Author name: Ian Robinson

Blogging is good for you

| | Science

As reported by Scientific American. Writing about your experiences can have beneficial effects. From the article:

Self-medication may be the reason the blogosphere has taken off. Scientists (and writers) have long known about the therapeutic benefits of writing about personal experiences, thoughts and feelings. But besides serving as a stress-coping mechanism, expressive writing produces many physiological benefits. Research shows that it improves memory and sleep, boosts immune cell activity and reduces viral load in AIDS patients, and even speeds healing after surgery. A study in the February issue of the Oncologist reports that cancer patients who engaged in expressive writing just before treatment felt markedly better, mentally and physically, as compared with patients who did not.

I think my scribbling here certainly helped me.

Good news

| | General, Science

MP’s in the UK House of Commons have rejected moves to block scientific advancement by throwing out amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill that would have banned hybrid embryos and tissues typing to select IVF embryos to make it suitable for use as a tissue donor.

The voice of reason has triumphed. A good day for the UK. There are more votes to come tomorrow but they are not as important as today’s votes. Only about 2% of abortions occur after 20 weeks so if the time limit is reduced it’ll not matter (beyond emboldening the anti-crowd). I think that abortion on demand up to 20 weeks should be available. After that it should be available if there is a risk to the mother (either physical or mental) or if the foetus is found to have defects that would lead to severe complications after birth.

The other contentious amendment to the bill about not having to consider the father in deciding who should have IVF treatment hasn’t really registered on my radar. I’m nit really fussed about it one way or the other although if pressed I would support the right of single women and lesbian couples to get IVF on the NHS if they are in a position to provide a good secure home for children.

Book clear out

| | Uncategorized

I’m having a tidy and the following books are in the to go pile. Free to a good home. Email me or comment if you want them:

Evolution by Douglas Futuyma (Hardback – the first 90 pages are not bound into the book but are there. I removed them for easy carrying to read when in England).

Step into Xcode by FritZ Anderson

Learning Cocoa with Objective-C by James Duncan Davidson

Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds (I have this in Sony eReader format so don’t need the paperback copy. It’s in perfect condition.

I’ll have other books to give away over the next few weeks so check back. It’ll be next weekend before anymore are posted.

Russell Blackford on “framing”

| | Science

The has been a bit of a kerfuffle in the science blog and science communication communities recently about how to deal with creationists, and their apologists. Basically there is a camp that thinks that those of us who are outspoken in our anti-religion rhetoric, should shut up and let those with a gentler message more amenable to those who are religious, frame the arguments in a way that doesn’t offend or frighten off the moderate religious types.

I’m in the camp that says that we need to have people of all views, expressing said views in any way they feel like. If this offends some people then that might be unfortunate but its not a reason to silence those with strong views. I advocated this position when I was a member of the DebunkCreation mailing list.

Russell Blackford has written a very interesting blog post on this topic. It’s well worth a read.

I Am Legend

| | Uncategorized

I missed the I Am Legend film when it was on release in the UK. One of my work colleagues lent me the Blu-ray version last week. I watched it last night. I watched the alternate ending version then the theatrical release ending. The alternate ending is much better than that shown in theatres. The latter is the proverbial happy ending that was probably used after test screenings. The alternate ending is much more satisfying.

More from The Hot Puppies

| | General

I’ve written about The Hot Puppies before. They’re excellent. They have some new stuff out and a new album forthcoming. The new stuff isn’t on iTMS yet but there are 4 new tracks on their MySpace site. Well worth a listen. I love a lot about their music. The vocals are exquisite. But the good thing is that the rest of the music complements the singing really well. I see they are playing a gig in Cardiff on May 10th. I’ll be in that general area working. I might stay for the Saturday and go see them. Here there are live performing Shoot em in the head –

Change to comment settings

| | General

I’ve changed the settings that govern comments here to remove the requirement for registration before comments can be made. I had the registration set to guard against spam. Several people have told me that they have had trouble registering, or that they don’t like to register on blogs. So from now on people can comment without registering. Comments from new posters will be held in moderation until I approve them. A name and email address (that will not be published) will still need to be entered as per most other sites. 

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