Blogs

Immortality through symmetry

08:04:10

Many thanks again to the fabulous Marcus du Sautoy, Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, for joining in our PRISM bookclub discussion yesterday evening.

During the discussion he mentioned his support for a charity in Guatemala than opens up education opportunities for children in that country, and, only conditional on the child remaining at school, the family receives additional support such as healthcare.

Simon Singh wins his appeal: Victory for the scientific method

01:04:10

Today, three of England's top judges handed down their ruling on Simon Singh's appeal against the initial judgement of meaning in the libel case brought against him by the British Chiropractic Association (yes -- this *is* getting complicated! Here is some background).

Getting ready for bookclub: Marcus du Sautoy TED talk

01:04:10

On Wednesday 7th April we'll be discussing Marcus du Sautoy's book "Finding Moonshine". Du Sautoy will be joining the conversation by Skype. If you want to explore his take on symmetry before please check out his TED talk here.

Please sign the libel reform petition

16:03:10

Here is my talk on #libelreform from IGNITE Dublin 3 on the 11th of March. Hopefully it will persuade you to sign the libel reform petition at http://www.libelreform.org/sign

And to our readers in the UK ... please don't sue me!

18:02:10

Many of you will already be aware of the campaign for libel reform in the UK. The UK libel laws are stifling free speech, and, with no clause for public interest, scientific discussion is being muted too.

Simon Singh's particular case (he is being sued by the British Chiropractic Association) has become the rallying point for efforts to reform UK libel laws to strike a more equitable balance between protection of reputation, and freedom of speech.

OMG! Learning is fun!!!

16:02:10

There's a note sitting on my desk as I write. It was given to me by a transition year student who just spent two weeks in my lab on a work placement. It says, "Thank you for everything, I really enjoyed myself". This sits alongside a similar note from another TY student a few weeks earlier.

Wisdom of Crowds: get involved in real research (yes you can!)

17:12:09

In today's issue of SEED magazine there is a great article about how ordinary citizens can become scientists active in real research projects. They call it "Citizen Science".

http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/creating_citizen_scientists/

Swine Flu fatality rates similar to seasonal flu

08:12:09

A report on swine flu cases in the USA has just been published today by the prestigious journal PLoS Medicine. The authors conducted a statistical analysis of hospitalisation, intensive care, and fatalities resulting from the new H1N1 (swine) flu. Because those cases turning up in hospitals are only a fraction of the actual cases (these are the most extreme cases) they employed several techniques to estimate the total number of infections and from that to estimate the rates of fatality etc..

EMBO Journal Cover Art competition -- open to all

07:12:09

The European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) is running a competition for scientific and non-scientific cover art for the journal. This could be a great opportunity for any of you to get your work noticed. These can be scientific images (such as photographs taken down a microscope) or "non-scientific" images which are more abstract but relating to biology in some way. ... maybe you even have some photos taken in the Science Gallery that you'd like to submit??

Here is the text of the announcement calling for entries. Please feel free to pass it on.

All things Simon ...

23:10:09

Getting in the mood for skyping with Simon Singh at the PRISM meeting in the Science Gallery next Wednesday, and the more I learn about him the more I see what a brilliant character he is.

I just learned about this beautiful exchange that occurred a few years ago between Singh and Katie Melua via Science Gallery's own media-godess Anja (thanks!)

Here is Singh's article in the Guardian about Katie Melua's bad science