Dragon’s Den – Brainwaves Style!

Posted on October 4, 2011 by admin

So, it’s turning into an exciting year for Science Brainwaves, but we’re still on the lookout for the next innovative and exciting public engagement event! This is where we want you – our current/new/never before – volunteers! Do you think our current events’ listing is missing something? Have you got a fantastic idea? Need some money and help putting it together and marketing it? Then we have the PERFECT opportunity for you!

We are offering £250 to the best brand new event/workshop idea! In return all we ask is that you submit a summary of your idea (no more than 500 words) to: dragonsden@sciencebrainwaves.com by Tuesday 1^st November. We will then select the best 10 and ask you to pitch your event idea to a panel of expert judges on Tuesday 22^nd November, 8pm, Coffee Revolution.

We are open to any idea, be it a lecture, a debate, a new science experimentation workshop which could be hosted at schools and colleges, an adult event, an event for families, for children, for men/women, boys/girls – we really don’t mind! Our only request is that the event somehow can be linked to the British Science Association National Science and Engineering Week 2012 theme – ‘Our World in Motion’ – this is such a broad title, we really feel anything could be fitted into it somehow!!

In addition to the £250 prize money, we will support your event 100%, allowing you access to our large media and ‘useful’ contact network. Offering any advice needed, whether that’s how to promote the event, finding additional funding, where to find the best venue, recruiting volunteers or even what colour scheme would work best!

Please check out the ‘Science Brainwaves does Dragon’s Den’ Rules below for further information – but if you have any more questions please feel free to submit them to the email address detailed above.

Many thanks!

For a detailed list of the rules please click here.

Science Brainwaves Film Night

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Dominic Swain

What happens when children conceived using donor sperm become inquisitive as to their biological origins? No, this isn’t a review of the recent Hollywood film ‘The Kids Are All Right’, but an invitation to find out for yourself with a showing of the exciting documentary ‘Donor Unknown’.

In collaboration with The Lantern Theatre, Science Brainwaves invite you to our first film night at 19:30 on 27^th October 2011, at which we will be screening ‘Donor Unknown’. This recent documentary follows JoEllen Marsh, a 20 year old from Pennsylvania who was raised by her two mothers. JoEllen sets off in search of her biological father, known to her only as ‘Donor 150’. On her journey she discovers that she has 12 half-siblings all of whom are fathered by the same donor. Eventually she meets her biological father, Jeffrey Harrison, who is now aged 52 and living in a motorhome on Venice Beach, California – with his 4 dogs and a pigeon!

This fascinating documentary sheds light on the unorthodox family relationships which are created by sperm donation – something which was purely a philosophical debate only a generation ago. You can find out more about the film here at http://www.donorunknown.com/. However, the best way to find out more is to come along to our special screening event and see it for yourself!

The excitement doesn’t end with the showing of the film – we are very delighted to have The University of Sheffield’s Dr Allan Pacey joining us for the evening. Dr Pacey was scientific advisor for the film and will be taking your questions after the showing.

Dr Pacey is the Senior Lecturer in Andrology at the Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine within the University of Sheffield. He is also Head of Andrology for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals where he directs the clinical andrology laboratory and is in charge of the sperm banking service. Due to Dr Pacey’s expertise in the areas of sperm donation, and assisted reproduction, he has commented regularly in the media on these subjects. Donor Unknown is not the first television program he has been involved with; he previously worked on The Great Sperm Race (2009), The Truth About Food (2007), Make me a Baby (2007) and Lab Rats (2004). You can read more about Dr Pacey, his research, and his academic interests here http://www.shef.ac.uk/humanmetabolism/people/pacey.

The opportunity to discuss these issues with a leading expert in this field is truly one not to be missed. We really hope you will join us on what will be a very exciting, enlightening and enjoyable evening. Tickets can be bought at a bargain price of £4.00 each from The Lantern Theatre at http://www.tickets.lanterntheatre.org.uk/shows/show_menu.php.

Does this sound like a good night out? Of course it does! Tickets are limited so please buy yours ASAP and we look forward to seeing you on the 27^th October at 19:30.

