphic or gratuitous, just frank and disturbing in their honest representation of events unfolding.

Understandably the anniversary has prompted a mix of responses, from honour and praise to the emergency services and survivors to anger at the perpetrators from some, anger at the US government from others; references to the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad taking sides one way or another as to whether it was right; conspiracy theories; and, crucially, important and difficult questions about justice, humanity and prejudice. To this final debate I offer the stories of two people. I simply feel that the challenges these two stories present ought to be shared.
Read more »

Twenty years ago

2011-08-19T19:10:00.000+01:00

info

"Your commanders have ordered you to storm the White House and to arrest me. But I as the elected President of Russia give you the order to turn your tanks and not to fight against your own people."

Of least concern, yet not

2011-08-03T22:51:00.001+01:00

NOW then, let’s get back into this science writing lark with a topic familiar to this blog.

To recap, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is a species in serious trouble. In a phenomenon almost unique to science, the already small population is suffering from a transmissible form of cancer called Devil Facial Tumour Disease (DFTD), with over 70% of the population infected. It is almost completely lethal, causing swelling in the mouth and face, leading to suffocation and starvation. 80% of the population has been wiped out since its discovery in 1996, and it is predicted that the species could be extinct within 25-35 years.

I care deeply about this for a number of reasons. First, I think that they are beautiful animals. Biologically they are important, propping up a fragile ecosystem in the self-contained, isolated biome that is the island of Tasmania, which I desperately wish to revisit. Scientifically, too, they are fascinating, being the largest remaining carnivorous marsupial on Earth. For this reason, they are also of great significance for conservation. Finally, they are important for historic reasons. In living memory, Tasmania was once home to a larger carnivorous marsupial, the thylacine, which was hunted to the brink of extinction. The last of its kind died of neglect in Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, in 1936. Tasmania does not need the legacy of allowing another of its unique creatures to die out at our hands.

The plight of the Tasmanian devil is so unique and critical that the slightest development in the search to unravel the cause and cure of the cancer automatically generates headlines. A recent paper by Miller et al. led to a flurry of newspaper and magazine articles, and a well put editorial from New Scientist, and I’d like to comment, briefly, on the paper and its implications.

Read more »

From little things big things grow

2011-07-10T13:54:00.000+01:00

info

Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdoch and Samwise Gamgee

2011-07-08T20:21:00.000+01:00

I was going to write about the week's news, on the closure of the News of the World, corruption claims, bribery claims, issues of social justice revolving around the media, phone hacking, privacy and the very forces tasked with protecting us. This is enormous news, and I'm very glad that we still have press outlets that can expose circumstances such as this. But I can't summarise my thoughts better than those already doing so, in the news, on the radio, in parliament and online, so instead, here's a quote from The Lord of the Rings:

`How long do you think I shall have here?' said Frodo to Bilbo, when Gandalf had gone.

`Oh, I don't know. I can't count days in Rivendell,' said Bilbo. 'But quite long, I should think. We can have many a good talk. What about helping me with my book, and making a start on the next? Have you thought of an ending?'

'Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant,' said Frodo.

'Oh, that won't do!' said Bilbo. `Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?'

`It will do well, if it ever comes to that,' said Frodo.

'Ah!' said Sam. 'And where will they live? That's what I often wonder.'

Should we build an online Journal Club?

2011-06-07T16:30:00.002+01:00

FOR a few weeks I've been toying with the idea of an online Journal Club. As a PhD student I am encouraged to take part in organised journal clubs, where current papers are discussed, scrutinized and learnt from. I am lucky in that my research group run their own journal club, but I am all too aware that many do not have such an opportunity. Furthermore, as part of a course I have been attending lately I was asked to critique a microbiology paper - this being unrelated to my own field of research - and I learnt a lot from the experience, approaching a paper as a rank outsider, picking up on what is clear and what is not considering my background knowledge of the topic was next to nil.

So I thought about setting up an online journal club, a place to discuss papers of fields all across science, because we can all learn a great deal in doing so. Plus, those that do not attend journal clubs themselves could use the site to boost their analytical, discussion and presentational skills. It became more of an idea, however, as I started to think about how it might work and what rules and controls would be needed.

I kept the idea reasonably quiet, lest anybody beat me to it.

