Tagged With: climate change
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 can we adapt to climate change?
By Barney Slater AMRSB, BBSRC PhD student at University of Cambridge and policy intern at the Royal Society of Biology. Global climate change is an increasing threat for the UK. Research shows an average temperature increase of almost 1⁰C over the last 50 years in the UK, and climate projections predict that this could climb … Continue reading
The living soil: tread carefully
Professor James Prosser OBE FRSB, chair in molecular and cell biology at the University of Aberdeen, discusses the living world of soils. As you walk around your garden, you may not realise it, but you’re treading on a dense and diverse community of many different life forms. This community creates and sustains the soil and … Continue reading
Book review: Can Science Fix Climate Change?
Grace Paget, science writer, reviews ‘Can Science Fix Climate Change?’ by Mike Hulme (Polity Press). Nominations for our Book Awards 2015 are now open. Hulme effectively establishes the debate surrounding the issue of tackling climate change in his book Can Science Fix Climate Change? and explores the emerging technology that is set to resolve it. … Continue reading
What should we eat to save the planet?
Barbara Knowles is senior science policy adviser at the Society of Biology, and loves the landscapes, food and natural treasures created by traditional farming. Hardly a week goes by without another academic paper telling us to eat less meat, and to intensify agriculture sustainably to feed the growing population, protect biodiversity or reduce greenhouse gas … Continue reading
Climate change – it is not just cutting emissions, there is biological preservation too
Jonathan Cowie was the Institute of Biology’s publication manager from the late 1980s through to the early 2000s, and also, for a while, its head of science policy. On Thursday 14th November he will be delivering a talk, hosted by the London branch of the Society of Biology at Charles Darwin House, in which he … Continue reading
Why climate change will likely be worse than the models predict
Dr Aaron Thierry is a quantitative ecologist who recently graduated from The University of Sheffield’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences. He is extremely concerned about the level of understanding of the urgency of large scale carbon reductions and feels that scientists are morally obliged to raise awareness of the risks we now face. In … Continue reading
Can we trust climate models?
By Rebecca Nesbit, Society of Biology On Friday I attended an extremely interesting discussion at the Cheltenham Science Festival on ‘can we trust climate models?’. Our climate is influenced by a vast number of inputs and feedback loops, from ocean currents to changes in albedo. Based on these complex factors, climate models have to make … Continue reading
Where have our hedgehogs gone?
by Amy Whetstone, Qualification and Skills Officer at the Society of Biology The European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, has long been a welcome visitor to our gardens and green spaces in the UK. Our unmistakeable spiny friends were once frequent guests to my back garden, but over the years I’ve noticed a definite decline in sightings. … Continue reading
Climate Week: biology, art and inspiration
By Rebecca Nesbit At the Society of Biology we are firm believers that biological research is fundamental to tackling the world’s challenges, and climate change has to be near the top of the list. Biology will help make predictions and provide solutions, but that is only part of the story. Technology and the behaviour of … Continue reading