Alison Campbell
food & folate - BioBlog
Sep 26, 2009 •
This is a re-posting of an article I wrote back in July. I thought I’d repost it here as I’ve been on a bit of a science/health/pseudoscience kick lately 🙂 In the July 13 Herald was an article on the inclusion of folic acid (aka folate) in bread. This has hit the news recently because (among other things) bakers are concerned about the cost of adding this supplement to bread. (One figure that’s been bandied about is that someone would have to eat 11 slices of bread to get their recommended daily dose, but this surely a ‘straw man’ argument: while the NZ diet tends to be low in folate it’s not at zero – any amount of bread would supplement that low intake.) There are a number of issues associated with this story, one being a perceived toxicity associated … Read More
science blogging in new zealand - BioBlog
Sep 26, 2009 •
I've been blogging for 2 years now & following other people's blogs for rather longer than that. But I've only ever been aware of a few other NZ science bloggers; there's so much material out there that unless you go...
a rather strange decision - BioBlog
Sep 24, 2009 •
A fellow blogger drew my attention to a recent decision by the Broadcasting Standards Authority. It seems that Dr Shaun Holt, a medical doctor who appears regularly on TV1's Breakfast show, has been slated by the BSA over some comments he made...
science-based medicine vs the ‘natural’ kind - BioBlog
Sep 23, 2009 •
This week a very dear friend of mine is having surgery for bowel cancer, having already gone through a course of combined chemo/radiotherapy in preparation. When I was talking with her last week, she commented that she wasn't looking forward...
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...