Friday, April 11, 2014
I'm on the Radio this Sunday April 13th TWICE!
In the morning I'll be on ABC local radio (Adelaide 891 AM) with Ashley Walsh , going live about 10:20 am ACST (10:50 AEST). I'll be talking about the upcoming twilight Lunar Eclipse, so listen if you can (they doing streaming, so even if you are not in Adelaide you can catch this on your computer.
In the evening at 5:30 pm ACST (6:00 pm AEST) I'll be talking on 4BC radio (QLD) about the recent NH & MRC report on homeopathy. They will also be streaming, and you can listen on-line by clicking the listen live button on their homepage.
Labels: eclipse, homeopathy, media, public outreach, Radio, science communicators
Thursday, June 21, 2012
I'm in the Best Australian Science Writing 2012 anthology
You may or may not be aware that I also blog for The Conversation on things related to my day job, pharmacology and toxicology (see the links in the left-hand panel of this blog).
Well, my Conversation article ‘Doctors' orders: debunking homeopathy once and for all’, will be included in The Best Australian Science Writing 2012 anthology.
This is really exciting! As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be two things, a scientist and a writer. While my popular (as opposed to my academic) writing has been in anthologies before (the Open Lab, see side bar), and I've been published in Sky and Space and Australian Sky and Telescope, this is the first time where my writing more or less directly relates to my professional work.
I love my astronomy, but I also love the research and science I do during the day. I've always felt a little sad that people are really interested in my astronomy writings, but less so about my areas of research.
Being asked to do a regular column for The Conversation that actully revolved around the science I do was a great step forward. Being accepted into The Best Australian Science Writing antology is the icing on the cake.
Many years back, when flares were cool, I entered some of my Science-Fiction writing into a competition to earn a place in a week long writing workshop. I won a place in the work shop and at the end of the week, I knew one thing for certain:
I was not a fiction writer.
Yet I didn't stop writing. I concentrated first on my academic and professional writing. In the last 20 years I've published 46 papers and four professional book chapters. Then the internet came, I discussed science on internet fora, became involved in the Talk.Origins group, set up Southern Skywatch and wrote, and wrote. Then blogs came along. I started up astroblog, joined the Panda's Thumb collective. And wrote.
So I've achived my childhood dream. I'm a scientist and a writer. I'm not Carl Sagan or Richard Feinmann, but through Astrobog, The Panda's Thumb and the The Conversation I can bring the world that I love, the world of science, to a wider audience. In one way this is better than my far off dream of being a science fiction writer.
Because I'm writing about making the world of Science Fiction reality.
Being part of The Best Australian Science Writing anthology means that I have sufficiently matured as a writer that I can convey the world of my research as clearly as I convey the world of astronomy.
No excuse me while I bounce off the walls with delight for a while.
Labels: homeopathy, public outreach, science, science communicators
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Do You Want Vipers With That? What CAM courses at universities should look like
My latest contribution to The Conversation is now up, it's on the debate about whether Universities should teach courses in Complementary and Alternative Medicines. Why vipers? Read it and see.
It's a good antidote to a rather overwrought piece at the Drum (we are all out to crush poor innocent CAM for gain, sigh).
It's a good antidote to a rather overwrought piece at the Drum (we are all out to crush poor innocent CAM for gain, sigh).
Labels: homeopathy, Pseudoscience, science communicators
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Homeopaths try and Silence Blogger
The Italian arm of multinational homoeopathic medicine company Boiron is threatening to sue an amateur blogger (BlogZero) over posts he has made that were critical of homoeopathy. If the company was expecting to muffle criticism, boy, did they get that wrong, the story has exploded over the intertubes.
You can find BlogZero's account here (in English), it gets mentioned in the British Medical Journal and Science Based Medicine has a very nice post on the affair.
Oh, and Boiron, Oscillococcinum (and homoeopathy) is pure quack medicine, so sue me.
You can find BlogZero's account here (in English), it gets mentioned in the British Medical Journal and Science Based Medicine has a very nice post on the affair.
Oh, and Boiron, Oscillococcinum (and homoeopathy) is pure quack medicine, so sue me.
Labels: homeopathy, Pseudoscience
Friday, August 05, 2011
I'm on the Conversation (about Homeopathy)
Following on from my interview on Today Tonight on homoeopathy (which was finally aired on the east coast last week), I now have an article at The Conversation about homoeopathy. Drop over for a read.
Labels: homeopathy, Pseudoscience, science communicators
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Homeopathy Information
Cartoon source Cetic.Homeopathy is an alleged therapy which combines 18th century alchemy with extreme dilutions, such that the probability that there is one molecule of the starting material in any "remedy" is negligible.
Many people think there is something to homeopathy, but many people also think that the full moon is linked to accidents and criminal behavior, let alone earthquakes, when in fact there is no such link.We are easily fooled by our preconceptions and selective recall, and so it is for homeopathy.
If you want reliable information on homeopathy, I suggest these sources.
Cartoon source XKCD.Start at the 10:23 campaign for a good one-stop basic information source.
For more detail, over at Science based medicine, there is a good, easily readable series on homeopathy. You might also like to know that homeopathy has been failing clinical trials since 1835. Then there is the weighty House of Commons Science and Technology Committee (STC) report, Evidence Check 2: Homeopathy, which concludes that there is no evidence that homeopathy works any better than placebos (commentary here).
Then there are the following posts on a recent trial of an alleged homeopathic breast cancer remedy from Orac (with follow up) and Australia's own Dr. Rachie (I appear in the comments).
If the above is all a bit heavy, maybe some light entertainment from Orac, or a song from Australia's Tim Minchin will help lighten the mood.
Labels: homeopathy, Pseudoscience
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
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