Royal Society of Biology
World penguin day and the march of the Adelie penguins
Today is World Penguin Day, an international celebration dedicated to the flightless birds that are almost synonymous with the stretching white plains of the Antarctic. The date of World Penguin Day – the 25th of April – is being suggested by some sources online as coinciding with the day some colonies of penguin species Pygoscelis … Continue reading
How will environmental policy change post-Brexit?
“To protect nature, we need targets, investment and accountability, not grand promises with zero detail,” said activist lawyer and ClientEarth chief executive James Thornton to BBC News last week. He expressed his disappointment with yet another delay of the publication of a 25 year plan for England’s nature, a draft of which has been seen … Continue reading
Policy lunchbox: the challenges facing the industrial strategy
By Gabriele Butkute, science policy officer at the Royal Society of Biology and the Biochemical Society The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have released an open consultation on ‘Building our Industrial Strategy’ which is currently a hot topic among our Member Organisations and the whole of the bioscience community. As such, we … Continue reading
New journal to grow awareness of emerging areas of life sciences
by Emma Pettengale, Portland Press Biology Week is an annual celebration of life science with events all over the UK and beyond for everyone from children to professional scientists. The week helps to inspire future generations of biologists. With more and more opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations and chances to switch fields, regardless of whether you … Continue reading
Science for society – bringing responsible research to life
By Melanie Smallman, deputy director, UCL Responsible Research Innovation Hub Sign up for our free Policy Lunchbox on Friday 10th June 2016: What is Responsible Research and Innovation? Given the power of science and innovation to transform our world, we need to make sure that it works with and for society. But what does this … Continue reading
Five good reasons for doing science communication
By Dr Joana Moscoso, research associate at Imperial College London and co-founder of the Native Scientist. Last year Joana won the Royal Society of Biology’s Established Researchers Prize for Science Communication. Applications for the RSB Science Communication Awards 2016 are open until 30th June. Coming from a small village in Portugal and wanting to become … Continue reading
Why should we vaccinate our children?
By Professor Nigel Brown FRSB, President of the Microbiology Society. Since 1998 there has been a lot of debate about the safety of vaccination. This originated with a paper that argued that the triple Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccination in infants is related to autism. There have also been statements that vaccines contain toxic compounds and that … Continue reading
Science Fact for Fiction
Helen Pennington, a doctoral training student at Imperial College London, discusses the role of science in science fiction. Science fiction has repeatedly predicted scientific, technological or financial advances. For example, Edward Bellamy predicted the use of universal credit and credit cards in the 1888 novel Looking Backward; and Jules Verne described many of the aspects … Continue reading
Capturing Biology in Action
Billy Clapham is a zoology student at the University of Sheffield and won the Society’s amateur photography competition last year. Photography is a fantastic medium to explore and reveal the beauty of the natural world in all its forms. But beautiful photographs of animals and plants from all around the world, while no less special, … Continue reading
Can Eating Insects Save the World?
By Diane Fresquez, an American journalist living in Brussels. Diane writes for Zester Daily and is the author of ‘A Taste of Molecules: In Search of the Secrets of Flavour’. At the Brussels airport last week, en route to Glasgow, I struck up a conversation with a young Flemish woman about edible insects, as one does. … Continue reading