View allNet zero is a phrase which has caught the imagination of millions. It gives hope that technology will deliver the…
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With the challenge comes opportunity | Professor Andy Sloan
The targets set for carbon reduction in Paris have now been enshrined in law, with Scotland bound to reach net…
Bringing water to the heart of decision making | Professor Andrew Tyler
Professor Andrew Tyler discusses the role water plays in combatting climate change and its importance in public policy for the RSE Fellows’ Blog.
Thalidomide 60 years on: a tragic story yet to reach a conclusion | Professor Neil Vargesson
Professor Neil Vargesson describes the tragic history of Thalidomide, its present uses, and whether it has a future in medicine for the RSE Fellows’ Blog.
Future-proofing medicine supplies | Professor Clive Badman
Professor Clive Badman OBE details new proposals in the manufacturing process of medicines that could help solve future supply shortages.
A new direction for data in healthcare | Professor Fiona Gilbert
Professor Fiona Gilbert FRSE argues why the public should allow the use of their data within healthcare for the greater good.
Integrating asylum seekers and refugees to build a more inclusive, equal society
Dr Rebekah Widdowfield discusses the issues asylum seekers and refugees face in a post-Brexit Britain with RSE Fellow, Professor Alison Phipps.
Health Coaching: The future of non-communicable disease prevention? | Professor Peter A Mossey
Professor Peter A Mossey FRSE explains how better clinician-patient communication through health coaching can improve disease prevention.
The inequalities of disability during the pandemic
A discussion on the inequalities and future of social care and welfare systems that many people with disabilities rely on in a post-pandemic economy.
Sexual equality and diversity in a modern Scotland
Dr Rebekah Widdowfield and Professors Lynn Abrams and Ian Rivers discuss how to solve gender and LGBTI equality and diversity issues in a modern Scotland.
Health inequalities in Scotland and how the Deep End Project aims to balance them
Scotland compares very poorly with other countries in Europe and even within the UK when it comes to health inequalities, but why?
Using the pandemic to increase public participation in debates and decision-making
Rebekah Widdowfield talks to Talat Yaqoob and Louise Macdonald about improving both public debate and participation by looking at how the public has been informed and engaged during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Curating climate change in Scottish museums | Sam Alberti
Within the vast collections at National Museums Scotland, there are three markedly different objects which provide insight as to the current state of our planet, and what we can do to create change.
Synthetic biology, beginning to deliver on its promise | Professor Paul Hoskisson
Within just a few months, the extraordinary delivery of vaccines for Covid-19 was achieved for a virus virtually unknown just eighteen months earlier. When it was needed, synthetic biology began to deliver on its promise.
A history of emojis 📜 | Professor Jeremy Smith | World Emoji Day 2021
Emojis are now an endemic part of many – most – people’s lives, yet the modern digital emoji has only been around since the late 1990s.
Betelgeuse, the ticking bomb | Professor Alex Murphy
When a massive star reaches its red supergiant phase, we know that the energy available from fusion has almost run out. The sudden pressure drop leads to a massive explosion, so bright that it would rival the moon. We expect this to happen to Betelgeuse in the next 10,000 years.
Hunting killer asteroids and dark matter | Professor Catherine Heymans
With Rubin we will be testing the latest exotic theories to explain the dark universe phenomenon, some of which are so far-reaching that we question even Einstein’s theory of gravity.
Why talking about periods is important | Professor Hilary Critchley
When I started medical school in 1975, periods (menstruation) were taboo and understudied. It is deeply concerning that this still remains the case four decades later – we must break the continuing shame and embarrassment when talking about periods.
What does World Ocean Day mean for Scotland? | Diana Murray CBE
Like other maritime nations, the wellbeing and national character of the people of Scotland have been greatly influenced by its coasts and waters ever since the first humans settled here. Yet, the marine environment remained very enigmatic with very limited knowledge until the late 19th century when marine science arose as a scientific discipline.
It’s not too late to build a world-class STEM education system | Professor David Cole-Hamilton
Curriculum for Excellence began as a promising development and it is still laudable for its forward-thinking and holistic aims. It is not too late for these ambitions to be realised and used to build a world-class STEM education system.
Taking the Scottish Enlightenment to the moon | Professor Charles Cockell
As the Moon has no atmosphere and the Martian atmosphere is poisonous, would anyone living in such places experience freedom when they are so completely dependent on others for their existence?
We can draw similarities and apply this question to living on Scotland’s islands.
A link we must finally break | Professor Nicholas Watson
Many disabled people are faced with hardship and poverty in their everyday lives and, faced with an often unhelpful benefits system, they struggle to get by. It’s time to listen to their needs and act.
World Endangered Species Day 2021: A Scottish perspective | Professor Roger Crofts
The Scottish picture for endangered species is not encouraging. The most recent results published in 2019 using the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List methodology for 6413 species in Scotland showed significant declines.
Caring about inequalities at home | Professor Lynn Abrams
The pandemic has demonstrated that women are expected to do far more around the home than men. Moving forward, the way to address this issue might involve looking at how societies behaved in the past.