Geeks r us: UCL scientists join movement for libel reform

UCL scientists Dr Lewis Dartnell and Dr Petra Boynton explain their motivation for posing for Geek Calendar, a project in aid of libel reform that launches this week. "The Geek Calendar is a fantastic venture started by three expert science communicators: Dr Alice Bell (Imperial College London), Mun-Keat Looi and Louise Crane (Wellcome Trust). The motive is to help raise money for Libel Reform, and to change the laws surrounding the use of libel actions in this country. "There have been a number of high-profile cases recently where large organisations have attempted to use the libel laws to intimidate scientists into silence when they have spoken out about evidence-based policy or otherwise questioned the scientific foundation of particular practices - most notably Simon Singh, who was threatened with action by the British Chiropractic Association for statements he made in a newspaper article about the evidence behind the supposed medical benefits of chiropractic treatments. "So the Geek Calendar was born to support this campaign, illustrated with quirky photographs of scientists and other geeks, and I felt exceedingly flattered to havebeen invited to take part in this project alongside celebrity geeks like Petra, as well as Simon Singh, Ben Goldacre, Brian Cox, and Jonathan Ross. "The idea for the calendar is to capture geeks in their native habitat, so the plan for my shoot was to go for an other-worldly feel. My research is in astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth.