Newsletter articles

SGR Newsletters are published roughly twice a year. The main articles are listed below. For details of the current issue and back issues, See our Newsletter page

Flights from sense: how space tourism could alter the climate (February 2016)

Philip Chapman investigates the potential environmental impacts should space tourism recover from its recent setbacks and become a thriving global industry.

23 February 2016

Dallam School: Science 4 Society discussion

Science4Society Week: SGR's new education project

Dr Jan Maskell, SGR, describes the activities for young people which our organisation undertook as part of its first Science4Society Week in 2015 - and looks at what is planned for March 2016.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.44; advance online publication: 19 January 2016

Trident missile

Trident, Deterrence and UK Security

Dr Philip Webber, SGR, summarises the flaws in the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence for the UK.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.44; advance online publication: 14 January 2016

Too Close for Comfort: Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy

Sasan Aghlani, Chatham House, outlines just how close the world has come to the inadvertent use of nuclear weapons in the last 60 years – and suggests some immediate measures to reduce the risks.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43; online publication: 3 April 2015
 

UK household energy policy: another fine mess

Dr Philip Webber, SGR, describes the recent string of failures in the government’s home energy efficiency programmes and what needs to be done about them.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43; online publication: 19 March 2015
 

Shale gas and fracking: examining the evidence (Feb/Mar 2015)

Gwen Harrison MSc and Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, summarise SGR's recent briefing which finds numerous causes for concern regarding the planned extraction of shale gas in the UK.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43; online publication 3 March 2015.

 

Image © M Torres - destroyed tank in Iraq

Challenging the mindset of war

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, critically assesses new UK and Western military initiatives, and how engineers and scientists can be involved in challenging the cycle of violence.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43; online publication: 27 February 2015
 

Scientific Publication in Peril: the Séralini Affair

Dr Eva Novotny discusses the controversy surrounding an academic paper showing health problems in a feeding trial of a GM crop – and what it says about corporate influence in this field.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43 (advance publication), 24 October 2014

Updates added: 26 February 2015; 9 July 2018

 

CapGlobalCarbon: a global response to a global problem

John Jopling, Foundation for the Economics of Sustainability, argues that a radical addition is needed to the international system for curbing carbon emissions.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43 (advance publication), 26 November 2014
 

The struggle to ban chemical weaponry: lessons from World War I to the present

On the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, Prof Peter Nicholls, University of Essex, examines the development and use of chemical weapons from that period to the modern day, highlighting some of the ethical debates involving scientists and policy-makers.

Article from SGR Newsletter no.43 (advance publication), 28 July 2014