Read more »

Yes, we have no bananas

2011-02-19T21:10:00.000Z

"If you could see exactly what I could see, it would be a great mystery"
- Joaquin Rudd in Koonyum Sun by Xavier Rudd

I’ve been lucky enough to see the Australian musician Xavier Rudd perform, with his fusion of world music, blues, reggae and rock in the varying forms of one-man-band, front man and master of three instruments at once, including the didgeridoo, on two occasions since first being introduced to him in a random field in Far North Queensland in 2007. The lady responsible for playing his music to us, as we sprayed weed killer around valuable tree saplings in the regenerating forests, had a tendency to shriek and twitch in a way that was slightly uncomfortable to watch. Like robots we trudged the fields, large tanks on our backs, spraying poison at opportunistic weeds from pipes and nozzles extending from our bulky apparatus. The relaxing tones of Mr Rudd (Xavier, not Kevin) kept my spirits high for the day. Weeks later I would awake to the same music on a sailing boat in the middle of the Whitsunday islands, content with the world and hooked on this music.

At both of these shows the audience felt the need to talk extensively over Xavier’s performance, and this troubles me. Certainly, songs about our connection with the earth and Aboriginal Dreaming are alien to an audience in Birmingham, but I think that if you pay to see an artist, you should respect their performance and pay attention to it, not wrestle your way to the bar and treat the show as background music. Positivity and respect, I believe, should be paid at all times, not just to established performers but to all who clearly put effort and care into what they do. Here’s why.
Read more »

The world has gone mad

2011-02-02T19:19:00.000Z

IT seems the world has gone mad. The Mediterranean-bordering Arabic world seems to be imploding with riots everywhere; presidencies are being toppled left, right and centre; the world's weather patterns have gone to pot; and Fox News thinks Egypt is in Iraq:

And it is still only February.

The troubles experienced in Australia have particularly struck a chord with me. I by no means wish to detract from the problems that Brazil and Sri Lanka have suffered from flooding this year but the ongoing problems that Queensland particularly are facing cannot help but grab my attention. First an inland tsunami, next widespread flooding and now Cyclone Yasi. When I was working with Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) in 2007 I spent some time in forests near Cairns, the Atherton Tablelands and further south near Mission Beach. All around, whether inland or not, the destruction that Cyclone Larry had caused on the rainforest two years before was more than apparent. Working for the environment, we strove to clear the debris still lying around to help the ecosystem to recover. Cyclone Yasi has now torn through this region once more, only more powerfully and without much warning. My thoughts go to those evacuated from the region, indeed those left behind also, and hope first and foremost that everybody is OK, second that the damage is not too severe - as daylight falls the devastation will only now become apparent. I would imagine that Queensland Premier Anna Bligh is rather ruing her chosen term at the moment: nobody could be prepared for this much chaos.

Can normality be resumed now please?

Kangaroo rescue

2011-01-13T12:22:00.001Z

A New Year Resolution

2011-01-01T16:33:00.001Z

2010 was the International Year of Biodiversity, according to the UN, and, less officially, the year of mango sushi. 2011 is, officially, the International Year of Forests, Chemistry, World Veterinary Year and the International Year for People of African Descent. Accordingly, I hereby plan to learn and write about each of these throughout the year, in celebration of their celebration. I shall start with chemistry, because though I am a scientist, I know very little about the subject. Though I’m quite happy about that fact, it’s something I really ought to know. So now, in the interests of finding a story to tell, I shall delve into my least favourite scientific discipline.

Where my stories shall go, nobody knows. To the textbooks, ahoy!

Samson & Delilah

2010-10-04T10:26:00.003+01:00

I have just watched the Australian film Samson & Delilah* and I feel compelled to write something about it. Normally I plan my posts, think about how I am going to structure them, but the film was so strong that I want to just write in response, just as the credits have finished rolling.

Samson & Delilah is a very depressing film. Yet in spite of this, I urge you to watch it.

Read more »

On whale snot and socks covering shoes

2010-10-01T17:30:00.002+01:00

WITH the announcement of this year's Nobel prizes to be made shortly comes that other annual science prize ceremony - the Ig Nobels. If you are unaware of what the Ig Nobels are, they are, in a sense, a parody of the Nobels, awarding prizes to researchers who would never get a look in at the true Nobels. But they honour scientists who investigate what they find interesting, no matter how bizarre or tangential. The awards honour those discoveries that "first make people laugh, and then make them think".
Read more »

Sad story, cute picture

2010-08-12T13:29:00.002+01:00

Department of Conservation rangers fight to save kiwi from ferrets at Pukaha Mount Bruce, read more here.

Kyrgyzstan

2010-06-18T19:46:00.003+01:00

I BRIEFLY break my blog silence to share a thought about Kyrgyzstan. I am by no means an expert on the Kyrgyz situation, but I have an interest in Central Asia and care that the region receives global attention at this time. Today, reports from interim leader Roza Otunbayeva suggest that the death toll in ethnic clashes between resident Uzbeks and Kyrgyz (see this article for a summary of why these groups share a country called, misleadingly, Kyrgyzstan) could be ten times greater than official figures. That puts the toll at 2,000, which is a horrifying number. 400,000 people have fled their homes, many ethnic Uzbeks crossing into Uzbekistan - many have been denied entry and would enter at their peril. Most bridges over the border have been destroyed and the land is heavily landmined. Meanwhile, US envoy Robert Blake has called for an inquiry into the unrest.

Sorry, but that's not good enough. An inquiry will achieve nothing. How about we take steps to stop the fighting, to stop the killing, rather than wait for more to die and find out why later? Kyrgyzstan has called to Moscow for military help (for better for worse), a request that Moscow has turned down. The US call for an inquiry is a bit rich for a nation that is, in part, responsible for it all. Both Russia and the US have bases in the country. Permission to build the US base, which is of strategic importance, stands on dubious grounds - this week Kurmanbek Bakiyev, son of the ousted Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, was arrested on arrival to the UK after an Interpol warrant for him for corruption was issued by the interim Kyrgyz government. One count of corruption refers to Pentagon contracts to Bakiyev Jr for the supply of the airbase (others refer to embezzlement of a loan from Russia). Of course, it's more complicated than that, as Bakiyev Jr is accused of fuelling this recent conflict - and if so I am not objecting to his arrest - but the call today for an inquiry rather than aid and action really narked me (to use the Australian use of the word).

I can't help but think a lack of understanding about this part of the world is adding to our reluctance to offer to help. We should. End of.

Update: I awake this morning (19th June) to see that the UN has launched a $71m appeal for the country and that consultations about an International presence are underway between the EU, the OSCE and countries in the region, which is good news. For the time being, however, though food aid is reaching the region, there are serious concerns for the safety of national UN staff in Osh who identify with either one of the Uzbek and Kyrgyz groups.

The Third Leaders Debate: Live from Campus 5

2010-04-29T22:58:00.006+01:00

10.30pm
Phew! What a day! What a debate? Well, I'm not sure, but this is not the place for a discussion on the quality of the arguments put forward. But as the media and parties whip themselves up into a frenzy in the 'Media Centre' (a temporary setup in the Avon Room, a room where I have had many lectures and exams) and as Question Time begins in the Great Hall (where I graduated), I thought I'd finish off my day of sporadic observations and desperate attempts to find stories from the wrong side of the security fence.

Read more »

The Third Leaders Debate: Live from Campus 4

2010-04-29T15:56:00.002+01:00

3.30pm
HANDILY, somebody just set the fire alarm off in Biosciences, so, in spite of the rain, Karl and I just went for a look around. Good job we did - as we were walking towards the compound, Lord Peter Mandelson walked by, surrounded by a flurry of reporters, cameramen and sound engineers, as well as soggy students. He looked quite happy, not perturbed by the crowds. Karl was very excited.

"I'm really happy now!" he said.
"Yeah! We saw someone famous!" I replied.
"Well, its only Peter Mandelson."
Read more »

The Third Leaders Debate: Live from Campus 3

2010-04-29T14:02:00.005+01:00

2pm
I JUST went for a walk around campus to get a feel for the mood of the people out there, and there are a lot of people out there. Sky News have set up in front of the hydrogen cars, and there was a melee of people trying to peer in through the fences. There isn't much to see as a barrier of news vans restricts the view to the Great Hall, but people were chatting away, mostly both excited and terrified in equal measure at the prospect of snipers on the rooftops (we saw at least two). I chatted with a politics student called Matt, talking about the security and the excitement of the occasion; there are many students wearing pink "vote for students" t-shirts provided by the Guild; and there was a girl dressed as a tiger - who knows why, but for the spirit of the occasion perhaps?

Not everybody is excited, however. The lady who just served me in the cafe was complaining that all the rhetoric, sob stories and spin is untrustworthy. "Like or loathe her policies," she said of Margaret Thatcher, "if she said she was going to do something, it happened. That won't happen with this lot." One student outside the compound agreed, saying (loudly) as he passed: "Why should I care about those three, opinionated t*****s?"

All of the leaders have arrived now and are inside rehearsing. There's little else I can say for now: I'll hopefully be with the crowd at the BBC Big Screen later to judge reaction and will be updating somehow later on.

The Third Leaders Debate: Live from Campus 2

2010-04-29T11:29:00.014+01:00

1pm
Twitter tells me all three leaders are now in the house, as it were. Listening to the radio the Gordon Brown "bigoted woman" gaffe continues to be debated, despite it being a non-news story. He said something he shouldn't have, in private, being recorded when he shouldn't have been. He has apologised - can we move on please? I'm sure they are all as bad as each other. What is worse, that the Prime Minister had a grumble about somebody, or that somebody has what some are seeing as bigoted views? Surely the news should cover why she said what she said and why she believes that, rather than his comment?

Read more »

The Third Leaders Debate: Live from Campus 1

2010-04-29T10:10:00.003+01:00

10am
LAST night I went to see Fiddler on the Roof at the Crescent Theatre in Birmingham. I didn't expect that this morning I would show up to work at the University of Birmingham to see cameramen and police on the rooftops too.

Last week I randomly guessed that the third Prime Ministerial debate, billed as in the 'West Midlands', would be at the Great Hall on campus. It was a lucky guess, and as rumours spread excitement grew. Yesterday there could be no denying that the debate was here as vans, satellite dishes, spotlights and cables started to fill Chancellors Court. I had a wander round as they were setting up - I can't do the same today. Police are swarming, the archways of the redbrick architecture have been filled with body scanners, and university roads have been blocked off.

I have no idea what I will be able to see/tell from today. I am actually at work and have a whole day of work to do, but I will try to wander around the site every so often and see what is happening and update here if I can. Meanwhile I recommend that you visit Redbrick Online, home of the university's student newspaper, who are doing their best to cover the day's events.

The UK election and tribal rights‏

2010-04-28T15:56:00.009+01:00

A post from Survival International for those who may be interested.

Sirocco the Kākāpō in Exile

2010-04-25T09:00:00.009+01:00

DO YOU remember Scirocco the kakapo? It turns out he is facing exile.

Scirocco the kakapo gained notoriety last year when he tried to mate with Mark Carwardine's head on BBC2's Last Chance to See. The scene became an international sensation and thrust the kakapo, a species I have been fond of for some time, into the limelight. As a result of the programme, the Kakapo Recovery Project in New Zealand has been swamped with donations and Scirocco himself, at the suggestion of New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key, became the "spokesbird" of conservation as part of New Zealand's role in the International Year of Biodiversity. But his promotion has come at a cost: Scirocco is now looking for a new home.

Read more »

A Prayer for Poland

2010-04-14T09:50:00.004+01:00

AT Church on Sunday the current situation in Poland was mentioned in the intercessory prayers. The congregation duly listened, perhaps murmured in agreement with the sentiment shared by the reader, and then said Amen. The service proceeded, with a sermon on a scripture from John's gospel. But after the sermon, before the service could continue as planned, something happened - something unusual, I suspect, for most church services: spontaneity.

A member of the congregation stood up, acting peculiar. She went up to the man who had just given the sermon, asking for the pastor. When she found the pastor she said she needed to pray, so on his invitation she went to the front of the hall and addressed everybody. In tears, she explained.

