News - Page 7

Ecological adventures during Biology Week

As we start to plan Biology Week 2013 here at the Society of Biology we take inspiration from some of the successes of 2012. Here Nick O’Connor, a teacher at Highcliffe School, describes his A level field course in Dorset The Year 13 A level Biologists spent a superb 3 days along the Jurassic Coast on the Isle of Purbeck. This was a great chance to study outdoor biology with wellies on! We arrived at with great expectations at Leeson House Field Studies Centre which is set in an outstanding environment nestling in the Purbeck Hills overlooking Swanage Bay. We were met by our expert Biology tutor, Mr Mike Gould, and he took us through the field trip itinerary. We spent the first day looking at woodland ecology in the grounds of Leeson House. We also studied the abundance and distribution of lichens (which are a symbiotic relationship between an alga and…

Do we need more scientists in Parliament?

Haralambos Dayantis blogs about the Society of Biology’s upcoming debate on ‘do we need more scientists in Parliament?’ The first #policylates event at Charles Darwin House is only a few weeks away, where panellists will be discussing whether we need more people with STEM backgrounds in Parliament. The issue has already generated some discussion on the Psci-Com mailing list, and various debates in Parliament have touched upon the issue. In a debate on cuts to the House of Commons’ operational costs on the 8th November, Adam Afriyie MP argued against cuts to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) of which he is chair. Supporting Afriyie’s defence of POST, Andrew Miller MP (chair of the Science and Technology Select Committee) noted the importance of scientific advice in Parliament: “There are hugely important challenges that none of us, whatever our backgrounds, are properly equipped to deal with. Even if…

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 important to make popular animals a conservation priority, the belief that pandas attract more conservation resources than they use is a common reason for voting that we should indeed save the panda. As poster boys, charismatic species can attract money and increase the profile of conservation (and conservation organisations). It is surprisingly complicated to determine whether, overall, the panda brings in more money for conservation than it uses. Zoos raise money for conservation in the wild, but would people who paid for entry into a zoo still come if there were no pandas to…

What you said about Open Education Resources

Dr Eva Sharpe, HE Policy Officer at the Society of Biology, reports on the results of our survey into the use of Open Education Resources Earlier this summer, I blogged about a Society of Biology project to promote the use of Open Education Resources (OER) by the bioscience community. As one strand of the project we’ve been collecting existing bioscience resources which we’ll be promoting through a new website launching this autumn. Over the summer we surveyed HE bioscience teachers on their current use of OER, any barriers they have found, and comments on our plans for the new website. Here I summarise the responses. Only half of our respondents were currently using or creating OER. Those that weren’t using OER gave a mixture of reasons, from only teaching postgraduate courses and therefore needing very specific teaching resources, having excellent “in house” content available, and a pool…

Podcast: should we save the panda?

by Rebecca Nesbit With just five days to go until the Biology Week debate, ‘Do we need pandas? Choosing which species to save’, the votes on the Society of Biology website poll are swinging in favour of the panda. To help me decide which way to vote, I produced this podcast in which I interview three conservationists about conservation and the choices we make – everything from controlling non-native species to protecting them. I will be live tweeting as @Society_Biology from the event on Monday night using the hashtag #pandadebate and will be taking questions to put to the panel. If you have any questions in advance, please add them to the comments below. I’d also be very interested to hear your views on any of the issues I raised in the podcast, and those debated under my last blog post. My podcast guests were: Mark Avery, Zara Gladman and Matthew Hatchwell

bTB or not bTB? How to control it is still the question

Guest post by Catherine O’Connor, Epidemiologist for the Health Protection Services, discussing the badger cull As an epidemiologist, my job is to understand the how, what, when, where and whys of disease transmission. Though we now possess much fancier tools than those used by the father of epidemiology, John Snow (he of the Broad Street pump and cholera fame), it is by tackling these age-old questions that we attempt to understand and ultimately eradicate disease. But sometimes it’s not as easy as just removing a pump-handle. For humans we have two main methods of controlling infectious diseases, either we protect the susceptible individuals or we quarantine infected individuals. Often methods are used in combination for maximum effect. For animals, we have one additional control measure in our repertoire: culling. Culling animals is used not just to control disease (enzootic and zoonotic) but also to reduce human-animal conflicts…

Bumblebees’ gruesome parasites

Guest blog by Sive Finlay, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin who recently won Best Biology Student at the 2012 SET awards for her undergraduate project Bee populations are in severe decline, an alarming and worrying trend when you consider their vital importance as commercial and ecological pollinators. Research and media attention often focuses on afflictions of honeybees such as the Varroa mite and colony collapse disorder. However, parasites are also major contributors to the plight of the bumble bee. Bumble bee queens spend 6-9 months in diapause, a hibernation-like state which allows them to survive harsh winter weather. My research demonstrated that queens have reduced immune function during this time, leaving them vulnerable to infections and parasitic attack. Sphaerularia is a common yet poorly studied nematode which is found primarily in the Northern hemisphere, infecting up to 50% of queen bumble bees in some areas. Adult female Sphaerularia present in…

The Everyday Brain

by Zara Gladman On Friday 19th October 2012, schools, universities and individuals across the country will attempt to set a record for the World’s Largest Memory Game. Guided by neurobiologist Dr Daniela Peukert, I stuck on my thinking cap and took a journey around this highly complex organ . . . We all have one. Einstein’s was smaller than average. The scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz pined for one. I am of course talking about that squidgy, tofu-like lump of “grey matter”, encased in your skull: the brain. This amazing organ controls just about everything you do, from making a cup of tea to falling in love. The biggest part of the brain, the cerebrum, can be broadly divided into two regions called “hemispheres”. Generally, the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and vice versa. The right hemisphere is also associated with functions like creativity and…

An American crayfish in London (and beyond!)

by Zara Gladman, PhD student at the University of Glasgow and intern at the Society of Biology In my last blog I waxed lyrical on the wonders of crayfish, those large freshwater invertebrates that grace our rivers, lochs and your M&S sandwiches. Today I’d like to discuss one of the biggest threats to aquatic biodiversity: the introduction of non-native crayfish to new ecosystems. For the past four years, my life has been devoted to learning everything I can about one such invader, the North American signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus, pictured right). Originally from western North America, this species was imported into Sweden for aquaculture in the 1950s and 60s. Thereafter, introductions were made to several other countries including the UK. Today, the signal crayfish is the most widespread non-native crayfish species in Europe. This is not good news for our native plants and animals. Signal crayfish are large, mobile “keystone…

The Virtual School: calling all biologists!

Guest blog by Frédéric Kastner from The Virtual School The Virtual School’s vision is to create an innovative, free education resource that allows children from all over the world to learn about biology. To help us achieve this we’re asking for support from passionate biologists, whatever their background. You can share your love of biology and help inspire a new generation of scientists by recording a fun 2-3 minute audio presentation. The Virtual School designers will then add images and memory triggers to your voiceover and create an engaging lesson for the KS3 and 4 curricula (that’s 11-14 year olds, and 14-16 years olds). Interested? Here’s how to get involved: You record your 2-3 min audio explanations with our easy-to-use online tool. It is an easy and fun process! Our design team enhances your explanations using effective imagery & other memory triggers to make your lesson even more impactful….