We now have 4G (or it is 5G?) phones. Maybe it’s time we moved on to 3G science communication. The marketing exercise that often passes for science communication is clearly recognisable as a first generation model. Still running on the “deficit” operating system this 1G model was programmed to look for “effectiveness” and “right” answers.…
William Paley was born in Peterborough in July 1743, the eldest child of William Paley and Elizabeth Clapham. He died 25 May 1805 in Bishop Wearmouth. His father was a minor canon at Peterborough and later headmaster at the grammar school in Giggleswick, West Yorkshire. Educated at his father’s school and Christ’s College, Cambridge, Paley…
In 1898 one correspondent to Cassell’s Saturday Journal felt able to write “We seem to be so up‑to‑date nowadays that I don’t see that there is really much else to be invented.” And who could have argued with them? A surfeit of wonders, `latest improvements’, and `startling developments’ had brought a nation to expect a…
What does [ ] mean? The top story in today’s online Guardian was built entirely on the use of square brackets in a document. This was taken as a sign of a widening split amongst EU contries, doubts about UK negotiations, worries in France that the UK is seeking extra protection for the City of…
Given the choice I much prefer a manifesto to a mission statement though I suppose they amount to much the same thing. Maybe it’s simply a preference for the radical over the corporatist. The Communist Mission Statement does not quite have the same ring to it. I was prompted to write my own manifesto after…
When you become a time traveller it is important to remember that living in the past is not the same as reading about it. For one thing, you have to live every second of every day. How easy it is in a novel or a history to skip a whole year simply by starting a…
I was in the library when I had my vision. Fine threads of light reached out from where I stood, spreading out to every part of the building, picking out pages from books and journals; each thread highlighting a specific piece of text. About three months earlier I had started research towards a PhD and…
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…
