The Science Museum in London is a national shrine to human ingenuity. Its existence is a testament to the value that our society places on inquiry and innovation, its worth paradoxically underscored by the fact that, even in these impecuious times, entry is still free. The museum sits grandly on Exhibition Road, just around the corner from my laboratory at Imperial College.

I wasn’t going to do a review of the year’s blogposts but, on the off-chance that the recent move to the shiny new site at Occam’s Typewriter has attracted some new readers, I thought I would provide a brief guide to my personal favorites of 2010.

I was only able to attend the second day of Science Online London 2010 but was glad to be able to hear Dr Evan Harris’s keynote talk on “Turning online science into real world policy change” and the follow-up break-out session on “The Sci Vote Movement”. Any gathering of the blognoscenti runs the risk of descending into navel-gazing, so it was good to be reminded that the point of much of our online activity as bloggers or scientists

I wanted to write something in time for World Homeopathy Awareness Week since homeopathy is such an amazing phenomenon. But though the promotional week is now over, I’m sure you can remember it. You will have memories of some of the things that were written and said. Memories are so important for human beings. They enrich the present and allow us to navigate from the past into the future.

This morning I attended a my first ever publicity stunt. The 10 ²³ overdose event, initiated by the Merseyside Skeptics, was held in cities around the UK and the rest of the world. Our particular group assembled in the lightly frosted but thoroughly freezing Red Lion Square in Holborn, London. I was more than happy to hand over £5 for the 10 ²³ t-shirt—glad of the extra layer of clothing!

Your royal Highness, members of the Academy, esteemed colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great and singular honour for me to accept the Nobel prizes for physics, chemistry and medicine.

I have been struggling recently to find ways to rehash my post on scientific authority without causing NPG any further distress. This evening, on the train journey home, I think I finally found a way because I read one of the most remarkable scientific papers I have ever come across. The paper, by Keating et al. , brings us directly back to the ongoing saga of the British Chiropractic Association’s libel suit against Simon Singh.

I have just come home from a gathering of Skeptics in the Pub in the Penderels Oak in Holborn and I am excited and dismayed. Simon Singh – bloodied but unbowed This was a special meeting to discuss developments in the court case being brought by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) against the popular science author, Simon Singh.