science communication studies

Anastasia Filippoupoliti at the Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (afilipp@gmail.com) and Graeme Farnell at MuseumsEtc, UK (graeme@museumsetc.com) are soliciting papers for a forthcoming book that will explore: the processes involved in developing new science exhibitions in and for museums the issues involved in transforming scientific ideas or events into exhibitions the challenges faced by museums […]

While we’re at it, here is another interesting conference coming up. (See here or here for recent posts about interesting conferences.) The Danish research center DREAM (Danish Research Centre on Education and Advanced Media Materials) have organized a one-day conference at Roskilde University, September 22nd 2009. At the conference there will be presentations about a.o. […]

Make a note in your 2010 calendar already — for the 15th Congress of the European Association of Museums of the History of Medical Sciences (EAMHMS), which will be held here at Medical Museion in Copenhagen, 17-19 September 2010. The congress theme revolves around the question: How can medical history museums contribute to the popular engagement in contemporary medicine and […]

Over and over again I’ve praised Derek Lowe’s blog ‘In the Pipeline’ (see for example here). Derek delivers almost daily insights into the world of drug research, from chemical lab work routines to Big Pharma management and economics. Yesterday’s post (‘A cure for the common cold …’) is a fine comment on the problematic quality of pharma communication on the mass media. I quote […]

I’ve always been skeptical of claims to revolutions in science and technology. Thomas Kuhn actually made a great disservice to historical awareness among scientists and to science communication with his 1962 bestseller The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Every now and then a new finding is described as a ‘revolution’ in science, technology or medicine — despite the fact […]

Seems like museum 2.0 has already come of age. Because the Smithsonian Institution has just hosted a two-day conference titled “Smithsonian 2.0: A Gathering to Re-Imagine the Smithsonian in the Digital Age”. A stellar group of keynote speakers and experts from the web and digital worlds met with a group of Smithsonian staff on 23-24 January to take a closer look at the […]

Our colleagues at the Norwegian Technical Museum in Oslo are opening a new exhibition, Kroppen/Usynlig Verden (The Body/Invisible World) next Friday. Looks like it’s worth a travel! We may be back with a review (or if someone else writes a review, let us know).

Andy Miah in the School of Media, Language and Music at the University of the West of Scotland is announcing two PhD studentships of great interest for biomedical museum and communication studies (unfortunately with a very tight deadline, viz. 12 January!) 1) Prospects of immortality: public engagement with biogerontology and life/health span expansion: Due to its broad […]

Assume you have submitted a paper for the Bulletin of the History of Medicine or Museums & Society or some other fine humanities journal. Then imagine the editors write back to you saying that the anonymous reviewers just loved it and that the journal will accept it for publication in a forthcoming issue — on the condition that you also submit a Wikipedia page that […]

When I was a kid I loved to play board games of all kinds (and hated to lose). But I don’t think I ever encountered any medical games. Turns out there are quite a few of them, however, some of which are probably best described as educational games. Operation (1965) is a battery-operated game for kids from age 6 […]

Here’s an interesting opportunity for bloggers specializing in medical and health communication. The NIH Office of Medical Applications of Research is organizing a three-day course on “Medicine in the Media: The Challenge of Reporting on Medical Research” in Bethesda next June — free registration, meals and lodging are provided (but you have to pay for your travel). There are only 50 spots and competition […]

As I wrote last week, Deutsches Museum in Munich is an impressive colossus which also has its innovative moments. I’m thinking particularly of the ‘Gläsernes Forscherlabor’, a small open nanotechnology research lab in the public area where ‘real’ nanotechnology researchers are doing their daily job. The laboratory was initiated last year by the museum’s director general, Wolfgang M. Heckl, […]