Science on film - biodiversity in the gardens

Ireland's first and only dedicated science film festival, the UCD Science Expression Film Festival will take place from Thursday 31st October - Friday 3rd November. 

The 2013 edition of UCD Science Expression showcases some of the most exciting filmmaking inspired by and excavating science - from classic movies seen in a very different light to world-class features and shorts premiering at UCD Science Expression. The festival presents screenings, events and debate for enquiring minds of all ages.

Festival 2013 takes a unique journey through key themes including The Mind, Land & Identity, Frontiers of Discovery and Biodiversity and Ecology in The Lighthouse, IFI, Botanic Gardens and The Ark in Dublin.

See the full range of events on the festical website.

Sure to be a highlight is Biodiversity at the National Botanic Gardens. Taking place in Ireland's only inflatable cinema from Friday November 1st to Sunday November 3rd, the event will celebrate the United Nations Decade of Biodiversity with an eclectic programme of short films, inspiring wonder in the natural world.
Best of all, there's free entry and it gives you a chance to also check out the gardens' new sculpture celebrating the 60th anniversary of the discovery of DNA.

"What is Life" is a sculpture which was commissioned by Professors John Atkins of University College Cork and David McConnell of Trinity College Dublin as a public celebration of Science in Ireland and to specifically celebrate the 60th anniversary of the discovery of The Double Helix by Watson and his colleague Francis Crick in April 1953.

Eye to the Ground

Friday 20th September is Culture Night in Ireland and all around the country, people will get to see behind closed doors, hear beautiful music, see fantastic art or visit a museum out of hours. 

In conjunction with Cork Skeptics, I'll be giving a talk on culture night on the importance of plants to society and culture. The talk is entitled: Eye to the Ground: Plants in Culture, Myth and Society.

As we know, humans exist because plants exist. Plants have shaped our world, allowing animal life to evolve and they continue to have an overriding influence on our society. From the food we eat, the medicines we take, the beer we drink and the clothes we wear; plants make life possible on Earth.

Indeed, Ireland has built two of its largest industries – agriculture and tourism – on its green image

In this talk, I will examine the importance of plants in society and even unearth some intriguing mysteries which can be solved with a knowledge of plants. What caused the Salem witch trials? Why are the British a nation of tea-drinkers and what caused the ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’?

I’ll discuss the present place of plants in culture and society and discuss the idea of ‘plant blindness’ – the inability to see or notice plants (and their importance) around us.

Given the crucial importance of plants to critical global problems like food security and climate change, we ignore plant blindness at our peril.

This talk is free to attend and open to everyone. It starts at 7pm on Friday 20th September, 2013 and takes place at the Lee Rowing Club on The Marina in Cork City, near Pairc Ui Chaoimh. Note: this is a change from the usual Cork Skeptics venue.

For more details and a map to the venue, see the Culture Night Cork website.

Who said chemistry wasn't fun?

A University College Cork video has been shortlisted by Times Higher Education (THE) as one of the best videos submitted for the World University Rankings.

The video features Declan Kennedy's fantastic Chemistry Magic Show which is a regular feature of Science Week at UCC and other outreach events. Filming and production is by Stephen Bean, also of UCC. Here's a short clip:

Culture Night - Science in the City

The public will get a chance to handle some ancient fossils, meet slithering reptiles and view some amazing carnivorous plants when the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at UCC throws open its doors for Culture Night 2013 on September 20th.

This is the first year that BEES has participated in Culture Night and visitors will get a chance to see some unique animal specimens collected by Charles Darwin himself during his famous voyage aboard the Beagle. The School of BEES is one of just a tiny number of institutions worldwide that houses Darwin specimens.

BEES Culture Night organiser Tara Duggan says there will be lots to see during the family-friendly event: "Starting at the historic Cooperage building, once part of the Jameson Distillery, visitors can tour our geology garden, wind turbine, fish ponds, greenhouses and laboratories. They can also try their hand at some experiments and step back in time while browsing the exhibits of our natural history museum and dinosaur fossils".

Throughout Culture Night BEES staff and students will be giving rapid-fire talks and showing short films about our environment and the world-leading research going on at BEES.

Culture Night 2013 takes place on Friday September 20th. BEES will be open for visitors to drop in from 5pm-8.30pm, with guided tours taking place at regular intervals. info

For full details on Culture Night in Cork, see the Culture Night Cork website.

