Tim Noakes-the joke? Or just an unfortunate rhyming name?

Tim Noakes is getting exactly what he wants. His book is sold out. Does he care that he has critics, including his mentor Lionel Opie? Probably not.

Everyone, bar those who are skinny, is hanging on to another pipe dream where veggies are just another thing swimming in butter. Lets think about it logically shall we? No carbs and no fruit. A fair amount of fat and veg. People lose weight. Do we know why? Can the man who developed this form of the actually ancient diet explain the weight loss? No. His form of comeback is actually that doubting Thomases "need to look around and explain how the low-fat ‘healthy’ diet we are currently promoting, is healthy and is not causing the epidemic of ill-health that began in 1980… three years after this ‘healthy’ diet was first promoted globally”. A nice bit of distraction. Why do we need to explain your diet Tim? Isn't that what scientists do? Aren't you supposed to do that bit?

My view on the diet is really neither here nor there. I mean people will do it because their mommies or their aunties have lost 6 kgs. And that's great. I mostly have 2 issues: 1) people are saying "read his book, he explains EVERYTHING". He explains what he wants you to know people. A cookbook, especially not one for sale, or something with revolution in the title is not a good enough source of information on which to base health decisions. Read his journal articles. Yes, you may be an architect or a bank teller and not get it first time round but really try. Or ask your friendly neighbourhood scientist to explain. Anything worth doing is going to take time.
2) The second issue is how this one scientist has managed to once again bring the whole of science under scrutiny. The people that are against his diet have evidence to back them up. He has evidence that his diet works but cant explain the mechanism. This is science. For every 10 references that you find for this low carb diet I can find 10 that say the opposite. Please know that this is NOT because science is unreliable. The aim of science is to refute each claim that is made. All scientists err on the side of caution. It is not "being mean" or "belittling someone someone". This is the only way science can move forward. Basically its a dogma eat dogma world.

And look, Tim Noakes is about to be a wealthy guy. When skinny people everywhere start dropping dead of  clogged arteries or diabetic people start trying to sue him because their condition didnt disappear, you know where he will be? In the Bahamas. With your money.

Cry the beloved country

This week I received some truly awful news. My inner geek pounded her fists, banged her head against a wall and screamed in futility into a fluffy pillow. South Africa is officially the lowest ranked country for science and maths education and the third lowest for overall education out of those involved in the Global Information Technology Report 2014. So that is 148 out of 148 and 146 out of 148 countries, behind Haiti. Haiti, the country devastated by one of the worse earthquakes in a developing country. Fantastic. I honestly feel like my puppy died. My wonderful scientific puppy. 

The government is the predominant party to blame here, but that's the obvious thing. Out of 148 countries we ranked 119th in the ability of our government to procure technology, 105th in the tertiary education gross enrollment rate and 116th in internet access in schools. But I think I'm more depressed by the apathy of students in this country to maths and science.

If you constantly convince yourself that something is too difficult for you, it will always be impossible. Likewise, if you are a parent and you reinforce the notion that maths is an alien language sent to suck our souls, don't be surprised when your kid fails it. For some particular freaky people, maths is the shiz-niz. Maths is the same in every language and in some ways that is really comforting to some. To be honest I can't remember if someone told me that or if it was a particularly cheesy line from Mean Girls. Probably the latter. 

I never had a philosophical relationship with maths. I, like most scientists, even like the man who invented calculus,view it as a means to an end. Maths was mostly developed to further science and unfortunately almost all of our understanding of the world is based on physics. Unfortunately for me, I don't like physics either but diligently I studied, always looking to the bigger picture. One day I knew I would be able to say to random people, "Hello I am a scientist" while wearing a HAZMAT suit in a biosafety level 3 facility. Which you have to admit, is pretty hardcore and a bit more exciting than "Hello, I'm an accountant, look at my spreadsheets".

Every day I learn something new. Every day I am forging ahead with a new exciting idea. Everyday I fit another piece into the puzzle. And its great, truly the best thing ever. It angers me when people say "Oh wow, you are so clever to be able to do what you do, I could never do that." Well to be honest, first I feel flattered then I try to get them to say I'm pretty too. But the bottom line is that anyone can do it, if from a young age they are given the bug of wonder; the urgency to ask questions and never stop asking them just because your parents want to kill you or because there is something bright and shiny on the TV. I also acknowledge the fact that in developing countries we are dealing with way more than just problems in schools. Our society is very broken; filled with needless violence and cultural clashes but that does not mean that we can accept mediocrity. We can not say that because someone got 30% for science they pass. I mean if you know 30% of chemistry, you may drink H202 instead of its non-lethal common counterpart. We can not accept apathy because, lets face it, the rest of the world is laughing at us. 

The message if you are a teenager is life does not end at 15. If you can't go to the one direction concert because you are studying for a maths test, it won't kill you. Another boy band will come along, probably with the same songs in 20 years time. And do you know what? You could ride into that concert on your very own T-rex. Science-it's real. 

If you are a parent, please stop telling your kids that science is hard. Of course it is. Anything worth doing is hard. So is anything not worth doing, like being a street sweeper or cleaning toilets. Science is fascinating. And there is so much more to find. In the great words of Ellie in Up "Adventure is out there, " don't stop your kids from finding it.