Sarb Johal • Apr 03, 2017 •
In this Psychology Report, I talked with Dr Michael Philipp of Massey University School of Psychology here in New Zealand. Michael and his students are interested in how emoji and emoticons are used in computer based communication – so, those emails tweets and Facebook posts – that kind of thing. You can listen to the podcast as well … Read More
Guest Work • Mar 20, 2017 •
By Daniel J. Kruger, University of Michigan Have you ever experienced a phantom phone call or text? You’re convinced that you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket, or that you heard your ring tone. But when you check your phone, no one actually tried to get in touch with you. You then might plausibly wonder: “Is … Read More
Michael Corballis • May 05, 2016 •
Do we use only 10 percent of our brain? That idea has been around for a long time, but we now know it’s not true. Brain imaging fails to show large regions of quiescence, as expected if we only used a small fraction of the stuff that occupies the skull. Even when we’re at rest a widespread “default” network remains … Read More
Alison Campbell • Aug 11, 2015 •
OK, so I'm back (from a lovely long overseas trip). And I had thought to write something 'light' to ease myself back into blogging, but then I see that scientist and science communicator, Kevin Folta, is currently experiencing some... Read More
Alison Campbell • Apr 19, 2015 •
As you'll have gathered, I'm finding Facebook - and now Twitter - great sources of information, whether it's for teaching, sharing with my students (& others!), or blogging about. And today, this paper popped up on my Twitter feed:... Read More
Alison Campbell • Apr 07, 2015 •
I recently started following Kevin Folta's blog, Illumination. (I'm sorry I didn't come across it earlier; it's very good.) His latest post quotes a comment from a Kansas farmer, made on a site opposed to Monsanto & its production of GM crops,... Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Apr 28, 2014 •
It seems far-fetched, but researchers are claiming that microbes could help us understand how language evolved, specifically combinatorial communication, in which two signals are used together to achieve an effect that is different to the sum of the effects of the component parts. Humans use combinatorial communication when we join words together to give a word with a new meaning. Read More
Michael Edmonds • Mar 10, 2013 •
Recently, I posted a brilliant presentation from PhD student, Crystal Dilworth about the Myth of the Scientist. This was linked to by another website, drawing my attention to this presentation from Mayim Bialik about how she got into science. It is a great example of how an articulate and passionate mentor can draw people into the fascinating world … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Dec 19, 2012 •
Over the last month or so I’ve been to a lot of talks and its started me really thinking about what makes a good communicator. First it was the Maurice Wilkins Centre (MWC) for Molecular Biodiscovery‘s annual symposium (New ways to image the body – from macro to nano) followed by the New Zealand Microbiology Society‘s … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Jul 06, 2012 •
I recently discovered that the iPad has an iTunes U application which allows access to a range of free university courses from a range of universities and colleges. Exploring further I discovered a series of talks from Yale University on science writing and journalism, including “Science Journalism in an Irrational World” by Sharon Begley, senior health and science correspondent at … Read More