Monthly Archives: March 2013

Bad Pharma, Good Pharma, Bad Pharma

Posted on 25 March 2013 by Philip Strange

I was surprised and saddened to hear the news that the pharmaceutical company, AstraZeneca were closing their R and D facility at Alderley Park in the North West of the country.  This is an iconic research site, set among lakes … Continue reading →

Posted in AstraZeneca, ben goldacre, clinical trials, drugs, Guest posts, pharmaceutical industry, Science policy | Comments Off on Bad Pharma, Good Pharma, Bad Pharma

On biological modelling

Posted on 24 March 2013 by rpg

Complement activation

Posted in biological modelling, complement, London, Nonsense, Science-less Sunday, Silliness, Tesco, trolley | Comments Off on On biological modelling

All media can be social media

Posted on 23 March 2013 by Cath@VWXYNot?

One of the themes of the last year or so is that a lot of my traditionally solitary pursuits suddenly seem to have become much more social. The biggest difference is my job, but my evenings and weekends are also … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, book review, career, communication, conferences, games, personal, photos, science, screenshots, secularism, Silliness, technology, Vancouver | Comments Off on All media can be social media

Learning the Foreign Language of Twitter

Posted on 23 March 2013 by Athene Donald

Any time I go to Europe, as this week, I come back ashamed of my lack of linguistic skills. This time I struggled through a brief conversation in French with a Brussels taxi driver trying to talk about the impact … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science, foreign language, hashtag, tweet | Comments Off on Learning the Foreign Language of Twitter

Impact Factors — Letter to RCUK

Posted on 21 March 2013 by Stephen

Following my post of last week asking RCUK to include in the guidelines on their new open access policy a statement disavowing the use of impact factors in assessing funding applications, I wanted to thank everyone who registered their support. … Continue reading →

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Making reviewing boring stuff less boring

Posted on 20 March 2013 by Bob O'H

Over at the Scholarly Kitchen, everyone’s favourite source material for winding up OA advocates, Phil Davis asked about something only tangentially related: Do Uninteresting Papers Really Need Peer Review? In it he lays out a view that is perhaps selfish, … Continue reading →

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Fight the Future

Posted on 20 March 2013 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Last Saturday was my second time at Vancouver Change Camp and, just like the first time, it was a day full of very thought-provoking sessions about how ordinary people can change their world for the better. The last event took … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, communication, current affairs, education, personal, Politics, Vancouver | Comments Off on Fight the Future

Fixing the Numbers (well maybe)

Posted on 19 March 2013 by Athene Donald

This week I read that the Labour party was attempting to redress the lack of women candidates by using all-women shortlists, as women aren’t faring well in open competition to get selected as Parliamentary candidates. In Europe, meanwhile, we see … Continue reading →

Posted in committees, ERC, grants, quotas, Science Funding, Women in science | Comments Off on Fixing the Numbers (well maybe)

In which I cling on

Posted on 19 March 2013 by Jennifer Rohn

Recently I was kindly invited by the University of Southampton’s branch of the University and College Union to give a talk about the casualization of research jobs. ‘Casualization’ refers to the state whereby workers are employed in a disposable fashion … Continue reading →

Posted in careers, staring into the abyss, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which I cling on

Dénouement

Posted on 18 March 2013 by Erika Cule

Last week: https://twitter.com/enniscath/status/311907749040640000 https://twitter.com/BobOHara/status/311908565495455746

Posted in Fun, Life, PhD | Comments Off on Dénouement