BioBlog

Raw Water? Ew!

Alison Campbell • Jan 09, 2018

• amoebic dysentery,
• cholera,
• contamination,
• disease,
• Drinking water,
• e coli,
• germs,
• giardia,
• Koch,
• microbiology,
• pasteur,
• raw water,
• Science and Society

‘Raw water’ – the latest foolish fad to hit people’s screens, pockets, & in some instances I’d guess their toilet paper expenditure as well. I first heard of this particular litre of woo when I read an article in the New York Times with the headline: Unfiltered Fervor: the rush to get off the water grid. Apparently getting ‘off … Read More

Mumps: learning from the comments threads

Alison Campbell • Nov 30, 2017

• All Blacks,
• anti-vaxxers,
• comments,
• Science and Society,
• Social media,
• vaccination

So, another All Black has come down with mumps and the comments threads are once more awash with those opposed to vaccines, posting the usual mix of pseudoscience and misinformation. Honestly, I would post a link on the Stuff FB page to this excellent commentary by Dr Mark Crislip, but I just know that the … Read More

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What is feedback, and do universities do it well?

Alison Campbell • Nov 30, 2017

• assessment,
• feedback,
• teaching,
• universities

I’ve just received a reminder that I need to set up the paper and teaching appraisal for my summer school paper. This is a series of items that students can answer on a 1-5 scale (depending on how much or how little they agree with each statement), plus opportunities to give open-ended responses to a few questions. These last are … Read More

Considering the transition between school and university

Alison Campbell • Nov 23, 2017

• education,
• First-Year Science Educators' Colloquium,
• higher education,
• school,
• science teaching,
• transition,
• university

I’m sitting in the sun waiting for the 2017 First-Year Science Educators’ Colloquium (FYSEC) to kick off- and it’s somewhat embarrassing to realise that I hadn’t done anything with some of the notes I took at last year’s event. However, much of the discussion then is still just as relevant today, and in fact many of this year’s discussions will … Read More

Blood and guts, surgeons and scientists: “the butchering art”

Alison Campbell • Nov 22, 2017

• Science and Society

The Butchering Art is medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris’s first book. And what a book! Descriptions that bring the horrors of pre-anaesthesia, pre-antisepsis surgery shudderingly into view? Very definitely. Science and history? Oh yes, lots of it, and beautifully told. And through it all, the humanity and vision of Joseph Lister and others like him, working to improve the outcomes of … Read More

The last of the iron lungs

Alison Campbell • Nov 21, 2017

• iron lung,
• polio,
• Respirology,
• Science and Society,
• Vaccine

That’s the title of this excellent article by Jennings Brown, and I urge you to go and read the whole thing. It’s the tale of perhaps the last 3 people in the US who are still alive because they are still living in iron lungs. It’s a story of courage and endurance that lets them live a life that … Read More

Attitudes and antibiotics

Alison Campbell • Nov 20, 2017

• antibiotic,
• antibiotic resistance,
• antimicrobial resistance,
• comments,
• Facebook,
• Influenza,
• natural selection,
• Social media,
• spanish flu

A recent FB post from Stuff discussed the rising concerns about the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (This is something that Siouxsie Wiles has often written about: here and here, for example; her excellent book on the subject is reviewed here.) Fairly predictably, it didn’t take long for the proponents of essential oils to turn up, soon to be joined by the … Read More

Another antivax myth (ingestion vs injection)

Alison Campbell • Nov 08, 2017

• aluminium,
• aluminium adjuvant,
• antivax,
• antivaxxer,
• ingestion,
• Science and Society,
• vaccines

There’s an oft-repeated claim by the more strident anti-vaxxers that ingesting and injecting are two different things when it comes to substances like aluminium. This betrays a disturbing lack of knowledge of biology and physiology (especially from those who boast of ‘having done their research’), but they repeat it nonetheless. (Red’s self-belief is mildly amusing.)     The … Read More

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The various ‘costs’ of measles

Alison Campbell • Nov 06, 2017

• antivaxxers,
• health costs,
• immunisation,
• measles,
• Science and Society,
• vaccination

On that FB thread about dropping vaccination rates in New Zealand, one commenter proudly proclaimed that she and her four children had all had measles. Over in a week, no problems, stop yer whining.  Well, lovely for her – and if the illness indeed lasted only a week per person then they were lucky; 7-10 days is the norm for … Read More

Antivaxxers still ‘delusional’ and ‘dangerous’

Alison Campbell • Nov 06, 2017

• anti-vaxxers,
• antivaxxers,
• immunisation rates,
• Science and Society,
• vaccination,
• vaccines,
• Vaxxed

Aaron Leaman’s excellent storyA in the Waikato Times and in Stuff used those words, and I’m sticking with them – because those adjectives describe the majority of the comments on the relevant FB page. When Aaron interviewed me for that story, I commented that it’s essential for scientists and doctors to continue to confront the waves of anti-vaccine … Read More