This week’s Hamilton Press (a local free newspaper) has a lot of fluoride-focused letters in its opinion pages. After reading them I must ask, again, why those opposed to fluoride need to misrepresent the evidence if their case is so strong. For example, we’re told about Amsterdam GP Dr Hans Moolenburgh, who apparently noticed those […]
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the drunken botanist
That’s the title of one of the books I’m reading at the moment: The Drunken Botanist, by Amy Stewart. (I do not know any drunken botanists!) Contrary to any expectations engendered by the title, the book is a thoroughly engaging wander through botany, history, & a little bar-tending (although, now that I look at the […]
Continue readingdoes science literacy matter?
That’s the title of a post over on the Australian site, The Conversation (which I found by way of a piece on "Scientists, the media, & society" by Sir Peter Gluckman). The author of the piece, Ken Friedman, answers his question with an emphatic "yes, and here’s why". As he notes, The big question is […]
Continue readingcan people really sense exposure to emfs?
Back in 2007, I was the MC at a Cafe Scientifique focused on high-voltage power lines. Then, as now, there was concern that the electromagnetic fields (EMFs) around these high-voltage lines posed a health hazard, so I did quite a bit of reading around the subject (as always, we had experts along to lead the […]
Continue readingfluoridation – but wait, there’s more
At noon today the NZ Herald had an on-line forum around fluoridation. Aside from engendering a bit of frustration (it took ages for comments to get past moderation), following the chat was an interesting experience. It also left me with questions/comments that weren’t addressed in the relatively short time available. (The forum included Dr Jonathan […]
Continue readingtalk nerdy to me
Grant’s talked quite a bit about TED talks. This one’s a cracker: Melissa Marshall talking about science communication. Important point for scientists: clear, careful explanations of what we’re doing =/= ‘dumbing it down’! And thanks, Annette, for passing it on 🙂
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