...and a partridge in a pear tree
Christmas is always a good time to reflect on another year passing, so here are some of my thoughts: Most amusing–Ben Goldacre’s description of the Daily Mail’s Sisyphian project of categorising the...
View ArticleJoining up on science
For the new year, I've made a resolution not to comment on the proliferation of fad diets and detoxes surrounding us in the media (I think we can use our common sense on this). Instead I want to look...
View ArticleGreen champion challenges Agency
It was a pleasure to have Jonathon Porritt, a distinguished commentator on sustainable development, come to talk to staff and present us with some challenges! Jonathon questioned at what point food...
View ArticleRisky reporting
I’m sitting at a conference talking about the huge issue of campylobacter – a food bug that’s making 300,000 people seriously ill every year. There is no uncertainty about the risks to people’s health...
View ArticleMaking chicken safer
I’ve been both interested and encouraged over the past couple of days, hearing what other countries have been doing to reduce levels of campylobacter in chicken. Along with many of my colleagues, I’ve...
View ArticleTrust me, I’m a scientist…
With the election period over I’m pleased to be blogging again.Although our communications have been quiet and the papers have been flooded with election news, I've noticed there’s still been a trickle...
View ArticleNanofoods – size matters
Having taken a swipe at media spin a few days ago, it’s good to finish the week flagging up a bit of media sense – no prizes for guessing it comes from New Scientist. Its editorial joins the chorus for...
View ArticleThe data behind the review
The Agency published a scientific review of organic food last July, which found that there are no important nutrient differences or nutrition-related health benefits from eating organic food, compared...
View ArticleThe culinary soothsayer
The Royal Society has published a new series of papers that I’m sure will add to recent debates on issues such as GM and cloning. The papers provide an academic assessment of the future of the global...
View ArticleWe say potato, you say Solanum tuberosum
Please excuse me while I borrow Andrew’s blog for a minute, but I just wanted to join in on the chatter in an earlier blog about the pitfalls of communicating science to the general public. We pride...
View ArticleWhat's on the horizon?
Friday's Daily Mail suggests the Agency is ordering the country to go vegetarian to help reduce green house gases ('Go vegetarian, by order of Government food police'). This is after we published a...
View ArticleInvisibility cloak
It might sound like the stuff of science fiction, but I was reading an article on the BBC website yesterday that says scientists are one step closer to producing an invisibility cloak. Although a long...
View ArticleAn evidence based approach keeps the wolf at bay
Following the publication of the European Food Safety Authority survey on food, I was interested to read that only 29% of UK consumers think that food could damage their health. Of course I’m...
View ArticleNew evidence on E. coli
There was an interesting development in the science around E. coli O157 reported last week. An article in the British Medical Journal showed that E. coli O157 infection can lead to an increased risk of...
View ArticleIt’s just a gut feeling
I spotted another development in the science around E.coli O157 in the news last week. As part of an EU project, researchers have found that E.coli O157 has an advantage over other bacteria because it...
View ArticleThe end is nigh for BSE
The New Scientist had good news last week, reporting on the latest official figures from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which show BSE has almost been eradicated – just 25 years after...
View ArticleTime to speak out or a time to remain silent: is it right to communicate...
It’s no secret that I’m a big supporter of engaging the general public in science, so it’s been great to see the huge range of events that have been put on to celebrate National Science and Engineering...
View ArticleA war against pseudoscience
I wanted to add a few words of support for the Government Chief Scientific Adviser John Beddington’s ‘war against bad science’. At an annual conference of scientific civil servants last month,...
View ArticleIs vitamin D a cure for food allergy?
With the reported incidence of allergy rising lots of research is underway to find out the factors that may be involved. The latest piece of research published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical...
View ArticleRise of the scientific superpowers
Is the UK slipping behind as a ‘scientific superpower’? The Royal Society published a report yesterday that shows that a new group of countries including China, Brazil and India are 'emerging as new...
View ArticleMolecular detectives
It wasn’t so many years ago that the first human genome was sequenced. But in terms of developments in biotech it feels like a lifetime. Dozens of scientists worked tirelessly for 10 years to unravel...
View ArticleFair enough?
While it's not my normal bedtime read, a recent report from the BBC Trust caught my eye. The Trust commissioned Steve Jones, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at University College London, to review the...
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