Read more »

Transmissible cancer

2010-03-29T14:22:00.001+01:00

I'VE been planning that Tasmanian Devil post for months, and spent much of the last few weeks researching, writing and tweaking it. So I was bemused to walk into work this morning, days after finally releasing it on the world, to find in our office a copy of the most recent Wellcome News, the cover of which is Elizabeth Murchison holding a Tasmanian devil skull. Inside is an article written by Murchison herself (part autobiography, part summary of research) and another entitled Catching Cancer, a feature on transmissible cancers and how they go against conventional thinking. I was wrong in one respect before: there are more than two known cases of transmissible cancer. I knew of the Tasmanian devil and of dogs, but it is not unheard of in hamsters and has been shown to be possible in us. The article is an excellent summary and I direct you there for your interest. Happy Monday :)

Source: Wellcome Trust newsletter Issue 62

Save the Tasmanian Devil

2010-03-27T19:55:00.010Z

See also
Tasmania V: Beaumaris Zoo
Not With A Bang But A Whimper
Jingo Jargon
and links below

THE FIVE devils in the pen below us bounded around happily with not a care in the world. They were small, fluffy bundles of energy, running around and around, almost skipping, happy-go-lucky and enjoying their freedom. Every so often they would fail to look where they were going and smack head-on into one of their friends - immediately they would stop, step back, assume an aggressive posture and growl for a second. But such aggression would be short-lived and they would be off again, bounding away. La la la! They were happy little devils.

This is a difficult post to write, for it is about a small marsupial that lives in Tasmania. Chances are that if you are reading this you live in Britain, or at least not in Tasmania. How, then, do I make you care about a creature that lives so far away, that is so far removed biologically and symbolically from our national consciousness? The Tasmanian devil? Some people I know don't even believe it exists at all, that it is an invention by folklore and Warner Bros.

But there is a creature, very much real, called the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii). And it is in serious trouble.

Oops

2010-02-26T23:36:00.002Z

IF you saw something here earlier about Tasmanian Devils, pretend you didn't. I haven't finished writing that yet. As you were...

Simon Singh, #singhBCA and all that

2010-02-26T00:21:00.001Z

AS promised, I will not be using this platform to delve too deeply into campaigns and causes. You can expect more like The Bastard Gumwood, my last post, which was fun to write. I plan to write more light hearted or straightforward articles as and when I get the chance, although right now I have no spare time whatsoever (I'm publishing a series on my travels in Australia over at my other blog at the moment, of which only one to date has actually been written since Christmas).

Nonetheless, last year I became quite involved in the Simon Singh vs. British Chiropractic Association court battle and subsequent libel reform campaign, and I thought I could provide a link or two for those still interested. Simon was in court on Tuesday appealing a decision on the definition of his wording, for which he is being sued for libel by the BCA. This isn't simply a case about the BCA suing instead of providing evidence for their claims, but a deeper concern about the stifling of honest criticism by those with the most money. According to Jack of Kent, things went well in court, although we won't hear for a good while.

I explained the premise of the Singh case to my colleague the other day - from the original Guardian article to the rally in the Penderel's Oak, where I joined a few hundred people, pint in hand, cheering the man on. I mentioned the libellous phrase and the claims to which it refers. I mentioned the backlash against practitioners of alternative medicine and the cynical and marginally hostile attitude exhibited by some sceptics since all this kicked off, and why I want to distance myself from the present 10:23 homeopathy campaign. As if to confirm that it is very much time for me to drop this and leave it to the professionals, Graham responded to my tale with seven carefully chosen words:

"You have cotton wool on your chin."

The Bastard Gumwood

2010-01-25T21:54:00.007Z

HERE'S something interesting, which I heard on PM last week. The Bastard Gumwood (Commidendrum rotundifolium) is a 12 foot tall tree with long, knarled branches, at the tips of which are star-like, pale yellow and white flowerings. As a species, there is no variation from these characteristics, because there's only one of them. As such, it is declared extinct in the wild. Now, conservationists from Kew Gardens are making a last-ditch effort to rescue it from extinction.

Source: John Ekwall's St Helena flora profile

Read more »

Can I just say...

2010-01-18T23:47:00.008Z

I AGREED (and still do) with this:

but do not agree with this:

From the chiropractors to the homeopaths: a new year, another industry to bully. I can't be bothered to explain why, but I want to distance myself from this side of the skeptic/rationalist/grumpy old man movement. Can we not just leave the CAM people alone now?

If you thought it was cold here...

2010-01-08T22:05:00.003Z

Copenhagen: China doing us a favour?

2009-12-23T16:49:00.003Z

THANKS to PhilH for directing me to this comment to an article referenced in the post below:

Posted by David Wearing
"Mark - you say the US offered a 17% cut in emissions on 2005 levels, and that this was a serious offer. This is not a serious offer, and you should know as much.
Read more »

Copenhagen: China to blame?