Image: Tomas Tyner/School of BEES, UCC

Irish researcher is scicomm World champion

How's this for science communication? University College Cork postgraduate student Fergus McAuliffe has just won Famelab International at the Cheltenham Science festival. You can read the full details about Fergus's win here and watch his winning presentation below.

Tyndall and Albemarle Street

News that the Royal Institution's magnificent headquarters in Mayfair, London may be placed on the market have caused somewhat of a divide amongst scientists.

While an editorial in the journal Nature called the RI itself "redundant" and argued for its collection of historic equipment and other resources to be bundled off to the Science Museum, other commentators, including Prof. Bruce Hood have argued, convincingly, for the institution to remain and to remain at its Mayfair location.

Hood argued in the Huffington Post that the Faraday lecture theatre at the RI has become the "iconic home of British science" and a "sacred site".

"[It is] a place that trancends a financial value, a cultural heritage that belongs to the world as much as Stonehenge" writes Hood.

Supporters rightly point to Michael Faraday, a physicist who pioneered the notion that science (and scientists) have a duty to communicate their work to a general audience. It was Faraday who began the famous RI Christmas Lectures in 1825 - they have been broadcast on TV since 1966.

Also worthy of mention here is the noted Irish-born scientist John Tyndall, who succeeded Faraday as Director of the Royal Institution in 1867.Tyndall was born in County Carlow in 1820 and studied in Britain and Germany, making significant contributions to a variety of fields including magnetism, heat and atmospherics. However, like Faraday, one of his great contributions was in science communication.

 Having joined the RI originally in 1853 (he was unsuccessful in applying for jobs at Galway, Cork and elsewhere), Tyndall delivered the RI Christmas lectures 12 times, from 1861 to 1884 and, like Faraday, was conscious of the need for science to be communicated to the public. He had developed his style of lecturing as a schoolteacher and in later years, according to Meadows, found that a drink before lectures improved his performance.

In a preface to the third edition of his book Heat: A Mode of Motion, Tyndall noted that his work on public lectures allowed him an opportunity to acquaint himself with the "knowledge and needs of England".

Tyndall and his contemporaries "deprecated and deplored the utter want of scientific knowledge, and the utter absence of sympathy with scientific studies, which mark the great bulk of our otherwise cultivated English public".

He was convinced that "if a scientific man take the trouble, which in my case is immense, of thinking and writing with life and clearness, he is sure to gain general attention. It can hardly be doubted, if fostered and strengthened in this way, that the desire for scientific knowledge will ultimately coerce the anomalies which beset our present system of education".

John Tyndall

"Science must grow", concluded Tyndall. "Its development is as necessary and as irresistible as the motion of the tides, or the flowing of the Gulf Stream. It is a phase of the energy of Nature, and as such is sure, in due time, to compel the recognition, if not to win the alliance, of those who now decry its influence and discourage its advance".

While it is not my place to tell the British scientific community what to do, Prof. Hood is correct in pointing out that the RI building is not just an important site for British science, it is of worldwide significance and would ideally be maintained for its current purpose. Would the worldwide art community permit the French government to sell off the Louvre or the British government to put the National Gallery up for sale?

In a recent letter to The Times of London, David Attenborough, along with 21 scientists wrote that "If Britain loses the Royal Institution, it loses a part of its past. This institution, with its iconic lecture room where almost all the Christmas lectures have been delivered, is just as precious as any ancient palace or famous painting".

"This must not happen in a country that cares about culture, and least of all in one that pins its hopes for future prosperity on a new generation of scientists and engineers."

There is something to be said about public engagement with science being more than just about bricks and mortar. Hands-on experimentation and web-based interaction are all tremendous leaps forward that, I'm sure, Faraday and Tyndall would have approved of. However, they do not replace a rich cultural heritage of science and scientific communication that is represented by the RI building at Albemarle Street, which is of enormous value besides its monetary one.

You can sign a petition to save 21 Albemarle Street as the home of the Royal Institution here.

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

Science Week 2012 Launched

Science Week 2012 was launched yesterday by the Rubberbandits and Dr. Sarah Kelly a recent graduate from DCU.

This year, the theme of the week-long science spectacular will be: "Everyday Experimenting". Science Week, which runs from November 11th-18th, aims to demonstrate that you are a part of Science. You are constantly experimenting. From attempting a new level on a game, to trialling a new recipe and even embarking on a first date – these are everyday experiments.