The Science Brainwaves Team.

Science Brainwaves Intro Meeting

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Dominic Swain

It’s the start of a new academic year and Science Brainwaves would like to invite you to our intro meeting at 6pm on Friday 30^th September in Room F2 of Firth Court (see here for a map of the University, and here for detailed directions to room F2). As a student led organisation, and a charity, we are always looking for more volunteers and members for our ever expanding team.

This meeting is a great chance to find out more about the exciting work we do and the many ways that you can get involved. If you are passionate about any kind of science then we would love for you to come along. We welcome volunteers from all scientific disciplines – or any science related subject. It doesn’t matter if you are an undergraduate, postgraduate or a postdoctoral researcher; if you love science, and communicating that passion to others, then Science Brainwaves presents you with many opportunities to do just that.

We are involved with all kinds of public engagement, outreach for schools and youth groups, science media communication, scientific lectures – and much more. What’s more, we provide you with the opportunity to launch your own events – with our training and support. If you feel there is a gap in the activities we offer – then let us know and we can work with you to make it a reality.

To get a taste for some of the activities we are involved in then please have a look at our Events Calendar.

If you are embarking on any kind of scientific career, or planning to, then good science communication is a vital skill to have. We are a member of the British Science Association and involvement with us will bolster your CV, enhance your science communication skills and provide great experience. But most of all, being a part of Science Brainwaves is great fun and extremely rewarding. You will meet many like minded people and have an opportunity to engage with many interesting and stimulating activities.

If this sounds good to you, then please come along to Room F2 in Firth Court at 6pm on Friday 30^th September. We look forward to seeing you!

Thank you. The Science Brainwaves Team.

Director’s Blog – What have we been upto?

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Tacita Nye

Hello and welcome to the first ever Science Brainwaves Director’s Blog!

I’m Tacita, the new director of Science Brainwaves – you can read all about me and what I do at the Science Brainwaves About Us pages. Here, you can also see who else is joining me on the committee for 2011-2012. I’ll just introduce them to you briefly; Ben Dornan, has remained on the committee and has moved to a new role of Head of Events, Adam Croucher will remain in charge of our funds – so if anyone wants to donate money to our science public engagement work – he’s the one to contact (!), then we have Kendra Hall, keeping us organised as our Secretary, Holly Rogers, our Head of Communications will be shouting about everything Science Brainwaves is up to, Katherine Chapman and Farah Al-Shorbaji, will be keeping in touch with all our volunteers, letting you know about upcoming socials and events to get involved with, Harsha Kodam will be filling the role of Head of Outreach – so if you’re a school or teacher and want to know what we can do for you – get in touch with him and last but not least we have Dominic Swain, who is Head of this wonderful website, working alongside Paul Clarkin, to make sure it’s all up to date and looking snazzy!

I’d also just like to take a moment to thank the committee who have just left, Michaela, Martin, Jen and Jenny their advice and support through the initial hand-over was fantastic, and your continued support is very much appreciated!

But, now to tell you what we’ve been up to and what we’ll be bringing you in the next few months! Firstly, I am so proud to announce, that Science Brainwaves in collaboration with the Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, here at the University of Sheffield, were one of the successful 15 organisations across the UK that obtained a brand new, cutting edge molecular biology workshop! We applied for the project from the ASDC (Association of Science and Discovery Centres) and three partner centres, At-Bristol, Nowgen (Manchester) and Centre for Life (Newcastle) and it is funded by The Wellcome Trust. This means that we will get training and most importantly equipment to be able to deliver a workshop entitled ‘A Question of Taste’ and you can read all about it here!

The committee have also been busy planning our upcoming events for the next few months, we’re still finalising details, but I can tell you a bit about some of them!

We’ve decided this year to extend our lecture series, so there will be the usual family-orientated lecture at Christmas (2^nd December), but following that in the Spring and in time for National Science and Engineering week, we will hold our first Spring lecture, on Friday 9^th March, check back soon for the titles of these lectures!

