written by Julia Pon If you had leukemia or lymphoma, what would you want to know? As a medical student, I noticed a disconnect between the type of information that tends to be provided for patients, and the types of information medical students are taught: patient information booklets tend to focus on symptoms, tests and […]
OA journal for outreach activities? #hivemind request
I am lucky enough to work with some amazing people in an enrichment program for teens who love science. The leaders create activities to help students explore science in different ways. These exercises are usually more than the usual outreach or classroom activity – but they could be adapted to work within classrooms or for […]
Chemical-free cleaners don’t exist, so why am I still reading about them?
by Susan Vickers Chemophobia is major problem, and it is time scientists to do more to stop the press intensifying it. I welcome all discussion on ways to inform journalists and petition news agencies to report in a conscientious and scientifically correct manner. As a chemist, misuse of the term chemical frustrates me. The use […]
Finkbeiner posts: round 2
More students writing about scientists! Not only do they get to learn about some cool science, they get to think about how communication can impact the take away message. Over half the students in our program are girls and yet our ‘wall of scientists photos are predominantly men. The students could write about either gender […]
Curling and Science Literacy
I like curling and I like science. In 2012, I saw the chance to talk about both of them in a ScienceOnline session with fellow Canadian Marie-Claire Shanahan. How did these two disparate things fit together? Both science and curling can seem boring or confusing if you don’t know the language or the process.
Writing about women scientists
It can be a balancing act to find female role models for girls in science without focusing too much on traditional female roles. If a teen girl wants to have both a family and a science career, do you talk about women who have done it? What bothers me about this ‘struggle’ is that we […]
Genetic counselling should be non-directive
One of the hallmarks of medical genetics is non-directive counselling. Therefore, I was dismayed to read the case for selective paternalism in genetic testing in Wired’s Neuron Culture. In most cases, genetic tests only provide information and patients need to determine if they want the information and/or what to do with it. Genetic counsellors should […]