Conservation
‘Forest School’ grows respect for Nature
Hannah Brett CBiol MSB, is an ecological consultant who works with the Heart of the Wildwood charity, Oxfordshire, promoting outdoor learning and a holistic educational approach. The Society of Biology’s Regional Grant Scheme is supporting their Forest School for children and parents, throughout 2015. Activities at the Forest School include cooking stick bread on the … Continue reading
Securing the future of our natural capital: a 25 year strategy
Written by Ben Connor, policy officer at the British Ecological Society. This piece was originally posted on the BES blog. A comprehensive 25-year strategy to protect and enhance England’s natural capital is required if the Government is to meet its commitment for this generation to be the first to leave the natural environment in a … Continue reading
Birute Galdikas: Born to be wild
By Gabriele Butkute, Student Enterprise & Marketing Intern at London Metropolitan University People who live in the western countries rarely think about rainforests, orangutans, or the fact that they are going extinct, it just feels too far away. Well, unless they are sitting in comfortable IMAX cinema chairs munching popcorn and watching a documentary. Renowned … Continue reading
Celebrating our Honorary Fellow Sir David Attenborough
To celebrate the place of Sir David Attenborough in the top ten biologists who’ve changed the world, Amy Whetstone, qualifications and skills officer at the Society of Biology, writes about the achievements of the man considered the face and voice of natural history programmes. There are very few people who are not familiar with the … Continue reading
BioArtAttack: closing the gap between art and science
Jenni Lacey, membership marketing officer at the Society of Biology, finds inspiration for BioArtAttack – an art science competition being run as part of Biology Week 2014. Creative thinking is fundamental to problem solving and is often at the heart of great discoveries. At the Society of Biology we want to inspire people from a … Continue reading
How do we value our natural capital?
Daija Angeli, project officer for the Society of Biology’s special interest group the Natural Capital Initiative, attended a meeting of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee on the valuation of natural capital on 25th February 2014. Here is what she learned: How do we value our nature? The concept of natural capital is often used to … Continue reading
What we can learn from our peers around the globe?
Guest blogger Charlotte Eve Davies, a PhD student at Swansea University, talks about receiving a Society of Biology Travel Grant to go to the AVC Lobster Science Centre, Canada. ‘So what do you do?’ is the question I get asked rather often. People look at me and assume, at the age of 24, I should … Continue reading
The ants came marching one by one….
By Natasha Neill, executive officer at the Society of Biology Counting animals is normally associated with colourful cartoons or primary school songs, but trying to monitor how many animals there are can often be a difficult yet critical task. Species number and distribution around the world give the best indication of how vulnerable the species … Continue reading
Can shark culls reduce the number of attacks?
Following the commencement of the Western Australian shark cull, Chloe Warren, PhD student at the University of Newcastle, Australia, ponders the benefits of a more scientific approach to policy making. Last weekend saw the gathering of over 4000 people on Perth’s Cottsloe Beach, brought together to protest the commencement of the Western Australian (WA) government’s … Continue reading
Pollen protects honeybees against pathogens
Rebecca Nesbit, press officer at the Society of Biology, reports on Professor May Berenbaum’s talk at the Impact of Pesticides on Bee Health conference organised by the Biochemical Society, the British Ecological Society and the Society for Experimental Biology. In 2006, American beekeepers were alarmed by sudden losses of hives to colony collapse disorder, where … Continue reading