We’ve also decided to try something new here in the Science Brainwaves camp and so we’re introducing science themed film nights which will be held at the beautiful Lantern Theatre in Nether Edge! Our first film will be Donor Unknown, a More4 documentary. We’re also lucky enough to have Allan Pacey, the scientific advisor for the programme joining us! We’ve just pencilled in the date for this event (27^th October), so check the events calendar soon for more details! Following on from this we are also bringing you the Science Brainwaves Pub Quiz, stay tuned for the venue!

Our next big event, already on the events calendar, is Science Junkies – the Science of Extreme sport. In an action-packed live show – suitable for kids and big kids alike – you will see just how risky rock climbing really is and the forces involved, and what it’s like to fall at terminal velocity through the earth’s thin atmosphere. Science Junkies have performed at the Cheltenham Science Festival and even starred in BBC Three’s series Secrets of the Universe (not to be confused with Brian Cox’s show Wonders of the Universe). We met them at Green Man Festival and are really excited to be bringing them to Sheffield for all you guys to see. We loved the show and we’re sure you will too!

Then into 2012, we’ll be bringing you an exciting evolution event, a special event for the ladies to find out what really is in that make-up gunk that we put on our faces every day and following on from the success of last year’s Science of Cocktails, Noel Jackson, will be back in Sheffield in February for… The Botany of Gin!

So, I think I’ve given you a quick taste as to what we’re planning for the next few months, stayed tuned as we reveal even more events! If you want to volunteer at any of these events, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Or, if you have an idea for an event please let us know, we’re always open to new ideas and would love to help you get the show on the road – we’re even putting on a special Dragon’s Den style competition to really get things rolling – the competition will open soon – so stay in touch!

Report Dodgy Science appeal

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Dominic Swain

Hi all,

We would like to draw your attention to an appeal from Sense about Science, they are a great charitable organisation who aim to assist the public in understanding scientific and medical claims. They are launching a campaign to add new functionality to their site, this will allow anyone to report dodgy scientific claims at the click of a button. By doing so they hope to raise awareness even further of poor, or badly communicated, scientific information.

To learn more about the ‘Report Dodgy Science’ campaign, please see the information below from Dr. Tabitha Innocent, the communications officer at Sense About Science.

Many thanks for reading, from the Brainwaves team.

Dear Friend

I am writing to ask for your help over the next week to get a campaign underway to tackle misleading science claims more systematically. As you know, one of the biggest frustrations with promoting science and evidence in public discussion is the limited number of issues we can deal with. We want to take up more situations where the evidence is missing – whether because of misleading claims, distortion, political pressure, or vested interests intimidating people who try to put forward evidence. And we want to make a more permanent change when we expose misleading claims rather than be constantly fire-fighting.

Many of you have made good suggestions about a campaign alongside the formal launch of our new website this summer, so we’ve decided to act on that. We are going to run a ‘Report Dodgy Science’ campaign to encourage people to tell us about misleading claims. This reporting will enable us to do two things: we can help people who contact us to take things up themselves (providing advice, encouragement and assistance from our database of 5,000 specialists) and so increase the effort for good science and evidence; and we can use their reports to identify problems that need action from us.

I urgently need the help of our supporters to raise an initial fund of £8,000 by 22nd July to get this campaign ready for our website launch. It’s a big ask but we know you can help us get there.

A group of our supporters have got us started with donations, fundraising and publicity, so we’re starting with 7% of the target raised and some fundraising events already planned. I have set up a Just Giving page (http://www.justgiving.com/reportdodgyscience) which you can use for donations. You can also set up your own fundraising page for sponsored events and appeals to friends. Or you can sponsor Lauren Taylor in her roller skating marathon in August!

I will be posting updates about progress towards the £8,000 target and ways to be involved in the launch on the website (http://www.senseaboutscience.org/pages/report-dodgy-science-appeal.html). Please ask everyone you know to support this campaign.

