Tagged With: environment
Is organic food better for you and for the environment?
By Professor Nigel Brown FRSB, President of the Microbiology Society. There is a considerable amount of concern about the use of pesticides and herbicides in the environment, and specifically their use on the food we eat. There is no doubt that we need to prevent insects and microbes from damaging our food crops and different … Continue reading
Location, location, habitat – who shares our neighbourhood?
By David Urry, regional coordinator for the Society of Biology. Applications for the regional grant scheme close on 12th January 2015. Please contact David to find out more or to get involved with running activities in your local area. Curiosity is an innate and essential human quality. It is also the main driver for scientific … Continue reading
How green is your routine?
Ahead of the Natural Capital Initiative summit Valuing our Life Support Systems in London this November, Jules Pretty FSB, Professor of Environment and Society at the University of Essex, explores the links between our health and the environment. Physical activity improves both mental and physical health, yet annually inactivity results in 1.9 million deaths worldwide annually, … Continue reading
Drawing the invisible: the value of scientific entomology and microscopy art
Cath Hodsman is a skilled and widely acknowledged British wildlife artist, specialising in entomology. She is also one of the most technically accomplished and accurate natural history artists, who counts The Natural History Museum, London amongst her many prestigious clients. Cath will be running the Society of Biology’s Anatomical Painting Course in November. Biology and … Continue reading
Zfarming and creative use of land
Today the latest edition of The Biologist has arrived with Society of Biology members. Inspired by the article Running out of Land, Rebecca Nesbit considers some options for agriculture. Less than a third of Earth’s surface is land, yet only 18% of this is suitable for agriculture. Given the size of the human population, it’s … Continue reading
Sustainable energy from oil (plant oil that is)
In advance of the Society of Biology’s Policy Lates discussion on algal bioenergy, Rebecca Nesbit looks at some of the hurdles we need to overcome to produce liquid fuel from plants in a more sustainable manner. First generation biofuels are made from starch, sugars, fats and oils, but often come from food plants. This has … Continue reading
Environmentalism- what are our motivations?
Lauren is a recent graduate in microbiology interning at the Society of Biology until June 2013. She is interested in a career in science communication and writes for her own blog, Science Says as well as for the Student Hubs blog. When probed on my motivations for trying to live sustainably, my standard reply is … Continue reading
Fires threaten Indonesian Borneo
Susan Cheyne is Director of Gibbon and Field Research and Conservation Orang-utan Tropical Peatland Project (OuTrop) This is my first blog for the Society of Biology and I write it with a heavy heart. Indonesian Borneo, where I have spent the last 10 years working, was on fire again this year. While the rains have … Continue reading
Is panda PR a good idea?
by Rebecca Nesbit, Press Officer, Society of Biology Panda conservation is not ‘greenwash’ read the headline of BBC Nature’s thought-provoking write-up of the Biology Week debate ‘should we save the panda’. This referred to the evening’s extensive discussion about the use (and misuse) of pandas in conservation PR. Whether or not you think it is … Continue reading
Farming and the environment: Biology Week Q&A
Dr Frances Downey, Public Liaison at Sense About Science, writes about the Biology Week event: Environmental scientists answer your questions: How does farming affect the environment? This summer, when plant scientists from Rothamsted Research appealed for discussion not destruction when their GM wheat crop was under threat, the public came out in support. More than … Continue reading