Alfred Russel Wallace: Back in the picture

Image: Natural History Museum

Giving a lecture this week on biogeography and the role played by Alfred Russel Wallace in the development of that area of study, I was delighted to be able to call upon comedian and musician Bill Bailey to lay the groundwork with his excellent documentary on the Welsh biologist.

Bailey's two-part documentary on Wallace (part two to be aired on BBC2, this Sunday) comes during Wallace 100, a series of events throughout 2013 to mark the 100th anniversary of his death.

Some, including Bailey, argue that Wallace is a 'forgotten man' of science; his contribution to the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection having been watered-down or forgotten completely with the passing of time.

Wallace 100 seeks to put that right, not least by returning a portrait of the man to the main hall of the Natural History Museum in London - a portrait that was removed in 1971. Now, Wallace will have a presence in the NHM to rival that of his colleague in science, Charles Darwin.

A fund has also been set up to erect a bronze sculpture of Wallace at the NHM. This sculpture, currently being created, will finally complete an ambition which has existed since Wallace's death but was not realised due to the outbreak of World War 1.

As well as his contribution to the theory of evolution, Wallace is also know as the 'Father of Biogeography' - the study of how and why plants and animals are distributed across the world.

Biogeography, in tandem with evolution, explains why you find kangaroos in Australia and not in Canada; why you find giraffes in the wild in Africa and not in Ireland.

The Wallace Line (in red) marks a dividing line in biogeography

Wallace's travels and studies in south-east Asia led him to think about how animals and plants are distributed and he was able to draw a line - The Wallace Line - through modern day Indonesia and Borneo to indicate a dividing line between 'Australian-type' flora and fauna on one side and 'Asian-type' plants and animals on the other.

This line, we now know, corresponds with the meeting point of two major tectonic plates which have only (geologically speaking) recently moved together. So, whereas now these two regions lie very close together, the plants and animals on these plates developed in biogeographical isolation and differ hugely from one another. They're the original 'odd-couple'!

Watch the second episode of Bill Bailey's Jungle Hero on BBC Two on 28 April.

Science Communication enters the Dragon's Den

New Irish #SciComm venture Walton Magazine hits the airwaves tonight when they pitch their wares on Dragon's Den.


Magazine editor John O'Donoghue and PR Manager Ger O'Donovan braved the den to get funding for their fledgling science communication magazine.

The magazine was launched in the Autumn of 2012 and deals with STEM issues from an Irish perspective. My own articles for Walton have dealt with current research on the potato as well as the future of food production and the importance of plant pathology.

You can see Walton Magazine take on the Dragons tonight (Easter Sunday, 31st March) at 9.30pm on RTE One television and join in the conversation on twitter @waltonmagazine using the hashtag  #ddirl

BBC Science Club and Plant Blindness

The latest episode of Dara O'Briain's Science Club on BBC was all about extinction. The problem is, they seem to have killed off the plants before they even got started with the show.

The programme itself was excellent. The series has been largely well received and the move to a 'Topgear-style' format  gives it a nice edgy and interactive feel to it. Dara O'Briain has also been engaging as our amusing guide to all things scientific.

My problem is that this week's episode was entirely zoocentric, without any mention of threatened plant species and their importance to the overall ecosystem.

There was an excellent studio piece on the African Clawed Frog and their former use as a rudimentary pregnancy test. Then we had a report on the Giant Panda and whether such "charismatic megafauna" are worth trying to save. We looked at the humble bee and also managed to find time to make a comet. All interesting TV but no mention of plants at all when talking about extinction? That seems a bit odd.

An EU report from 2008 showed that Europe is home to about 12,500 species of vascular plants (flowering plants, conifers and ferns). A staggering 21% of these species are threatened, according to the IUCN and 50% of plants which are only found in Europe are in danger of extinction. The main threats to Europe's wild plants are habitat loss, the introduction of alien species, the effect of pollution, the introduction of plant pests and diseases, and the effect of climate change. And that's just Europe alone!

It would have been nice to see the threat of extinction for plant species being discussed. After all, the solution to human-mediated extinction of animals is unlikely to be found without considering the overall impact of the environment the animal is living in and the plants which they are using for food and cover. It's all connected.

It seems, while outlining the the problem of conservationists becoming distracted from the bigger picture by the Giant Panda and other charismatic megafauna, the programme makers got distracted from looking at extinction in a broad sense and took the animal route alone.

I guess we can chalk this up as an example of 'Plant Blindness' a term coined to describe the inability of some to see the importance of plants in their lives and to the natural world in general. I talk about the importance of avoiding plant blindness in an article in the Winter edition of Walton Magazine. You can read it for yourself here.