2009-12-23T13:54:00.002Z

Clicky

Read more »

2009-12-22T19:44:00.004Z

info

Redbrick, December 14th, 2009

2009-12-14T20:12:00.002Z

MY article How do you live to be 100?, previously published here, has been published at Redbrick Online, the online home of Birmingham's student newspaper.

Click here to read the article at its new home.

Thanks to Redbrick for supporting it.

To flat-earth climate sceptics

2009-12-05T10:31:00.015Z

This is a response to recent ClimateGate news stories, in which I feel the emphasis is wrong.

news.bbc.co.uk

How to live to 100

2009-11-26T22:34:00.006Z

I WROTE this article for Redbrick. I've no idea if it will be published, or in what form, but never one to let something I've worked on go to waste, below is the unedited form. I hope it makes sense: I researched and wrote it all in one go, rather late at night.

Redbrick Features: COMMENT on science
How to live to 100
19/11/2009

THIS week I read a headline that caught my eye: “Scientists identify gene that can help you live to 100”. Now that, I decided, sounds interesting. I wouldn’t mind a gene like that.
Read more »

Whatever happened to Atlantic 252?

2009-11-15T12:11:00.001Z

"Welcome to Atlantic 252, or what's left of it. As I understand it, all of the office furniture is to be auctioned, and the broadcast equipment is in storage at the tx site in Summerhill. Mornington House itself is now on the property market, I believe the asking price is half a million."

Atlantic 252 presenter Dave James, Tuesday 29th October, 2002

I SPENT much of Friday looking down a microscope, thanking the good monk Mendel for his laws of genetics and the relative ease with which I can discover many interesting things. I divided hundreds of flies by phenotype (and, because of the brilliance of balancer chromosomes, by genotype also) so that I could set up genetic crosses that will, with any luck, start to produce some results by Christmas. In order to keep up my attention throughout, the fly room was graced by the sound of BBC Radio 4, from 9am through to 7pm (with a brief change of station at 5pm when I decided I didn't need to hear the same news a fourth time). There was Desert Island Discs with Anthony Julius (I liked his choices of Chicago and little Stevie Wonder). There was the final reading of the excellent book of the week, The Magnetic North by Sara Wheeler. I wandered off through Woman's Hour but came back in time for The Richest Man in Britain, The Archers and Gardener's Question Time. I almost felt intellectual by the end of the day.

What surprised me, however, were the frequent referrals of listeners to Radio 4's long wave output. I knew that this was where the cricket commentary is often relayed, but I knew of no other purpose for it. Nor, for that matter, do I know of any shop that sells long wave radios anymore. Why do the BBC still broadcast on something the majority of people can no longer receive?
Read more »

On intergalactic radio wave distortion

2009-11-07T16:09:00.003Z

IN the last week I have been talking a lot about what I wrote here on the motives behind, and the aims of, science. One of the arguments against what I said is that, in order to obtain funding, work should have a tangible benefit to humans, as it would otherwise be a waste, or at least an unjustifiable use of, public or government funding. I by no means believe that work should not be done on clincial topics. However, I think that to deny the possibility of funding projects conducted out of simply human intrigue, the desire to answer curiosity, would be a shame and detrimental. In addition, so many human benefits have arisen indirectly from tangential topics - I gave positron emission tomography (PET) as an example in my post, and a further example presented itself to me this week as I listened to the latest Science Show on ABC Radio National. In it, they covered the Australian Prime Minister's prizes for science (a marvellous idea). The winner of the main prize itself was John O'Sullivan, who invented WiFi. WiFi is a tremendous tool and is seemingly everywhere. It assists business and communication at home and in public. Many people rely on it. But where did this come from? How did they invent it?

Read more »

For the benefit of humanity

2009-10-29T23:10:00.005Z

I FIND that I have to explain, fairly frequently, what it is that I am doing in PhDland. This is fantastic: it is great that people are interested. But just as frequently, people ask me why. More specifically, they ask to what end am I conducting my experiment? What benefit does it have for people?

This question troubles me and I think it troubles many scientists. Look at enough journal papers, no matter how disparate, and you will notice a trend: the final paragraph of the discussion of many, many papers often seems to have a loosely worded, research council-pleasing vague suggestion that the study in question might, in some way, be applied to humans. Search for many scientific terms, even highly specialist and unrelated terms, and chances are you'll come across something that mentions Parkinson's disease or cancer, often, perhaps, because the authors feel they have to. Newspapers do it too. There'll be a study in mice or flies and, sooner or later, the journalist will give in to temptation or the standard framework of a science report and bring humans into the picture. It is mightily tempting and I've been there myself. But do scientists really have a benefit to mankind in mind? More importantly, does their study need to benefit mankind to be justified?

Read more »

Cervical cancer vaccine

2009-10-02T22:00:00.001+01:00

(this post via Hagley Road to Ladywood)
From Malcolm Coles:

"I've pointed out that any concerned parents searching Google for information on the cervical cancer jab (in the tragic wake of a schoolgirl's death) see a mass of negative and inaccurate information linking the girl's death to the vaccine.

It turns out she died of an unrelated tumour [read what really happened here- ed]. But Google's results will give parents second thoughts about letting their daughters be vaccinated, even though the injection will save 00s of lives a year".

If you're looking for information regarding cervical cancer vaccine, please visit the NHS website.

On blogging

2009-09-19T16:15:00.002+01:00

"...the situation we're in at the moment is not unlike the situation in 15th century Europe shortly after the invention of the printing press ... then as now, there were an awful lot of people who were concerned that the printing press was a terrible thing because people would have access to all this information they didn't have before, that was much more constrained beforehand - they could only read manuscripts. And there were an awful lot of people who tried to get them banned or at least licenced ... because you see people in the 15th century arguing ... that with all that extra information there'll be falsehoods and people will believe falsehoods that they otherwise wouldn't believe, and they need to be protected from this. And those arguments look extraordinarily quaint from our perspective, and not to say ridiculous, and I think people will look back on this era and these kinds of arguments against the blogosphere in another similar life."

David Coady, talking on The Philosopher's Zone, ABC Radio National

THE Internet is a curious phenomenon - an explosion of information on a scale never before seen. As access increased, everything in the world, ever, could be accessed at the click of a button. The Internet is a valuable tool, but one that can be easily abused. I wanted to discuss some arguments for and against the use of the Internet as a personal outlet - specifically, blogging.

A blog is a web log, a platform for somebody to write, like a diary, or as an outlet for more specific writings. They are free, and can be private or public. Some people use them to tell stories, some to anonymously reach out for help, and some to analyse the world. There are many blogs who receive greater visitor counts than national newspaper websites. Many are respected sources of opinion, analysis and news.

Last month, a discussion on blogging was broadcast on my new favourite thing, ABC Radio National. The underlying question: are we 'epistemically better off' as a result of blogging? That is, does blogging give us a better or more reliable knowledge? The guests were Alvin Goldman, Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, and David Coady, from the School of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania.

Read more »

Sexual health and children: the UNESCO guidelines

2009-09-10T18:42:00.002+01:00

I HAD intended the first proper post on this new blog to be light hearted. But then my friend Phil wrote a blog post on a very difficult topic and, quite frankly, it truly deserves to be read. Please read the post in its entirety, as the section on his first-hand experiences in Tanzania put the subject matter into perspective.

The article is called The EU Wants Your Five Year Old To Have An Abortion, Part Two (the first part is on a different topic and is an aside). It focuses on soon-to-be-published UNESCO guidelines on sex education, and their irresponsible coverage in certain media outlets and respected politicians. Phil lives in London and has recently been working for the Hoja Project, which he helped to set up, in Songea, Tanzania. He cares deeply about issues relating to the sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) of young people. His ongoing reports and projects can be followed at his blog, the blog with the woofing dog, and the Hoja Project news page.

Click here to read The EU Wants Your Five Year Old To Have An Abortion, Part Two.

Prelude

2009-09-06T12:45:00.000+01:00

THIS blog is a sister site to Simon Says, a blog about the everyday adventures of a chap called Simon. He is interested in lots of things. As a result, he tried to put them all in the same blog and things got messy. That blog remains, for the purpose of recounting everyday silliness: this blog begins in order to cover his thoughts, essays, and stories, causes and miscellaneous stuff he hopes you find interesting. He has your eternal thanks for stopping for a look around.