SEB Bulletin January 2007
Science with a sense of humour wins the day
The Bioscience Federation's Science Communication Award 2006 was won by the Naked Scientist, Dr Chris Smith who has revolutionised the way science is broadcast on the radio with a topical mix of new stories and a phone-in line which promotes active engagement with the public. Comments such as 'Is that a microphone in your pocket or are you just pleased to hear me?”, kitchen experiments with people grappling with their oven equipment in one hand whilst holding the phone and talking to Chris with the other is raising the radio ratings in his local area of the South East of England. Not only that, the programme also broadcasts to the ex-pats in the Costa del Sol and parts of Australia. The Naked Scientist has also been uploading 'podcasts' of their shows and are being downloaded more times than even the more popular science shows on Radio 4, apparently by people who like to listen to it on their way to work or, whilst taking their kids to school. Another revolutionary innovation was recently set up by Chris when he approached Nature to provide an audio supplement to their magazine in order to help schools students, the public and non-specialist scientists understand their more complex research papers. All these achievements can be accessed on their website http://www.thenakedscientists.com/ and, if that weren't enough, you can also see what Chris gets up to in his 'day job' as a clinical lecturer in Virology at Cambridge University.
Sponsored by Pfizer, the award recognises excellence in Science Communication. The runner-up was Professor David Goulson in recognition of his communication work surrounding the launch of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. The Biosciences Federation would like to thank all the other excellent nominations for the award this year.