Category Archives: Media & Perception

The insanity of the Italian legal system

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Pete Rowley

Well, it’s official. The Italian courts have found half a dozen scientists and a government official guilty of manslaughter over the failure to accurately predict the risks of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake which killed 309 people. This has been rumbling … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, Geology, Geophysics, Hazard Assessment, Media & Perception, Not even wrong, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Loose cable

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Pete Rowley

For months now there has been a rather over-excited public belief that a bunch of scientists in Italy received some neutrons from CERN a bit sooner than they should have. The OPERA experimental results reported late last year – i.e. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Media & Perception, Physics, Science | Leave a comment

Some ways in which science journalists demonstrate they don’t understand science journalism

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Pete Rowley

This afternoon Ananyo Bhattacharya, the Chief Online Editor for the journal Nature, posted a piece on the Guardian website entitled “Nine ways scientists demonstrate they don’t understand journalism”. While he makes a few valid points further down the article (the … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, General, Media & Perception, News, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Tips to Teachers – the system is broken

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Pete Rowley

This morning the news is filled with coverage of a Daily Telegraph story which uncovered exam boards tipping off teachers as to which questions they should prepare their students for, and key phrases they should use. Michael Gove, the Education … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Media & Perception, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Expanding your horizons – quack geology

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Pete Rowley

I was pointed at this today. It’s a video describing how closed minded scientists are ignoring the truth; a “conspiracy of silence”. The “simple truth is too upsetting to too many applecarts”.  That’s right ladies and gentlemen, plate tectonics is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Geology, Geophysics, Media & Perception, Not even wrong, Physics, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Katla and the pointless scaremongering journalists.

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Pete Rowley

Look what popped up on the BBC website today. In fact, a google search for “Katla volcano Ford Cochran” (the guy quoted in that article) turns up 57 new items published in the last 24 hours. Apparently, “there are signs … Continue reading →

Posted in Earthquakes, Education, Geology, Hazard Assessment, Media & Perception, News, Science, Volcanism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

“I can’t think, therefore I probably am not”

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Pete Rowley

This morning while doing my daily trawl of Twitter and Google Reader to see what’s been going on I came across a couple of interesting posts from everyones favourite particle physicist and pop keyboardist – Prof. Brian Cox. These started … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Education, Geology, Media & Perception, Physics, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Planet ‘Idle Speculation’

Posted on September 15, 2011 by Pete Rowley

Last night the BBC aired its opening episode of Planet Dinosaur, billed as “bringing to life a new and terrifying world of dinosaurs”.  It’s classified as ‘factual, science and nature’. Now, I’m very much in two minds about this program. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Geology, Media & Perception, Palaeontology, Science | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The miracle generation

Posted on August 18, 2011 by Pete Rowley

For the 29th year running, we have record A Level results. Now, given that exam difficulty is supposedly set based on previous exams, we can assume that the chances of one years results being higher or lower than the previous … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Media & Perception | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The oil-related post you all knew was coming

Posted on August 16, 2011 by Pete Rowley

So another day, another oil leak. Nearly 1500 barrels of crude pumped into one of the most active fisheries in Europe, oil companies playing responsibility tag, and industry spokespeople assuming the position yet again. To be honest, as far as … Continue reading →

Posted in Geology, Media & Perception, Nuclear Power, Petroleum Geology, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments