Science and policymaking: reflections from a global meeting

By Alessandro Allegra, doctoral candidate in science and technology studies, UCL

Over the last two days of September 600 scientists, policymakers, and knowledge brokers from all over the world gathered in Brussels to discuss how to improve dialogue between science and policymaking.

The global conference, organised by the European Commission and the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA), started from a very simple premise: as science and technology inform our understanding of the world, and permeate all aspects of our lives, how do we ensure they are best embedded into effective policymaking?

Although no simple and straightforward answer to this questions exists, several important points were made during the two days of discussion that can contribute to a better understanding of the process of scientific advice to policymaking. Here I discuss a few that I found particularly interesting. Read more »

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Return of the native: the pine marten

By Jenny MacPherson, pine marten project manager, The Vincent Wildlife Trust.
Read blogs about the other mammals in the #UKMammalPoll and vote for yourFavourite UK Mammal.

My first encounter with a pine marten in the wild was back when I was a first year zoology undergraduate. I was poised upwind of a badger sett with my binoculars, waiting for the badgers to emerge, when the most beautiful animal I’d ever seen crossed my field of view. It was a pine marten. It stopped, stood up on its hind legs and sniffed the air, revealing the characteristic apricot bib, and then went on its way. From that moment on I was hooked.

Since then I have been lucky enough to have many similar sightings of martens in Scotland but the thrill never gets old. When I mention pine martens, people often assume that I am talking about a bird, some forest dwelling relative of the house marten, however, pine martens are mammals. They belong in the same family as badgers (mustelidae) but, unlike their sociable cousins, cat-sized pine martens spend most of their time alone ranging over quite large, wooded territories that they defend against other martens. Read more »

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Soprano pipistrelle: A love song in the key of 55kHz

By David Urry MRSB, science communicator at The Natural History Museum.
Read blogs about the other mammals in the #UKMammalPoll and vote for your Favourite UK Mammal.

The soprano pipistrelle, one of three pipistrelle species in the UK, is named due to the frequency of its echolocation: slightly higher than the closely related common pipistrelle. Although a soprano by name, this bat has little time for serenades, instead using its ultra-high frequency call to accurately pin point, and then ambush, tiny insects in mid-air.

The soprano’s high frequency ‘clicks’ were the first bat calls I heard –  I won’t forget the excitement caused by the sudden staccato rasps emitted by my bat detector before a dark silhouette swooped into view. The silhouette arced through the sky at impressive speed and impossible angles, while my detector filled with near-constant clicks and calls, as though chirping in delight at the thrill of its dizzying pursuit.

Read more »

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Pollination and education in the Peaks

By Ida Griffiths – education officer for Pollinating the Peak at the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.

Bumblebees are awesome! But perhaps, being the education officer for Pollinating the Peak – a new Heritage Lottery funded project from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust – I have to say that… However, it’s not just me, my colleagues and keen entomologists, but the general public think so too. In a recent public poll from the Royal Society of Biology, the iconic Buff-tailed bumblebee was crowned the Favourite UK Insect!

Bumblebees are placid creatures, happily bumbling around our gardens, grass verges, meadows and woodlands visiting flowers, lapping up their nectar and gathering pollen to feed to their larvae. And despite their (endearing) lack of grace, they are beautifully adapted to this lifestyle. Bumblebee tongues are long and intricately designed to poke into flowers to tap into the sweet nectar reward produced at the base of their corollas. All 25 of our UK bumblebee species have a different range of tongue lengths and are thus equipped to dine upon slightly different assortments of flowers. Read more »

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Giving the hedgehog a helping hand

By Fay Vass, chief executive of the British Hedgehog Preservation Society.
Read blogs about the other mammals in the #UKMammalPoll and vote for your Favourite UK Mammal.

The argument in favour of hedgehogs could be won simply on their cuteness. However, there is far more about this amazing mammal that could swing the vote. Hedgehogs are the UK’s only spiny mammal, and are therefore impossible to confuse with anything else; they are also a wonderful example for teaching ecology and conservation, and crucially they are in serious need of our help.

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Threats to hedgehogs come mostly from us. We have altered our environment so dramatically that this once common animal risks drifting into memory. So we need all the exposure we can get to promote the hedgehog’s plight. We need people to become hedgehog champions through our Hedgehog Street campaign (run in partnership with the People’s Trust for Endangered Species). We need people to make holes in their garden fences so that hedgehogs can move through the environment. We need to ensure people start to garden with wildlife in mind – compost heaps, log piles, pollinator attracting plants – and to realise that what is good for hedgehogs is good for so much other wildlife too. Read more »

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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 are a young student, early-career researcher or an experienced post-doc, you may have your interest piqued in a new area of the life sciences and want to find out more.

