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| Some dogs I met during an AMRRIC program in Central Australia. The early-bird registration deadline for the AMRRIC conference has been extended til August 18 (see below). |
How was your weekend? I
joined a fellow ethics-academic for a night out watching a play all about
neuroscience and ethics. The Effect, currentlyshowing at the Sydney Theatre Company, isn’t about veterinary topics but it is
related in the sense that it tackles some big questions about science, research
and knowledge.
Connie, a psychology
student, and Tristan, a serial drug-trial participant, enrol in a trial for a
new antidepressant. They’re isolated from the real world and develop feelings
for each other – but the feelings grow as the dosages escalate, raising some
big questions: are these feelings real? What is real infatuation/love/lust
anyway? Does it matter if it is real or not?
Meanwhile the
psychiatrists in charge face their own ethical questions. Is the study really
blinded? Should it be? What is a reasonable risk to expose the subjects to? Is
there a difference between risks in a controlled environment versus in real
life? What are the consequences of pharmaceutical intervention for conditions
of the mind and can these be justified? And is the history of medicine really
just a history of placebos?
It may have been observational
bias but my impression was that the audience were almost entirely made up of
psychiatrists and doctors.
The play runs until August 16 so you don’t have long
to catch it, but you can read a review here and another here. It is the kind of play that makes you think long and hard about some huge ethical issues.
We would love to see the
playwright Lucy Prebble tackle the issue of anthropomorphism in science.
Dog health in indigenous communities – discount rate for conference
Veterinarians, veterinary
students, nurses, environmental health workers, infectious disease physicians
and researchers and anyone with an interest in dog health in indigenous
communities may be interested in the AMRRIC 10th anniversaryconference.
The early-bird
registration rate has been extended until August 18.
This three-day conference
in Darwin, from September 23-25, will cover a range of really important topics
include:
- Animal health and welfare in remote/developing community contexts
- Zoonoses
- Rabies
- School and community education and awareness
- Cultural awareness
- Dog behaviour
- Community social aspects of animal ownership
- Environmental health
- The link between interpersonal violence and violence towards animals
- Invasive animals, National Parks and indigenous communities
To register or find out more, click here.
Free online course on Forensic Science
I knew that doing a MOOC
on Coursera would suck me in. I found the Animal Welfare and Behaviour Course
quite interesting, and just on the eve of completion those clever Coursera
people sent an email recommending other recommended courses, including this
introduction to forensic science.
Tempting as it is, we’ve
committed to Pauleen Bennett’s course on Animal Welfare, but if you have the
time and interest in forensic science sign up here.
SAT Giveaway - open til August 21
Finally, if you’ve not
heard, SAT is running its second awesome giveaway. To find out how to enter,
click here.
