There are ways non-scientists can assess if the research underlying big claims about cancer cures stack up. Rafael Anderson Gonzales Mendoza/Flickr, CC BY-NC-SA

By Nial Wheate, University of Sydney

Women – and little girls even more so – are desperate to see images and stories that don’t actively oppress them onscreen, says Olivia Murphy. Image: Nadia Mel, CC BY-SA

By Olivia Murphy, University of Sydney

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman gets called a lot of things. He calls himself the greatest cornerback in the NFL (and Seattle fans tend to agree). Sportswriters and some other players call him a loudmouth and a showboater. Fans of other teams call him a lot of things that shouldn’t see print (even on the Internet). One thing you’re not likely to hear anyone on ESPN call Sherman, though, is “scientist.”

And yet, an elite professional athlete like Richard Sherman is, in fact, extremely adept at doing science. Not the white-lab-coat, equations-on-a-blackboard sort of science, but the far older and universal process of observing, making and testing models of the universe.

Published in 1815, Smith’s Geological Map of England and Wales and Part of Scotland was the first geologic map to cover such a large area in such fine detail. William Smith, British Geological Survey

By John Howell, Professor, Chair in Geology and Petroleum Geology at University of Aberdeen.

by Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology at University of Adelaide

I was going to avoid blogging on this topic, but seeing as the story made the Australian with the headline “Chemicals in lipstick and cleaning products linked to early menopause”, I feel I have to weigh in a bit to avoid undue panic and the inevitable dangers of people hurling their lipsticks out the window at great speed. Also, there are issues of science communication and “the dose makes the poison”

Jean Valentine, a bombe operator at Bletchley in the 1940s. Rui Vieira/PA

By Bryony Norburn, University of Buckingham