A Temporary Hiatus

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed that the rate of blog posts has decreased over the past twelve months. There have been some nice posts which I'm very happy with but I simply haven't had the time to devote to writing posts at the frequency I have in the past.
Like everyone else, pressures of a regular (and very enjoyable) day job,combined with trying to spend time with family and friends has meant something had to give. I also have one, very important project to complete.
For these reasons, I've decided to take a positive step and put the Communicate Science blog on hiatus for a couple of months. I'm sure this won't make a huge difference in anyone's life but my own - I do enjoy the enforced distraction of writing the blog- but can ensure readers that this will be a temporary ceasefire rather than the end for this corner of the internet.
Like the daffodils, I'm going underground for a few months to get some work done and will return, triumphant, in a blaze of glory in the Spring. If you simply can't wait that long, then I'll still be knocking around twitter @blogscience

Blog Awards Ireland 2013 - Shortlist

If you're following me on twitter, you may already know that this blog has been shortlisted for Best Science\Education Blog in the 2013 Blog Awards Ireland. If you're not following me on twitter, why not?

This blog is joined in the shortlist by many other excellent blogs including last year's winner Science Calling, Beyond the Wild Garden and Inside the Brain.

While I have to question the wisdom of lumping science and education together in a category, I'm delighted the blog has been shortlisted.

The awards will be presented at a ceremony on October 12th. Good luck all!

Blog Awards 2013

Communicate Science has been nominated for Best Science/Education Blog in the 2013 Blog Awards Ireland.

You can see the full longlist here. Winners will be announced at a ceremony in October.

Blog Awards Ireland - Science Nominees

I'm delighted to say that Communicate Science has appeared on the long-list of blogs nominated been shortlisted for an Irish Blog Award.

The shortlist can be viewed here.

The blog was nominated in the Best Science/Education category alongside a host of other top Irish science blogs including: Science Calling, Scibernia, Deirdre Kelleghan and The Frog Blog.

The award ceremony will take place on 13th October. Thanks to everybody who reads, shares and reacts to the blog, I couldn't (and wouldn't want to) do it without you!

**post updated 11/09/12**

2011: A year in science

In many ways it's been an amazing year for scientific breakthroughs and progress. Here's a look back at some of the most popular posts on the Communicate Science blog in 2011.

The most popular post this year is also one of the most recent. The continuing debate over the final resting place of the 'Irish Giant' Charles Byrne after his significant impact on the world of medicine has provoked significant interest.

News in July that the potato plant genome had been published by a consortium which included scientists working at Teagasc made for a popular post. The consortium said that the advance means that potato breeders should be able to "reduce the 10-12 years currently needed to breed new varieties".

Proving that the history of science is still as popular as ever, our post marking the 200 birthday of Robert Bunsen was the next most popular post of 2011. Of Bunsen it's been said: "As an investigator he was great, as a teacher he was greater, as a man and friend he was greatest."

The visit of Queen Elizabeth to Ireland in May of 2011 is surely one of the big news stories of the year and our scientific slant on this story was very popular. When visiting Cork's Tyndall Institute, the Queen was presented with a scarf inspired by the work of the 'father' of computer science and adopted Corkman George Boole.

Speaking of the Tyndall Institute, in May we looked at the  man himself - John Tyndall. One of Ireland's most successful scientists and educators he was the ultimate science communicator. In 1878 it was written: "Professor Tyndall has succeeded not only in original investigation and in teaching science soundly and accurately, but in making it attractive.... When he lectures at the Royal Institution the theatre is crowded".

A simple little post on the history of the modern racehorse brings up the rear of the field. A group of Irish and UK scientists used mitochondrial DNA to determine the origin of foundation mares which were used to start the Irish and English Thoroughbred racehorse industry.

Some posts which weren't quite so popular but were some of my own personal favourites include:

December's news of the possible discovery of the Higg's Boson.
The crossover between art and science in 'Science in Stone'.
David Puttnam's take on educating for the digital society.
The history of science philanthropy in Cork.
How my time on I'm a Scientist, Get me out of here! went.

Have a great New Year's celebration. Normal service resumes early in 2012!

Thank You!

Just a brief word of thanks to everyone who took the time to vote for Communicate Science in the recent Eircom Spider 'Big Mouth' Award.

As usual, the awards night was great fun (I'm a bit of a regular now :)) and met some very interesting people including fellow science blogger Maria Daly of Science Calling.

Once again it was great to see two science blogs competing with current affairs, entertainment, etc. and while not repeating the feats of The Frog Blog who took home the gong last year, I think we were both very pleased to be amongst the shortlisted sites.

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Vote for Communicate Science

We're very excited here at Communicate Science because we've been shortlisted for an Eircom Spider 'Big Mouth' Award for the second year running. Now we need YOU to help us win!

The Big Mouth award is one of two categories which is decided by a public vote. It's great to see science blogs included in this national award and we hope that you'll consider voting for us.

How To Vote:
Via Facebook:
To vote, you need to go to the Eircom Spiders Facebook Page , scroll down and select Communicate Science from the list of nominees in the People's Choice 'Big Mouth' Category (you'll spot our logo), click vote and it's done!

Via Email:
You can also email your vote to [email protected] with the category name (Big Mouth) in the subject line. Get Voting!

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

You can now follow (and 'like') Communicate Science on Facebook.

If you are a Facebook user, you can keep track of all the latest news and views in science by checking out our page.

You'll find it here.

Also, for all the latest science news and views - follow us on our Twitter site @blogscience

Eircom Spiders 2011

I'm delighted to announce to that the Communicate Science blog has been shortlisted for an Eircom Spider 'Big Mouth' award for the second year running.

The 'Big Mouth' category will be decided by a public vote - details soon.

The full shortlist includes our friends at the Cork Independent and the wonderful Science Calling blog by Maria Daly.

Also, congratulations to the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science (BEES) at UCC who's website has been nominated in the 'Education' Category.

It's great to see so many great science websites being recognised in these important awards.

The award ceremony will take place on 10th November in the Convention Centre, Dublin. The ceremony will be hosted by comedian and science enthusiast Dara Ó'Briain.

3QD Science Prize - Thank you!

Many thanks to those of you who voted for my recent post in the 3QD Annual Science Prize.

The post in question made the Semifinal based on the large number of votes it received.

However, the semifinalists needed to be whittled down to a group of six to make the final, to be judged by eminent theoretical physicist Prof. Lisa Randall, and my post was not one of those to make the cut.

Well, there is always next year!

Well done to the finalists, the winners will be announced on June 21st.

3QD Science Prize: Voting Open

The '3QD' Science Prize is awarded to some of the best online science writing every year.

The 'long list' for this year's award is now available and my recent post on Guinness and Obama is included- Is Féidir Linn: Obama was right.

You can now take a look at the long list and read some of the best science writing of the year and of course, it would be great if you voted for me to make the shortlist!

To vote, just click here, scroll down to the voting panel and find Communicate Science: Is Féidir Linn: Obama was right (the voting panel is in alphabetical order so my post is 14th from the top).

There are three awards up for grabs: first place (Top Quark), second place (Strange Quark) and third place (Charm Quark). You can see the winners of last year's awards here. Last year's overall winner was Ed Yong from Not Exactly Rocket Science.

The final placings will be decided by Guest Judge and Harvard Physicist Prof. Lisa Randall, but you get to decide on the shortlist!

Voting closes on June 11, so get voting!

Follow us on twitterbook

You can now follow (and 'like') Communicate Science on Facebook.

If you are a Facebook user, you can keep track of all the latest news and views in science by checking out our new page.

You'll find it here.

Also, for all the latest science news and views - follow us on our Twitter site @blogscience

Communicate Science on Facebook

You can now follow (and 'like') Communicate Science on Facebook.


If you are a Facebook user, you can keep track of all the latest news and views in science by checking out our new page.


You'll find it here.

Communicating Science: GM Crops

Well done and thank you to Cork Skeptics who organise the monthly 'Skeptics in the Castle' event at Blackrock Castle Observatory in Cork.

