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Scientists on speaking out
Scientists on speaking out
The NZAS's (New Zealand
Association of Scientists) conference in Wellington today
had experts sharing their experiences, and encouraging
others, in speaking
publicly.
The conference,
titled Going public: scientists speaking out on
difficult issues, focused on exploring the
issues surrounding and challenges for experts stepping up
and speaking to the public on topical science-related
issues.
NZAS president Nicola Gaston kicked off the day by describing how fear and peer-pressure often discouraged scientists from speaking out.
“The fear of being wrong is compounded by the myth of scientific expertise, where a person is seen as having to be right all of the time,” she said.
Dr Gaston said that when dealing with controversial issues there was seldom one right answer, but it was important the right scientists were speaking at the right time.
The Science Media Centre’s Peter Griffin emphasised the need for scientists to get on the front foot when science issues were in the headlines.
“Put your hand up, or it is more likely you will get pseudo science and vested interests controlling the narrative.”
Dominion Post journalist Nikki Macdonald agreed that scientists needed to be heard for the media to get it right.
“Journalists are looking for information, we want to understand the issue and understand the science. The more access to different voices, the better we have the complete picture.”
While there were no easy answers, Auckland University researcher Siouxsie Wiles captured the sentiment of the room as she described the difficulties, and rewards, of good science communication.
“A lot of people say “what the hell do you know about this”, but the reason that I’m here, it’s not about me, it’s about wanting New Zealand to be a scientifically literate country.”
You can follow the conference on Twitter, using the hashtag#GoingPublic
New Zealanders 'illegally' create glowing bacteria
Glowing green bacteria have been created
'illegally' in New Zealand using mail-order kits from the
US, reigniting discussion on the issues surrounding genetic
engineering.
As reported by The Dominion Post earlier this
week, the kits ordered by educational
institutes contained harmless E. coli bacteria and plasmids
with a gene for glowing under UV light.
While these separately don’t pose a legal problem, educators that combine them to produce glowing bacteria are technically in breach of New Zealand’s Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act – where no new organisms can be created in New Zealand without a containment facility and governmental approval.
A recent blog post by Siouxsie Wiles discusses the issues laid out in the article and questions the government’s idea of what is a ‘new organism’, with the suggestion that “New Zealand needs to have a rational discussion about genetic engineering”.
Similarly, an article in Concrete Playground reflects a similar sentiment, pointing out that the Ministry for Primary Industries' investigation found that the bacteria produced by the Bio-Rad kits pose no danger to people but "Regardless, they just weren’t happy with people messing with nature".
Read more on the Science Media Centre website.
Canon Media Awards
The
finalists have just been announced for the 2015 Canon Media
Awards, which will be presented in Auckland next
month.
The Canon Media Awards, New
Zealand’s top awards for print and online journalism, are
open each year to all New Zealand mass media publications,
including their individual staff and freelancers.
Of particular interest to us at the SMC are the finalists in the three science and technology categories, which the SMC sponsors:
Newspaper reporter science and
technology finalists
Vaughn Elder – Otago
Daily Times
Olivia Wannan – Dominion
Post
Newspaper science and technology feature
writer finalists
Nikki MacDonald – Dominion
Post
Jon Morgan – NZ Farmer
Jamie Morton – New
Zealand Herald
Magazine science and technology
feature writer finalists
Donna Chisholm –
North & South
Joanna Wane – North & South
Mike White
– North & South
Catherine Woulfe – New Zealand
Listener
Congratulations to all the nominees and best of luck in the final!
Quoted: One News
"He was a
grand gentleman of science, he's the one who really got
organised science started in this country, started the
colonial museum which became Te Papa, started the Geological
Survey which became GNS Science."
GNS Science Chief Executive Mike McWilliams, commenting onSir James Hector's influence in New Zealand 150 years ago.
Policy news &
developments
New Zealand's Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990–2013: The Ministry for the Environment has released the latest annual report of all human induced emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in New Zealand. The inventory measures the country's progress against obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
Reviewing stewardship land – ‘pick up
the pace’: Parliamentary Commissioner for the
Environment, Dr Jan Wright, has released an update to her
2013 report and calls for the Department of Conservation to
pick up the pace in reviewing stewardship land.
New from
Sciblogs
Some of the highlights from this week's Sciblogs posts:
Science is set to drone on and on! Steve Pointing explains why he thinks New Zealand might be the first country to approve ‘beyond line of sight’ operation of drones and why this is a good thing for science.
Innovations unlikely to happen
here - Eric Crampton discusses why NZ is likely
to fall behind in genetic innovations if things like
harmless glowing bacteria continue to be banned in the
country.
The Dismal Science
Not so Bully for Brontosaurus -
Peter Deardon explains why we should care that the
Brontosaurus is in fact a Brontosaurus and not an
Apatosaurus like scientists had previously
thought.
Southern Genes
Communicating controversial science in
context - Grant Jacobs looks at why context is
important and how it can distinguish 'communicators' from
'advocates'.
Code for Life
Those “illegal” school science kits and our illogical Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act - Siouxie Wiles gets riled up at how outdated legal clauses could be hampering science education.
ends
Science Media Centre NZ
Our aim is to promote accurate, evidence-based reporting on science and technology by helping the media work more closely with the scientific community.
The Science Media Centre is New Zealand's only trusted, independent source of information for the media on all issues related to science. Thousands of news stories providing context from and quoting New Zealand researchers have been published as a direct result of our work.
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