Biology Science Blog

Category: Society of Biology - Page 2

Anthony Carlisle: author, surgeon and discoverer of electrolysis

by Anita Sedgwick, project officer for Biology: Changing the World. The winners of the project’s ‘top ten’ poll were announced on the 9th June, and included Anthony Carlisle. Naked guardsmen and gothic novels aren’t the things that spring to mind when you’re first asked to think of a typical surgeon, but then Anthony Carlisle was far from typical. Born in 1768 in Stillington, a village in County Durham, he started his medical career training with his uncle in York. He then trained with a surgeon in the City of Durham before moving to London, where he became a Surgeon at Westminster Hospital in 1793. He held this position until his death in 1840. Carlisle had a full and varied career. He specialised in bones of the inner ear, structure of the spleen and thyroid gland, and studied the effects of inbreeding, electrochemistry, the spread of cholera and evolution. Within his surgical work, he…

Creative Commons Licences: Copyright or Copywrong?

By Michael Walsh, BBSRC Policy Fellow at the Society of Biology, discusses the new Creative Commons licences and the Society’s advice to members. Copyright exists as a form of protection around something which you have created. Most people might immediately think of its relevance in the arts with examples such as literature or film, but it is equally important in the sciences: for example experimental techniques can also be subject to copyright. Copyright places restrictions on whether or not someone can copy all or part of your work, which is important for claiming ownership and making sure that you are acknowledged or rewarded, but sometimes this can be a bad thing. When a scientist puts their work out into the world, the current system generally has the author sign over some or all of their rights to the publisher, and then an article is published under whichever restrictions…

What Twitter can bring to science writing

Rebecca Nesbit, press officer at the Society of Biology, is running evening courses on writing for a non-technical audience along with The Biologist’s managing editor Tom Ireland. Last year we ran our first course on writing for a non-technical audience, and I was struck by the diversity of people who attended. We had representatives from academia, from conservation charities and from industry. Their reasons for coming were equally diverse – to help attract donations, to explore alternative careers, to help raise the profile of their business… There are many situations where scientists write for non-specialist audiences – in magazines, on websites, as lay summaries of academic papers – but social media is particularly popular. There has been lots of discussion recently about how and why scientists should write for social media channels, and with our next courses coming up in February it seemed like the time to take a look…

Experiences from a Life Science Careers Conference

Katie Rule is a second year BSc Human Biology student at the University of South Wales and hopes to go into a career in molecular biology. She tells us about her experience at a Society of Biology Life Sciences Careers Conference on 23rd October 2013. This year my university was lucky enough to hold one of the three annual Life Sciences Careers Conferences and it was brilliant! As a student trying to find which pathway is most suited for you in science, it was amazing to get the opportunity to meet representatives from so many different societies. There were representatives from Society for General Microbiology, Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, Biochemical Society, British Pharmacological Society and loads more. Each society brought lots of freebies with them which was great…I am a student after all! The talks provided by people in different scientific careers were extremely informative and gave us all an insight…

How do you give?

by Natasha Neill, Executive Officer at the Society of Biology Many members will be aware that the Society of Biology recently launched our shop, a place to buy your Society branded goodies and celebrate your membership. Another element of the shop, the support it offers us as an organisation, is crucial to our work, but sometimes difficult for a learned society to communicate. Its important for members to understand the wider work that we do. We aim to influence science education policy, ensure that advice on careers is available for students and that the next generation of scientists are inspired not scared, of biology and its wonders.  I’m responsible for fundraising at the Society, so started with fact finding and researching; trying to find advice and guidance that would fit our niche. I recently read It ain’t what you give it’s the way that you give it by Caroline Fiennes, who has…

Would you like termites with that?

Lauren Hoskin is a recent graduate in microbiology. 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. Many problems faced by humans do not have simple answers, especially in the area of food security. How will we feed nine billion people in 2050? How do we make sure food is distributed equally? The list goes on. But there is one solution to the ever-growing problem of meat production which could help to reduce carbon emissions. PROteINSECT, launched in early 2013, is a Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA)-led project which has started to look at the idea of insects as animal feed. Rearing fly larvae on a range of organic waste and using them as a source of cheap and nutritious protein for animals would help to use waste effectively and improve land efficiency….

Bioscience to Biosecurity; the Policy Lates talks

Policy Lates is a discussion series from the Society of Biology‘s policy team, held at our HQ at Charles Darwin House. We bring a panel of experts together for an informal debate on a contemporary science policy topic, with lots of time for audience questions and convivial discussions. In July 2013, Policy Lates looked into the issue of biosecurity in the life sciences, and the potential for intentional or accidental harm coming from new technologies and discoveries. Talks from the debate, entitled ‘Bioscience to bioweapons: how do we benefit from open dual-use research whilst avoiding misuse?’, are now available: Professor Malcolm Dando FSB (Chair)  Professor of International Security, Division of Peace Studies, School of Social and International Studies, University of Bradford. Professor Wendy Barclay  Chair in Influenza Virology, Department of Medicine, Imperial College London. Daniel Grushkin  Freelance journalist; vice-president and co-founder of Genspace community biology laboratory, New York….

Chewing off her wings – the queen ant’s rite of passage

By Rebecca Nesbit from the Society of Biology There has been a long, slow build up to flying ant day this year. The first sightings of winged black garden ants came early, with hundreds of records for the flying ant survey already in by the third week of July. The first major flying ant day, however, was Friday 26th July, though even this turned out to be a prelude to the mass emergence on Thursday 1st August. For me, this protracted spell of flying ant sightings has been an opportunity to witness some fascinating behaviour as part of one of the summer’s greatest spectacles. On 26th July, I was excited to find some flying ants on the outside of the Society of Biology office. The tiny males were in search of fat new queens to mate with – I even saw two males trying simultaneously to mate with one queen. The next stage of…