Author: jonwoodscience

Recent times have seen me pondering the things I really like to do. Regular followers will be familiar with my fascination with the history of science and how the simple aspects of solid scientific principles were first encountered. This, dressing up and performing science demonstrations all seem to have struck a chord with me; so much so that I’ve done it again with a replay of the Greatest Smell on Earth experiment, thanks to the support of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Hereford Sixth Form College.

So it didn’t quite work as well as it did the first time for any number of possible reasons. The audience were different from the original mixture of families. Only the younger members experienced phantom olfaction, imagining they could smell something by suggestion. Also, it kind of helps if the BBC turn up and film it with you like they did the first time. Never mind, I have some new ideas about how to present some of these concepts. Continue reading “Wood’s World of Wonders”

Over the Summer, the European Commission launched a new campaign, ‘Science: it’s a girl thing’ to widespread criticism from those who were endeavouring to break stereotypes and promote science careers for girls and young women. While we wished the campaign every success, they started on the wrong foot with their launch video which portrayed women in science as being glamour obsessives without actually engaging in any science. Continue reading “Science Grrls”

July caught me reading ‘The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science’, by Richard Holmes. I know it’s been available for a while and many have reviewed it, but I took my usual route of avoiding reviews in order to let my read develop organically. In this case, I need not have worried. It seems that many have found beauty in the words and stories. I don’t want to review it, as you can find those anywhere. Just trust me, buy the book and throw yourself into an age when people didn’t think of themselves as scientists, they just asked questions. Continue reading “A Bit of Reading”