Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Archive for the ‘Science and society’ Category

Ada Lovelace & keeping our WITS about us

Posted in Science and society, Women and science, tagged , on March 24, 2010 | 1 Comment »

March 24, 2010 –: when we honour Ada Lovelace, the ‘enchantress of numbers’ and the world’s first programmer. This year’s Ada Lovelace day (ALD10) –  when bloggers celebrate women in technology and science — falls in the week when Ireland’s national broadcaster began looking for the “greatest Irish person ever” .  . .  with not [...]

Read Full Post »

No scientists on RTE’s greatest Irish shortlist??

Posted in Science and society, Women and science, tagged , on March 22, 2010 | 26 Comments »

Care to join me in organising a poll of the greatest Irish scientist? And let’s try and get a scientist on to RTE’s list for the greatest ever Irish person. RTE is asking us to vote for the greatest Irish person from a shortlist of 40 people.  The top five will then each become the [...]

Read Full Post »

The future is in data

Posted in Education, Policy, Science and society, tagged , , , on February 11, 2010 | 1 Comment »

There are many reasons for studying mathematics, at school and college.  Everyday practical use being a big one, or maybe just the sheer joy of the logic, if you’re that way inclined. (And below, a fascinating TED talk about what we can learn from health statistics.) But here’s another good reason: because, in a few [...]

Read Full Post »

Science, cliques and the cloak of anonymity?

Posted in Policy, Science and society, tagged , on February 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Should reviewers in science remain anonymous?  In peer-reviewing papers?  What about reviewing grant applications? This year marks the 350th anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society in London and, with that, arguably, the start of the modern scientific establishment, including the principle of peer review. Yet, thanks to the ‘climate gate’ e-mail controversy (see [...]

Read Full Post »

Cheap, easy building technique with humanitarian potential?

Posted in Science and society, tagged , on January 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Back in the late 1940s, when Europe was starting to rebuild after the devastation of the wartime bombings, an Irish engineer developed a quick, cheap and easy building technique using just canvas and concrete — in essence, a concrete tent, but one that could be quite large. Can’t help wondering if this could prove useful [...]

Read Full Post »

Carbon taxes, cash for clunkers, and the tragedy of the commons

Posted in Carbon, Policy, Science and society, Sustainable living, tagged , on December 9, 2009 | 2 Comments »

Question: what do Finance Minister Brian Lenihan, ‘eco-nomics’ pundit David McWilliams, and the Nobel Prize committee have in common? Answer: a growing realisation of the need to factor the environment into the economy. Lenihan’s budget today will at last introduce a carbon tax and, with it, the principle of ‘the polluter pays’. US economist Elinor [...]

Read Full Post »

If we’re so smart . . .

Posted in Policy, Science and society, tagged , , on November 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

. . . how come scientists and innovators still don’t register on the public radar? There’s been much talk lately about developing a “smart economy” here.  My friend and fellow science journalist Cormac Sheridan counted no fewer than  27 ‘smart’ references in the recently revised programme for government. But so far, it seems to be [...]

Read Full Post »

Sex, science and stereotypes

Posted in Policy, Science and society, Women and science, tagged , , on November 25, 2009 | Leave a Comment »

Update: BBC Radio 4′s Moral Maze discussed the ethical issues on Nov 25th, listen here (until Dec 2nd) A week ago, if you’d asked someone to name a famous woman scientist, chances are they would have said Marie Curie.  Now, they’re more likely to name Brooke Magnanti. Magnanti, for those who missed the news, is [...]

Read Full Post »