Monthly Archives: March 2011

Typo-chondria

Posted on 27 March 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I received an interesting request last week from one of my colleagues: “Please provide an update on the [gene name] ozone OCD”. The email in question was sent to me, several other colleagues, and some of our external collaborators. The tell-tale … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, English language, technology | Comments Off on Typo-chondria

Progress at MIT

Posted on 27 March 2011 by Athene Donald

This week saw the publication of a report from MIT entitled: A Report on the Status of Women Faculty in the Schools of Science and Engineering at MIT, 2011. This is a follow up report to an earlier ground-breaking report … Continue reading →

Posted in committee work, Equality, mentor, MIT, positive discrimination, stereotyping, women, Women in science | Comments Off on Progress at MIT

A sense of entitlement

Posted on 26 March 2011 by Steve Caplan

Some years ago when I was looking for a job, I had an interview at a university on the East Coast of the US. One of the search committee members picked me up, and on the way we had a … Continue reading →

Posted in attitude, easy-life, education, exams, feet-up-in-the-air, Research, science, students, where did we go wrong | Comments Off on A sense of entitlement

On health and safety gorn mad

Posted on 26 March 2011 by rpg

The graduate student came running into the lab. “The centrifuge is on fire!” We’re talking quite a while ago now.

Posted in fire extinguishers, health & safety, The stupid, it burns, wank | Comments Off on On health and safety gorn mad

It’s Friday, Friday!

Posted on 26 March 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Yesterday was Thursday! Tomorrow is Saturday! And Sunday comes afterwards!

Posted in current affairs, drunkenness, food glorious food, Music, photos, Politics, Silliness, videos | Comments Off on It’s Friday, Friday!

No surprises likely on UK University fees

Posted on 24 March 2011 by Austin

To the surprise of pretty much nobody, either in the University or outside, my University has become the latest to announce that undergraduate tuition fees will rise to the full £ 9000 a year from 2012. [Formal announcement from the … Continue reading →

Posted in News, Science policy, Universities | Comments Off on No surprises likely on UK University fees

Census

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Henry Gee

Anyone in the U. of K. and not moving quickly enough to avoid it will have to complete a census form, providing what will be a snapshot of who is doing what, with whom, and where, on 27 March 2011. … Continue reading →

Posted in census, Domesticrox, kibitz, klutz, schlmiel, schtup, Silliness, Writing & Reading, yiddish | Comments Off on Census

Lunchtime Linkfest

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A quick round-up of what I’ve been reading and listening to! There’s a great article in Current Biology (my all-time favourite journal) this week, titled “Why should biomedical scientists care about biodiversity?”. The authors argue that working on the standard … Continue reading →

Posted in current affairs, cycling, environment, Music, nature, science, Silliness, technology | Comments Off on Lunchtime Linkfest

Onions and Unconscious Bias

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Athene Donald

I have written before about my work on carrots, and it’s also the case that I have published on onions, in rather the same spirit as the carrot work: an environmental scanning electron microscopy study of onion failure, as well … Continue reading →

Posted in Institute of Food Research, Interdisciplinary Science, publication, Science Culture, Unconscious bias | Comments Off on Onions and Unconscious Bias

Moving towards movement, by Jove

Posted on 23 March 2011 by Frank Norman

Sometimes you look round and realise that the world has changed. It has been changing little by little so gradually that you didn’t notice but then you realise “Aha! The much predicted and talked-about convergence of TV and computing has … Continue reading →

Posted in Journal publishing, video | Comments Off on Moving towards movement, by Jove