Best wishes

Tabitha

Dr Tabitha Innocent

Communications Officer

Sense About Science

14A Clerkenwell Green

London EC1R 0DP

Registered Charity No. 1101114

Company No. 6771027

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7490 9590

www.senseaboutscience.org

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Dominic Swain

Reviewed: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Immortal-Life-Henrietta-Lacks/

On October 4^th 1951 an African American woman named Henrietta Lacks died in John Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore, finally succumbing to multiple tumours which had metastasized from her cervical cancer. Despite her death, the contribution she has made indirectly to modern science continues to this day. In February 1951, when Henrietta was first administered radium treatment for cervical cancer, a sample of cancerous cells were taken from her cervix – without her knowledge. Henrietta’s cells provided an ‘immortal’ cell line that would perpetually divide when cultured. These cells were named ‘HeLa’ using the first two letters of the forename and surname of Henrietta Lacks. The cells soon became famous worldwide but Henrietta herself remained unknown.

This intriguing story is told masterfully by Rebecca Skloot in her book ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’. It is a story about HeLa cells, but also about Henrietta Lacks and the family who survived her. Although HeLa was distributed to research laboratories all over the world, the name of the cell donor remained largely unknown, often being given incorrectly as Helen Lane or Helen Larson. Cultured cells of HeLa have been grown in bulk, sold and distributed worldwide often at a large profit, and yet the family of Henrietta Lacks were not informed about the use of Henrietta’s cells or remunerated in any way. Skloot has attempted to redress this imbalance and bring into the open the full story.

This is a book about science, but it is certainly not a book heavy in scientific details. If you are only interested in learning the technical details of how HeLa cells are used in research, or about the ways in which they are cultured and investigated, then this is probably not the book for you. However, this is a book about the impact science has on us all. This remarkable story allows Skloot to highlight the wider ethical implications for scientific research. Science touches on many, if not nearly every, aspect of modern life and the story of HeLa shows how science can have a very personal and deeply emotional impact.

Skloot had become fascinated by the story of the woman behind HeLa when in graduate school and her book reflects years of research; she was also able to contact and befriend many of Henrietta’s relatives, in particular Henrietta’s daughter Deborah. This allows the reader to really connect with the story as we learn about Henrietta’s family and how they have been affected by the worldwide fame of HeLa. I enjoyed learning the background of the HeLa cells and about some of the key scientists working on early cell culturing methods; however, it was also an enjoyable and often emotional story which encouraged me to keep on reading.

A real strength of this book lies in the wonderful fusion between a touching real-life story and an eye-opening insight into scientific ethics and science communication. This book delves interestingly into the ethical debate concerning what consent should be given when tissues or blood samples are taken. It also examines science communication and how well scientists are able to convey information to the public. Added to this, the story of Henrietta and her family is moving and sometimes saddening, but ultimately uplifting and inspiring.

One thing worth noting is that a lot of the examples given in the book come from the practice of scientists in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Science has moved on and things have changed for the better, but at times I’m not sure this came across. Also, a lot of the criticism is given with the eyes of 21^st century morality; we have to remember that the scientists who made decisions which now seem unethical did not have the luxury of hindsight that we do. I don’t wish to suggest that there are no remaining issues in science research, or ethical problems to iron out, but at times it felt that Skloot was giving a slightly biased view.

Nonetheless, any flaws that may exist did not detract from my enjoyment of the book. I have to say that I found ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks’ engaging, interesting and persistently thought-provoking. The story of HeLa cells is one of great importance to those working with, or studying science – but also to anyone interested in any scientific discipline. I highly recommend the book as there is much for scientists and non-scientists alike to enjoy.

Announcing: Science Communication MSc in Sheffield Uni!

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Michaela Livingstone

Sheffield University really has been a hub of science outreach and engagement activities, not least because that’s where we’re based…

Many of the staff holds between them a staggering and broad range of experience when it comes to inspiring and involving people with science, technology, engineering and medicine. So it’s probably great news that the Faculty of science, in partnership with Medicine and Dentistry and journalism, has finally decided to give you the opportunity to have their collective wisdom endowed upon you, by way of a Masters (MSc) in Science Communication.