For more information on Science Week and events in your area, see www.scienceweek.ie

 

New Irish Science Magazine Launched

"Scientists love their subject matter more than Cork people love Cork. No other professionals give up their spare time to help promote their profession in the same way scientists do." So says John O'Donoghue. And he should know - having just led a team that launched a new science and technology magazine.

Named in honour of Ernest Walton, physicist and Ireland's only scientific Nobel Prize winner, Walton Magazine comes from a group of young Irish scientists. It's published online and in print every quarter.

The first edition, available to read online for free, covers such diverse areas as a history of Walton himself, space travel, online privacy, Project Maths and the Science 140 project.

You can also read yours truly on recent advances in the science of the potato. You have been warned!

We can't have enough avenues for promoting and reading about science and an endeavor like this deserves to be supported. I wish the Walton team all the best.

How not to encourage girls to study science

What were they thinking? It really beggars belief that a whole host of people in the EU Commission got it so wrong.

Of course, I'm talking about THAT video. If you haven't seen it, check it out below.




As part of an entirely laudable campaign  (complete with #sciencegirlthing hashtag)to encourage girls to study science and think about careers in science, the European Commission released a launch video which was so far wide of the mark that they had to confirm that it wasn't some sort of joke. As one spokesperson for the Commission put it on twitter: "(the) Commission doesn't really do irony".

The video seems to have been removed from the campaign's Youtube account but not before some kind soul copied it and reposted the offending clip.

To be fair, I'm sure no harm was meant. The campaign website itself seems fine, but perhaps a little light on detail. The Commission moved to deflect some of the online criticism late on Friday evening by encouraging their Twitter followers to help them build a list of #realwomeninscience.

The swift and overwhelming online reaction seems to have ensured that the video will live long online as an example of how not to promote science (on anything for that matter).

At least they got one bit right. Male scientists are all tall, clean shaven and handsome in their glasses and white coat......ahem. ‪

Science in the (Curious) City

A series of events in Cork City this month should inspire creativity, spark innovation and encourage participants to "seek answers to life's great questions", according to the organisers.

In association with Dublin City of Science, CuriousCity is a collection of events running from June 23rd - 25th, all centred around the concept of STEAM - science, technology, engineering, arts and maths.

What I like about this series of events is that it is an attempt to move beyond concept of STEM and integrate the arts and sciences.

The event includes a science picnic at the Lifetime Lab; a retrospective of the work of Paul Gregg at Triskel Christchurch; a science rap workshop with DJ Stevie G; a science storytelling event for children at UCC; and a popup cinema showing films from the National Centre for Scientific Research in France.

Most tantalisingly of all, CuriousCity also promises some Spontaneous Secret Science events throughout the week.

You can find full details of all events on the CuriousCity webpage.

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.

Science 140: Tweeting for #science

If you think you can explain a scientific principle in 140 characters then Science 140 would like to hear from you.

A new social media project coordinated by science bloggers Humphrey Jones (@thefrogblog) and Maria Daly (@maria_daly), the aim is to communicate science in an innovative way with contributors submitting their science definitions, biographies and explanations in 140 character snapshots.

After 24 hours online, the organisers say they have had hundreds of tweets offering explanations on everything from the definition of science to forces to aerodynamics to astronomy.

This project reminds me of a book I was given last Christmas called Tweeting the Universe by Marcus Chown (@Marcus Chown) and Govert Schilling. They tried to do a similar thing but with a narrower focus on astronomical topics (hence the title). Why is the sky blue? What is a black hole? etc.

They faced the challenge of converting what was a popular twitter stream into something that somebody would like to read in book form. A challenge, in my view at least, they didn't really deliver on.

Hopefully, with a broader remit, Science 140 will have more success when they release the curated results of the project in book form later in the year.

Speaking about the project, Humphrey Jones of Science 140 said “As a science teacher it’s always exciting to explore new ways of communicating science to young people and the general public. There is a very active science community on twitter and a project like Science 140 seems to be getting their attention. I think people love that their short contributions could be included in a book. We don’t want all the tweets to be too serious - science can be fun too".

You can find out more about Science 140  on the project website and on twitter @science140

Debating Science

The 2012 Debating Science Issues All-Ireland Finals will be held Thursday, 19 April, at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in Dublin. The Finals, co-ordinated by the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway, will see four teams of secondary school students. 

