Monthly Archives: October 2012

A television programme about the second law of thermodynamics

Posted on 20 October 2012 by Stephen

CP Snow must be doing cartwheels in his grave. The BBC has made a beautiful, intelligent film about the second law of thermodynamics. You only have until Tuesday 30th Oct* to catch it on iPlayer and you should. Presented by … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Entropy, History of Science, jim Al Khalili, Science & Media, TV review | Comments Off on A television programme about the second law of thermodynamics

Hypothesising about Interdisciplinarity

Posted on 19 October 2012 by Athene Donald

How often have I heard it said that ‘the policies are good but the implementation is shaky’?  I could make that comment about many of the issues around women in science, where the best-intentioned policies are defeated by negativity, implicit … Continue reading →

Posted in Biological Physics, Doug Kell, grant proposal, hypotheses, Interdisciplinary Science, referees, Research Council | Comments Off on Hypothesising about Interdisciplinarity

And for those serial denials, there’s always science…

Posted on 19 October 2012 by Steve Caplan

A short time ago, I wasted some time watching excerpts from an interview of the Iranian president by Piers Morgan on CNN. Even the pause in answer due to the translations couldn’t mask the embarrassment that I felt watching the … Continue reading →

Posted in anti-semitism, CNN, Holocaust denial, Israel, Middle East, Research, science | Comments Off on And for those serial denials, there’s always science…

Silent Spring: Warblers

Posted on 17 October 2012 by KristiV

In the chapter And No Birds Sing, Rachel Carson describes the consequences of DDT spraying (for elm bark beetles) for various bird populations in the Midwestern US. Two ornithologists at Michigan State University, George Wallace and John Mehner, documented the … Continue reading →

Posted in art journals, DDT, Silent_Spring, warblers | Comments Off on Silent Spring: Warblers

Trilogy

Posted on 16 October 2012 by Henry Gee

Do you like your trilogies served one volume at a time, or all at once? If you have an opinion on this Question of the Age, then my publisher would like to know. In the old days, he says, large works … Continue reading →

Posted in inferior conjunction, the lord of the rings, the sigil, trilogies, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Trilogy

Changing ecologists’ statistics to statistics about nature

Posted on 16 October 2012 by Bob O'H

Whilst my back was turned, I had another paper published online early. It’s rather embarrassing that I didn’t notice, because I’m an Executive Editor for the journal. The paper is, of course, superb (most of the work was done by … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecology, statistics | Comments Off on Changing ecologists’ statistics to statistics about nature

Bragging Rights Central archive, Oct 2012 – Mar 2013

Posted on 16 October 2012 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The recent lack of regular updates is due to my new job: I used to update the sidebar at my desk during my Friday lunch break, but now that I work in a much more social environment and have lunch … Continue reading →

Posted in Meta | Comments Off on Bragging Rights Central archive, Oct 2012 – Mar 2013

Intense – Bangkok, a week later

Posted on 15 October 2012 by Richard Wintle

I don’t know where to start. Bangkok – the Grand Palace. I’ve been back from my trip to Bangkok for a week now, and I still don’t think that all of my experiences in this city have quite sunk in.

Posted in Bangkok, bewilderment, BKK, Photography, Thailand, travel | Comments Off on Intense – Bangkok, a week later

The Self-Promotion Stakes

Posted on 14 October 2012 by Athene Donald

My university has recently run a consultation exercise for women from different parts of the university and across the different grades (with the exception of researchers, for whom a separate event will be held later).  Various key messages have come … Continue reading →

Posted in CV, Equality, mentoring, promotion, Women in science | Comments Off on The Self-Promotion Stakes

A frog on my blog is my goal and it’s gotten a “tee hee!”

Posted on 12 October 2012 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Many thanks to Mermaid for forwarding me this most excellent email signature from a local frog biologist, and for securing Dr. Helbing’s permission to blog it! I remember a phase of DNA helix squiggles in email signatures in the early … Continue reading →

Posted in art, nature, science, screenshots, Silliness | Comments Off on A frog on my blog is my goal and it’s gotten a “tee hee!”