Rethinking thinking about figures

by Daryl Ilbury

Statistics influence opinion. They can also be the cornerstones of crucial decision-making. Whether statistics guide or mislead, clarify or obfuscate, depends on how they’re communicated. The accuracy of the message depends on how they’re interpreted, and inadvertent misinterpretation can have unfortunate outcomes. And volume doesn’t equate to impact – reams of statistics generated in quantitative research can seem impressive, but if you dig deeper, what they’re saying might not be good evidence.

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UNBSSI – planting the seeds of space exploration

by Daryl Ilbury

There are two indisputable yet oft-forgotten facts about space exploration: space belongs to no one, and you don’t need to enter space to study its immense wondrousness. For centuries, cultures across the world have stared up at the night sky and wondered what lies among the stars. Exploring space needs a keen eye, an inquiring mind, a basic understanding of any of the space sciences, and access to some of the troves of data pouring in from space every day. Knowing this, one organisation within the United Nations is quietly and resolutely expanding the frontiers to space exploration by making education, teaching, and research a key part of its focus. In the process, it has bridged the perceptual and infrastructural barriers around reaching out to space and highlighted the benefits of networking and sharing knowledge.

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The success of simple metaphors in communicating brain science

by Daryl Ilbury

The Alberta Family Wellness Initiative, supported by the Calgary-based Palix Foundation, has succeeded in achieving individual, organisational, and systems level change regarding brain development, epigenetics, mental health, and addiction. The Brain Story, which uses simple metaphors to communicate complex brain science, has proven an effective tool to achieve this change and move towards building more resilient individuals and communities.

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