Society of Biology
Species of the week: celebrating the original Pacman
By Jenni Lacey, Marketing Assistant at the Society of Biology Ornate horned frogs (Ceratophrys ornata) are affectionately known as the Pacman frog due to their characteristic wide mouth and large rotund stomach. They are sedentary amphibians and notorious for their gluttonous eating habits. Their behaviour echoes the 80′s arcade game they take this nick-name from: … Continue reading
Using British Sign Language (BSL) in science education
Guest blog by Jon Hickman, teacher – science teacher at Ferndown Upper School in Dorset I have been using British Sign Language (BSL) as a visual learning tool in my science classes for the past year. As a kinaesthetic process it is excellent for visual and tactile learners to reinforce key concepts. The majority of … Continue reading
Feeding Life – Photography Competition 2013
Jenni Lacey from the Society of Biology explores inspiration for this year’s photography competition Like most people my taste and eating habits have dramatically changed over the years. Influenced first by family habit, tradition and what was put in front of me, and later by new surroundings, culture and choice, I’ve thankfully now developed a … Continue reading
Inspiring future generations (and feeding them)
by Rebecca Nesbit, Society of Biology People will fight passionately for medical advances, and indeed science has done a huge amout to save lives and reduce suffering caused by health problems. But the point was made at UK PlantSci 2013 that, ultimately, this is only valuable if we can feed people. I don’t think there … Continue reading
No single answer – messages from PlantSci
by Rebecca Nesbit, Society of Biology This week I’m lucky enough to be at UK PlantSci 2013 in Dundee – the 2nd conference of the UK Plant Sciences Federation. The conference opened this morning with a keynote talk from Professor Charles Godfray, who spoke very convincingly about the need for food production to become radically … Continue reading
A Society of Biology travel grant to Madagascar
Guest blogger Alex Cole from Swansea University talks about receiving the Society of Biology Travel Grant to attend a field course in Madagascar Madagascar’s dry deciduous forests are highly threatened and unfortunately Kirindy forest qualifies as one of these endangered forests. In previous years logging has taken place in Kirindy, threatening many of its species, … Continue reading
World Book Day
Karen Patel is in charge of awards and grants at the Society of Biology When was the last time you read a book? If you’re struggling to remember then you might be part of the 25% of UK adults who has not read a book in the past six months. To celebrate World Book Day, … Continue reading
Open Access
by Jackie Caine, Senior Science Policy Adviser at the Society of Biology Open Access – the business of making research outputs (papers, data and more) accessible to everyone easily and for free – is a hot policy topic at the moment, with recent government proposals providing the momentum to make the UK a pioneer of … Continue reading
Student BioSocs: working together is success
Guest bloggers Ioanna Sigalou and Rowan Watson, President and Secretary of the Staffordshire University Biology Society, describe how the society was set up. It’s no lie that every beginning is hard, especially when it comes to things that require people with different opinions coming together to share ideas! Things get hectic very quickly, which can … Continue reading