Stephen Curry: scientist who uses X-rays to look at the atoms of protein molecules. Wonders about the place of science in the world. Works at Imperial College but views expressed here are his own.
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Category Archives: Science
An Open Letter on Open Access to UK Research Councils
Short Version Please read the Wellcome Trust’s policy on open access. And then adopt it. Thank you. Long Version Please read the Wellcome Trust’s policy on open access. It’s short so I’ve pasted it below. The policy states (with … Continue reading
Posted in Open Access, Science, Scientific Life
Tagged Academic publishing, BBSRC, elsevier, open access, RCUK, Wellcome Trust
60 Comments
Guest post: Society Journals and the Research Works Act
My previous post on Elsevier and the Research Works Act (RWA) stimulated a conversation on Twitter with Benoit Bruneau about the possible impact on the journals of scientific societies of moves to open access publishing. This is an aspect of … Continue reading
Posted in Open Access, Science, Scientific Life
Tagged Benoit Bruneau, elsevier, open access, Research Works Act, RWA, Scientific Societies
27 Comments
Why I chose to decline an invitation to review by Elsevier
All relationships suffer tensions from time to time, especially those based on love-hate. Scientists have a complex relationship with their publishers — they love to get published in high-impact journals (most of which are run by major publishing companies) but … Continue reading
Posted in Open Access, Science, Scientific Life
Tagged elsevier, love-hate, open access, science publishing
58 Comments
More on Willetts’ Speech
In the days following Willetts’ big science policy speech, there had been a piece in Nature by Daniel Sarewitz and letters from disgruntled physical scientists to the EPSRC that in different ways highlighted the role of scientists in directing research funding. I was … Continue reading
Moving Molecules
Regular readers will know that molecules are my thing, that my scientific endeavours are devoted to revealing the intricate architecture of proteins — the molecular machines that sustain life. They will also know that I have at times struggled with the … Continue reading
Posted in Protein Crystallography, Science
Tagged Animation, Drew Berry, molecules, Protein Crystallography
13 Comments
From the pedestal – take 3
Earlier this week I had an interesting email from Jesse Shore, President of Australian Science Communicators, about a blog post I wrote back in 2010. Jesse has kindly agreed to let me post our brief correspondence so I’ll let him … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Science, Scientific Life
Tagged peer review, science communication
3 Comments
The Case for Support
If you are a scientist and you want some money to spend on research, as part of the grant application you have to write a case for support. It has to be good. You need to describe why the problem … Continue reading
Work and Energy
It has been a quiet week in lab woebegone*. Though we have been working to pack up everything for a move across campus in mid-January, Christmas has intervened to scatter us to our homes, where traditionally we have the time … Continue reading
Jam Yesterday
On a grey day back in October I made my way along Albemarle Street to the Royal Institution for the filming of DemoJam, a lively and light-hearted program of science produced by Jonathan Sanderson and the rest of the gang … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Protein Crystallography, Science
Tagged RI Channel, Royal Institution, Video
12 Comments
First Anniversary
A year ago today Occam’s Typewriter made its debut on the blogosphere and I published my first post at the new home of Reciprocal Space. It’s been a good twelve months. OT has established itself as a home thoughtful and … Continue reading
Real and False Economy
Last week I went to Germany to talk to a pharmaceutical company about my work on the blood protein, human serum albumin. It set me thinking. But first I need to tell you about albumin. Albumin is a surprisingly abundant … Continue reading
Posted in Protein Crystallography, Science, Scientific Life
Tagged impact, Science Policy
18 Comments
Incoming
I gave a talk a couple of weeks ago at a Biochemical Society meeting on the subject of the Research Excellence Framework, the process that will assess UK academic research quality for the purpose of determining how a large tranche … Continue reading
