Monthly Archives: December 2015

The Season of Presents

Posted on 28 December 2015 by Athene Donald

I have written before of my desire to get my hands on a Pensieve, that wonderful, fantastical creation of JK Rowling characterised as the receptacle described here: One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the … Continue reading →

Posted in Ed Kramer, mentoring, Science Culture, support | Comments Off on The Season of Presents

The Metrics of Reaching Out

Posted on 22 December 2015 by Athene Donald

In my College we are pleased to see that we are doing well against a specific set of metrics associated with social mobility at admissions. This hasn’t happened by accident, but is down to years of hard work and careful … Continue reading →

Posted in Cambridge University, Churchill College, college admissions, education, Equality, widening participation | Comments Off on The Metrics of Reaching Out

Libraries, technology and e-books–go with the flow…

Posted on 20 December 2015 by Steve Caplan

Libraries are becoming virtual, and there are some distinct advantages… Technology is changing the world, and libraries are picking up on the changes. As a long-time library patron, it has not been uncommon for me to head out to the … Continue reading →

Posted in "Matter Over Mind", A Degree of Betrayal, authors, Books, ebooks, libraries, library, omaha, paper, reading, Research, royalties, royalty, science, Welcome Home Sir | Comments Off on Libraries, technology and e-books–go with the flow…

ICYMI No.1: Preprints for biologists

Posted on 18 December 2015 by Stephen

Since I have developed a habit of writing elsewhere, which necessarily takes time and words away from the blog here at Reciprocal Space, I thought I would try to make amends by developing the habit of linking to the pieces … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Preprints, publishing, science | Comments Off on ICYMI No.1: Preprints for biologists

On the troposphere

Posted on 15 December 2015 by rpg

The second best thing about flying to the US on business is the views you get on the way. The best thing about flying on business to the US is, of course, coming home

Posted in art, work | Comments Off on On the troposphere

What’s Changed? Anything? (#Just1action4WIS)

Posted on 15 December 2015 by Athene Donald

This was the year, amongst other things, of the #distractinglysexy hashtag, as discussed recently on BBC Radio4 here. This hashtag was itself part of the fallout of #Huntgate, the undeserved fall from grace of a Nobel prize winner on the … Continue reading →

Posted in louise mensch, Tim Hunt, twitter, Women in science | Comments Off on What’s Changed? Anything? (#Just1action4WIS)

Men Talking (and Needing to)

Posted on 12 December 2015 by Athene Donald

In the wake of the recent fracas over whether a university should celebrate International Men’s Day or not, I was struck by the following sentence in a book I was reading ‘I learned how much everyone needs to talk about … Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, mental health, Richard Holmes, suicide | Comments Off on Men Talking (and Needing to)

In which I lose my tubes, and other manifestations of lab rustiness

Posted on 11 December 2015 by Jennifer Rohn

When you’re a young scientist, it’s the done thing to poke gentle fun at the lab head for being out of touch. For example, when I was a graduate student, we’d all pretend to be horrified whenever our boss, wearing … Continue reading →

Posted in careers, Research, Scientific thinking, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which I lose my tubes, and other manifestations of lab rustiness

Just Say No (but How?)

Posted on 6 December 2015 by Athene Donald

One of those persistent stereotypes-by-gender is that women are less good at saying no than men. Whether or not you believe that to be true, there is no doubt that many of us – myself included – are less than … Continue reading →

Posted in committee work, Outreach, Research, Science Culture | Comments Off on Just Say No (but How?)

Jolly good fellows: Royal Society publishes journal citation distributions

Posted on 4 December 2015 by Stephen

Full marks and a side order of brownie points for the Royal Society: they have started publishing the citation distributions for all their journals. This might seem like an unusual and rather technical move to celebrate but it matters. It … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, science | Comments Off on Jolly good fellows: Royal Society publishes journal citation distributions