Posts

This Valentines Day Ask for Evidence

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Today (as with all days of significance) stories tend to appear that are linked to 'science', 'scientists' or 'experts'. Quite often loosely tied to a marketing campaign.. But what do you do if you spot something that might be a dubious claim or story? The Ask for Evidence campaign is a fantastic place to start... and this year they have sent everyone a lovely Valentines Day card titled 'Evidence is our aphrodisiac' .. find out what Voice of Young Science volunteers found out about aphrodisiacs when they asked researchers about various claims - click here  (HT to @nonisa for sharing this!) Some tips for spotting dubious claims and stories: Where is it published? (On a website? Daily Mail? On a product?) - If you think the source is dubious, then follow up the claim by seeing if anyone else is covering the story, or search for more information online. If they quote any sources or evidence, check those out.  Ask for evidence about the claim - an

Gender divide in science, what can we do?

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An article on the Guardian website offers advice as to how to reduce the gender divide in science subjects and how to best teach science to girls. There are a number of problems with the article, nicely outlined by @soozaphone in this blog post . In summary of the article, it was an amalgamation of some US government advice from a large study, some data from recent test results (US) and some strange tips and opinions from 'experts' about how best to teach science to girls, although it isn't entirely clear who provided which pieces of information and advice. For an overview of an evidence based approach to encouraging both genders in science subjects (and recognising potential differences) see this post by Chris Chambers and Kate Clancy in the Guardian . I believe it needs to be a collaborative effort across society with many small changes that may, slowly create an impact.  Kate and Chris  discuss here  how challenging  societal constraints and  identifying  and  ad

Saying Thanks

I am just about to send my thesis to the printers and the last part I did was my acknowledgements. I still have to do my viva examination, and I will have corrections but I couldn't wait to share this (and yes, I have thanked Twitter).  There are also many more people I want to thank for helping me along the way. I could have written about 15 pages.  Acknowledgements  Firstly I would like to thank my Mum, Dad, sister Joanne and Grandparents for being there throughout my whole education and always supporting me even if they lost track of where I was, didn’t quite understand what I was doing or didn’t have a clue what I was trying to achieve. They have continually challenged me in many ways but have always been there for me, and explaining my work to them was a starting platform for my other passion, sharing the wonders of biology with others. My deepest appreciation goes to my supervisor Professor Ruth Ross and my PhD collaborators at Selcia. I want to thank them for belie

Finishing a PhD and managing an industrial partnership

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Finishing up a PhD isn't a swift and easy process (something my family can find difficult to understand). It's made slightly more difficult if you move away, start a new job, or if your supervisor moves half way across the globe which is something many PhD students have to contend with. Although, supervisors are always busy even if they are in the same city as you are. I'm reaching the final stretch now. My final hand in date is the 29th of January. I wrote my first full draft back in October and immediately sent it to my supervisor to look over. I took a break over Christmas, and I started my new job in October, went to the Abu Dhabi science festival and then went home ...  all great career stuff, but it delayed me a little getting the final bits of thesis completed. My supervisor didn't have too many comments or corrections, so I have only got a few final tweaks (and the dreaded references) to sort out before the end of January. I am finding it useful to have

Millie's Trust

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This year two of my closest friends tragically lost their 9 month old daughter. My goddaughter.  This is extremely difficult to talk about and it is often seen as a taboo subject. I know people read my blog page and I wanted to share something with you all, which I am hoping people will be able to help with. Millie was at nursery and choked on some food. There is an investigation on going to determine what happened.  Millie and me My friends have been incredibly strong over the past few months, and have put together and started Millie's trust. A charity which will provide money for people to attend first aid courses with a focus on first aid for babies and toddlers. This Christmas would have been Millie's first, and it's going to be a difficult time for her parents, and everyone that had the pleasure of meeting Millie. Please help by supporting the charity. Like the facebook page, send them a message, share the page and donate what you would spend on a Christmas c

What is meant by the term 'placebo effect'?

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This is from F in Science .. a collection of lol answers from science. I bought it this morning and it made me smile and I thought I would share it. 

What would an independent Scotland mean for UK Science and Technology?

I'm not going to pretend to know a lot about Scottish politics because I don't. But I am interested in what impact independence would have on science and technology - not just in Scotland but across the UK as whole. Science and technology funding comes from Westminster and the research councils that allocate this funding are UK wide. An independent Scotland could mean a complete reorganisation of the councils and funding allocations, which would affect science and technology across the whole of the UK. Last month I attended Science and The Parliament  in Edinburgh. An event organised by the RSC that brings politicians, policy makers, scientists and research councils together. Jolly good event. The event finished with a panel debate that tackled the question  'What would happen to science and technology in Scotland if it became independent'.  A brief overview of the debate and discussion would be that Scotland has a rich history of good science and technology an