And for a bit of vaguely scientific fun, you might like to try ‘devolving’ yourself here (found this one via a commenter on the Young Australian Skeptics – whence also came the image above).
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The views expressed on this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the owners of SciBlogs.co.nz, the Science Media Centre or the Royal Society of New Zealand
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Archive
-
2013
- June
-
May
- why everyone must understand science
- pretty jelly
- a great synopsis of evolution? no, i don't think so
- perhaps the most inspiring graduation address i have ever heard
- thought-provoking video, pity about the title...
- out of the mouths of students
- aquatic apes & custard elephants
- selling services on-line
- the gastric-brooding frog - not quite back from the dead
- see-through creatures
- tool use - even more widespread than you thought
- science challenges & science education
- April
- March
- February
-
January
- where's pooh?
- social media & pseudoscience
- cloning neandertals - can we? should we? is it true?
- faecal transplants as a treatment for persistent gut infections
- a lovely friday photo
- evolution - a good video for the classroom
- stem cells, cosmetics - and unexpected consequences
- "the aviator" - a vision of the future that's a little too close for comfort
-
2012
- December
- November
- October
-
September
- how do kids learn about dna?
- traumatic insemination? ooh that sounds painful!
- an ambulant toupee?
- letting a good story get in the way of a few facts?
- indonesia to host 2014 international biology olympiad
- the sir paul callaghan science academy
- science: 1; society for textbook revise: 0
- if only...
- walking on custard
- more on mosaics
- immortal cells
- a genetic chimera?
-
August
- science - it's not magic!
- fostering is the cause...
- charter schools (from letters to the editor)
- academic olympics fail to gain government support
- this is a poodle moth...
- dodgy experts & gardasil - further questions
- passionate biologists start early
- things to do with precious bodily fluids
- quality counts - except when it doesn't
-
July
- sharks don't get cancer?
- foetal lamb cells for autism? baaaah!
- 'esoteric' - you keep using that word...
- moss s*x and springtails
- first supertrees - now super domes
- singapore's stupendous supertrees
- a letter from exotic places
- more on active learning in the biology classroom
- more on active learning in the biology classroom
- divergent views on the importance of critical thinking
- June
-
May
- nz herald, what are you *thinking* - all kids are psychic?
- sagan on science & society
- the worst use for mms yet?
- every major's terrible (apologies to gilbert & sullivan)
- does the swiss government *really* support homeopathy?
- beauty in simplicity - a guide to basic critical thinking
- how much do we value our teachers?
- symphony of science: the world of the dinosaurs
- musings on national primary science week
- the ero on primary school science: 'should do better'
- April
- March
-
February
- videos on creationism & evolution
- cute, creative caminalcules
- in the rush to 'e-learning', are we losing sight of our goals?
- anti-vaccination anti-science
- here be dragons
- have universities degraded to teaching 'only' scientific knowledge?
- choosing for the future
- on your bike
- these legs were made for walking...
- arsenic & old crimes
- wonderful quotes about science
- what is science?
-
January
- motivating tomorrow's biologists
- critical thinking - a classroom resource
- why things got bigger (rpt)
- should universities offer courses in 'alternative & complementary therapies'?
- chris stringer talks about human origins
- web 2.0, postmodernism, & attitudes to science
- scientists have cured cancer! - or have they?
- it must be the silly season
- Steve Novella's BS detector
- leeches & health - asking some questions
- one reason many don't 'get' science
- a homeopathic dinosaur?
- time travellers i have met**
- skulls & braaiiinz - what's not to like? (also, plants)
-
2011
-
December
- homeopathy is 'personalised'?
- the status & quality of year 11 & 12 science in australian schools
- letters to the editor: science & god
- using pseudoscience to teach science
- PM's Science Teacher Prize: Dr Angela Sharples
- convergent evolution: the pandas' thumb
- new woo for you - 'sound' therapy
- melanin + the pecten ... a new metabolic future??
- assessment for learning
- what about genetic evidence linking us to chimpanzees
- women & gay men are worst drivers, quoth the telegraph. o, rly?
- eye-catching blog post titles - I mean, 'icky toilets'?
