Landing on a comet is a remarkable achievement. Even though the Rosetta mission had its problems we will still learn a great deal about comets, the solar system, maybe even about life on Earth. We can also use the Rosetta mission to comet 67P as a way to examine science itself. To do that, I…
How do you like your science? Rare, medium, well-done? And your public engagement? Would you like that with a little more public or a little less? Press release for starters and impact survey to finish off with? We all have our preferences when it comes to food and the same is true for our individual…
It’s a load of balls really. The impact of this; the effect of that. Nothing but billiard balls slamming into each other. Bang – the impact of science on society. Bang – the effect of ideology on science. Society bouncing round the angles after the science cue ball slams into it. Science rolling on its…
As it is Christmas how about a little bit of Morecambe and Wise…..as a response to those who might want to decontextualise scientific knowledge. Among the comedy duo’s many catch-phrases and recurring visual gags was the one where Eric would swing a Karate chop and press his open hand under Ernie’s chin saying “Get out…
Focussing on scientific heroes in history is like climate sceptics cherry-picking temperatures. Each piece of information may be accurate but the bigger picture gets distorted. To understand the consequences of that imagine a documentary on global warming made and presented by climate sceptics. Each little piece of information may be factually correct, but the way…
There should be a version of Godwin’s law that applies to science communication. It would be something like this: “As any discussion of science communication grows longer, the probability of an explanation involving Snow’s Two Cultures approaches 1.” As with Godwin’s original law which highlighted the danger of overusing Nazi analogies in discussion, so too…
There are two versions of this post. Version one echoes to the sound of my head banging against the desk and is filled with imaginative expletives that would make Malcolm Tucker blush…..This is version two. Sorry about that. Version one may have been more entertaining but probably not very productive – and please note I…
What if the people of London and Paris swapped places? How would each city change? This is a thought experiment suggested by artist Claire Yspol in the following guest post. I am really pleased to be able to present this post which looks at the city as a text, examining not only how it is authored…
Imagine you can walk at the speed of light. It is difficult to comprehend just how large distances are in astronomy. By shrinking the scales down to something more manageable (eg Sun the size of a melon, grapefruit etc) we are still usually left trying to imagine distances that go far beyond our horizon and…
Many years ago I stayed with friends in Germany. Early one evening my daughter called through to the kitchen from the living-room, “Dad, the news is on.” My daughter was about four at the time and has never understood a word of German. Even without the necessary spoken or written language she was still able…
If Queen Victoria had had a television this is what she would have watched. The new style of mass-circulation family magazines that are characteristic of the late-Victorian period have a striking resemblance to evening TV schedules. The technology may have been different but they have a number of features in common: a strong visual element…
I have long been intrigued by the idea of “going back to nature”. Why “nature”? Why “go back”? It’s not that I don’t see the appeal of the simple life, but for a cultural historian the ideas of “nature” and “return” are so rich with significance. I was therefore really pleased to see a recent post…