This is the only All-Ireland collaborative science outreach initiative of its kind. A field of forty schools narrowed to just four through preliminary debate rounds on a variety of contemporary biomedical science topics.

The four secondary schools in the final will be: St. Catherine’s Vocational School, Killybegs, Donegal; Clonakilty Community College, Cork; St. Andrews College, Blackrock and Abbey Vocational School, Donegal Town.

The first two debates, St. Catherine’s Vocational School against St. Andrews College and Abbey Vocational School against Clonakilty Community College, will focus on the moral obligation to explore research with embryonic stem cells due to the potential to develop new medical treatments. The winners of those rounds will then meet to debate the necessity of animal testing for advancing disease treatment.

 Debating Science Issues encourages young people to engage in debate on the cultural, societal and ethical implications of advances in biomedical science. The competition is led by REMEDI at NUI Galway and collaborators include APC at UCC, BDI at DCU, RCSI, CIT, CRANN at Trinity College, W5 in Belfast, Clarity at UCD and The Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh.

Danielle Nicholson, All-Ireland Co-ordinator of Debating Science Issues (DSI), said “This cross border project provides a great opportunity for the teachers and students to be exposed to some of the latest developments in biomedical research and also to consider the ethical elements which can be a great hook to interest young people in the science.”

Data collected from five cycles of DSI involving more than 3500 students shows an increase in interest in science as a subject and as a career as a result of participation in the project. This schools’ biomedical science workshop series and debate competition has been supported by the Wellcome Trust for five consecutive years. Provincial trophies and prizes are provided by Abbott Ireland, Boston Scientific, Merck- Millipore and Pfizer Ireland.

Every year the project has evolved and has responded to the feedback gathered continuously throughout the project. This year a new Topic Guide on rare diseases was introduced and a dedicated website has been developed, www.debatingscienceissues.com

Cork Science Events in February

It's February, it's cold and it's wet! What you need is some science to keep the spirits up until spring. Here's a quick list of some science events happening in the next month or so. There is a particular emphasis on Cork events. Other events, particularly in Dublin, have been listed elsewhere.

Darwin Day │Sunday, February 12th │Quay Co-Op, Cork

Cork Humanists will be hosting an event to mark the life and works of Charles Darwin. They'll have birthday cake for the man himself and Dr. John Murray who lectures on paleontology at NUI Galway will give a presentation on "Darwin's Revelations". More info

Astronomy │ Monday, 13th February │University College Cork
Dr. Niall Smith, Head of Research at Cork Institute of Technology will give a talk entitled "Hunting for extrasolar planets - the latest finds and the life question" at 8pm in the UCC Civil Engineering Building G10.

Young Scientists│February 13th - March 3rd │Lifetime Lab
Winning Cork entrants in the recent BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition will be on display in the Lifetime Lab throughout the month.The idea is to recognise the work of students and their teachers, who have represented Cork at national level. More info

Brainbox Workshops │ Midterm, 13-17 February │Blackrock Castle Observatory
Got children to entertain and engage over the mid-term break? BCO are running daily 1.5 hour workshops on electronic circuits and how electricity impacts on our everyday lives. More info

Biodiversity │Wednesday, February 15th, 8pm │University College Cork
The College of Science, Engineering and Food Science continues its annual public lecture series with a talk by Dr. Paddy Sleeman on "Biodiversity and Infectious Disease - Towards One Health". More info

Geology Lectures │ Friday & Saturday, 17-18th February │University College Cork
The School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences is hosting this year's Irish Geological Research Meeting and the two keynote talks are open to the public. Prof. Dave Harper from Durham University will talk on "The origin of animal ecosystems: integrating the Cambrian Explosion and Ordovician Radiation" on Friday evening at 7pm. On Saturday at 5pm, Prof. Dick Kroon from University of Edinburgh will give a talk entitled "On the link between Neogene evolution of climates and hominids". Both talks are open to the public and all are welcome. More info

Where do we go from here? │ Saturday, 18th February │ University College Cork
UCC Science Society have an organised a one-day lecture series on the topic of  "Where to from here?". There is a broad range of topics to be covered, from genetics to astrophysics, nanotechnology to cancer and stem-cells. The lectures run from 11am - 6pm and are open to the public. More info

