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Dark Energy: What Science Tells Us About the Hidden Universe

December 10, 2009 in Astronomy, Cosmology, Science, Video | No comments

Bit of a long video this one but fascinating stuff if you’ve any interest in cosmology.

I do like the idea of “Science at the Theater”, there are loads of public lectures in London so I really should make an effort to see a few more.

Berkeley Lab’s Oct. 26 Science at the Theater event, “Dark Secrets: What Science Tells Us About the Hidden Universe,” was a smash hit: more than 600 people packed the Berkeley Repertory Theatre and over a hundred people had to be turned away.

No mystery is bigger than dark energy — the elusive force that makes up three-quarters of the Universe and is causing it to expand at an accelerating rate. Join a panel of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists who use phenomena such as exploding stars and gravitational lenses to explore the dark cosmos.

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Meteor Over South Africa

November 30, 2009 in Astronomy, Science | No comments

CCTV footage of a meteor seen over South Africa on 21st November 2009.

I don’t think they’ve found where any of it landed yet and the Astronomical Society of South Africa has pointed out to any potential rock sellers that it is the property of the state not anyone who happens to have a new scenic crater in their garden.

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Low Swine Flu Vaccination Uptake

November 18, 2009 in Bad Science, Science | No comments

It’s being widely reported that more than half of patients in England being offered the swine flu vaccination are turning it down.

A poll of GPs found that generally uptake was around 46% with resistance from pregnant women being particularly high, one GP estimating as little as 1 in 20 pregnant women opting for the vaccine.

Sadly this is the now likely to be the outcome of any large vaccination programme on the back of the misinformation, fear and lies spread by the media and the growing number of anti-vaccination zealots. Swine Flu might not be the pandemic that was originally suggested but how long before something does come along that will cause tens of thousands of deaths?  We’ve already seen measles outbreaks on the back of all the MMR hysteria, it’s not a huge stretch of the imagination to think of a situation where life saving vaccines are refused because of the misinformation spread by such people.

Vaccination caries a risk but as with all medication it is a risk weighed against the risk of the disease and the complications caused by that disease, particularly so in vulnerable patients.

What is needed is clear, accurate and open information and education not conspiracy obsessed experiments with herd immunity that give little help and leave blood on the hands of those peddling them.

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Baloney Detection Kit – Michael Shermer

November 17, 2009 in Bad Science, Science | No comments

Nice video, sums up the ways in which misinformation is spread quite neatly.

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Monthly Science Magazine – Eureka

November 16, 2009 in News, Science | No comments

The Times recently started publishing a monthly popular science magazine as part of their Thursday edition. I’ve browsed the first issue and it’s not bad, nice at least to see a major newspaper promoting science like this.

You can read the first issue online here, hopefully they will make all of them available online as they are published.

The Times has played a key role in covering science since 1785, from being the forum where Alfred Nobel, Charles Darwin and Einstein discussed ideas, to hiring our first Science Correspondent in 1911 and the first Ocean Correspondent in 2008. In launching Eureka, we recognise that many readers crave a better understanding of how science can transform our lives and our planet, which demands rigorous, engaging and inspirational reporting. No other newspaper has made the commitment to cover these subjects with as much depth and breadth as The Times. Eureka will cover a wide spectrum of topics ranging from life sciences to earth sciences and from green issues to oceanography. Its focus will be on the latest scientific developments, how and why they matter, the people behind them and solutions for the future. Each edition will carry great writing, beautiful photography and detailed graphics. Issue 1, free with The Times on October 8th, looks at the 15 ideas that may change our world in the future.

Evolution on the Curriculum for Primary School Students

November 9, 2009 in News, Science | No comments

evolution

In a letter to the British Humanist Association it has been confirmed that evolution will now be included in the newly revised curriculum for Primary Schools.

This is really great news in a year which has already been great for media coverage of Darwin and his ideas. Natural selection is such a wonderfully simple and clear, yet ground-breaking and insightful idea. It’s just the sort of thing we should be teaching our children from a young age to encourage them think rather then just teaching them what to think.

Also very much needed given the reports that 54% of British adults want intelligent design and creationism taught alongside evolution in science lessons. Creationism and intelligent design have no place in science lessons except perhaps as a tool to demonstrate how not to do science.

In April this year the government began consultation on a new primary school curriculum, which like its predecessor, failed to make any mention of the theory of evolution or process of natural selection.

During the summer the BHA organised a public letter from a group of distinguished scientists and science educators, calling on government to include evolution in the primary curriculum. The BHA made its own submission to the consultation and encouraged members and supporters to do the same, as well as petitioning MPs and ministers on the issue.

In a letter to the BHA from the DCSF, minister Diana Johnson MP has now stated that ‘We have considered the consultation reports…and the views expressed on this issue by the BHA and members of the science community. As a result of the consultation you will be pleased to know that evolution is now included in the programme of learning for scientific and technological understanding.’

[via BHA]

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Daily Fear – Death by Fructose

November 3, 2009 in Bad Science, News, Science | No comments

sugarspoon

So the Daily Express are yet again spreading the fear and misinformation with the rather sensational headline “SWEETNER IS SILENT KILLER“.  The deadly sweetener in question is Fructose and it is claimed that:

Until now, the link between sugary foods and high blood pressure has been unclear.

But US scientists at the University of Colorado found that soaring rates of hypertension over the past two decades exactly match the huge rise in consumption of fructose. The team found there had been a 30 per cent rise in the amount of fructose consumed by Americans in the last 20 years and a 400 per cent rise over the last century.

However the study in question is far from the conclusive proof the Daily Express is parading it as. The study has so far only been presented at a scientific conference and the details of the methods are unclear at present but the small matter of peer review and publication needn’t bother the fearmongers. Nor should the fact that a cross-sectional study like this being a timeless snapshot can only ever suggest a correlation rather than the causation that is stated in the article.

The NHS website has posted a good response to this article which is well worth a read for anyone who thinks fruit is killing them.

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Nutts

November 2, 2009 in News, Science | No comments

I was away when the news broke that Professor David Nutt the government’s chief advisor on drugs policy had been sacked by Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary but I couldn’t let it pass without comment.

The sacking seems to be justified in that Professor Nutt’s outspoken views are directly contradicting policy and Alan Johnson thinks that

he cannot be both a government adviser and a campaigner against government policy

[guardian]

but what value is there in a government advisor who cannot criticise policy which directly contradicts the advice sought from him? This is not even an issue of Professor Nutt being right or wrong, he has been employed to give advice and that advice should be heard and discussed even is it does happen to disagree with the personal opinion of the people seeking the advice.

If Alan Johnson thinks his policy is correct then he should bring his evidence to the table rather than try and silence those who speak out against it. Lets have an open discussion about policy rather than an attempt to find advisers who back up pre-conceived opinions.

Even an acknowledgement that the policy is a reflection of a moral stance or a desire to placate voters would have played better in the media than this fiasco.

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How a Virus Invades the Body

October 29, 2009 in Science, Video | No comments

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More Beautiful Art from Science – Nikon’s Small World 2009

October 28, 2009 in Art, Images, Science | No comments

Paves

Another gallery of beautiful images here. This time all from photomicrography and some really stunning images.

The Nikon International Small World Competition first began in 1974 as a means to recognize and applaud the efforts of those involved with photography through the light microscope. Since then, Small World has become a leading showcase for photomicrographers from the widest array of scientific disciplines.

A photomicrograph is a technical document that can be of great significance to science or industry. But a good photomicrograph is also an image whose structure, color, composition, and content is an object of beauty, open to several levels of comprehension and appreciation.

[via haha.nu]

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