Andy Giger

Author's details

Name: Andy Giger
Date registered: 14 February 2011

Biography

Andy is looking after Research & Web Outreach at the Science Centre Singapore, among many other things. He is a Neuroscientist who started out studying how Tunisian desert ants navigate, then tamed honey bees to find out more about their visual system, and moved on to counting cockroaches, feeding termites and attracting mosquitoes. Now he deals more with people, and enjoys being in touch with science on a much broader basis.

Latest posts

  1. Convoluted insights — 5 January 2012
  2. Our latest invention — 28 December 2011
  3. The other Science Centre Singapore — 16 December 2011
  4. The broken wing — 12 December 2011
  5. Design your own dinosaur — 6 December 2011

Most commented posts

  1. Bovine Dinosaurs? — 4 comments
  2. The broken wing — 3 comments
  3. How not to get eaten by a shark — 2 comments
  4. What’s so special about 3D? — 1 comment
  5. Experiments in 3D — 1 comment
Share

Author's posts listings

Jan
05

Convoluted insights

by Andy Giger

400 million years ago the Himalayas were at the bottom of an ocean. How do I know? Well, that ocean was home to tiny marine creatures. When those died, they became part of the sediment. Then, as the Indian and Asian tectonic plates collided, the sea floor was thrust up, forming what we today know… Continue reading »

Tags: , ,

Leave comment

Dec
28

Our latest invention

by Andy Giger

We are all used to big billboards, colourful advertising posters and interesting bus decorations drawing our attention to loads of products that we don’t really need but really should buy. Advertising seems to be all about making us notice things that we would normally ignore. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and as… Continue reading »

Tags: , , ,

Leave comment

Dec
16

The other Science Centre Singapore

by Andy Giger

Here’s a scene from the Science Centre Singapore: If you have visited SCS, you probably remember it as a busy, noisy place full of excitement and action. But the rubber plantation in this video is also part of our offering. And while it’s a lot more tranquil than our typical exhibits, there’s lots of action… Continue reading »

Tags: , ,

Leave comment

Dec
12

The broken wing

by Andy Giger

I am a big fan of anything that creeps or crawls. I spent a few years training and watching ants and honey bees, so obviously I like those. But I also enjoy picking up beetles, or play with spiders. When a fly or moth is trapped behind a window, I will show them the way… Continue reading »

Tags: , ,

3 comments

Dec
06

Design your own dinosaur

by Andy Giger

In the latest issue of the Sunday Times, there was a one-page feature about Twinky, Apollo and Prince, the three dinosaur skeletons destined for the new Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in Singapore (“Special Report: Singapore’s dinosaurs; Get ready for Twinky & friends”, 4 Dec 2011). Describing how the dinosaur bones are assembled, the… Continue reading »

Tags: , ,

Leave comment

Nov
26

Jurassic mystery: prehistoric coloured light

by Andy Giger

Ever since the launch of the Dinosaurs-Live! exhibition I have been trying to think of possible ways nature could produce coloured light. Standing in front of some of the realistic animatronic dinosaurs, I had attempted to imagine standing in front of the real thing, but I got confused by the lighting. How could the real dinosaurs,… Continue reading »

Tags: , , ,

Leave comment

Nov
22

The fly on the wall

by Andy Giger

The Science Centre offers some great opportunities to get in touch with nature. There are the obvious ones, like our monthly Nature Discovery Trails, or a visit to the Ecogarden. Then there are the more subtle ones, like watching the chicks hatch in the Discovery Zone. But the most memorable encounters with wildlife are the… Continue reading »

Tags: , , ,

Leave comment

Oct
26

Bovine Dinosaurs?

by Andy Giger

Every time I walk past the Science Centre’s loading bay these days, I am reminded of my childhood in Switzerland. That’s because the sounds I hear are very similar to those you hear when walking past a cow shed full of Swiss Browns waiting to be milked. We don’t keep cows in our loading bay,… Continue reading »

Tags: , , , ,

4 comments

Oct
21

The suspension of gravity

by Andy Giger

At the launch of the Dinosaurs Life! exhibition last night, I made the aquaintance of the amazing Maiasaura. This was a 9m long, 2.5m tall plant eating dinosaur with a toothless beak, cheek pouches, a small crest in front of the eyes and, aparently, a surprising ability to defy gravity! The exhibition features lots of… Continue reading »

Tags: , , ,

Leave comment

Aug
16

Into the Woods

by Andy Giger

Did you know that 2011 is the UN International Year of Forests? There are so many years of this and that these days, you would be forgiven to have missed this one. But there are good reasons the UN is highlighting the importance of forests; Millions of people depend directly on forests for their livelihood,… Continue reading »

Tags: , , , ,

Leave comment

Older posts «