Coder Dojo │ Sunday, February 19th, 10am-1pm │Blackrock Castle Observatory
This movement aims to teach kids creative problem solving skills and practical creative skills. Alongside teaching, the aim is also to provide an outlet for kids who know how to code to meet others with similar interests. The 19th sees BCO's first class kicking off. See their website for more details. More info

Science and Business │ Wednesday, February 22nd, 8pm │University College Cork
Dr. Declan Jordan from the Dept. of Economics, UCC will present a talk where he argues that 'science-push' innovation policies are unlikely to produce the desired outcomes - growth and jobs. He'll argue that innovation policy should refocus and recognise that managers, salespeople and customers have just as much, if not more, to contribute to innovation than researchers and scientists. Sure to evoke a lively debate! More info

Wave Energy │ Wednesday, Febraury 29th, 8pm │University College Cork
Anne Blavette will talk about ocean power plants and their potential impact on the energy market and climate change in her talk entitled "Sea Waves are Tomorrow's Oil". More info

Have I missed something? Let me know

Capital Science

This morning sees the launch of Dublin Science 2012 - an innovative science themed festival running throughout the year. The festival has at its centre the ESOF 2012 meeting which takes place in July.

The ESOF (Euroscience Open Forum) is a broad ranging, interdisciplinary meeting held every two years and will see over 5,000 scientists meet in Dublin.

This morning's launch will highlight just some of the 160 projects which will make up the science-themed year including:

• Exhibitions at the Science Gallery including Happy? - exploring the factors that shape happiness.

• Theatrical events including Rough Magic's hilarious and uplifting 'Improbable Frequency'. I was lucky enough to see an earlier production and it was very enjoyable - featuring characters such as John Betjeman, Flann O'Brien and Erwin Schrödinger. The final performance will be streamed live on the web.

• Dublin's St. Patrick's Day festival will see a science-themed parade and a treasure hunt with science related costumes!

There is many more events already announced and more to be revealed throughout the year. Check them out on the Dublin Science 2012 website or follow @dubscience2012 on twitter.

You can find more details on ESOF 2012 on their website and follow them on @ESOF2012. The full programme for this meeting will be announced in mid-February.

Best of luck to all involved!

A Chat With Spotticus

He's easily the most famous Giraffe on Twitter and his tweets from the Natural History Museum in Dublin are followed by hundreds of eager followers. Now, in an exclusive interview, Spotticus tells all about life on Merrion Street and what it's like being an endangered species.

Hi Spotty….may I call you spotty?
Yes- but only because you asked nicely....

So, you’ve become a bit of an internet celebrity of late. Whose idea was it to let you loose on Twitter?
Well I’d only really found out about this twitter lark when the visitors returned to the museum after the re-opening in 2010 (One advantage of being so tall is you can look over people’s shoulders as they tweet on their mobiles). So I decided it would be a good way (the only way?!?) to converse with my public. To overcome the hoof disadvantage to typing, I have a human collaborator here who helps me tweet. One of the chimps did offer to type, but his spelling is appalling.

Are you enjoying your new found fame?
I enjoy the idea of having followers- it reminds me of my life in the herd before I came to the museum.

How long have you been living/working in the NH Museum?
I’ve been here since 2003- I was brought over to Dublin from the Netherlands by the lovely Leon Bouten and his family, who are taxidermists that work with the museum from time to time.

What’s your history? Where were you working before Dublin?
Well I’m a lot older than I look- I lived in a wildlife park in the Netherlands until 1965. The Boutens kept me in storage from then until 2002, when Dublin got in contact looking for a new giraffe exhibit- and that was that!

Children in particular seem to love you and your pals in the museum. What do you think is the attraction?
Well when was the last time you stood next to a tiger?? The advantage with the museum is that you can stand next to your favourite animal and see how big they are in relation to you. You can’t to that anywhere else- well you could try, but then you run the risk of getting eaten, or squashed… or squashed and then eaten…

Is education and working with schools a big part of the museum’s job?
Absolutely - there is so much to learn about species, habitats, endangerment and extinction and the museum is the ideal location to do just that. It’s important that people are aware of environmental issues and that we help teachers educate their students about these subjects. The education department here do lots of workshops for schools- but I think they could use a few more giraffe anecdotes.

