Science, sensationalism and the dangers of over-selling research
June 27, 2014
This is a GUEST POST by FREYA HARRISON. Freya works in Steve Diggle’s group in the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Nottingham, where she researches the ecology and evolution of cooperation. She spends most of her time exploring how communication and cooperation help bacteria to cause chronic infections, but she is also …
Families of climate scepticism I: faulty science?
April 12, 2013
At last week’s British Sociological Association conference, I presented some initial observations from my research on climate change scepticism. My starting point was that climate change scepticism – or as it is often inaccurately described, denial – is not monolithic. Those people typically labelled as sceptics vary in their arguments. Sometimes may employ many different arguments, some may focus on …
Not God but Goldilocks? The Higgs Boson and science communication
July 7, 2012
Being on a rain-washed holiday in the depth of Dorset, what else is there to do but watch some news, read some newspapers and getting a long lecture on the Higg’s from one’s offspring. I still don’t understand exactly what’s going on with the Higgs, but the whole thing ties in nicely with various topics …
Making science policy public: Exploring the pitfalls of public protest
May 27, 2012
I have recently published two blogs, one on impact and one on hype. Protests against EPSRC funding policies provide an opportunity to reflect on both these and other issues related to making science public. Science for the Future – the protest On 15 May, 2012 members of a campaign group “Science for the Future” delivered …
Making neuroscience public: Neurohype, neuroscepticism and neuroblogging
May 15, 2012
There has been a lot of debate recently about climate scepticism and climate sceptics. To define what climate sceptics are is actually quite difficult, but some may be described as (anthropogenic) climate (change) deniers, some as climate change doubters, some as critical observers of climate science, some as just sitting on the fence. There are …
Hype, honesty and trust
April 25, 2012
This week I am participating in a workshop on ‘Sociologies of Moderation: Problems of democracy, expertise and the media’* organised by Dr Alexander Smith at the University of Huddersfield. The workshop will scrutinise the meaning of ‘moderation’, mainly from a political perspective. My contribution strays somewhat away from that core political meaning, as it deals with …
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