Category Archives: Science & Media

Meeting David Attenborough at the Royal Institution

Posted on March 5, 2016 by Stephen

On Wednesday of this past week I found myself in the presence of royalty and felt quite giddy. It happened at a Royal Institution shindig to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the first televised broadcast of their world-famous Christmas lectures. … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media | 3 Comments

This week – reading, thinking and linking

Posted on February 7, 2015 by Stephen

This past week I have been doing so much reading and writing for work that there has been no time to prepare anything substantial enough for a proper blog post, even if I have been stirred by the excessive protests … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, History of Science, Science & Media, Science & Politics | Comments Off on This week – reading, thinking and linking

Prize-winning video

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Stephen

Well this is nice. The Celebrating Crystallography video made last year by the Royal Institution, which I narrated and helped to script-edit, has won the the EuroScience New Media award. Full details are available on the RI blog but it’s great to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Science, Science & Media | 4 Comments

A television programme about the second law of thermodynamics

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Stephen

CP Snow must be doing cartwheels in his grave. The BBC has made a beautiful, intelligent film about the second law of thermodynamics. You only have until Tuesday 30th Oct* to catch it on iPlayer and you should. Presented by … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, Science & Media, TV review | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

What is it like to be a Scientist?

Posted on September 19, 2012 by Stephen

It is a year to the day since the release of my film, “I’m a Scientist“, in which six different scientists talk openly about their lives in the laboratory and what makes them tick. The aim of the film is … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

Here goes something: Occam’s Typewriter cornered

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Stephen

Well this is nice. Today Occam’s Typewriter opens a new cornershop, so to speak, at the Guardian. For me, this closes a social media circle that started over four years ago because I can trace my entry to the scientific … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Communication, Science & Media | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Rubicon

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Stephen

This is a big deal for me: my first ever article in New Scientist – a magazine that I read in the library in Ballymena as a teenager. Pardon me for preening a little. What’s it about? You guessed it: … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Open Access, Science & Media | Tagged , | 13 Comments

Hawking with Dinosaurs

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Stephen

Here is a ‘paper‘ that I think would not be accepted by PLoS ONE and yet it was the subject of a report on the Today programme on BBC Radio 4 this morning, arguably the nation’s premier morning news show. … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media | Tagged , , | 24 Comments

The road well trodden

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Stephen

Scientists should do this. Journalists should do that. And eventually we will live in a world where the media reporting of science achieves perfection. At least that is the hypothesis. The hypothesis was put to the test at the Royal … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media | Tagged , , , | 13 Comments

The past, The future and The Guardian

Posted on October 16, 2011 by Stephen

This week I got to visit a part of London that is for me a hallowed place – the offices of The Guardian newspaper. I was participating in a workshop for the people who had been short-listed for the Wellcome … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Science & Media | Tagged , , , | 31 Comments

I’m a Scientist – making the film

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Stephen

Today sees the release of my new film: I’m a Scientist. It’s about scientists. Please take a look either here, or on the web-site that I have created specially for it*. The film was a long time coming. I had … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fun, Science, Science & Media, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 45 Comments

Artful History

Posted on April 29, 2011 by Stephen

“There have been times in the history of man when the earth seems suddenly to have grown warmer… I don’t put that forward as a scientific proposition, but the fact remains that three or four times in history man has … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Media, TV review | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments