Order of the taxons « Richmondschoolbiology’s Weblog

The favorite youtube video clip of the moment must be the BBC’s April 1st Flying Penguins clip. It was obviously designed to help A2 Biologists remember the order of the taxons. Thank you BBC.

King Penguins Can Only Fly Going South

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

NHS Choices: Behind the Headlines

Slim evidence for grapefruit pill July 16, 2009

“Grapefruit ingredient could be used for diet pill,” reported The Daily Telegraph. The newspaper said that naringenin, the chemical compound that gives grapefruit its bitter taste, could be used to create a diet pill. The news is based on a study in mice, which found that the chemical made their livers burn fat instead of storing it after a meal. The researc […]

Swine flu latest from the NHS July 16, 2009

Last updated: 17.00 BST There were an estimated 55,000 new cases of swine flu in the UK last week, it has been announced. Total deaths stand at 29. Giving his weekly briefing with supporting slides on the progress of the pandemic, Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, also said: The under-5s and 5-14 year olds are the age groups predominantly affec […]

Bad Science

Rape: a non-correction from the Telegraph July 16, 2009

The media is a game-like world of blurry truths, where the vague narrative shape of a story matters more than clarity, accuracy and evidence. Three weeks ago the Daily Telegraph published an unpleasant article headlined “Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists”. It was based on the unpublished and unfinished dissertation [...] […]

Evidence based revenge July 10, 2009

Ben Goldacre, The Guardian, Saturday 11th July 2009 This week I have attempted to engage in meaningful disputes with morons who have misled their readers using untrue facts. I will rise above it, because I am a nice guy. More importantly, I don’t want to end up being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder, the new [...]

The Naked Scientists

Once a Knight is Not Enough June 15, 2009

Sure, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II and has received a number of other honours, but has Sir Tim Berners-Lee yet received his due? Douglas Richards argues that for a man who brought into being a tool - the hypertext language around which the Internet is based - that will have as profound an impact on human civilization as the wheel or electricity, the […]

To sit or not to sit May 17, 2009

Is urine bad? Yes, when it ends up on the bathroom floor. What can be done to avoid these unaesthetic accidents? As with many of the challenges confronted by humanity over the millennia, scientific insight might save the day, but the solution will demand a paradigm shift in our excretory habits, as John Gamel explains...

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