Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve been meaning to do this for a while. Last term I taught a course called ‘Governing emerging technologies’ for UCL 3rd year undergraduates. It had 24 students, half from my own department, Science and Technology Studies, and half from … Continue reading →

I know it’s too late for one of those retrospective/prospective new year pieces, but here’s mine, prompted by Andrew Maynard’s recent mention of Responsible Innovation. (Apologies that this appears solipsistic. It is as much a diary entry as a blog … Continue reading →

Last night, I was part of a panel with Evan Harris, Philip Lee MP and Jenny Rohn, (chaired by labour science spokeswoman Chi Onwurah) on the question of whether we need more scientists in parliament. I was with Evan Harris … Continue reading →

My Dad got a letter asking him to take part in a big epidemiological study on the risks of mobile phone use. I assume his name was randomly selected, rather than the result of a brainstorm that began, “wouldn’t it … Continue reading →

The latest issue of People and Science, the British Science Association magazine, has a piece by Tracey Brown, and a response by me, on the place of ‘dialogue’ within and around the recent field trial of GM wheat. Tracey Brown reflects … Continue reading →

I was on a plane. That’s always my excuse for watching drivel. But I thought that, for research purposes, and given how often I talk about it, I should catch the remake of the Lorax. At the risk of turning … Continue reading →

Cobi Smith has got in touch to ask why PUS is not open access. I am on the editorial board for PUS, so I have some share of responsibility for decisions about such things. I thought she deserved a response. … Continue reading →

I was on a radio 4 programme last night called ‘Reclaiming the sceptic’. It was pretty wide-ranging, as you would expect from something trying to track a theme such as ‘scepticism’ (we take ours with a c here). But I … Continue reading →

An interesting meeting yesterday at King’s College, London, new home of the BIOS group.  We were talking about the place of social science in emerging areas such as Synthetic Biology. I was asked to discuss a paper by a friend … Continue reading →