Category Archives: the media

Quora: productive procrastination

I’ve recently started to spend some time on the question and answer site Quora, and I’m finding it be quite an effective science communication medium as well as excellent writing practice. I can’t quite remember how I first came to … Continue reading

Posted in cancer research, career, communication, evolution, fun with language, grant wrangling, science, television, the media | 6 Comments

Scooped – why I have a hard time getting on board with Open Science

Well, now that all the excitement‘s dying down (for now), I finally find myself with enough time and motivation to start writing a follow-up post to the inaugural Science Online Vancouver event, which I attended on a very rainy Thursday … Continue reading

Posted in career, communication, evolution, original research, personal, publishing, science, the media, Vancouver | 33 Comments

Cost to benefit ratios

From today’s RSS feeds: 1) Alilain WJ, Horn KP, Hu H, Dick TE, Silver J: “Functional regeneration of respiratory pathways after spinal cord injury“. Nature 2011: 475: 196-200 (This article also showed up in my BBC science feed, with the … Continue reading

Posted in current affairs, medicine, original research, science, the media | 5 Comments

In teh Grauniad

When I was about 15, our local paper ran a special schools edition. They approached English teachers around the city, asking them to contribute pieces written by local students, and my teacher picked an essay I’d written. The essay was … Continue reading

Posted in blog buddies, education, family, original research, personal, publishing, science, the media, UK | 13 Comments

The scope of horoscope horror

My friendly local morning news team are discussing horoscopes today. This is, unfortunately, nothing new; I had to change the channel on New Year’s Day because their guest astrologer was doing my head in with her “Scorpios will come into … Continue reading

Posted in career, current affairs, drunkenness, family, idiocy, personal, pseudoscience, rants, television, the media | 43 Comments

Now that’s an odd name for a dog.

Weird that they didn’t give the photographer’s name, eh? (Awesome photo, though, that is in danger of making this Yorkshire lass feel homesick. Check out the series – there are some stunning shots included in the slide show).

Posted in nature, photos, silliness, the media, UK | 4 Comments

Beeb Boob

Oh dear, BBC. Oh dear. (Thought I’d better get this up before someone notices and corrects the images!)

Posted in photos, silliness, sport, the media | 9 Comments

Book Reviews: the good science, the bad science, and the ugly

Inspired by Science Bear’s epic book review post, here are three very overdue book reviews of my own! The Good Science Dry Store Room No.1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, by Richard Fortey. I first visited the … Continue reading

Posted in bad people, book review, communication, medicine, nature, pseudoscience, science, the media | 4 Comments

Yeah, baby!

In a recent comment on Expression Patterns, I complained about the poor quality of Vancouver’s newspapers, and especially their obsession with putting the Canucks on the front page come hell global pandemic or high water. At the risk of being … Continue reading

Posted in sport, the media, Vancouver | 3 Comments