Theme : science
- Brazil: The Natural Knowledge-Economy Last Tuesday we launched the most recent pamphlet in the Atlas of Ideas series - Brazil: the natural knowledge-economy - to a full house at the IET. If you couldn't make it, the clever chaps at the IET filmed the whole thing and its now online. You can watch... from : kirstenbound 14th July 2008
- Making it up as we go along Synthetic Biology has again found its way onto the Today programme. The prompt this time is an admirable report (pdf) from bioscience funders the BBSRC, who asked social scientists Paul Martin and Andrew Balmer to map the social and ethical questions raised by this increasingly frenetic science. But the BBC's report is inevitably framed by Craig Venter, the energetic and unapologetic face of all things synthetic. Six months ago, when we hosted Craig Venter, I was convinced that the UK had a... from : jackstilgoe 10th June 2008
- Public science and public goods Our debate on university science a couple of weeks back has been picked up by Times Higher. It served the important, and possibly therapeutic, purpose of getting some things out into the open. As someone with strong opinions in this area, I found my independence as a chair stretched. But my desire was to expose some unacknowledged tensions and start a genuinely new conversation about where science in universities is going and what assumptions are steering it. The debate was instigated by... from : jackstilgoe 2nd June 2008
- Is politics stuck in the present? As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology bill ducks and weaves through parliament, the debate around it reveals the poverty of the politics of the future. Politicians are pretty happy talking about VALUES, INTERESTS, THE EVIDENCE and even ETHICS. So abortion gets the headlines, alongside daddies for test tube babies. When it comes to the research aspects - hybrids, embryonic vs adult stem cells and all that - the evidence and the ethics are only part of the story. So Ann Widdecombe insists... from : jackstilgoe 21st May 2008
- Hold on to your asteroids... Microsoft unveiled Worldwide Telescope yesterday. Its a 'telescope for the masses' - letting anyone with the internet see images from the world's most powerful instruments. Some say it could be 'like the human genome project' in scope. from : kirstenbound 15th May 2008
- ‘Complements’ and sweet talk Dr. Edzard Ernst, a prominent professor of alternative medicine, is interviewed in today’s Independent talking about his new book, Trick or Treatment. From what I gather, it gives alternative medicine a bit of kicking, demonstrating its ineffectiveness when subjected to randomised controlled trials.Two interesting points strike me about the article.The first is that whilst Dr. Ernst is very critical about the complementary medicine industry, he doesn’t shy away from criticising... from : faizalfarook 22nd April 2008
- Ask me no questions, I'll give you the facts Just caught Ben Goldacre's programme on Radio 4. Ben, for those who don't know, is the man behind the Guardian's Bad Science column. He is keen on using science to debunk snake oil merchants and puncturing the scientific claims that they make. When he first began writing, I thought he was a naive positivist. But, the more I read and occasionally chat to him, the more I sympathise with and learn from his approach to the new politics of science, expertise and evidence. He is tackling some... from : jackstilgoe 31st March 2008
- Trust me, I'm the head of immunisation at the Department of Health Vaccines are an interesting condensation point for debates about science, the public good, personal freedom and choice. As the UK government found a few years back with the MMR vaccine, you get in trouble if you are on the one hand telling people to choose everything to do with their healthcare and on the other coercing them into vaccination for the public good. The evidence, as we found out, won't win arguments that messy. There's a nice book co-authored by Demos friend Melissa Leach that... from : jackstilgoe 10th March 2008
- The way to go James Wilsdon reviews three new books on death and aging. from : jameswilsdon 4th March 2008
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A Brazillion and one things still to learn
Just over half way through our Atlas of Ideas fieldwork in Brazil, we’ve been to six cities and interviewed around 70 scientists, policymakers and business people about the future of science and innovation in Brazil. We’re working in partnership with Brazilian strategy and innovation think tank, CGEE. And it still feels like we are barely scratching the surface...
from : kirstenbound 4th March 2008