Google Insights

Came across this on the internet the other day and thought it was a great way to illustrate, albeit unscientifically, broad patterns in the public consciousness. Google insights allows you to plot the daily number of web searches for a particular search term through time (plotted as a function of total searches, explained here if you're interested). As an example, here's the worldwide results for terms including 'London 2012':


There's a clear peak during summer 2005, when the games were awarded to London, and in summer 2008 during the Beijing Olympics. It's also evident that interest has been growing during 2011 as the games approach. Clearly, worldwide search terms often match up to real events, and give an indication of what's in the public awareness. So, let's apply this to the Arctic.

Starting off simply, here's the record for 'Arctic' under the science category ('all subjects' just returns loads of stuff about the Arctic Monkeys).


There's a couple of things to notice here. Firstly, interest in the Arctic during the past two years seems to have waned, especially when compared to 2004 and 2005. Also, searches increase clearly during the Northern

On thin ice? (another 'light' post)

I've just finished watching the final part of BBC's 'Frozen Planet' series called 'On Thin Ice', which was written and presented by David Attenborough. It's noteworthy for a few reasons. Firstly, the Discovery Channel in the USA only just decided to show this final episode, previously declining to show it to the American audience, likely fearing a backlash from Climate Change Skeptics. Reasons for the initial rejection are unclear, ranging from the patronising but innocent ie. "Who's David Attenborough?" (the series is being narrated by Alec Baldwin on Discovery) to the concerning; it's impact on the upcoming US elections. Of course, climate change campaigners had reacted to the announcement with anger.

This is a QR Code. Scan it with your smartphone to follow the link 

A more interesting response to it, in my view, and the one which has caused the bigger reaction from the makers of the program and the academics involved is..

Frozen Planet, but for how much longer?

Just came across this new series narrated by David Attenborough called 'Frozen Planet'. As the title suggests it is about the polar regions, and includes a final episode called 'on thin ice' written by Attenborough discussing the recent changes to them and the implications for all of us.

Here's the BBC advert, featuring some very dramatic music...

The series starts on Wednesday, but until then you can watch a few clips here.