WEB LOG:As far as celebrities in the field of science go Prof Brian "aren't stars gorgeous" Cox is up there but Ed Yong is pretty cool too. He's a rock star science blogger, if you will. This is in no small part due to his smart but funny blog hosted on the National Geographic website.
A recent piece on controversial research that suggested we evolved hands in order to have fist-fights is a good example of his no-nonsense and entertaining writing style.
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Future learn
Last year was the year of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) with the likes of US-based Coursera, Udacity and edX bringing free online education from Stanford, Harvard and MIT to the masses.
Britain’s Open University is catching up and plans to launch Future Learn this year with partners including King’s College, London, University of Leeds and the University of Birmingham. Why not make furthering your education a new year’s resolution?
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12 TED talks
Amy Cuddy’s TED talk on body language was voted the most inspiring by TED employees last year, and no wonder; she talks about the power of good posture, body language and gestures. Some body language is instinctive; both seeing and congenitally blind people tend to tilt their chins upwards and thrust arms upwards in a v when they win at a physical competition. Conversely, when we feel insignificant we hunch to make ourselves small. This year, your success might lie in a handful of inspiring TED videos.
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1878 Diarist
I’ve been known to extol the virtues of Twitter once or twice but this time it’s not about the medium; it’s about the message.
This Twitter account is the digital rendering of a real diarist from 1878.
Set near Liverpool, it is a lovely historical account of farming at the time.
There are some touching entries that give real insight into a time when we had a closer relationship with the land and our animals: “We killed Nelly Cow this weekend. Sold her to our neighbours round here and at Beach Hill, Wigan.”
