WEDNESDAY, 18 JANUARY 2012
The Age of Access
But is this something to be celebrated? The media’s ‘misrepresentation of science’ is often a source of complaint. The melodrama surrounding the building of the Large Hadron Collider, and the suggestion that the colliding of particles would result in a black hole, was regarded by many scientists as irresponsible reporting. But in her talk for BlueSci last term, Vivienne Parry suggested that we cannot blame the media for all exaggerations. Journalists have to find an exciting angle from which to report a story or the public won’t be interested in reading their newspaper.
And yet, the problem is not with the intention to communicate—it’s what is communicated. Perhaps the solution would be for a higher level of scientific awareness among the public, allowing more people to distinguish between scientific news and scientific hype. Brian Cox’s new book, The Quantum Universe, has been written on the premise that everyone can understand quantum mechanics—a bold claim. An improvement in the public understanding of science can only force the accuracy of science reporting to improve, which in turn will only further our collective knowledge. If nothing else, we can hope that it inspires a new generation of scientists to enter laboratories.
To this end, BlueSci has its own communication projects. This diverse issue covers everything from sex and the reasons for its evolution, to the life of Turing on the 100 year anniversary of his birth. Our Focus looks at intelligence; what it is, whether it is hereditary and, most perplexing of all, why us? Meanwhile, BlueSci film and our very own radio show on Cam FM 97.2 are continuing this term. Further information about these and other BlueSci activities are available on our website: https://bluesci.co.uk/. As ever, if you find yourself wishing that you’d been involved in the creation of this magazine, please get in touch about working on the next issue. We’d love to hear from you. Felicity Davies
Issue 22: Michaelmas 2011
Editor: Felicity Davies
Managing Editor: Tom Bishop
Business Manager: Michael Derringer
Second Editors: Aaron Barker, Wing Ying Chow, Matthew Dunstan, Helen Gaffney, Ian Le Guillou, Leila Haghighat, Joanna-Marie Howes, Anand Jagatia, Sarah Jurmesiter, Haydn King, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Vicki Moignard, Alexey Morgunov, Lindsey Nield, Laura Pearce, Amelia Penny, Ted Pynegar, Jordan Ramsey, Jessica Robinson, Sandra Schieder, Liz Ing-Simmons, Richard Thompson, Divya Venkatesh, Beth Venus
Sub-Editors: Helen Gaffney, Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Jordan Ramsey
News Editor: Louisa Lyon
News Team: Javier Azpiroz-Korban, Stephanie Boardman, Ian Le Guillou
Reviews: Matthew Dunstan, Leila Haghighat, Vicki Moignard
Focus Team: Helen Gaffney, Liz Ing-Simmons, Ted Pynegar, Jessica Robinson
Weird and Wonderful: Mariana Fonseca, Nicola Love, Jordan Ramsey
Pictures Team: Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Jordan Ramsey, Mrinal Singh
Production Team: Ian Le Guillou, Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Jordan Ramsey, Mrinal Singh
Illustrators: Alex Hahn, Dominic McKenzie, Katherine Wakely-Mulroney
Cover Image: Gengshi Chen
References
Features
The Need for Sex - Ridley, M. The Red Queen: Sex and the evolution of Human Nature, London: Penguin (1994)
Neglecting Vets - Zinsstag, J. et al, A model of animal-human brucellosis transmission in Mongolia. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2005 Vol 69 (1), 77-95
The Eccentric Engineer - www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en.htm
Warning: Contains Peanuts - Clark, A. T., Islam, S., King, Y., Deighton, J., Anagnostou, K., Ewan, P. W. (2009). Successful oral tolerance induction in severe peanut allergy. Allergy 2009: 64: 1218–1220
Aspects of Ageing - Sahin, E. and DePinho, Linking functional decline in telomeres, mitochondria and stem cells during ageing. R.A. Nature 464, 520-528. (2010)
Regulars
Capturing Change - www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml#2
The Race to the Edge - www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=obama-space-plan
Science’s Royal Beginnings - www.royalsociety.org
Computers, Codes and Cyanide - Turing, Sara , Alan M. Turing, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. (1959)
Writing the Future - H.G. Wells, When then Sleeper Wakes, London: Collins (1920)
![](mailto:?subject=Editorial: Issue 23 - Lent 2012&body=https://bluesci.co.uk/posts/editorial-issue-23-lent-2012 <span style="font-size: large;"><strong>The Age of Access</strong></span><br><br><div class='caption'><div id="attachment_5677" align="alignleft" width="180" caption="'"><a href="https://bluesci.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fliss.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-5677 " title="Felicity Davies - Isse 23 Editor" src="https://bluesci.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Fliss-243x300.jpg" alt="" width="180" height="225" /></a></div></div>Science has come a long way since C.P. Snow gave his 1959 Rede lecture: “The Two Cultures”. In this lecture Snow suggested that the divide between arts and sciences could only hinder progress, and that we needed real communication between them to develop as a civilised society. Much has changed since then. We are now provided with a plethora of scientific information on a daily basis: from the traditionally arts-based mainstream newspapers to the Internet, where a detailed answer to any question is just a mouse click away.<br><br>But is this something to be celebrated? The media’s ‘misrepresentation of science’ is often a source of complaint. The melodrama surrounding the building of the Large Hadron Collider, and the suggestion that the colliding of particles would result in a black hole, was regarded by many scientists as irresponsible reporting. But in her talk for BlueSci last term, Vivienne Parry suggested that we cannot blame the media for all exaggerations. Journalists have to find an exciting angle from which to report a story or the public won’t be interested in reading their newspaper.<br><br>And yet, the problem is not with the intention to communicate—it’s what is communicated. Perhaps the solution would be for a higher level of scientific awareness among the public, allowing more people to distinguish between scientific news and scientific hype. Brian Cox’s new book, The Quantum Universe, has been written on the premise that everyone can understand quantum mechanics—a bold claim. An improvement in the public understanding of science can only force the accuracy of science reporting to improve, which in turn will only further our collective knowledge. If nothing else, we can hope that it inspires a new generation of scientists to enter laboratories.<br><br>To this end, BlueSci has its own communication projects. This diverse issue covers everything from sex and the reasons for its evolution, to the life of Turing on the 100 year anniversary of his birth. Our Focus looks at intelligence; what it is, whether it is hereditary and, most perplexing of all, why us? Meanwhile, BlueSci film and our very own radio show on Cam FM 97.2 are continuing this term. Further information about these and other BlueSci activities are available on our website: <a href="https://bluesci.co.uk/">https://bluesci.co.uk/</a>. As ever, if you find yourself wishing that you’d been involved in the creation of this magazine, please get in touch about working on the next issue. We’d love to hear from you. <em>Felicity Davies</em><br><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Issue 22: Michaelmas 2011</span><br><br></strong><br><br><strong>Editor:</strong> Felicity Davies<br><br><strong>Managing Editor:</strong> Tom Bishop<br><br><strong>Business Manager:</strong> Michael Derringer<br><br><strong>Second Editors:</strong> Aaron Barker, Wing Ying Chow, Matthew Dunstan, Helen Gaffney, Ian Le Guillou, Leila Haghighat, Joanna-Marie Howes, Anand Jagatia, Sarah Jurmesiter, Haydn King, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Vicki Moignard, Alexey Morgunov, Lindsey Nield, Laura Pearce, Amelia Penny, Ted Pynegar, Jordan Ramsey, Jessica Robinson, Sandra Schieder, Liz Ing-Simmons, Richard Thompson, Divya Venkatesh, Beth Venus<br><br><strong>Sub-Editors:</strong> Helen Gaffney, Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Jordan Ramsey<br><br><strong>News Editor:</strong> Louisa Lyon<br><br><strong>News Team:</strong> Javier Azpiroz-Korban, Stephanie Boardman, Ian Le Guillou<br><br><strong>Reviews:</strong> Matthew Dunstan, Leila Haghighat, Vicki Moignard<br><br><strong>Focus Team:</strong> Helen Gaffney, Liz Ing-Simmons, Ted Pynegar, Jessica Robinson<br><br><strong>Weird and Wonderful:</strong> Mariana Fonseca, Nicola Love, Jordan Ramsey<br><br><strong>Pictures Team:</strong> Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Jordan Ramsey, Mrinal Singh<br><br><strong>Production Team:</strong> Ian Le Guillou, Leila Haghighat, Nicola Love, Tim Middleton, Jordan Ramsey, Mrinal Singh<br><br><strong>Illustrators:</strong> Alex Hahn, Dominic McKenzie, Katherine Wakely-Mulroney<br><br><strong>Cover Image:</strong> Gengshi Chen<br><br><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>References</strong></span><br><br><em><strong>Features</strong></em><br><br><em>The Need for Sex</em> - Ridley, M. The Red Queen: Sex and the evolution of Human Nature, London: Penguin (1994)<em></em><br><br><em>Neglecting Vets</em> - Zinsstag, J. et al, A model of animal-human brucellosis transmission in Mongolia. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. 2005 Vol 69 (1), 77-95<em></em><br><br><em>The Eccentric Engineer</em> - www.tesla-museum.org/meni_en.htm<em></em><br><br><em>Warning: Contains Peanuts</em> - Clark, A. T., Islam, S., King, Y., Deighton, J., Anagnostou, K., Ewan, P. W. (2009). Successful oral tolerance induction in severe peanut allergy. Allergy 2009: 64: 1218–1220<em></em><br><br><em>Aspects of Ageing</em> - Sahin, E. and DePinho, Linking functional decline in telomeres, mitochondria and stem cells during ageing. R.A. Nature 464, 520-528. (2010)<br><br><em><strong>Regulars</strong></em><br><br><em>Capturing Change</em> - www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/publications_and_data_reports.shtml#2<em></em><br><br><em>The Race to the Edge</em> - www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=obama-space-plan<em></em><br><br><em>Science’s Royal Beginnings</em> - www.royalsociety.org<em></em><br><br><em>Computers, Codes and Cyanide</em> - Turing, Sara , Alan M. Turing, Cambridge: W. Heffer & Sons Ltd. (1959)<em></em><br><br><em>Writing the Future</em> - H.G. Wells, When then Sleeper Wakes, London: Collins (1920)){kind=link}