To support this growing need, a new journal is launching in early 2017. Owned jointly by the Royal Society of Biology and the Biochemical Society, Emerging Topics in Life Sciences is deliberately aimed at an interdisciplinary audience.  Each issue will focus on a single topic, giving an up-to-date, self-contained summary on the hottest emerging areas in the life sciences, such as antibiotics and the growing spread of resistance. Read more »

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Why I’m nuts for red squirrels

By Joe Woodman, wildlife photographer and student at Magdalen College School.
Read blogs about the other mammals in the #UKMammalPoll and vote for your Favourite UK Mammal.

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The red squirrel is perhaps one of the most iconic British mammals. These little red rodents can be seen hopping from branch to branch in pockets of select woodland across the UK, pausing only occasionally to gnaw on seeds, nuts, fruit and leaves. Their attractive appearance stems from tufted ears, a long bushy tail and a striking coat, which is composed of all shades of brown and red with distinctive white underparts. Having watched this mammal firsthand many a time, I cannot stress enough how beautiful the red squirrel is, both in appearance and manner.

I am lucky enough to visit the Isles of Scilly annually, where the red squirrel was introduced to the island of Tresco four years ago. The relatively high population density of these animals means that in certain areas of the island you can sit and watch them for hours, which is exactly what I do! It is this direct observation which caused me to fall in love with the species. Smaller than I first expected, their bodies are approximately 20 cm in length, but they make up for their size in their playful nature. Whether leaping among the branches, munching on hazelnuts or chasing off potential food thieves, something that always shows through is their liveliness. One behavioral trait that demonstrates this energetic nature is their mating chases. Several males will pursue a fertile female at once, producing amazing acrobatic displays. They will spiral around the tree trunks like clockwork toys fixed to the bark before suddenly leaping incredible distances into the forest canopy, springing from one branch to another tree over and over again. Read more »

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Innovation: a new way to fight antimicrobial resistance

By Tamar Ghosh, Lead for the Longitude Prize, Nesta

The UK members of the European Federation of Biotechnology and the Learned Society Partnership on AMR are hosting a Policy Lates event on Monday 10th October as part of Biology Week: Tackling antimicrobial resistance crisis – what roles will regulation and innovation play?

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the greatest threats facing global public health. At present, 700,000 people die from resistant infections worldwide each year. With dwindling supplies of antibiotics, no new drugs coming to market, and a lack of truly point-of-care diagnostic tests than can be used in any healthcare setting, there is a great need for novel, innovative ways to tackle the problem.

The Longitude Prize is the UK’s biggest science prize, a 5-year challenge with a £10 million prize fund, and a 300 year legacy. It commemorates the anniversary of the Longitude Act of 1714, the first British challenge prize, which offered the public £20,000 to solve one of the biggest global problems of the time, determining longitude at sea. Read more »

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Myth of the ‘pied piper’ butterfly

Dr Rebecca Nesbit MRSB offers some background to the free Biology Week event ‘Insect and bird migration: revealing the mysteries of flight’.

It’s that time of year again – the swallows are collecting on the telegraph wires ready to escape the cold that’s coming our way. It’s a sad spectacle for anyone lamenting the end of summer, even though they will join us again after six months and an African adventure covering thousands of miles. What about our migratory butterflies though?

The autumn disappearance of the painted lady butterfly is a much less dramatic sight. You simply see fewer of them, and then none. This is far more noticeable in ‘painted lady years’ – they are migrants to the UK and only appear in large numbers every few years. Their quiet departure meant that for many decades naturalists thought they were victims of the ‘pied piper syndrome’ – flying north to breed in the summer only for their offspring never to return. Read more »

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Targeting Unconscious Bias

By Josephine Hellberg, MRC policy intern at the Royal Society of Biology

Every time we meet someone, our brains are busy categorising our impressions. However, many of these categorisations make use of cognitive shortcuts that rely on cultural expectations and past experiences and are therefore vulnerable to prejudice and stereotyping. As a result, we might become biased against someone without actually knowing them. When this happens without us realising it, it is referred to as ‘unconscious bias’.

Unconscious bias is sometimes referred to as ‘implicit bias’ or ‘hidden bias’, and it is something that many organisations and businesses are trying to eliminate. Unconscious bias can affect hiring decisions, making it difficult to fulfil conscious ambitions and for policies to be fair. For example, unconscious cultural expectations of male and female ability, has been shown to cause bias in favour of male applicants – which can affect female professional representation and visibility. Similar bias has been demonstrated for many other characteristics. Read more »

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