Alison Campbell
critical thinking 101: reading news stories on science - BioBlog
Sep 22, 2009 •
You've probably gathered by now that I get quite irritated by the way that some news reports portray science. But it's not always easy to know what to look for, in terms of the tell-tale signs that let you know...
malaria & sickle-cell anaemia - BioBlog
Sep 21, 2009 •
I ran a Schol Bio tutorial out at the uni yesterday & the last exercise we did involved going over a question from last year's paper. This question looked at sickle-cell disease (SCD), which is seen in individuals who are...
the usefulness of parachutes has not been scientifically tested - BioBlog
Sep 19, 2009 •
This post's about another of the papers a teacher sent to me recently, with the subject line 'science can be fun'. The title of this one is Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review...
‘warrior genes’ & media fantasies - BioBlog
Sep 16, 2009 •
A couple of years ago now (before I got into this blogging thing, anyway) there was a brief flurry of media interest over a study that - according to various stories in the press - showed that the Maori population...
why do we worry so much about ageing? - BioBlog
Sep 15, 2009 •
I was moved to wonder about this after seeing another article in today's Herald about ageing. Or, more particularly, about slowing/stopping the ageing process & thereby extending the period of our natural lifespan. Rapamycin got a look-in as well. And there...
the lost city & life undersea - BioBlog
Sep 13, 2009 •
I do love the fact that there is always something new to learn. And often, to pass on to my students. Like the 'Lost City' - a surreal landscape of ghostly white towers that's formed around alkaline vents deep under...
cut a long story short - BioBlog
Sep 12, 2009 •
I've been marking essays a lot of the day & there are still a fair few waiting for me to give them some attention, so this is going to be brief. But reading through them all has spurred me to...
science can be fun: swearing as a response to pain - BioBlog
Sep 10, 2009 •
I got an e-mail yesterday from a biology teacher (thanks, Ayelet!) with three pdfs & the subject line 'science can be fun after all!'. And the three attached papers definitely showed that :-) 'Excellent blog material,' I thought to myself......
more musings on human pheromones - BioBlog
Sep 08, 2009 •
A comment on my post about human pheromones got me thinking a bit more about the topic :-) Just how much do we know about these signalling chemicals & our ability to detect them?Many animals use scent as a basis...
molecular evolution & possible gene therapy - BioBlog
Sep 06, 2009 •
From time to time I've heard it said (by those in the creationist camp) that evolution has no relevance to modern medicine. Um... hello? antibiotic resistance in bacteria, anyone? And an understanding of evolution can also be put to good...