CONFERENCE The chemical elements culturally reconsidered, 9 - 11 June 2010
Which element did Ruskin say leaves an 'ochreous stain'? Which became known as 'inheritance powder'? Which element helped Vladimir Nabokov catch moths and then colour his prose? And which major poet smashed the desk of Dmitrii Mendeleev, and why did he do it? Hugh will answer these and other questions addressed in his forthcoming book Periodic Tales, a cultural companion that shows how the elements are woven through our art, literature and lives.
Hugh will be speaking at the conference 'Not Strictly Inorganic Chemistry', a major forum for those who believe that chemistry is cultural. It takes place in Prullans de Cerdanya in the Pyrenees, 9–11 June 2010.
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EXHIBITION Identity: Eight Rooms, Nine Lives until 6 April 2010
‘Identity’ opened at the Wellcome Collection, London, in November and runs until 6 April 2010. The eight rooms are named after individual figureheads who serve to introduce a wide variety of questions about personal identity. Thus, Samuel Pepys opens a discussion of whether the diary can ever really offer an honest record of the self. Other diaries include those of Tony Benn, amnesia sufferer Clive Wearing, imprisoned suffagettes, and the dubious confessionals of Big Brother. Other figureheads include gender transition pioneer April Ashley, self-portraitist Claude Cahun, and the actor Fiona Shaw.
PANICOLOGY ALERT: 21 July 2008 – The meaning of 'inevitable'
The Lords Intergovernmental Organisations Committee has reported that a global flu pandemic is 'inevitable', provoking panic headlines.
Let's just stop and consider what 'inevitable' means. It means not avoidable. So, I think we'd agree it is inevitable that tomorrow is Tuesday. It is inevitable that the sun will rise on that day, or nearly so – unless the planet was wiped out overnight by an asteroid.
But is it 'inevitable', as the Lords Committee believes, that there will be a pandemic? read more
PANICOLOGY ALERT: 10 June 2008 – Is everything running out?
Just now, it seems as if everything we need or want is running out. Is it really back to the turnip and life in caves? The Panicologist thinks not.
To see what’s really happening to oil, grain, fish, metals, water and more, read on. It’s not as bad as the papers are telling you. read more
PANICOLOGY ALERT: 4 June 2008 - BSE for all, with a side order of rickets
It’s a worrying time for mothers-to-be, if two Daily Telegraph headlines so far this week are to be believed.
Story 1: Infants are at risk of rickets if their mothers are deficient in vitamin D, according to one reported study from the Boston Children’s Hospital. One reason they are deficient in vitamin D is because they are not getting enough sun, which in some cases is because they are making excessive (or obsessive) use of sunscreens, because of a fear of skin cancer.
Story 2: Chlorine in swimming pools absorbed by pregnant women is said to be (yet another) cause of birth defects. The chlorine is there of course to kill bacteria that would otherwise be spreading trivial things like typhoid and dysentery.
Spot the similarity? In both cases, the fresh anxiety arises from a countermeasure against a previous, rather greater worry. This is increasingly typical read more
