June 2010

I’m A Scientist 2010 ends, and the winner is…

by Andrew Maynard June 25, 2010

An hour or so ago, the final winners of I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here were announced.  To my surprise, I made it to the last two standing in the Silicon Zone yesterday, and have been on the edge of my seat today waiting to see whether I was going to be ousted [...]

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I’m A Scientist – A brilliant British idea that needs to come to the US!

by Andrew Maynard June 23, 2010

Today was a tough day on I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here – three live chats almost back to back, followed by the first evictions.  And believe me – even though I live to fight another day, the evictions were traumatic!  But more of that below.  At the end of a long day, [...]

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Welcome to real science!

by Andrew Maynard June 19, 2010

The way science is taught, the way it’s portrayed on TV and in the press, he way it’s promoted by science-advocates and science bloggers, often seems to adhere to a rather pompous and hubristic view of science as the ultimate bastion of truth and certainty.  So it’s been rather refreshing this week to see a [...]

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Just how risky can nanoparticles in sunscreens be? Friends of the Earth respond

by Georgia Miller June 15, 2010

Last week, I posed Friends of the Earth a challenge – “What is your worst case estimate of the human health risk from titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide nanoparticles in sunscreens?”  Georgia Miller of FoE Australia and Ian Illuminato of FoE in the US have kindly provided a detailed response.  Rather than just keep this [...]

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Day one of I’m A Scientist – It’s the teens who are training us!

by Andrew Maynard June 15, 2010

It’s a quarter to one in the morning Eastern Time, and I’ve just polished off the last question of the day on I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here!  I should be heading off to bed, but I wanted to capture some initial thoughts on this exercise first. I’ve lost count of how many [...]

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A spectator’s guide to I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here!

by Andrew Maynard June 13, 2010

If you want to participate in the rather fab science event I’m A Scientist, Get me Out Of Here I’m afraid you are out of luck – unless you happen to be one of the 100 scientists and 8000 teenagers taking part. But you can still get a thrill from watching the competition unfold on-line [...]

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Just how risky could nanoparticles in sunscreens be?

by Andrew Maynard June 8, 2010

Following up from my previous post, here’s an open question to Friends of the Earth: What is your worst case estimate of the human health risk from titanium dioxide and/or zinc oxide nanoparticles in sunscreens? What I am interested in is a number – a probability of a specific human health impact being caused by [...]

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Friends of the Earth come down hard on nanotechnology – are they right?

by Andrew Maynard June 8, 2010

Friends of the Earth (FoE) do not like nanoparticle-based sunscreens.  This has been evident for some years – back in 2006 the organization published the report Nanomaterials, Sunscreens and Cosmetics: Small Ingredients, Big Risks, and every year since then they have had something to say on the subject. This year’s web-based piece leaves now doubt [...]

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I’m A Scientist – Check out the competition!

by Andrew Maynard June 1, 2010

Reading the Twitter feeds, it seems that a number of scientists participating in I’m A Scientist, Get me Out of Here have struggled with their profiles.  It’s one thing to design an elegant experiment or write a smart paper – but describing yourself in three words or telling a joke that’s actually funny isn’t something [...]

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