Archive for the ‘Science & technology’ Category
Word of the day: gamification
February 5th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
Earlier this week, I attended Ofcom’s Advisory Committee for England (ACE) in my capacity as the member for England on the Communications Consumer Panel (CCP). Ofcom plans to abolish both ACE and the CCP, but meanwhile we endeavour to track consumer behaviour and promote consumer interests. ACE member John Varney gave a fascinating presentation on […]
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The case for evolution (3)
February 1st, 2011 by Roger Darlington
In early December, I did a posting explaining that I had produced a new section of my web site entitled “The Case For Evolution”. In that posting, I commented: “One test of the extent to which this essay meets a need will be how long it takes for a Google search on the words ‘case […]
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How the polypill will save lives
January 6th, 2011 by Roger Darlington
There was a report this week of a new trial to test the so-called polypill which combats heart disease and strokes. This is good news and hopefully, within a few years, this pill will be on the market. It could make a real difference to millions of lives. Two years ago, I participated in a […]
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What do celebrities know about science?
December 29th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
The short answer is: “Not very much”. But their fame can lead them to have a real influence over the take-up by credulous people of all sorts of nonsense devices or techniques. The organisation Sense About Science has just published its annual round-up of some of the weird advice offered by various celebrities in 2010. […]
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The 10 most important emerging technologies
December 22nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Each year, “Technology Review” published by MIT selects what it believes are the 10 most important emerging technologies. The winners are chosen based on the editors’ coverage of key fields. They state: “The question that we ask is simple: is the technology likely to change the world? Some of these changes are on the largest […]
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The case for evolution (2)
December 11th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A week ago, I did a posting about an essay I have written for my web site entitled “The Case For Evolution”. I felt that the web was missing a short and accessible – and accurate – guide to this most important of scientific thoughts. Since then, the essay has benefited from a number of […]
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The case for evolution (1)
December 4th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
In the last few weeks, I’ve read two books on evolution: “Evolution: A Very Short Introduction” by Brian & Deborah Charlesworth [for my review click here] “The Greatest Show On Earth” by Richard Dawkins [for my review click here] What struck me reading these texts is that evolution is a complicated subject and there are […]
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Salman Khan and his 1800 lessons
December 2nd, 2010 by Roger Darlington
A friend of mind – whose daughter recently left school to go to university – has drawn (pun intended) my attention to this great web site where the American educator Salman Khan has made available some 1800 bite-sized lessons. I’ve been reading a lot about evolution recently and have just viewed the lesson on the […]
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Word of the day: Pangaea
November 27th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
Pangaea was the supercontinent that existed during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras about 250 million years ago before the component continents were separated into their current configuration. The name was coined in the scientific discussion of Alfred Wegener’s theory of the continental drift. The term Pangaea appeared in 1928 during a symposium to discuss Wegener’s […]
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Is there intelligent life beyond Earth?
November 26th, 2010 by Roger Darlington
I have been reading “The Greatest Show On Earth”, the evidence for evolution presented by Richard Dawkins. Towards the very end of the book, he offers the most succinct and likely answer to the question of life beyond our planet that I have see: “My guess, for what it is worth (not much, because there […]
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