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Stand Up and Be Counted

Posted on 29 January 2015 by Athene Donald

There are times in one’s life when it is important to stand up and be counted. This is a view expressed neatly in a recent blogpost by Hilda Bastian about 7 Tips for Women at Science Conferences  with her sub-heading ‘Holding back for yourself is fine – but solidarity for others is non-negotiable.‘ In other words, if you don’ Continue reading →

Posted in criticism, Hilda Bastian, Science Culture, support, Thesis Whisperer | Leave a comment

Moved to poetry by….OMICS

Posted on 24 January 2015 by Steve Caplan

Yes, the unfunny joke of a company called OMICS has moved me. Debating between tears and poetry, I opted for the latter, writing my “Epic Omics Limmerick,” provoked by the email pasted below.

Here is my verse:

There once was a dodgy company named Omics

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Posted in BS, fraud, humor, limmerick, OMICS, Open Access, poetry, Research, science, science journals, Science research, sucker born every minute | Leave a comment

Am I a Lady?

Posted on 22 January 2015 by Athene Donald

I am of a generation that was brought up with (though most certainly not to laugh at) the joke ‘That’s no lady, that’s my wife’. Classist overtones? Undoubtedly, as well as inherent sexism: the word ‘lady’ to me is not one with which I want to be associated. Let us leave aside the question of whether a knightR Continue reading →

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Conspiracy deathmatch

Posted on 19 January 2015 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I realized recently that, in the best tradition of fighting fire with fire, it’s possible to counter some conspiracy theories by invoking other conspiracy theories. The best two examples I’ve come up with so far are as follows:

  • The anti-vaccination movement is just an Illuminati plot to thin the ranks of the masses via the resurgence o Continue reading →
Posted in Medicine, Pseudoscience, quacks, science, Silliness, technology | Leave a comment

Let’s just call it “ideology”

Posted on 19 January 2015 by Steve Caplan

The recent murderous terror attacks in Paris at the weekly “Charlie Hebdo” magazine office and the Kosher supermarket — as well as the policewoman who was killed in the street — probably elicited the same emotions in me that they did for many people around the globe. Horror, sadness, and varying forms of anger. While the hor Continue reading →

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Open access and the humanities

Posted on 18 January 2015 by Stephen

At the end of 2013 and 2014 I wrote blog posts on Occam’s Corner (over at the Guardian) to list and briefly review the books I read in each of those years. I am trying to develop this practice into a good habit because it spurs me to read; and I hope it might also serve to flag up titles of interest to others. I am planning to do the same thing aga Continue reading →

Posted in book review, martin paul eve, Open Access | Leave a comment

Science Policy and Impact: Lessons from History

Posted on 16 January 2015 by Athene Donald

REF, the Science and Innovation Strategy document (S+I) and the Nurse Review of the Research Councils  collectively mean that the UK HE world of science is stuffed full of current policy issues that matter to us all – never mind the concentration of minds arising from an upcoming election followed by a Comprehensive Spending Review of unknown Continue reading →

Posted in Eight great technologies, History of Science, Royal Society, Science and Innovation strategy, Science Funding, Science policy | Leave a comment

“To generalize is to be an idiot” (William Blake)

Posted on 11 January 2015 by Sylvia McLain

In the 1990s, there was a serial bomber in the USA named Eric Rudolph. Rudolph bombed abortion clinics, gay bars and even the 1996 summer Olympics. To escape the law, Rudolph took to the woods of North Carolina where he escaped capture for years, allegedly aided by his nearby family. He was even, rather depressingly, somewhat of a local hero in Continue reading →

Posted in Charlie Hebdo, freedom of speech | Leave a comment

MOOC review of Think Again: How to Reason and Argue

Posted on 11 January 2015 by Erika Cule

The Coursera course Think Again: How to Reason and Argue started again on Monday – there’s still time to sign up! I took the course in the second half of 2014, making me a Think Again alumnus. If you are looking to learn something new this new year, then Think Again could be the course for you. Read on for a review.

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Posted in Argue, book reviews, Coursera, MOOC, Reason | Leave a comment

We’ve Come a Long Way But…

Posted on 11 January 2015 by Athene Donald

When it comes to women in science, the Athena Swan ‘brand’ is well established. By now, universities up and down the country are signed up to the Athena Swan Charter and many departments are seriously engaged with the process. Nevertheless there are still many that are not, and even of those that apparently are there is the danger that Continue reading →

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In which we make a splash: Fiction Lab in the papers

Posted on 9 January 2015 by Jennifer Rohn

A perplexing start this morning: a text from the lovely Sarah Main, director of CaSE, congratulating me on a mention in London’s Metro newspaper and wishing me “luck on Monday”.

Cue breaking out into a cold sweat as, seeing nothing unusual on my diary, I am suddenly terrified that I’ve forgotten something very important. Whi Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Stereotypes | Leave a comment

On meetings

Posted on 5 January 2015 by rpg

Six years ago I found to relatively easy to tell my mother what I did for a living, if not exactly explain it. I could wibble on about actin polymerization and spaghetti, or messenger RNA export, or why I’d spent a year of my life trying to repeat an experiment that our collaborators had published only to discover that the buggers had effecti Continue reading →

Posted in meetings, pharma, work | Leave a comment

In which a tale of antibiotics takes form

Posted on 4 January 2015 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s a grey afternoon outside the study window. This morning a thick fog erased the usual twinkling lights of Tilbury Docks along the estuary, with seagoing vessels blowing their horns in long, sonorous warnings. A fitting soundtrack, as tomorrow spells the demise of a fortnight’s holiday, during which disbelief was well and truly suspe Continue reading →

Posted in Science talking, staring into the abyss | Leave a comment

Going against the grain—or rather corn

Posted on 3 January 2015 by Steve Caplan

For better or for worse, US College athletics are an integral part of US society. However, maintaining a spirit of good sportsmanship should be an essential part of any athletic program.

College sports have a huge impact on US universities; for example, the sports network ESPN published that in 2008, the #1 ranked US college football team, the Alab Continue reading →

Posted in academia, academics, coach, college sports, Cornhuskers, education, Football, Nebraska, profane language, sports, Universities | Leave a comment

Resolving Your Way out of a Rut

Posted on 3 January 2015 by Athene Donald

I wonder how many of my readers have already broken their New Year’s resolutions, assuming they even bothered to dream them up in the first place. Daily visits to the gym and a diet excluding chocolate sound all very well on December 31st, but then look less enticing on January 1st. If you want to know what my resolutions are, I have put them Continue reading →

Posted in breathing space, careers, new year resolutions, Science Culture | Leave a comment