Monthly Archives: September 2012

AC Grayling’s college: Cult of personality or value for money?

This same article is posted at Guardian Higher Education – here- apologies for the dual post, it’s my fault – I got my wires crossed with The Guardian! So I am taking it off this post – as I think … Continue reading

Posted in AC Grayling, NCH, New College of Humanities | Comments Off on AC Grayling’s college: Cult of personality or value for money?

Evolution In Pictures #3

Continuing the occasional series (started here by Dr S. S. of Cambridge) in which the word ‘Evolution’ or its derivatives are found in unusual, inappropriate or downright peculiar circumstances. This one pictured earlier today from the window of a café … Continue reading

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In which they don’t make authorship like they used to

I recently had the pleasure of helping to judge the Max Perutz Science Writing Prize competition, held by the Medical Research Council in collaboration with the London Metro newspaper. The brief for aspiring young writers was to explain why their … Continue reading

Posted in Science journalism, Scientific papers, The profession of science, Writing | Comments Off on In which they don’t make authorship like they used to

Around Downe

Around Downe, Sept 2012, a set on Flickr. I visited Downe yesterday. Darwin’s home village is quite close to where I live and we like to avail ourselves from time to time of the local environs and the local (which … Continue reading

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Are you speaking?

Another hectic month of academic juggling, teaching, grant reviews, grant writing, manuscript reviews and handling, manuscript writing and submission, handling the affairs of the departmental graduate committee and concerns of incoming students, college wide graduate council (in which I was … Continue reading

Posted in gallaudet university, humor, joni mitchell, meeting, Research, science, speaker, talk to me | Comments Off on Are you speaking?

Heroic Genius or a Distraction from Reality?

This week I strayed from my occasional home on the Guardian blogs to a mainstream print newspaper, writing a piece for the Telegraph to follow on from the Stephen Hawking Grand Design programme launch I wrote about briefly before. My … Continue reading

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Sex, Violence, Aliens, Violent Sex, Violent Sex with Aliens

Sales of my SF bonkbuster Siege of Stars and the first of its sequelae Scourge of Stars are pootling along nicely, and if either of you are remotely interested in what (if anything) goes through an author’s mind while he is … Continue reading

Posted in aliens, Science-fiction, sex, siege of stars, the sigil, violence, violent sex, violent sex with aliens, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Sex, Violence, Aliens, Violent Sex, Violent Sex with Aliens

Open Access Juggernaut Hits London

Everyone’s talking about open access (OA). It has been a year of dramatic developments in the drive to liberate access to the research literature and the blogosphere is buzzing with excited chatter. Well, perhaps not everyone and not even the … Continue reading

Posted in Alma Swan, imperial college, Open Access, RCUK | Comments Off on Open Access Juggernaut Hits London

What is it like to be a Scientist?

It is a year to the day since the release of my film, “I’m a Scientist“, in which six different scientists talk openly about their lives in the laboratory and what makes them tick. The aim of the film is … Continue reading

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FIRST!

So last night, I was enjoying a friendly Twitter argument with @ScientistMother and @27andaphd about Tim Hortons commercials. During the course of our conversation, it transpired that both ScientistMother (born in Canada to foreign-born parents) and I (born in the … Continue reading

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