ResponsibleSci blog

Science and technology develop with astonishing speed raising constant questions about their responsible practice. Our Responsible Science blog is where we tackle these issues as they arise. Please get in touch if there is something happening on our agenda that you think we should know about or would like to suggest an article.

Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, looks at how the fossil fuel and arms industries finance professional engineering and science organisations - and the many issues this raises - in this summary of the new report, Irresponsible Science?

6 October 2019

It can seem odd that a refusal to act is a good way to motivate action, writes Andrew Simms, SGR. But striking has been a tool of change for most of recorded history and for good reasons.

17 September 2019

Dr Philip Webber, Scientists for Global Responsibility, considers the recent demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and recalls the dangerous decade before it was originally agreed.

29 August 2019

As the world marks the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, argues that human space-flight is highly polluting, very expensive and has contributed to international arms races.

20 July 2019

Welcome to the new online home for Scientists for Global Responsibility, and announcing the 2019 Responsible Science conference asking: should scientists walk the talk on climate breakdown?

28 May 2019

Just when it looked like UK coal might be phased out, a company in Cumbria is trying to give it a long-term future – undermining urgent efforts to tackle climate disruption. Dr Stuart Parkinson, SGR, argues for a halt to the proposed project.

17 March 2019

There is no shortage of evidence that humanity is in a very serious place environmentally. But is there evidence for optimism? Paul Allen, Zero Carbon Britain, says yes.

12 September 2018

Dr Alan Cottey gives a brief account of Martin Ryle's intense and complex relations with war and peace. This article is part of the marking of the centenary of Sir Martin Ryle (1918 - 1984).

15 August 2018

With nuclear issues leading the global political agenda, in an exclusive piece for the Responsible Science blog, based on his new book Fallout: A Journey Through the Nuclear Age, From the Atom Bomb to Radioactive Waste, science writer Fred Pearce exposes the toxic and security risks of the UK's growing 'Mt Plutonium' - 130 tons and rising of plutonium dioxide left behind by an energy technology that never took-off and is no longer wanted.

13 June 2018

In the first of two articles marking the centenary of former Astronomer Royal, Martin Ryle (1918–1984), Dr Alan Cottey describes how, early on, he saw the flaws in nuclear and fossil fuel energy and how renewables were the answer.

8 May 2018