BioBlog

the fabric of history

Alison Campbell • Oct 02, 2009

• human evolution,
• humanevolution,
• new science stories,
• newsciencestories

Last night I caught parts of Caveman (starring Ringo Starr & a dinosaur) while playing with the puppy - the daughter & her friend were watching it. Um, er, what can I say? ...?? I liked the dinosaur, he had personality... Read More

a special kind of donation

Alison Campbell • Sep 30, 2009

• biotechnology,
• blogging

As I left the office this afternoon I said to my colleagues, 'I'll be in a bit later tomorrow, I have an interview with a vampire.' At which they all laughed, because they know this means I'm off to my... Read More

thoughts on xenotransplantation

Alison Campbell • Sep 30, 2009

• critical thinking,
• health & medicine,
• scholarship biology,
• science & society

This is a re-post of one I wrote earlier this year. For a bit of background: one of the topics that year 13 Biology students can study requires them to do research around a ‘current’ or ‘controversial’ issue such as stem cells or xenotransplantation. I wrote a brief one on stem cells (really, more a case of pointing … Read More

plant growth responses to touch

Alison Campbell • Sep 29, 2009

• ecology,
• plant responses to the environment

Commenting on my last post about plant behaviour, Jim mentioned a paper by Marian Smith on plant responses to being touched or shaken. Unfortunately I couldn't get the link to work, but I did a Google Scholar search on the... Read More

what’s your favourite (transitional) fossil?

Alison Campbell • Sep 28, 2009

• evolution

A couple of weeks ago Brian Switek's blog Laelaps included a post on transitional fossils (those things that some creationists will tell you simply don't exist... ) Brian's post was sparked by this story (OK, maybe the writer of was aiming for... Read More

plants – much more than you expect

Alison Campbell • Sep 27, 2009

• nature of science,
• plant responses to the environment,
• scholarship biology

One of the Biology Standards year 13 students study is called 'Describe animal behaviour & plant responses'. Now, if 'behaviour' = response to a stimulus, then that's really what plants are doing too. I guess it's just hard to think... Read More

food & folate

Alison Campbell • Sep 26, 2009

• critical thinking,
• health & medicine,
• journalism,
• nature of science,
• science & society

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 … Read More

science blogging in new zealand

Alison Campbell • Sep 26, 2009

• blogging,
• Sciblogs

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... Read More

a rather strange decision

Alison Campbell • Sep 24, 2009

• blogging,
• critical thinking,
• journalism,
• nature of science

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... Read More

science-based medicine vs the ‘natural’ kind

Alison Campbell • Sep 23, 2009

• critical thinking,
• nature of science,
• new science stories

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... Read More