I'm going to be off-campus for the next month – in fact, I'll be out of NZ & travelling in Europe 🙂 While I intend to post an item a couple of times a week while I'm away, when I can get to a computer (no, really! I do!), there might be the occasional lapse. […]
Continue readingYear: 2008
fact & theory
A couple of science concepts that people often seem to have difficulty with are fact and theory: what the terms mean, and how we distinguish between them. One of my scientific heroes, the late Stephen Jay Gould, covered this very well in a 1981 essay. I've just been re-reading it & thought I'd post the […]
Continue readingthink carefully about what you read
A headline in a recent edition of the New Zealand Herald caught my eye: "Revealed: a dino's bugbear". The article kicks off: Biting insects might have killed off the dinosaurs, rather than a cataclysmic meteor impact, a new theory claims. Scientists now say disease spread by ancient mosquitoes, mites and ticks was probably the major […]
Continue readingthe PCR song
I found this on Pharyngula & thought I'd share it – it's a catchy little number & might reinforce a concept or two. (And a little frivolity never hurt anyone!)
Continue readingeven octopuses get christmas presents
Or should that be 'octopi'? Anyway, I just came across this story, about an octopus that was given a Mr Potatohead toy for Chrismas – and not only plays with it for extended periods, but gets aggressive if keepers try to remove it from his tank. (Thanks, PZ!) Awwww.
Continue readingI never thought I’d link to youtube, but…
… this is rather funny 🙂 But – what's wrong with it? Critique the science, not the ad's effectiveness!
Continue readingcreationist argument #2
Another argument says that evolution cannot possibly be tested, and what possible utilisation can there be? Well, OK, that's two for the price of one.
Continue readinga bit off-topic, maybe?
… but after one of last year's weekend Schol sessions, someone asked me how you get to be a uni lecturer/researcher ie what would you have to do to get there. And we talked about it a bit. And now I'm searching round for a blog topic & thought, you're all probably heading for some sort […]
Continue reading