Search for "hype"
Is Asda right about mental health?
October 2, 2013
This is a guest post by Greg Hollin, doctoral researcher at the Institute for Science and Society, University of Nottingham. The obvious answer to the question above is ‘no’; a finer example of Betteridge’s Law of Headlines is not easily found. The decision by Asda – who sold a ‘mental patient fancy dress costume’ complete with …
Making Science Public: A one-year anthology of blog posts
August 2, 2013
In spring 2012 we began work on a five-year research programme funded by the Leverhulme Trust entitled ‘Making Science Public: Challenges and Opportunities’ (2012-2017). The programme deals with all aspects of ‘making science public’, but in particular with controversies around science, politics, publics and participation. As part of the programme, we began writing a blog …
Gabriel Tarde and science communication – some reflections
May 10, 2013
More than a century ago the French sociologist Gabriel Tarde began to think seriously about knowledge, influence, politics and publics (Tarde, 1895, 1898, 1903; see here). Most importantly, he wanted to study the dynamics of interaction between various actors in networks of ‘conversation’ (Nerlich, 1992, 1996) (Clark, 1969, Katz, 1993, Katz, 2006). Communication, opinion, power …
Epigenetics: Switching the power (and responsibility) from genes to us?
May 6, 2013
We have always known that we are who we are because of our ancestors. We also know in ever more detail that we are who we are because of our genes. Since 1953 we know the structure of the genes that are passed down from generation to generation and since 2003 we know the structure …
Competitive risk promotion: A historical assessment
March 27, 2013
This is a guest blog post by Adam Burgess, who specialises in the sociology of risk (University of Kent, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research) I’d like to take up where Brigitte left off in her blog post about the antibiotic apocalypse and very schematically draw attention to what I would describe as …
Making thoughts public: One year on
December 31, 2012
This is the end of the year and a time for reflection. I have now been blogging for just under a year and, looking back, this has been quite a learning curve, about blogging, myself, and the various topics I have blogged about. At first I had been rather reluctant to take up blogging and …
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 …
Science communication: Some anecdotes, some stats and some questions
June 21, 2012
This is a guest blog by Ash Choudry which was previously published on the Nottingham Science Blog The blog reports on a public lecture by Rick Borchelt held on Friday, 15 June at the University of Nottingham. Rick is Special Assistant for Public Affairs to the Director of the National Cancer Institute at the US …
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 …