Inspired by this xkcd comic, and facilitated by this online tool, people have been summarising all kinds of ideas using the 1,000 most common words. Naturally PhD students have latched onto this as a source of procrastination and, in a show of solidarity, I decided to join them (this was during my lunch break – honest!). Here’s my PhD thesis:
My work looks at how animals change as the world gets warmer. My animal is like a fly but it has four flying bits, eats other animals, and has big eyes. By looking at where people saw these animals in the past, I figured out how the place and time at which they appear changes with how hot it is. I found that they appear earlier when it is hot, which is interesting because these animals spend most of their lives in water. Animals in water had not been shown to change when they appear in this way before. I also looked at the ways in which we look at changes in where animals appear and showed the best way to look at this problem. Last, I looked at how the form of these animals changes as they move when it gets hotter. I found that the animals that had moved a long way had a form that made it easy for them to move (like big flying bits). In short, the changes shown by the animals that I looked at can be used to build a case for a warming world.
First, a warning to anyone who doesn’t like spiders: I was trying out my macro again, and there are some pretty big close-ups… Now that that’s over with, this week I wanted to try out a new toy. I had been hoping that my new light box would arrive for last week’s macro attempt, […]
Last week I mentioned being inspired by this fascination post from Dragonfly Woman, who looked at the diversity of insects that had passed-on in various light fittings around her home. I thought I would try the same thing, as it gives an opportunity to get close to the wee beasties without them running away. Here’s the result: […]
So originally this was going to be a post full of wonderful sunrise photographs. Unfortunately, a combination of cloudy British skies and a slope that refused (no matter how much I willed it) to turn to face the south-east conspired against me. Instead, I had a good chance to try out my macro attachment. I […]
Right, week 1 of my photography “project”. To ease myself in, my partner and I decided to go to “Tropical World” in Leeds. This is an indoor zoo with aquaria, meerkats, and (most importantly) a butterfly house. “Great”, I thought, “fish [or butterflies…] in a barrel!” However, the butterfly house itself seemed only to contain […]
OK, so my plan is to get out and actually use the rather expensive camera that I treated myself to last year (a Canon Rebel T2i). I’m ramping up for a summer of insect photography, but for now I will settle for whatever nature happens to be around. My idea is to post seven photographs […]
To round-out this quick series on the climate denial project, I thought I would reflect on some of the aspects of the project in the context of skeptical activism. There are a wide range of these kinds of projects, and it is worthwhile attempting to share best practice when we can in order to make the most of limited (often volunteer-based) resources. I know that the Eschaton2012 conference recently had a panel on skeptical activism which probably covered the same points, so I suggest you check that out as well. Jeff Shallit has some interesting points for individuals, but this will consider what groups can accomplish. Which leads me nicely into…Read More »
This is my second post on the climate change project (see my earlier piece on the background to the story). In this post I’ll talk briefly about some of the negative response that was raised to the project, primarily by the researcher who developed the course, Tim Patterson. It is worth noting that the course is being taught again in January 2013. I’ll follow this up with posts on (i) experiences with the media, and (ii) advice for skeptical campaigns in general.
In March 2012 I was involved with a project that sought to make public some poor science that was being taught at a Canadian university. I have been busy with other things since then (like getting a job…) but now I find myself with a few minutes to reflect on the experience. I have a tendency to write long posts which I’m sure nobody ever reads, so I’m going to write three short posts on this topic. In this post I’ll talk briefly about some of the negative response that was raised to the project, primarily by the researcher who developed the course, Tim Patterson. It is worth noting that the course is being taught again in January 2013. I’ll follow this up with posts on (i) a response to some criticisms, (ii) experiences with the media, and (iii) advice for skeptical campaigns in general.
Katatrepsis 
