Opinion
Fighting the ‘Infodemic’ – changing people’s personal truths
Jack Blowers A recent report from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate has revealed 31 million people follow anti-vaxxer groups on Facebook and a further 17 million are subscribed to equivalent YouTube channels – whose videos are likely viewed and shared by many more. Currently, despite the apparent success of the UK vaccination program, there…
Of mice and women: the gender bias in science
Sian Wilcox March marks Women’s History Month, a time to celebrate the achievements of women. We hear of fantastic women from history and the present day, and the huge impact they have had in advancing our society. An ever-present theme to these stories, however, is that of constant barriers and setbacks that these women continue…
JE NE SUIS PAS MARIE CURIE
Image credit: Anoop Dey and Clarissa Pereira If I ask my two nine-year-old brothers to name a female scientist, they might tell me about Jane Goodall, and perhaps Mary Anning too, although it will take them a few minutes to remember them. If they’re feeling particularly kind, they might name me. But the one scientist…
Virtual healthcare, here to stay?
Sophie Thompson The digitisation of healthcare is not a new idea—indeed it was a clear ambition of the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, which proposed that all patients should have the right to a ‘digital first’ primary care offer by 2023/2024. The pandemic, however, necessitated a much more rapid realisation of this…
We need to futureproof our zoos.
Hannah King When you picture a zoo, what do you see? A lone bear in a concrete cage, its fur matted from neglect, pacing listlessly in front of an audience of impatient tourists? Or do you imagine a butterfly house, with a flurrying kaleidoscope of insects and children gazing upwards, eyes alight with wonder? Or…
Why politics has no place in science
Joshua Mitchell With the pandemic likely drawing to an end, mass vaccine rollout for COVID-19 underway, and climate change issues very much in the mainstream, science has never been so broadly and so prevalently in the headlines. While this undoubtably sparks interest and inspiration, the increasing incorporation of political themes is sowing distrust, ultimately undermining…
Human genome editing is here—and you’re right to be wary.
Frederico Caso Human genome engineering has long sounded like a concept out of a Sci-Fi movie; believed to be possible sometime soon, but difficult to imagine happening right now. While engineering of the human genome might appear an implausible feat, over the last 20 years technological advancements have been turning this concept into a concrete reality….
The Chief Medical Officers – the definitive voices of science (apart from all the others)
Over the past year Vallance and Whitty, as well as Anthony Fauci from further afield, have become household names. Separating fact from fiction, the phrase ‘next slide please’ echoed in our collective memories as we huddled round the television watching the Downing street briefings like listening to Churchill on the wireless, an analogy that annoyingly…
Navigating Science in the Media
This month I read an online article entitled ‘The 5G network is spreading coronavirus’ and it must be correct because it was written by a “scientist”, someone whose opinion we tend to trust. Plentiful scientific explanation and jargon, to a reader that doesn’t have a background in science, only serves to make the article seemingly…
Undoing Scientific Wrongdoings: Is Journal Retraction Enough?
Following a spate of recent high-profile journal retractions, some scientists are questioning the integrity of the peer-review process and how flawed articles can be published in high-impact journals. But what happens when a journal article is retracted, and is it too late to truly disregard the details it contained? Let’s take a deeper look into…