Monthly Archives: November 2013

The very interesting web of connections

Posted on 22 November 2013 by Stephen

The Royal Institution has made a rather lovely film about William and Lawrence Bragg, the father and son Nobel laureates who came up the method of structural analysis by X-ray crystallography around 100 years ago. The film is constructed around … Continue reading →

Posted in Bragg, electrons, George Thomson, History of Science, Protein Crystallography, X-ray crystallography | Comments Off on The very interesting web of connections

A Modest Proposal for the Improvement of Conferences

Posted on 19 November 2013 by Henry Gee

I am at a coffee break at a conference and a person of a certain age has just engaged me in conversation – having mistaken me for someone else, having been unable to read my name badge. The badges are … Continue reading →

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Has a career in science become a dog’s life?

Posted on 17 November 2013 by Steve Caplan

Ginger, after retrieving a gazillion tennis balls on a beautiful Sunday morning. “A dog’s life?” Certainly a misnomer if I’ve ever heard one; at least for this dog, life is good.

Posted in careers, dog, funding, grants, investigators, NIH, personnel, proposals, Research, science, scientists | Comments Off on Has a career in science become a dog’s life?

Where are all the damn women?

Posted on 17 November 2013 by Sylvia McLain

I was lucky enough to get tickets to BBC Radio 4′s Any Questions a few weeks ago held in St. Peter’s College (Oxford) chapel. It was a great atmosphere, if you ever get the chance to get tickets to such … Continue reading →

Posted in Women in science | Comments Off on Where are all the damn women?

Tackling the Intangible

Posted on 17 November 2013 by Athene Donald

A couple of weeks ago I attended a brief talk given by Baroness Ruth Deech at a careers evening for law students at Newnham College (all female). Her talk was followed by others from two recent graduates from the college … Continue reading →

Posted in Baroness Deech, Equality, Science Culture, women in medicine, Women in science, working environment | Comments Off on Tackling the Intangible

Mermaids, Museums … and Murder

Posted on 16 November 2013 by Henry Gee

Some of you will remember my gothic horror detective mystery romp By The Sea, first serialised on LabLit courtesy of Dr J. R. of Rotherhithe, and then turned into a book. It’s still available on Kindle and as a paperback, … Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, by the sea, Cromer, Lablit, sarah potter, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Mermaids, Museums … and Murder

The Flies of Memory

Posted on 13 November 2013 by Henry Gee

This is the tragic paradox of the pin-sharp: the problem with cameras is that your memory of a scene becomes condensed around that one snapshot and everything else fades. Your holiday, so fluid, so subtle, so weighted with memory, is … Continue reading →

Posted in borges, funes the memorious, ian watson, Science-fiction, the embedding, the flies of memory, the jonah kit, the martian inca, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on The Flies of Memory

Mill Hill Essays 2013

Posted on 12 November 2013 by Frank Norman

One of my more pleasurable annual tasks is producing the volume of Mill Hill Essays. I commmission between 5 and 10 essays, mostly from authors at the Institute, then edit them and oversee the production. Print copies of the essays … Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science, Writing | Comments Off on Mill Hill Essays 2013

A New Pet

Posted on 12 November 2013 by Henry Gee

This afternoon I discovered this butterfly, in a somewhat sleepy state, on the windowsill behind my computer screen.  I didn’t have the heart to put it out of the window. After I posted the picture on the soshul meeja, my friend … Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, butterfly, climate change, Domesticrox, pets, soshul meeja | Comments Off on A New Pet

Blogging Briefly: a Guest Post from J. S. Watts

Posted on 12 November 2013 by Henry Gee

I’m seriously chuffed to be guesting on The End of The Pier Show. I once had a significant oil leak in Cromer (Well, I didn’t, you understand. My car did) and I’ve never quite got over it, but I’m not … Continue reading →

Posted in a darker moon, brevity, cats and other myths, j s watts, songs of steelyard sue, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Blogging Briefly: a Guest Post from J. S. Watts