- prior learning & university success in biology
- challenges in learning biology
- rhys morgan - another one to follow
-
November
- a follow-up (from a new blog)
- what about archaeopteryx?
- writing about environmental history
- picking & choosing what to believe in...
- what, exactly, do they teach?
- Election time: Science Q&A - education
- you could probably sell anything with the right sales pitch
- visualising a curriculum
- deconstructing zeolite
- October
- September
- August
-
July
- chemistry cat to the rescue
- the taipei IBO - what we did when not in the jury room
- what it was like at the IBO, part 1
- technology for technology's sake, or is there something more?
- international biology olympiad: nz team brings home the medals :-)
- a re-run of 'fact and theory'
- plants - more than you expect (again)
- why anecdotal 'evidence' is problematic
- meditating on enrolment (again)
- choose wisely... (redux)
- if you're thinking of taking Scholarship biology...
- interruption to normal service
- eye-catching titles for blog posts
-
June
- the carnegie hall hypothesis: practice makes perfect
- wonderful wordle: if my dishwasher had wings
- the moon is a poor prognosticator...
- "how do you know?" always trumps "were you there?"
- birds exist, so evolution is an incoherent theory...
- dishwashers of doom
- gearing up for an olympiad
- evolution according to futurama
- engaging students effectively in science, technology and engineering
- effects of changing teaching styles on student learning
- "1080 poison gets tick from report"
- how homeopathy might (not) work in A&E
-
May
- if pharyngeal slits turn into gills, why don't humans have gills?
- the sarcastic fringeheads
- why are some chickens white?
- twisting the truth on vaccination
- talking about exaptations
- another weird science letter
- another lovely biological image
- waiter, there's a fish in my cucumber!
- pink - not for boys?
- why geologists are wrong, wrong, wrong! about the age of the earth
- on academic honesty
-
April
- weird 'science' letter of the week
- vision and change: biology education for all students
- vision & change in undergraduate biology education
- 'darwin's dilemma' - id in nz
- a weekend funny...
- an open thread for science-y chat
- some thoughts on 'looking ahead'
- looking ahead: science education for the 21st century
- to the ridiculous (answersingenesis)...
- from the sublime (pz myers)...
- science education for the 21st century - an update
-
March
- bullying - it's everyone's problem
- inspired by science - the next stage
- my mother said...
- can ducks count?
- the discussion you have when you're really having a discussion
- a pat a day may help keep the doctor away
- creationist 'report' writing: marked down again
- another form of donation
- an ancient origin for the human eye
- talking past each other?
- my humble little blog is found by the discovery institute
- where lamarckian evolution might take our little furry fiends...
- predicting earthquakes: hedging your bets
- February
-
January
- attitudes towards teaching evolution in the (US) classroom
- the improbability of an eye
- changing the culture of science education at research universities
- rules of rational debate
- the mind's eye
- resistance to science
- something old & something new
- pesky little hoppers
- plankton & philosophy - and critical thinking
- goldfish & duckweed
- 'intelligent design is not creationism in any shape or form' - yeah, right!
- the human family tree gets even more complex
- happy new year, & thanks for all the fish
-
December
-
2010
- December
-
November
- homos*xual necrophilia by a mallard drake
- so who are these 'scientists anonymous'?
- stunning biological image #2
- Algae & isopods - a unique symbiosis
- astrology can help achieve pregnancy? um, really?
- 'the uncertainty of it all - understanding the nature of science'
- bats and exam questions
- mount st helens as a model for the grand canyon? somehow i don't think so
- a little exercise in critical thinking
- seven signs of bogus science
- homeopathic 'vaccines' and smallpox
- homeopathic 'vaccines' & smallpox
- vaccination & smallpox
- homeopathic vaccinations - fail
- chelation quackery around vaccination
- on polio
-
October
- "killer neandertals" - does this one really stack up?
- yes, we have some bananas
- sounds of biology
- vaccination in the classroom
- another resource about critical thinking
- inspired by science
- lady gaga in the lab?
- a novel take on a fairy tale
- stunning biological images
- a good example of thinking critically
- rolling brown stuff
- engagement techniques for teaching evolution
-
September
- further ruminations on writing an essay
- evidence supporting an hypothesis of crank magnetism
- the specialities of mad scientists
- the great tree of life
- a cultural divide
- prized science
- science & cooking - quite similar in some ways
- more on 'sweet poison': aspartame - truth vs fiction
- retail therapy better than s*x?
- conspicuous facultative mimicry in octopuses
- sunday snippets
- discussing death
- preparing for scholarship exams
- sweet poison?
- a genetic window on marsupial evolution
- beery bladders & other oddities
- legionella - an intracellular pathogen
- picking out the drunks, and other interesting tales
-
August
- caterpillar drool enhances plants' calls for help
- X-rays & ouches
- how a fungus avoids a plant's immune system
- our lives with dogs, & other interesting reading
- fungal parasites & zombie ants
- the scientists of tomorrow, today
- cat behaviour explained
- oxygenated food for the brain?
- a solar salamander
- but surely if it does no harm...
- MMS - continued health claims for an industrial bleach
- a brief hiatus...
- what made me a teacher
- northern rata - first it's an epiphyte, then it's not
- azolla & endosymbiosis
-
July
- how a little green ball of cells controls where it's going
- learning in lectures is a two-way street
- dogs behaving badly
- arctic foxes in arctic winters
- from elephantiasis to sperm competition
- giant scrotal elephantiasis
- the implausibility of possum peppering
- growing up with science
- of octopodes & clever horses
- the skills of critical thinking
- are octopuses really psychic?
- do you mind? (brain, meet brian)
- positive allometry & the prehistory of sexual selection
- kinky crayfish courtship
- repeat after me - pterosaurs were not dinosaurs!
-
June
- why an evolutionary image merits a 'fail'
- another early hominin specimen, & other things to read
- the genetics of lactase persistence
- a sponge makes the top 10
- the camel's hump
- contaminated dietary supplements
- a follow-up on bleeding for the cause
- pseudoscientific gambits
- world blood donor day
- the tyranny of powerpoint
- evolution vs creationism: the 'discussion' continues
- i get more mail - belief in evolution allows me to ignore my sins
- reflecting on teaching (& learning) about the nature of science
- acupuncture & adenosine
- iconography of evolution
-
May
- it's not a miracle
- female genital mutilation - hideous whichever way you look at it
- slightly more than half of everything i am is thanks to you (thanks, mum)
- on craig venter & his new life form
- sequencing the neandertal genome
- flashes in the eye
- let it grow, let it grow...
- milk & health: there aren't always two (equal) sides to a story
- helping students engage with maths & physics
- knowledge vs certainty
- why 'natural supplements' need regulation
- what science has given us
- putting therapeutic touch to the test
- sensing nonsense
- death shapes us all
- academic language & learning about science
-
April
- theorists of the lost ark
- think before you write (or at least, before you hand it in)
- chemo vs cancer, science vs disease
- what evolution is
- why don't students study plants?
- what science is
- what's in a name
- i get mail...
- more bad stats & other stories
- nature by numbers
- science embargoes & early releases - an update on the 'new hominin' story
- live from the nz international biology olympiad training camp
- changes in the early oceans - & their impact on the evolution of animals
- another missing link...
- more on bone-eating snotworms - the fossil years
- the costs of transpiration
- the costs of transpiration
- best billboard ever?
-
March
- engaging students in science through interactive learning
- a new hominin from siberia?
- humour with a serious message - the vaccine/autism 'debate'
- hey hey it's friday - and the darwin awards are out :-)
- how not to do science: the scole experiment
- belief & knowledge - a plea about language
- how biology teachers can respond to intelligent design
- overrun with creepy-crawlies? maybe not...
- how do we teach students to question what we say?
- cross-species hanky-panky
- what makes students stick at science?
- writing that essay
- a blog for talking teaching
- the age of mammals
- the bca vs simon singh
- evolution supressed in new zealand? i think not
-
February
- today's big earthquake in chile
- the oversized naughty bits of female spotted hyenas
- how i became a science teacher
- $60 a time
- meta-analyses - testing relationships
- an update on facilitated communication
- armed and dangerous...