The course will open its doors to its first cohort of plucky communicators this autumn, offering both a practical and academic approach to get to grips with successfully communicating science to the public, and how to navigate one’s way through the world of the media.
There will be hands-on lessons, researching and producing podcasts, working in a newsroom, organising events and exhibitions as well as the more classic theoretical modules looking at why you’d want to communicate science at all, the best way to achieve public understanding, and some of the issues and controversies that science communicators might get involved in. The best way of learning is by doing and you’ll get plenty of practical experience.

There will of course be many opportunities to develop your communication skills, written and oral, and get to grips with how to deal with TV, radio and ‘new’ media and the pitfalls you might encounter.

On top of this you’ll write a dissertation, to earn the title of “Master”, to bring together everything you’ve learnt, giving you the opportunity to reflect on the sometimes hidden literature on the subject of public engagement and science communication. Even this could be work-place based though, based on experience and evaluation of events, for example.

The course director, Allan Pacey is a researcher and head of Andrology at the University of Sheffield, and has himself been involved in commentating on science stories in the media, both radio and TV (pictured left), and has even been involved with documentary projects on Channel 4 (The Great Sperm Race), the BBC and a documentary about sperm donation (Donor: Unknown). He’s even been a panellist on a debate that ‘Brainwaves hosted! Other Sheffield Uni staff include senior media fellows.

Finally, and possibly best of all, it’s in Sheffield! Having been a student here for 7 years I couldn’t possibly put across how much I love this city! It’s vibrant but friendly, so if you’re looking for something outside London… well, we’ve got our arms wide-open and ready to welcome you! Not to mention, the city (both unis, industrial partners, museums and galleries and more) host undoubtedly one of the biggest National Science and Engineering Week programmes of events for the school and public.

This project has been in the pipeline for quite a while and the staff are super-excited that it’s taking off this year, so why don’t you join them in the joy of inspiring and informing the public with science!

If you’re interested in registering for the course then you’ll need an upper second class degree in a Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Maths, Medicine or Physics-related degree, a passion for science and communicating it then visit the website www.sheffield.ac.uk/sciencecommunication

Trick or Treatment?

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Robin Bisson

Reviewed: ‘Trick or Treatment? Alternative Medicine on Trial’ by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trick-Treatment-Alternative-Medicine-Trial/dp/0552157627/

Anyone aware of Simon Singh’s battle in the libel courts against the British Chiropractic Association will be able to make a cunning guess at what answer this book gives to the question posed in the title. What Singh and Ernst deliver is a rigorous, comprehensive and ultimately damning evaluation of all the major strands of alternative medicine, including acupuncture, homeopathy, chiropractic and herbal remedies, reviewing the scores of clinical trials that have sought to answer the question: are alternative therapies effective?

The resounding answer ringing from the entire book is NOOO!! (with a few little exceptions). While it may be important that such a book exists that is accessible to the average reader – indeed one of the comments on the back remarks that “physicians should recommend the book to their patients” – I cannot claim to have particularly enjoyed reading it.

The authors set off with a statement of open mindedness, making no prior assumptions before subjecting therapies to the ‘science test’. Nonetheless, it quickly becomes obvious what the conclusion is going to be, and the constant use of derogatory terms (“pure quackery” etc.) scuppers any pretence at engagement with believers in alternative medicine.

In the end, I think this is where Trick or Treatment? falls down – it convincingly argues for the absurdity and illogic of many therapies, but it is delivered in such a way that only those comfortably in the conventional-medicine-only camp, or at least very close to the fence, will be persuaded by it.

Of course, the fact that the book is unlikely to persuade ardent believers in alternative medicine does not make it a bad book. There is some fascinating stuff to keep the reader’s attention along the way. This is particularly true in Chapter 1 which gives a history of evidence based medicine – the fact that Hippocrates believed that the womb ‘wandered’ around the female body even won me a game of Trivial Pursuit! Plus, the sheer bizarrity of some of the things out there is incredible. I particularly enjoyed hearing about ‘tachyon therapy’ which uses hypothetical particles travelling faster than the speed of light to heal wounds.

