Most of us will have seen still and video images of a disturbing, violent assaut by one Wanganui schoolgirl on another. (And maybe some have wondered, as I did, whether we really needed to see that footage again. And again. And again.) It was a horrible act and one that has been deservedly condemned. What […]
Continue readingMonth: March 2011
inspired by science – the next stage
Last year the NZ Council for Education Research published Inspired by Science (Bull et al. 2010) – a discussion paper intended to promote debate about the future of science education in this country. I found it an interesting paper, although I also thought that it didn’t really address some issues (funding, for example, or the fact that […]
Continue readingmy mother said…
… not to put beans in your ears. But in the case of our fruit-loop of a burmese cat, Fidget, the operative word should have been ‘blowflies’.
Continue readingcan ducks count?
I’m beginning to think there should be 36 hours in a day – I might be able to catch up with things then! Anyway, I was talking with a colleague this evening about a seminar he’d just done with his MSc students, & he said he’d begun with ‘that duck paper’ as it was a […]
Continue readingthe discussion you have when you’re really having a discussion
One of the (many) things I enjoy about teaching is seeing students develop the confidence to take part in discussions & present (& defend) their own views on the topic du jour. Classes where that happens are really seriously enjoyable. And so it was on Friday, when I was in a tutorial class & we […]
Continue readinga pat a day may help keep the doctor away
Poppa’s been in hospital for the last two weeks. Until he was transferred to a hospital closer to his home we were visiting him regularly, but there was one member of the family that he couldn’t have cuddles with, & he really missed that. And who was he missing? Ben, the little poodle.
Continue readingcreationist ‘report’ writing: marked down again
Yesterday I received an e-mail from someone using the pseudonym ‘WinteryKnight, who said: I was just wondering if you have any recent research publications on experimental biology? I am thinking about writing a blog post comparing you to Michael Behe, and I want to be as fair as possible when I compare your research publications […]
Continue readinganother form of donation
A few days ago my fellow Scibloggers & I had a bit of a discussion around blood donations (as part of a wider discussion of issues relating to the disastrous earthquake in CHristchurch on Tuesday 22 February). While at present the Blood Service isn’t calling for extra donors, I thought I’d write another post on donation […]
Continue readingan ancient origin for the human eye
We understand a fair bit, these days, about the evolution of the complex, ‘camera-type’ vertebrate eye. Not that this has stopped creationsists (most recently the ‘intelligent design’ camp as represented by the Discovery Institute) from arguing that the eye is an excellent example of How Evolution Is Wrong – what, they ask, is the use […]
Continue readingmy humble little blog is found by the discovery institute
Well, colour me startled! It seems that some of the things I said in a recent blog post & its associated comments thread have attracted the attention of the Discovery Institute. They don’t appear to be particularly happy with me. I don’t think that I’ve ever been called "dishonest" and "a liar" before, had my […]
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