I was delighted to be invited to speak to the meeting on the issue of GM crops and the public perception of science and really enjoyed preparing the talk, which of neccesity was quiet different from a talk I would be used to preparing for students.

From my point of view at least, the talk went well and generated some amount of lively discussion afterwards. Hopefully I got across some of the science behind the issue and provided some food for thought.

See a write up on the talk here.

I'm a scientist... no, really!

Some great news this morning - I've been asked to take part in the I'm a Scientist, get me out of here! event in March.

According to the organisers, I'm a Scientist is "an award-winning science enrichment and engagement activity, funded by the Wellcome  Trust. It takes place online over a two  week period. It’s an X Factor-style competition for scientists, where students are the judges. Scientists and students talk online on the website. They both break down barriers, have fun and learn. But only the students get to vote".

I think this is a really great idea and I'm really looking forward to taking part. I'll keep you posted on how things go right here. The event runs from March 14th - 25th. The video below gives a flavour of what's involved.

GM Crops & The Public Perception of Science

Follow Communicate Science on Twitter

For all the latest science news and views - follow us on our Twitter site @blogscience

Follow Communicate Science on Twitter

For all the latest science news and views - follow us on our Twitter site @blogscience

What a Year! Top posts of 2010

It's been an exciting year here at Communicate Science - our first full year since launching the blog in the autumn of 2009.

As well as being nominated for an Irish Blog Award and an Irish Web Award, the blog was also shortlisted in the prestigious Eircom Spiders in the 'Big Mouth' category.

Readership has been steadily increasing throughout the year and we also now have over 330 followers on twitter.

I've got some rather big and exciting plans in store for the new year, but in the meantime it's interesting to look back on the 'most-read' posts from the blog this year. So, in reverse order:

Nine: James Watson: A Geneticist's View of Cancer
Scientific legend and renowned cancer researcher came to Cork and told us "People are so frightened by being wrong," he continued, "I figure that it doesn't matter if you're wrong, if you're sometimes right. The main thing is to try."

Eight: Number of the Week: 88%
Interesting how some posts just seem to take off unexpectedly. This post details the reaction to a Royal Society survey which found that 88% of 18-24 year-olds in the UK could not name any female scientific figure.

Seven: Sleep, Diet and Life Expectancy
A number of stories regarding the importance of sleep are covered in this post including the influence of starvation on sleep requirements and a possible link between serious sleep problems and mortality.

Six: Communicate Science @ The Eircom Spiders
This post pops up here probably due to some shameless plugging by yours truly and some helpful retweets by some very nice people. Glad to see the Eircom Spider went to a truly deserving winner.

Five: 3 Science Poems by Emily Dickinson
The poetry of Emily Dickinson was highlighted in this post, with three of here science-themed poems used. More than 200 of her poems make reference to scientific topics.

Four: The results are in: Spider vs Conker myth debunked
Some excellent outreach work by the Royal Society of Chemistry is featured in this very popular post. It looks at the very persistent old wives' tale.

Three: The Origin of Conor Lenihan
In September, Irish Minister of State with responsibility for Science, Conor Lenihan was found to be preparing to launch a book proclaiming that evolution was a "hoax". As you can imagine, the reaction from the scientific community was scathing and immediate.

Two: Plant Watch: Common Poppy - a cultural icon
One of our "Plant Watch" series of posts, this picked up a huge number of views in October and November.

One: Letting Boole's memory collapse doesn't add up
In October, this blog was the first to report, in any detail, on the partial collapse of the former home of George Boole - noted scientist and mathematician. In a series of posts and photo essays, we've covered the story in more detail than any other media outlet.

I believe this is an important story and I'll continue to cover it in the new year, when significant developments are expected. As we move into 2011, Number Five, Grenville Place, Cork City still lies derelict and open to the elements. Lets hope the new year will bring better news on this front.

Merry Christmas and a happy 2011 to all our readers!

A sincere word of thanks

I'd like to say a very special Thank You to everyone who voted for me in the Eircom Spider Awards. I really do appreciate it. Voting has now closed.

The results will be announced on Thursday 18th November at a ceremony in Dublin. Fingers crossed!