Nonetheless, the overall drive of the book is negative with much repetition of how alternative therapies have been proven not to work, ultimately making for unexciting reading. None of the joy of scientific discovery and wonder at truths about the human body that science has uncovered is conveyed, which in the end would seem the best way of convincing those sceptical about the authority of science – it kinda reminded me of US foreign policy, the authors bomb the hell out of the enemy with impressive logical firepower, but “the battle for hearts and minds” is left by the wayside (I loathe that phrase by the way).

One interesting point is the mention of a libel case brought by a respected US doctor in the late 18th century against a campaigner who believed bloodletting was harmful rather than helpful for suffering patients. This resonates strongly with the libel case brought against Simon Singh by the British Chiropractic Association due to an article he wrote in the Guardian soon after Trick or Treatment? was published, reiterating many of the points about the questionable claims made by some chiropractors. Unlike the case described in the book, thankfully the BCA eventually backed down and a libel reform bill is currently making its way through parliament (though whether it goes far enough is debatable – check out www.libelreform.org and sign the petition!).

Overall, while I am completely on the authors’ side, Trick or Treatment? doesn’t pass the ‘would recommend to a friend’ test. Perhaps the subject matter is important enough to speak for itself. The global spend on alternative medicines is astounding and serious ethical issues come into play when patients are advised to give up on conventional treatments. However, if you are convinced that conventional medicine is the only wise choice then there is not much enjoyment to be gleaned other than gleeful ridicule of the wackier treatments, and if you are convinced that alternative medicine is viable then the combative style is unlikely to change your opinions, leading to the question – who is the book really written for?

Next to be reviewed:

‘The Periodic Table’ by Primo Levi

What a Year!

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Michaela Livingstone

We’re just one week away now from the our Annual General Meeting where myself and our Director, Martin Turner, will be standing down from our positions, opening the doors for Science Brainwaves to take in new blood and boldly go where… well, the sky is the limit!
Evolution is such a wonderful thing. We hope that from its humble beginnings, ‘Brainwaves will continue to grow and change. We thought now would be a good time to write a review of how things have gone, to give anyone interested in possibly getting involved, or just the curious, an insight to how far we’ve come and how far we could go.

At the absolute heart of everything ‘Brainwaves has been involved in over the last year, has been an enthusiasm for science, and the passion to share that with anyone we possibly can. We started off as a group of four PhD students, organising events we thought would be of interest to the general public. Now we function as a twig of the South Yorkshire British Science Association branch, and have our own committee. It’s been a massively steep learning curve, trying to provide the best opportunities for our peers to develop their communication, networking and project management skills whilst providing inspiring events for kids and adults alike, but we’ve made progress in massive leaps and bounds.

In the 2010-2011 academic year, we’ve implemented new strategies to help enthuse people to get involved, providing opportunities that many people are after, whilst still keeping our flexible and creative ethos alive; we believe that whatever people want to do, they should get a chance to gain that experience. If, like me, you just want to spread the joy then come talk to us! On top of that, there’s many very important reasons why communicating the work scientists, engineers and medics do is a good idea, from informing the public so they can make decisions with all the evidence to hand to inspiring the next generation to fuel the continued march of the progress of science.

We organised a successful Christmas lecture on the subject of weird physics; a hard-sell, but picked up by local press and we got a lot of great, positive feedback (70% of respondents rated it good or excellent overall). In March we put on Sheffield’s first ever “Science of Cocktails” night, which was a massive success. It was more popular than we could have imagined! In the meantime, we’ve been helping to provide fun hands-on science experiments for kids, students, and families for example, at the Dream Bigger Dreams event in the winter gardens and doing heart dissections in the Thackray museum throughout February half-term; a 6th Form College in Grimsby triple science open day; DNA extractions with a scout troop; some science arts-and-crafts with Art in the Park, and a science-themed club night in the students’ union. We have yet more outreach days that we are helping organise, coming up in the future, not to mention other projects that are in the pipeline, such as a debate on access to health research in collaboration with librarians from the university and a “student experience” day, in conjunction with the Discover US programme from the University’s outreach team, and so much more! There’s so much to get stuck in to, and not only that, but we’re always happy to hear ideas from our volunteers!

