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How to Fail Well
cannot be replicated are also worthless. And many experiments fail simply because things turn out to be more complex and costly than first imagined. Some ‘failures’, of course, famously lead scientists down new and exciting avenues. Sir Alexander...
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RSB's response to the Spring Budget 2024
as a scientific superpower. Additionally, we highlighted that R&D expenditure alone will not achieve maximum benefit for cost if not coupled with incentives to support the research workforce. For our science sector to thrive and contribute to the...
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Time travelling trees
However, taking pupils outside of the school gate to visit outdoor science facilities is not always possible. Time, access, cost and health and safety concerns were highlighted as potential barriers to visiting BIFoR FACE by a recent cohort of PGCE...
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Policy Lates
a major driver of wellbeing, yet one in four people in the UK suffer from a mental health problem each year, with enormous cost to individuals and society. Treatment for mental health has historically been deemed a lower priority than physical health,...
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eDNA & accuracy: overcoming the challenges
every biological field that exists, be it medical science, molecular biology or zoology. The high speed and low cost at which we can now sequence DNA has opened up entirely new doors and given us the ability to ask new questions. Suddenly we can figure...
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In it for the long run
resource available to soil microbes, such as leaf dry matter content, foliar carbon-to-nitrogen ratios and the construction cost of leaf tissue[1]. This provides good evidence that climate change could affect soil microbial communities indirectly...
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An appeal to the Secretary of State to protect biodiversity
factors of health and wellbeing, the economic impacts were highlighted, where “recent ecosystem losses are estimated to have cost USD 4 trillion–USD 20 trillion per year.” Dr Downs commented: “these issues will only continue to increase unless serious...
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The biology of grandmothers
ceases long before death. As an evolutionary biologist, I’m fascinated by the question of how and why individuals ever pay costs to help other individuals. To try and answer this question, I’ve worked on a variety of different species, including humans,...
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Ten ways to make online exams work in STEM
The approach has been welcomed by many institutions, even after the end of restrictions, thanks to perceived benefits around cost, flexibility and student preference. The very obvious problem with these unsupervised exams is students’ free access to...
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Ten ways to make online exams work in STEM
The approach has been welcomed by many institutions, even after the end of restrictions, thanks to perceived benefits around cost, flexibility and student preference. The very obvious problem with these unsupervised exams is students’ free access to...
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Deep trouble
has been suggested that mining these resources from the deep may be the only way of supplying such technology. But at what cost? As well as being rich in metals, these areas are rich in life, supporting important benthic habitats and communities....
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The Threat of a Plant Disease Pandemic
and global food security, exacerbating the problem of malnutrition[2]. Yield losses caused by plant viruses are thought to cost global agriculture approximately $30bn (£22bn) a year, and when plant pests and other plant pathogens are included that...
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Preparing for the COVID cohort
achieve the highest possible outcomes. Most, but not all, teachers areresisting this pressure, despite the immense personal cost they feel, knowing that they have been forced into the role of administering the coup de grace that could end the university...
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The future of genetic tech: delivering benefits for all parts of the world
that history does not repeat itself. The inequity in the impact of the GE crop today is evident, and with the decreased cost of research and development with gene editing technology, the opportunity to provide improved varieties of orphan crops to...
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"I once believed the people making decisions would listen to scientists - that is not true"
There's a lot of sacrifice involved. My husband and I have been almost full time activists for the last year now, which has cost us quite a lotof money, but people see that and they're drawn to it. I've got friends and family who are interested in what...
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Conflicting ideas
and more to questions like: where do these elements come from? How are they successful? How does the genome manage the high cost that they bear? That was ultimately what my thesis became about. Image courtesy of fredhutch.org How did your theory of...
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The problem with robobees
do die off in large numbers, we’d need an uncomfortable number of robobees to replicate their pollination benefits. Robobees cost money to manufacture too, unlike wild insects, so they would perhaps serve only wealthy growers. The world’s smallholder...
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Sacrifice for the Swarm
in evolutionary biology, where an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behaviour benefits other organisms at a cost to itself. Altruistic behaviour is particularly common in species with complex social structures. The conspecificity of...
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The parallel pandemics
However, as with many good situations, it seemed a little too good to be true, and this is what we have found to our cost this summer. Australia did see an RSV season six months later than it normally would, occurring in the middle of their summer...
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Conflicting ideas
and more to questions like: where do these elements come from? How are they successful? How does the genome manage the high cost that they bear? That was ultimately what my thesis became about. Image courtesy of fredhutch.org How did your theory of...