Some people call your home a “museum of a museum” is this something you’re proud of?
I think so! It was Stephen Jay Gould who first said that about us- we are one of the oldest natural history museums, and one of a handful of cabinet style museum left in the world. You could say the museum is an endangered species of its own. Many of the museums who updated their galleries in the 1980’s and 1990’s are now returning to the cabinet style.

The Rothschild giraffe was recently added to the Red List of endangered species. How does this make you feel?
I couldn’t believe it- giraffes have never been on the Red List before! There a 9 recognised sub-species of giraffe and us Rothschilds (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi) are particularly distinctive as we have no markings on our lower legs.
The IUCN, who compile the Red List of Endangered Species, estimate there are fewer than 670 individuals remaining in the wild. The drop in numbers is blamed on agricultural development, human settlement and poaching. There are only a few small populations now remaining in Kenya and Uganda, and they are isolated from each other, so they unable to interbreed.
The situation for us is now critical and the IUCN and the Giraffe Conservation Foundation are doing great work to try protect us. I should also say them museum staff look after me very well too- hoof shines, mane trims… the odd vacuum clean now and again…

Do you think places like the NH Museum have a role in promoting conservation?
Definitely- as well as educating the public and housing some extinct species, all large natural history collections  have the unique position of supplying “ancient” DNA to scientists, who use this information when studying animal populations. This in turn helps the conservation of several species.

Besides your good self (obviously) is there any other particularly interesting ‘stars’ of the museum that you would recommend visitors see?
There are lots of different characters here- the visitors love the lions, tiger, sharks and all those other vicious creatures! The Giant Irish Deer and very impressive, with their 3-metre wide antlers! Also on the ground floor, if you can find them, there is an eel that choked on a frog and Ireland’s biggest goldfish...

Are you getting many visitors these days? Are school holidays your busy period?
We are so busy it’s unbelievable- mini-humans everywhere! I hear we’ve had a 10% increase in visitors in 2011- 300,000 people in one year! The summer season which stretches from April to August is always the busiest with school tours, summer holidays and tourists. We love our visitors because they pass their love of us from one generation to the next which constantly keep us popular!

I see the keepers have opened the ‘Discovery Zone’ in the museum. What’s that all about?
That’s a new area in the museum which is used to host events like storytelling, school workshops and public handling sessions. The zone provides a space for visitors to look at and learn about the different species the line on land and in the water. There are two carts with lots of animals to look at and learn about. An added bonus is that you are allowed to touch some of the animals- Nessa the Bager loves getting scratched behind her left ear....

Anything else we should know about?
Cheung the Giant Panda has had a dye job.

Many thanks to Spotticus for taking the time to answer my questions and to Spotty's colleagues at the NHM for facilitating our little chat. You can visit Spotticus and his friends at the Natural History Museum from Tuesdays - Saturdays and admission is FREE!
You can also follow Spotticus on twitter @SpotticusNH

The 'Culture' of Science

Image: BT

This morning's Irish Times editorial carried an argument that science and the engagement with science be considered as a part of what makes any society "cultured".

I've written occasionally here regarding science and culture and I certainly think it's an area for rich collaboration and interaction.

"Engagement with dance, music, theatre, writing, art, all these are readily proffered when questioned about the cultural aspects of a society. Yet the word culture carries a much broader meaning than just these forms of artistic endeavour" writes the editorial.

The author argues that scientific research is considered abstract or removed from our daily lives and not something we consider a cultural activity. "This is despite our ready embrace of all that the culture of science can deliver, from mobile phones and modern aircraft to tablet computers and advanced medical diagnostics. And yet Ireland seems unwilling to acknowledge the importance of research as a cultural activity that enriches society."

Despite the billions of euro spent on scientific research, researchers and infrastructure in this country over the years, the Irish Times editorial makes the argument that science is still not considered a cultural pursuit: "all this money has had scant impact on the public recognition of science as a cultural activity that can enhance our society as well as our economic life."

 While contributing to a much needed debate on the role of science in Irish culture and society, I can't say I agree fully with the tone of the editorial. Isn't culture much more about how we live our lives than about some sort of "fine arts" definition of culture which requires us to stand in awe of a painting, sculpture or piece of architecture?

If, as suggested, a broad definition of culture is taken, then science has had a huge impact on Irish culture throughout the years. RTE celebrate their 50th birthday this year - an anniversary which would have been impossible without the early pioneers of television like John Logie Baird. RTE television, for better of worse, has had a huge influence on Irish society since its establishment.