All this PLUS the website, which has grown and matured – we’ve consolidated our blogs, spruced up the news section and are working on a podcast with a local amateur film-maker. We’re always working on making the website as interesting and useful as possible, with several ideas in the pipeline. And why not follow us on Twitter (@SciBrainwaves) or find us on Facebook to keep up to date on new events, or even tell us what you think!

And now it’s left for me to say goodbye and thank you! ‘Brainwaves has been supported massively by our colleagues in the British Science Association – especially Pam Buchan, regional manager. We’ve been awarded funding from the Outreach, widening participation and knowledge transfer funds from the University, The Alumni Foundation, the Institute of Physics, and B Braun, as well as having received support from Star Labs, Kit Locker and childrens’ bookshop Rhyme and Reason, not to mention the very kind donations from organisations we’ve worked with and of course, the public! We’ve also been supported by and worked with Museums Sheffield and the Thackray Medical History Museum in Leeds.

I for one have had the most amazing time working on ‘Brainwaves. It’s been challenging, but fun, and so satisfying; Everyone has been absolutely amazing. You all know who you are. I can whole heartedly recommend getting involved! So come along, 5th April, 5.30pm in F2 lecture theatre in Firth Court.

Toodles!
Michaela.

m.livingstone@sciencebrainwaves.com

@a_n_s

Life Ascending

Posted on March 21, 2011 by Robin Bisson

Reviewed: ‘Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution’ by Nick Lane

In October 2010, the Royal Society Prize for Science Books went to Nick Lane for his book ‘Life Ascending’, so it only seemed appropriate to give it a read and see what all the fuss was about. Thankfully it won’t be the last book prize the Royal Society will award, which looked likely to be the case until recently, since Winton Capital Management have signed a 5 year sponsorship deal giving birth to the mouthfilling Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. Excellent.

With such high acclaim I approached Life Ascending with some enthusiasm, which was rapidly deflated when I found out Nick Lane is a biochemist – a field that has never exactly grabbed my imagination. But it is testament to Lane’s skill as a writer that he managed to keep me not just engaged but enthralled while explaining some of the finer points of biomolecular processes. However the book is more than just biochemistry, it is a run-down (or rather run-up) of 10 inventions of evolution that have had the greatest impact on the world, ranging from conditions in which the first proteins and genetic molecules were formed right up to consciousness and, surprisingly, death.

Of course, such a sweeping tour of the history of life on earth covers huge swathes of scientific topics, each with their own history, points of debate and unsolved mysteries, and Lane guides the reader through with what he personally regards as the most plausible theories. In doing so, he fills you in with lots of interesting backstories, eccentric scientists and industry quips (like “the second law of Leslie Orgel: Evolution is cleverer than you are”). For fear of getting lost in the details and asides the reader is often brought back to the big questions, such as why life only arose once from the common ancestor of all living things, or the evolutionary logic behind death. I think this is the greatest strength of the book: the mixture of light asides, big questions and fascinating details all held together in a logical structure that equally entertains and informs.

Lane receives a lot of praise for the elegance of his writing, and it is certainly displayed in passages like the description of the “futuristic cityscape” of the inner workings of a cell from the point of view of a single biomolecule. It is in the more biochemical chapters that you feel Lane is at home and enjoyably in command. While the later chapters are still fascinating (I was blown away by how birds’ lungs work), they don’t quite have the sparkle or the argument of earlier chapters – consciousness in particular was more of a run-through than a narrative. Nonetheless, it is clear why Life Ascending was awarded the Royal Society prize: Nick Lane makes a fantastic tour guide through the wonders of evolution.

Next to be reviewed:

‘Trick or Treatment?’ by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst – the book that kicked off Simon Singh’s well publicized libel case. I’ll try and keep the defamation to a minimum…