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Monthly Archives: August 2012

Science & The Paralympics

Enlightenment was the theme of last night’s Paralympic Opening Ceremony, with science taking centre stage. The ceremony included British scientist Stephen Hawking, the Big Bang, Newton’s Apple and even an interpretation of the Higgs Boson. This celebration of Great Britain’s rich history of scientific discovery and innovation through a fusion of art, science and sport … Continue reading »

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The many nests of the hairy wood ant

Guest blog from Samuel Ellis, a PhD student at the University of York Centre for Complex Systems Analysis There are an estimated 22,000 species of ants, and it is likely that the weight of ants on the planet is greater than the weight of humans. They are very important to ecosystems all over the world … Continue reading »

Categories: Latest research | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

A career in industry – the pros and cons

Guest blogger Avika Ruparell describes her experience of working for industry following her PhD I finished a PhD in molecular microbiology at The University of Nottingham at the end of last year and I’ve been working as a microbiologist for Unilever for just over 4 months now. In between the post-thesis submission and viva, I was … Continue reading »

Categories: Careers | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Marmosets and research into Parkinson’s Disease

A fascinating video of a Parkinson’s sufferer’s visit to an animal research facility. The video was produced by Richard Scrase from Understanding Animal Research, and here is his insight into its making:

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Flying ant day is back

Submit your flying ant sightings! After the excitement of flying ant day, which happened in the last week of July in most of the UK, there has been a sudden encore and swarms of flying ants were sighted around the UK on 8th August. In some cases at least it appears that the same nests … Continue reading »

Categories: Biology Week, Royal Society of Biology | 9 Comments

Panellists needed for women in science awards

It is well known that senior positions in universities and research institutes are predominantly filled by men, and moves are being made to tackle this. To increase gender equality, Athena SWAN recognises universities which are committed to the advancement and promotion of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine (STEMM). The Athena SWAN Charter … Continue reading »

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Podcast from the Standing up for Science media workshop

Rebecca Nesbit, Press Officer at the Society of Biology The Voice of Young Science Standing up for Science media workshops are an opportunity for early-career researchers to discover how to get their voices heard in public debates about science. The last one was here in Charles Darwin House and I went along with my voice … Continue reading »

Categories: Royal Society of Biology | Tags: , , , , | 3 Comments

Why do some lakes have a greater diversity of cichlid fish?

Guest blog from Andrew Helmstetter, Savolainen Lab, Imperial College London, who researches ecological adaptation and speciation in the Austrolebias genus of fish (see picture) One of the major questions that is driving research in speciation biology (the study of how new species evolve) is “why do some groups of species diversify faster than others?” The … Continue reading »

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Scanning a cockroach – What a way to spend a Saturday night!

An update from Katy Ordidge, from CABI, UCL, who is asking for wacky ideas of what to put in an MRI scanner It was 7pm on a Saturday night, and Holly and I were putting a cockroach into the scanner… Earlier in the week, we had taken delivery of a cockroach, and PhD students Tom … Continue reading »

Categories: Biology Week | Tags: | 1 Comment