Tag Archives: apocalypse

Ecology of a Forest God

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Image Credit: The Ritual, 2017

In our discussion of 2017’s The Ritual, we stumble through a large confusing forest riddled with large spinous processes and patches of burnt skin. Should you hang a corpse up in your front garden? Probably not. Not good for the soil.

00:28 – SciComm & the Insect Apolcalypse
07:16 – The Norse Gods in Cinema
15:04 – Ecology of the Forest God
43:43 – The Forest God v. Beowulf

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Carsten Rahbek: Communicating Science Through the Media

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Image Credit: Smorazanm, CC0 1.0, Image Cropped

The last six months have seen several influential scientific papers been taken out of context and sprayed across myriad forms of media. From the Insect Apocalypse to claims of 60% of earth’s wildlife dying in the last 45 years, it seems like journalists have little regard for scientific nuance. But is it right to blame the media for these distortions, or do scientists themselves need a better understanding of how the media works?

Professor Carsten Rahbek has appeared in over 1000 scientific articles, including outlets like The Washington Post and the Times, and has appeared often on local and international radio and television programs. I sat down with Carsten during his recent visit to the CBD to ask him about science’s history with the media, and whether the scientific community needs to work to understand the media a little better.

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Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson: Rise of the Planet of the Insects

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Anne-Sverdrup-Thygeson has made it her life's mission to fascinate the world - with insects

Anne-Sverdrup-Thygeson has made it her life’s mission to fascinate the world – with insects (Image Credit: Håkon Sparre, CC BY 2.0, Image Cropped)

The Internet has been set abuzz (pun intended) lately by rumours of the Insect Apocalypse. And whilst the concept itself is depressing, it’s worth smiling at the fact that the public has finally started to take an interest in the ecological plight of a group of animals until recently ignored whenever possible. After all, insects include, wasps, cockroaches, bees and myriad other ‘nasties’.

Professor Anne Sverdrup-Thygeson is one academic/author who has made it her life’s mission to turn people around on insects, which includes her recent Brage Prize nominated book “Terra Insecta”. Sam Perrin and I sat down at the recent Norwegian Ecological Society Conference to ask Anne about why people have an aversion to creepy crawlies, how scientific communication helps in her mission, and whether or not the planet could survive the eradication of the mosquito.

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