Themes from the last fortnight have been big data, divestment from fossil fuels and high air pollution …

An update on divestment as the Fossil Free movement gathers pace …

Energy companies are creating the conditions for a stock market crash and threatening democracy. Imperial College must take action …

As the financial crisis in Europe continues, could Bitcoin be the solution to our economic woes? …

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the greenest of them all? Eco-conscious consumers are increasingly trying to make decisions based on a company’s green credentials. But beneath all the marketing rhetoric, how can we really tell the environmental heroes from the villains? I’m not very good at recycling. Quite frankly, I struggle to see the […]

All science depends on trust. Trust that experiments are repeatable, observations objectively made, and research conducted without bias. We trust the reputation of journals and the expertise of reviewers. With the fragmentation and specialisms of modern science, trust is perhaps more important than ever, but it’s been necessary from the start. When Galileo claimed there […]

“I studied Zoology.” “Oh right, the study of zoos.” “Not exactly.” Zoology is the study of ANIMALS and it’s one of those science disciplines that rarely gets the reaction that chemistry or physics have come to expect. The response is normally one of confusion – why would anyone want to study something that has no […]

Prominent US environmental advocate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr shocked attendees at last month’s Sustainable Operations Summit in California, by using his keynote speech to extol the benefits of free market capitalism in helping tackle climate change. According to Kennedy, free market capitalism will allow us to effectively tackle climate change by preventing damaging public-private sector […]

The UK needs to increase investment in renewable energy sources if it is to meet EU climate change targets, according to a report out this week. The report was published by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), an independent body set up to advise the government on reducing the UK’s carbon footprint. The report advocates […]

As we seem to have no blog today, here’s an opinion piece I wrote back in March… If the government fails to invest in science today, there will inevitably be both a huge cultural and economic price to pay tomorrow. Last week, Science Minister David Willetts described Pfizer’s plans to close its Kent R&D site, […]