-
Africa’s Scientific Independence
claimtoken-51e051c6e9fe0 The 11th July saw Africa’s Scientific Independence, a day-long ‘Unconference’ run by the Planet Earth Institute, at the Hub Westminster. Chaired by Lord Boateng and featuring a number of senior scientists and policy makers in the UK and all over Africa, the event tried to get to grips with a rather large question of…
-
Summer Science at the Royal Society / Wrong! at the Wellcome Collection
This week has been a bumper week in London for science public engagement events. I’ve been fortunate to go to two of them: Twilight Science as part of the Summer Science Exhibition at The Royal Society, and Wrong! at Wellcome Collection. Two public-facing science events done in different ways.
-
Science Haiku
Cavefish body clocks Tick, tick, tick in the darkness Why there you might ask?
-
Science’s Silliest Stories – Science Museum Lates
Last week I ran an event at the adult-only Lates event at London’s Science Museum titled Science’s Silliest Stories. In it I told a story of some of the odder pieces of research that have been published recently to draw out some of the more curious sides of scientific research. I really enjoyed the evening.…
-
How do you study circadian rhythms?
Science requires controlled and well-planned experiments. Without correct set-up, results from experiments may not be reliable enough to be trusted. Circadian biology is no different in that regard, and especially when trying to find out if something has a working circadian clock, controlled experiments are crucial.
-
Models in research
A lot of research (especially in biological sciences) is conducted using ‘models’. Like models in the fashion world, research models serve as a showcase of a specific (trait) or phenomena and can be a very useful tool for those scientists who are interested in that problem.
-
What is a circadian clock?
Broadly speaking, the circadian clock is a cell and molecular feedback loop – inside the cell, a bunch of proteins that interact with genes and DNA, which in turn interact back with those original proteins. This cellular feedback loop controls those outward and apparent rhythms we are aware of, like jet lag and waking, as well…
-
Zoos: Thoughts from time as a volunteer
Zoos are the place where a lot of people come into contact with exotic animals for the first time – especially in Britain, Western Europe and North America, where much of our ‘wild’ life has been decimated over time as humans have colonised the landscape. Exotic creatures seem to enthral people, especially children, and zoos…
-
Why is Darwin more famous than Wallace? Cultural survival of the fittest
Why is Darwin is more famous than Wallace? BBC – Why does Charles Darwin eclipse Alfred Russel Wallace? Why Evolution is True – Why is Darwin more famous than Wallace? Essentially it was because of the impact of Origin of Species. With their joint paper, Darwin and Wallace can be thought of a co-proposers of…
-
Wonders of Life
Have you seen any of the BBC’s new series, Wonders of Life? If not, I’d really recommend you catch it – it’s available on iPlayer until the 3rd of March. I’ve heard some criticism of it – that it’s too Physics-y or that Brian Cox just isn’t David Attenborough or the changing locations is annoying…