- happy darwin day!
- breadth vs depth
- but it does no harm...
- the power of the cuttlefish
- the 8-glasses-a-day myth
- what's your 'risk intelligence quotient'?
- why dogs live shorter lives
- grumpiness is best?
-
January
- of rain and rotifers
- avatar
- a quick lesson from statistics :-)
- mms revisited
- asking the right questions
- communicating science - an example of good practice
- procrastination - something to avoid
- rather nice zoological videos
- on the shoulders of giants
- the science of lolcats
- saying a lot about little - another example of how not to use statistics
- cauliflory (but not with cheese)
- a wide froggy mouth - but not on a frog
- trees on stilts
-
2009
-
December
- misleading medical-science stories - & why most published research findings are false
- australian red beech
- what researchers really mean
- may your christmas be filled...
- botanical architecture
- cassowaries: crucial to rainforest ecology
- great balls of sand
- a whale of a community
- preparing for the future
- owlcat. definitely not coming to a place near you, any time soon
- rocket science & testosterone
- of ant hotels and homicidal figs
- did ancient jellyfish sting?
- an update on xenotransplantation
- holiday photos
- do flies do housework?
- re-post: a worm, but not as we know it
- some interesting links to follow
- please do not adjust your set
- gannet monogamy model moot
-
November
- moa evolution & new zealand's geological past
- facilitated communication?
- evolutionary image... fail
- off to entertain at cafe scientifique
- regulating supplements
- whence the nucleus?
- argh! the dreaded mercury!
- what's in the water?
- speciation in darwin's finches
- hummingbirds & the high cost of s*x
- a guest post from an olympian
- things that go BANG!
- topical 1080
- ten questions about intelligent design
- florence nightingale was a statistician
- lumping, splitting, and the morphological species concept
- a question of isolation
- dinosaur footprints in new zealand
- viral evolution - 'evolution before our eyes'
- fluoride reloaded
- turning kids on to science: the spectrum revisited
- the importance of evolution for modern medicine
-
October
- a tale of several fishes
- wolves in the cross-fire
- another contender for 'best blog post title'
- people can believe some very strange things...
- self-grooming in cows
- teaching old cows new tricks
- two ends of the science spectrum
- conspiracy theories & the electricity supply
- seeing the world through blindsight
- it couldn't happen here. could it?
- swim with the sharks...
- tomorrow's young scientists, today
- blood-sucking vampire moths!
- sensory perception in t.rex
- fossil poo and moa diets
- science or magical thinking?
- science or magical thinking?
- belief vs acceptance
- stomata & plant immunity to bacterial infection
- the music of science
- (i'll say it again) dose really does matter!
- why we have telomerase
- please do not adjust your set...
- knuckle-walking - not an ancestral trait in humans
- the 'missing link' disproved?
- the fabric of history
- the fabric of history
-
September
- a special kind of donation
- thoughts on xenotransplantation
- plant growth responses to touch
- what's your favourite (transitional) fossil?
- plants - much more than you expect
- food & folate
- science blogging in new zealand
- a rather strange decision
- science-based medicine vs the 'natural' kind
- critical thinking 101: reading news stories on science
- malaria & sickle-cell anaemia
- the usefulness of parachutes has not been scientifically tested
- 'warrior genes' & media fantasies
- why do we worry so much about ageing?
- the lost city & life undersea
- cut a long story short
- science can be fun: swearing as a response to pain
- more musings on human pheromones
- molecular evolution & possible gene therapy
- sherlock holmes & csi
- the scent of fear
- wait until you can see the whites of their eyes
- the power of the human mind
- August
-
December
-
2013
-
Blogroll
- Ben Goldacre's BadScience
- DC's Improbable Science
- ERV
- Laelaps
- On becoming a domestic and laboratory goddess
- Pharyngula
- plankton & philosophy
- Quackwatch
- Respectful Insolence
- Science-based Medicine
- Scientific blogging
- Silly Beliefs
- Skepticblog
- The Digital Cuttlefish
- The Naked Scientists
- The Quackometer
- The Young Australian Skeptics
- WordPress.com
- WordPress.org
D’oh, totally forgot this year.