Below, a clip from Tuesday's show: A Dodo's Guide to Extinction

Here comes the Science Squad

Fronted by Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain, Kathriona Devereux and Jonathan McCrea, RTE have just kicked off their new weekly science programme for the Summer season.

The Science Squad promises to take an entertaining look at some of the exciting and important scientific research that is currently underway in Ireland.

The first programme, which aired today, featured research from CLARITY at UCD. They are working with IRFU physiotherapist Brian Green to develop systems which can automatically detect collisions in elite level Rugby Union. The data could help to advise coaching staff as to when a player has received too many heavy tackles and should be substituted from a game.

The show looked at work in UCC on a pioneering neo-natal brain seizure detection system and UCD's SMARTLab which enables disabled people who have lost or have limited use of speech and/or their limbs to speak and perform tasks such as playing music or operating computers by using their eyes instead.


The Science Squad is transmitted on Thursday evenings on RTE One. The episodes are also available to view on RTE Player. You can also follow @TheScienceSquad on twitter.

The Music of Flowers

Here's a nice preview of this week's episode of How to Grow a Planet. Watch and see how a species of plant and a species of bee have evolved a partnership based on the sound of a wing beat. The series continues this Tuesday, 9pm, BBC2.

UCC appears in How I Met Your Mother

So, lots of people are familiar with the hit US comedy 'How I Met Your Mother'... a story about a group of New York friends and their antics. 

Perhaps the character who has reached cult status from the show is one Barney Stinson played by Neil Patrick Harris. Imagine the surprise then, when we see Barney show an image of University College Cork's Quadrangle at the start of his "College... it's a confusing time" presentation during the latest episode (Series 7, Episode 5, about 8 minutes in).

Given that UCC is Ireland's only five-star university, its natural he would have chosen such an image! As Barney would say, Legend....ary!

UCC Quad on HIMYM

Weather Forecast is Science Communication in Action

Congrats to Jean Byrne of Met Eireann on winning the European Meteorological Society's 2011 TV Weather Forecast Award.

The win is a credit to the weather service in this country and a fine example of science communication in action. For many people, the weather forecast is their one regular exposure to science.

The award recognises individual contributions to best practise in the communication of meteorology and the fact is, the nightly weather forecast is one of the best science programmes on TV!

The presenter said she was honoured to receive the award:

"It's great, coming as it does from a group of my professional colleagues and which recognises the importance of the work that meteorologists do and how we continue to try to give our best service."

According to Met Eireann, they were invited to nominate an entrant for the competition and a sample of her work was submitted for consideration. This is the first time that an Irish person has been awarded the trophy.

A qualified meteorologist, Jean Byrne is one of a small group of incredibly well known scientists in the country who appear on our screens after the Six-One and Nine O'Clock News. There cannot be a household in the land that has not watched here or one of her colleagues explain why it hasn't stopped raining or why the winter has been so cold.

While other broadcasters are switching to unqualified presenters, RTE are to be credited with keeping these scientists on our screens.

In my view, the contrast between RTE broadcasts and other Irish and British weather forecasts is vast. The meteorologists on RTE make a constant effort to explain WHY the weather is as it is and not just whether it will be dry tomorrow or not. For that, they deserve this prestigious accolade.

Botany - A Blooming History

This Tuesday sees a new season of programmes tracing the history of botany kick off on BBC 4.

The centerpiece of the season is a three-part series: Botany- A Blooming History.

Presented by Timothy Walker, director of Oxford University Botanic Gardens, the series will reveal how a band of pioneers came to understand the mysteries of the plant kingdom and in doing so, helped to unlock the secrets of the natural world.

A Blooming History, will tell the story of how we came to understand the natural order of the plant world and how the quest to discover how plants grow uncovered the secret to life on the planet.

The series features the latest plant science and hows how botanists today are at the forefront of advances to fight disease, provide radical new forms of renewable energy and help feed the world's growing population.

During a journey which will take in the likes of Carl Linnaeus, who laid the groundwork for how we name all living creatures; Thomas Fairchild, the nurseryman who produced the first man-made hybrid and William Bateson, the botanist who coined the term 'genetics', Timothy Walker will show how plants are the centre of modern science.

Along with the three-part series, there is a supporting cast of three one-off documentaries: Apples - British to the Core will look at how Britain has helped shape the apple; Wonderful Weeds aims to look at how some of what we call 'weeds' are more useful than we give them credit for; Hidcote will look at the most influential British garden of the 20th century.

Botany: A Blooming History starts on BBC4 on Tuesday June 7th at 9pm.

(Source: BBC Press Office)

The Mountain - Applications open

RTÉ Young Peoples is looking for applications for the second series of its science adventure show The Mountain. 

You can watch episodes of The Mountain here.

The Mountain is looking for teams of three children aged 11 or 12 on April 30th 2011. Participating teams will be required for one day and the series will be filmed on location in Carlingford, Co Louth, in May.

The Application Form and Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from the website. The closing date is Monday April 11th 2011.

For more information contact The Mountain at themountain@rte.ie or at 01 208 3186.

Don't trust this blog

This blog, I think, is well written and edited. I think that each post I produce is based on solid evidence and often, it is based on one or more peer-reviewed papers which are particularly newsworthy. Nevertheless, you can't trust it.

Try as I might to be totally balanced, this is just my representation of scientific news stories and peer-reviewed work.

I suppose what I'm saying is that my blog, like all other blogs, is not a replacement for peer-reviewed literature and the blogosphere is not an alternative to peer-reviewed scientific journals.

As a scientist, I recognise that the peer-review system works. Of course, there are problems with it and a few high-profile cases where it seems to have failed us, but overall it has stood the test of time. The British Government has recently announced a review of peer-review, but I would be confident that it will be shown to be the best method at our disposal to verify scientific findings.

Unfortunately, it would seem that some commentators feel that peer-review is definitely old hat and that a new system is needed. Of course, I'm talking about James Delingpole.

In a recent interview with Paul Nurse, for the BBC programme Horizon, Delingpole argued for the use of what he called 'peer-to-peer' review.

As you'll see from the video clip of the interview below, Nurse first made an analogy between accepting the consensus scientific viewpoint on the treatment of cancer and accepting the consensus scientific view of climate change. Writing in The Telegraph, Delingpole, a well known climate change sceptic, subsequently described this analogy as "shabby, dishonest and patently false".

"The consensus on climate change; and the consensus on medical care", says Delingpole, "bear no similarity whatsoever". You can judge for yourself whether the analogy  makes sense or not.

Having been flummoxed by Nurse's astute line of reasoning, he was subsequently asked about his use (or not) of peer-reviewed climate change literature.

"One of the main things to have emerged from the climategate emails was that the peer-review process has been, perhaps irredeemably corrupted" replied Delingpole.

"What I believe in now...is a process called peer-to-peer review. The internet is changing everything. What it means is that ideas which were previously only able to be circultated in the seats of academe, in papers read by a few people can now be instantly read on the internet and assessed by thousands and thousands of other scientists; people of scientific backgrounds and people like me who haven't got scientific backgrounds but are interested."

What he's talking about of course is the blogosphere. Now, as keen as I am on this whole blogging lark, I do not believe that the ability to switch on a computer and type entitles anyone (including myself) to begin to interpret scientific data for which we are wholly unqualified. Sure, we can have opinions and ideas about the findings but, as the old adage goes,"we are not entitled to our own facts".

Delingpole however seems to have no time to even begin to interpret the data correctly:

"It is not my job to sit down and read peer-reviewed papers because  I simply haven't got the time, I haven't  the scientific expertise. What I rely on is people who have got the time and the expertise to do it and write about it  and interpret it. I am an interpreter of interpretations."

All well and good, and it's to his credit I suppose, that he admits that his opinions are not based on the real, original data. However, if he is to interpret the data (or the interpretations of the data... you know what I mean) then he must interpret all of the data and that means the overwhelming volume of research that points  to a global warming phenomenon caused by human interventions.

I may blog, but blogs are not real science. You can trust me on that!

David Bellamy - Happy Birthday

Today is the birthday of British botanist, broadcaster and author David Bellamy who was born in 1933. Although he has some controversial views on the environment and global warming, as a science broadcaster he was ahead of his time.

'Irish Giant' Documentary

We recently covered the story of Charles Byrne, the so-called 'Irish Giant' and the recent scientific breakthroughs which have been made using his remains.

Ronin films have produced an excellent documentary (As Gaeilge) for the BBC. The documentary aired last night and the opening sequence is presented here.

The Joy of Stats

In previous years, I've taught a course in statistics and data analysis to final year biology undergraduates. With this comes a sort of weird affection for all things statistical. It's not the coolest thing in the world to admit to, but i think the cool boat has long sailed for this particular scientist!

Last nights "The Joy of Stats" by the ever-enthusiastic Prof. Hans Rosling on BBC4 was a tour de force in public service broadcasting and science communication. Rosling's obvious enthusiasm, combined with state of the art graphics and excellent contributions from other leading statisticians made the whole topic come alive.

Unfortunately, BBC iPlayer doesn't allow you watch the show online if you are outside the UK, but it will be repeated on Monday next at 11pm on BBC4. In the meantime, you can enjoy this wonderful clip from the show where Rosling demonstrates how you can condense huge amounts of data on public health and wealth and make it interesting and exciting!