Shark!
I think it would be safe to say there’s been something of a shark frenzy over here in Australia in the past few weeks. Headlines like this surface every now and again and are always worth a few column cm (or whatever the digital equivalent is). The trouble is, they lead on to a set of predictable responses, from both sides of the conservation fence, and I’m not sure that this actually helps understanding or safety. Let’s look at the […]
What would Einstein do?
It really started with this article from the Guardian. Although it’s worth the read, the basic story is that a fake journal article was sent to hundreds of Open Access journals – the sort of place where you can publish without the strictures (often financial) of journals like Nature. The punch line is that far too many journals accepted what should have been seen as false. This set me thinking. What are the dimensions of this issue and how […]
TB or not TB?
OK, so it’s not the most original title but when I saw this I thought I was back nearer the start of my career, not nearer the end! I thought we’d sorted this battle years ago with the original report. It was so long ago I even had to search for the name. Not Krebs which is the one quoted on the DEFRA site (and also unavailable except in their library!) and which is only 1996 but Zuckerman (quoted as […]
Where to from here?
Perhaps it’s because I’ve been considering careers policies in my institution or perhaps it’s because I’ve been trawling through a recent issue of the BES bulletin but it strikes me that there’s a considerable amount of material out there but also a few gaps. On the plus side, the amount of information for graduates is considerable. We can start with the BES’s own career guides, move on to the excellent guide from a raft of biological societies called “Next Steps” […]
Plus ça change…
Once more unto the breach? I was drawn into considering the nature of curriculum reform when reading a recent BES blogpost looking at GCSE reform. The basic idea was that another round of reforms was on the way and consultation was afoot! What are you looking for in a science curriculum? In a way, it sounds almost biblical as Matriculation begat O levels and O levels begat GCSE and GSCE might (or again, might not) begat English Baccalaureate. Is […]
And you say it’s what?
Over the years, one of the most crucial but difficult skills has been species identification. OK, difficult for me but I’m guessing , possibly, others! It might be because I came to ecology via earth sciences (rocks and fossils no issue, living material, more difficult!). Looking through the BES bulletins, I found a common thread. How do we accurately identify species in the field and, probably as an adjunct, but I’d argue needs a higher profile, how do we support […]
Science, meet the people!
Now that I’m getting some order into this work I can start to re-read back issues of the BES Bulletin. It strikes me that there’s a lot of concern in ecology, as in other sciences, with public perception and understanding. Books on the topic are becoming increasingly frequent – here’s one I reviewed earlier! The June 2012 bulletin listed some critical areas that needed to be addressed: science to inform policy-making sustainable food production natural capital ecology and planning/health etc. […]
BES Centenary
Just as I was organising the final parts of this new site, I get an email about our centenary. What a milestone. Sadly, being one of the Antipodean set, I won’t be around to celebrate but I can fly the flag from here. If you want to see more, try the festival site. One part of the site raises issues I will no doubt be coming back to. Head over to the scientists page. It shows the vast range of […]
