August 2011

The Human Project needs your help!

by Andrew Maynard August 25, 2011

Here’s an interesting idea – build a free iPad app that kicks off a global conversation about the future of the human species. The Human Project is the brain child of Erika Ilves & Anna Stillwell. At its core is a yet-to-be-built iPad app that captures the essence of humanity past and future – who [...]

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Social Media messed-up teens reveal all

by Andrew Maynard August 24, 2011

Is social media messing up today’s teens? Adults, it seems, love to pontificate on the benefits and ills of emerging internet-based communication platforms on young people. But how often do they bother to listen to the teenagers they claim to be concerned about? Well, this is their chance. Over this past week, the members of [...]

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Is the UK facing a second generation brain drain?

by Andrew Maynard August 20, 2011

In 2000, I moved to the US with my wife and two children to take up a research job here – becoming part of the migration of science, technology and engineering expertise out of the UK. Eleven years on, my kids want to go back to the UK to university. But the costs of re-entry [...]

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Final program posted for the Risk, Uncertainty and Sustainable Innovation symposium

by Andrew Maynard August 19, 2011

It’s been a while in the making, but with a little under five weeks to go, we have just posted the final program for the 2011 Risk Science Symposium (20-21 Sept). And even though I say so myself, it’s a doozy! Somehow, we are squeezing 45 invited speakers into the two days, and not any [...]

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Want to know about teens and social media from the horses mouth? Watch this space

by Andrew Maynard August 15, 2011

If you are a teen who uses YouTube (or know of one – maybe even your own teenager), please think seriously about posting a response to this video: (You can also watch it directly on YouTube here). Over on the Risk Science Blog, I’ve just posted a piece about Baroness Susan Greenfield’s views on the [...]

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What was worrying us about nanotechnology safety seven years ago?

by Andrew Maynard August 9, 2011

In 2004, the first International Symposium on Occupational Health Implications of Nanomaterials was held in Buxton in the UK. Seven years later, I’m preparing for a discussion panel at the fifth meeting in this very successful community-led series (being held this week in Boston MA), and looking through the research recommendations we made at the [...]

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Would You Lick Jam Off An Old Man’s Foot? and other important science questions

by Andrew Maynard August 8, 2011

Would You Lick Jam Off An Old Man’s Foot Or Drink Toilet Water For An Hour? Can you explain how gravitons can escape a black hole? Or do you have a good answer to the question “why are people annoying?” This is just a sampling of some of the more entertaining and challenging questions from [...]

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Frying your brains on information overload: Old perspectives on a new issue

by Andrew Maynard August 3, 2011

Living online is changing our brains – at least according to Baroness Greenfield in an interview posted today by New Scientist. Leaving aside questions over the extent to which Greenfield’s concerns are driven by misapprehension or plausibility, the interview put me in mind of a rather wicked quote that appeared in a presentation I saw [...]

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The science of VidCon – Connecting with Science & Engineering through YouTube

by Andrew Maynard August 1, 2011

Where I cover science at this year’s VidCon YouTube convention, take a look at science and engineering more broadly on YouTube, and suggest that for next year’s VidCon the organizers should bring together some of the leading science projects on YouTube with grass-roots science-advocates like Charlie McDonnell and Hank Green. It’s a long post, but [...]

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