Today, 385 talented senior biology students from 67 secondary schools will sit the NZ International Biology Olympiad entrance exam. Dr Meikle, secretary NZIBO said "This is the largest number of students from the widest range of schools ever!" At Christ’s College, the students are so keen that they will sit this test at 7:15 am. […]
Continue readingYear: 2012
things to do with precious bodily fluids
A couple of posts back I wrote about the dreadfulness that is ‘Fresh Cell Therapy’. As practiced by the German clinic offering it, FTC supposedly involves injecting foetal lamb cells into people as a ‘treatment’ for all sorts of ills. (I used the word ‘supposedly’ deliberately – the best one can hope is that in […]
Continue readingquality counts – except when it doesn’t
A few weeks ago, writing about the ‘great class size debate’, I also touched on the question of quality teaching. There’s no question – at least, there shouldn’t be – that children deserve the best possible learning experiences, and one of the requirements for that is quality teaching by excellent, expert teachers. It’s quite tricky […]
Continue readingsharks don’t get cancer?
It turns out that if you thought that foetal lamb cells as a treatment for autism (& a range of other disorders & illnesses) was the pinnacle (or should that be ‘the depths’?) of silliness, you’d be wrong. Dr Huertgen has competition. It was previously believed that sheep were the best donor animals because of their […]
Continue readingfoetal lamb cells for autism? baaaah!
Orac posts a fair bit on various quack ‘treatments’ – some, like the use of so-called Miracle Mineral Solution (aka industrial bleach) for just about anything that ails you – are quite dreadful in their potential to do harm. (MMS’s latest outing was as a ‘treatment’ for autism – used as an enema!) One recent […]
Continue reading‘esoteric’ – you keep using that word…
…. and in the immortal words of Inigo Montoya: "I do not think it means what you think it means." At least, that’s what I thought when I came across this website (courtesy of PZ Myers & also discussed on various Australian media sites, although I’m not sure that I’m grateful as now I need to […]
Continue readingmoss s*x and springtails
Sexual reproduction in flowering plants is often mediated by the birds & the bees (& other animal agents), but up until now the life cycle has appeared much simpler in plants like the mosses. Until fairly recently it was generally accepted that moss sex was a case of ‘just add water’: this released sperm from […]
Continue readingfirst supertrees – now super domes
After goggling (a mixture of gobsmacked & ogling) the supertrees, our little party of escapees from the day’s official IBO program made our way into the Flower Dome, the first of the two great conservatories in Singapore’s Gardens in the Bay. Cue more ‘oh, wow!’ moments as the scale of the building became apparent – […]
Continue readingsingapore’s stupendous supertrees
I’ve just got back from the 2011 International Biology Olympiad. Our team did well – Richard Chou received a silver medal; Sumin Yoon & Evelyn Qian won bronzes, & Eddie McTaggart was awarded a Certificate of Merit. So well done, all round! It was a testing time for our students, who were competing against the […]
Continue readinga letter from exotic places
Once again my good intentions to get back into a more regular blogging cycle have been stymied – although this time the reasons are all good. For I am in Singapore, at the 2012 International Biology Olympiad. Fifty-nine different countries have sent students to compete in this prestigious competition, supported by senior academics & teachers. […]
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