I find much of the information that comes to me via various science feeds interesting, informative, & useful. But sometimes I see a headline & an article that give me a serious facepalm moment. And this headline on ScienceAlert was one of them: This app promises to read your DNA and give you personalised health […]
Continue readingYear: 2014
but surely if it does no harm…
With Acupuncture Week coming up, I thought it might be timely to revisit one of my earlier posts on the subject. Since I originally wrote this piece, there's been at least one high-profile example of needles being found where they definitely shouldn't have been: a 7cm needle found in the lung of a former president […]
Continue readingthe amazingness of lyrebird vocalisations
This is one impressive lyrebird – laser guns and kookaburras! (Not quite at the same time.) I found him on a ScienceAlert page, which has more info and also links to other videos of these vocally talented birds.
Continue readinga surprising misconception
I spent much of the weekend marking first-year biology exam papers. It was a lovely weekend & I really didn't want to miss all the nice weather, so I ended up finishing the task well after midnight last night. And in the process I identified evidence of what is, on the surface, a really puzzling misconception, […]
Continue readingreflections on using AdobeConnect in a tutorial
Recently I went to a couple of seminars/tutorials on using AdobeConnect in teaching & learning. As I vaguely remember saying somewhere else, this bit of software looked a bit like panopto might, if it were on steroids, & I could see how it could be a very useful tool for use in my classes. Not […]
Continue readingcsiro should fund dowsing? are you serious???
I came across this story on Science's 'science sifter' page: The next CEO of Australia’s leading research agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is in hot water after suggesting the cash-strapped organization spend scarce research dollars investigating water divining, or dowsing. The editors at Science do have a sense of humour & […]
Continue readinga tale of rare blood groups, or, ‘the man with the golden blood’
One of the topics we cover in first-year biology is human blood groups – it's discussed during genetics classes & also touched on when looking at how immune systems function. I give the genetics classes and, being a regular blood donor myself, thought I knew a bit about at least the common blood groups and […]
Continue readingsticky little lizard feet
Evolutionary change can be fast – Peter and Rosemary Grant's long-term & ongoing research project on the Galapagos finches documented rapid responses to environmental changes, for example, as does the recent work on cane toads in Australia. And biologists have known since Darwin's time that competition can be a strong driver of evolutionary change. (Take […]
Continue readingwidening the definition of scientific outputs
This was first posted over on TalkingTeaching. This blog post at SkepticalScalpel really struck a chord. Entitled "Should social media accomplishments be recognised by academia", it compares the number of citations the author's received for published papers with the number of hits on a blog post reviewing original research. And finds there's no contest: Three years ago, […]
Continue readingpechaflickr, connected courses – education in the future?
Recently I had a blast, attending an inspirational workshop by Alan Levine (I grab professional development opportunities like these with both hands!). The workshop gave me some ideas for new things to try with my students next year, and I thought I would share the notes I made at the time (with commentary) in case there might […]
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