Mobile phone, the internet and computer technology pervades our society. This 'e' or 'i' culture of sending emails, text messages and tweets allow us to communicate as a nation and as a world in ways we could not have imagined just decades before. The ease with which we can send photographic and video imagery in seconds has also profoundly changed our culture and how we develop as a nation.

Essentially, what I am saying (and I'm sure the IT is too) is that science and the pursuit of science has had a real and important impact of Irish society and culture. Science has been a part of Irish culture - even if, as the Irish Times point out, it has not always been recognised as the cultural force that it is.

However, I would argue that there is no need for us to consider science a cultural activity in the way that we approach other areas of our 'culture'. Instead of visiting a museum or gallery and looking at a painting or piece of sculpture (which, by the way, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do!), one can look around you and view the impact science has had on the world. That, in the end, is science's ultimate reward - that it is a force for change and cultural development in our country. Lives saved by medical science, crops protected by botanists, communication made possible by computer scientists - all these things are worth more than some label that says science is now a cultural experience.

As the editorial writer in the Irish Times points out, young scientists (at least those gathered at this week's BT Young Scientists Exhibition) don't care whether science is considered a cultural pursuit or not: "These students are not distracted about whether Ireland has a culture of science, they simply engage with the subject with the same enthusiasm as they would any other activity that attracts their interest." We should do the same!

Science Public Lecture Series Kicks Off

The popular Annual SEFS Public Lecture Series at University College Cork will begin its 2012 programme on Wednesday, January 11th with a lecture by Professor William Reville. 

The lectures will be held weekly on Wednesday evenings at 8.00pm in Boole 4 Lecture Theatre and will run until Wednesday 14th March.

The lecture series will cover a wide range of contemporary issues, including How Weeds Develop Resistance to Herbicides, Nanosensors, Teaching Computer Science to Primary School Children, Biodiversity and Infectious Disease, Generating Electricity from Ocean Wave Energy, Irish Innovation Policy, Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products, and Can Particles Ever Move faster than Light?.

In the first lecture on January 11th, Professor William Reville will give a lecture titled ‘The Weeds Fight Back - How Weeds Developed Resistance to Roundup”. William Reville is an Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry at UCC. He will describe how growing the world's major commodity crops (corn, cotton and soya), genetically engineered to be resistant to the herbicide Roundup, is now confronting a serious problem with weeds that have become resistant to Roundup. 

Admission is free, and as always, members of the public are invited to attend.

More details on this year's College of Science, Engineering and Food Science (SEFS) lecture series  can be found here (pdf).

Debating Science

Organisers of a cross border science debating competition have announced that they will once again be funded by the Wellcome Trust to continue their work this year.

Wellcome Trust, the largest independent charity in the United Kingdom has just announced that it will support the Debating Science Issues (DSI) project for a fifth consecutive year with a People Award.

DSI is a cross border schools science debating competition involving 9 collaborating partners:  the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway, W5 in Belfast, Biomedical Diagnostics Institute (BDI) at DCU, Royal College of Surgeons Ireland, CRANN at TCD, CLARITY at UCD, the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh, Cork Institute of Technology and Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre at UCC.

Co-ordinated by REMEDI’s Outreach Officer Danielle Nicholson, this All-Ireland competition encourages young people to engage in debate on the cultural, societal and ethical implications of advances in biomedical science.  Schools taking part initially receive a 3 hour biomedical, bioethical workshop to facilitate discussion on the ethical issues raised by stem cell research, genetically modified food, nanotechnology, health and self-testing kits or flu vaccinations.

>>> Watch a video from the 2010 Event
School students research further in preparation for the debate motion related to the initial workshop using a Student Pack of topic guides.  From there, the debate motions circulate so that students debate on an array of controversial topical issues.

‘For 2012, we will create a new topic guide surrounding the funding allocation made to develop treatments and research rare diseases.  We are developing a dedicated DSI website too.’ enthused Danielle Nicholson.

Boston Scientific, Abbott Ireland, Merck- Millipore and Pfizer Ireland sponsor the provincial trophies and prizes.  Forty eight schools will be involved this year.  Updated Topic Guides will be available for download on our websites very soon.  For more information please you can contact Danielle.Nicholson@nuigalway.ie

Follow DSI on twitter: @DebatingScience