Hello Everyone, I will be online until 6.30pm and will try to answer as many questions as possible. thanks for taking part.
#1So do you protect your secrets with code??
My second book was THE CODE BOOK, but I don’t use crypto very much … I don;t have too many secrets. Of course, I use crypto all the time as it it busy all the time behind the scenes on our cell phones and browsers.
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#2Are you more a scientist or a translator of science into terms us laymen can compute?
I definitely not a scientists, inasmuch as I do not do scientists. I am much more a science writer/communicator/educator. I realised at the end of my PhD that others were much smarter than me and would go on to make big discoveries, not me. So instead I became a science journalist, which has allowed me to stay close to science, while not being scientist. I would have loved to have been a scientists, but in hindsight I made the right decision to become a science writer.
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#3There’s a big push of late make science more accessible, there are more programmes about it on tv, there are an increasing number of celebrity scientists (incl you). Why the stress on it now more than before?
I think the 1970s when I grew in the UK was a good time for science on TV. Also, man was landing on the moon and technology was transforming our lives. Then science went out of fashion in the 1990s and 2000s. Why is science popular again? I think we have found some smart telly-friendly boffins, such as Brian Cox, the Bang Goes the THeory team, Michael Mosley, etc. I hope that the trend continues and that this is not just a fashion. (As well as telly-frirendly boffins, we also have some great TV producers. I was a producer for a few years, and I am astonished at some the latest programmes on TV.)
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#4You are the perfect example of two cultures benefits. How is it reflected in your identity and personality?
Not sure I get the question. Indian/English? I think science is fairly a-cultural. Science/arts? I think I am much more science than arts. There is something called Sci-Art, typically art projects based on science, but I think most of it is very disappointing. I remember that the Institute of Physics once commissioned a ballet for Einstein Year, 2005. What a terrible idea. I must admit that I did not see the result, but I doubt it made much a difference. Lots of people hate ballet, and lots of people hate physics, so maybe it allowed people to just hate things more efficiently.
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#5another… current belief in Vietnam that the cure for cancer is found in rhino horn. Where is the line between alternative medicine and anyones claim to have found a remedy for something?
It is hard to pin down a definition for ‘alternative’. It tends to cover things that are traditional, natural, biologically implausible, etc. So we have some herbal medicines at one end of the spectrum, because they might actually work (although there may also be adverse reactions). Then we have acupuncture, which does not work for most claimed conditions, but which ‘may’ work for pain and nausea (but I am dubious), … then we have homeopathy which has been tested and disproven … and then we downright batty and cruel (eg rhino horn cures cancer (probably)).
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#6You suffered the unfair effects of libel. What changes have to be made in the law?
English libel law is very hostile to free speech. Several changes to the law are required, for example, (1) a barrier to bringing trivial or non-serious libel suits, (2) clearer defences, (3) a public interest defence that separates the tittle-tattle articles from the ones that the public need to know about (4) restrictions on companies to be able to sue in libel (they have other options for redress), (5) bringing the law up to date with the age of the internet (6) protection for peer-reviewed research.
(ONLY 8 MINUTES LEFT – NO MORE QUESTIONS PLEASE – I WILL TRY TO ANSWER AS MANY OF THE EXISTING QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE)
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#7Do you use alternative medicine? did writing ‘trick or treatment’ change your views?
thnks
Writing ToT? probably made me more negative about CAM (complementary and alternative medicine) – when I looked at the research it did not stack up. I don’t think I use anything alternative.
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#8As you succeed in life with a science career, I’d love to have your advice: I have to decide if I study here in India or if I go to he USA. What do you think?
I am not sure about the best place to study – I am hugely impressed by INdia’s love of science and technology. In AMerica and the UK we are increasingly have to attract talent from overseas, rather than growing our own talent.
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#9Where, if at all, do alternative and mainstream medicine work alongside one another?
Only a few minutes left. Short answer is take a look at Prof Edzard Ernst’s writings in PULSE and elsewhere. He is often criticised by CAM therapists for being anti-CAM, but he often written about how GPs should embrace a few CAM therapies.
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#10What should I do as a concerned individual to try to get libel reform into the Queens speech. thanks
If you live outside the UK then please support English libel reform by signing up the petition at www.libelreform.org
If you live in the UK, then please do the same. Also, please write to your MP and ask him/her to encourage the govt to put a defamation bill in the Queen’s SPeech. THis is the next battle and it has to be won. Each week I hear about new cases of debate being chilled by libel threats. NATURE is in the High Court this week! any delay in libel reform will lead to further hiding of information, which will hurt human rights groups, scientists, consumer groups, parents (eg MUMSNET), doctors and ultimate patients.
THanks for all your questions. Much dash to get bus back to hotel. Good evening.
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That’s me done, thanks all
