Monthly Archives: January 2016

What’s the Extent of the Problem?

Posted on 30 January 2016 by Athene Donald

I don’t usually recycle my posts, but the time seems ripe to repost this particular one appended below. I wrote it just over three years ago. It asks ‘Just how bad is it?’ referring to the issue of sexual harassment. … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Geoff Marcy, sexism, sexual harassment, Women in science | Comments Off on What’s the Extent of the Problem?

Anatomy of a blog post on the anatomy of a scientific discovery

Posted on 26 January 2016 by Stephen

At the risk of getting uber-meta, here is a blog post about writing my latest blog post at the Guardian, which was an account of a scientific discovery – albeit a minor one – that occurred during the process of shepherding … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, moleclues, Protein Crystallography, science | Comments Off on Anatomy of a blog post on the anatomy of a scientific discovery

Get off of my cloud

Posted on 26 January 2016 by rpg

In my previous life, I pontificated on the etiquette of iPods and in particular the signals that earbuds send out. My central thesis was that if you were foolish enough to approach someone at the lab bench who was wearing … Continue reading →

Posted in day job, Ill-considered rants, iPod, Office life, sociopathy, stupid coworkers, The stupid, it burns, work, Writing | Comments Off on Get off of my cloud

In which I finally get it: multitasking is evil

Posted on 25 January 2016 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s a new year, and the academic term has kicked in with renewed vigor. I haven’t written here for a while because I simply didn’t have the mental capacity. I collapsed into the Christmas holidays nearly flattened with exhaustion and … Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Teaching, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which I finally get it: multitasking is evil

Telling Stories

Posted on 24 January 2016 by Athene Donald

Last week I went to talk at an event designed to encourage young girls to stick with science post-GCSE organised for local schools at Brighton College. I was paired up with the remarkable Stemettes Founder Anne-Marie Imafidon. She was Red … Continue reading →

Posted in Careers advice, CV, education, GCSE, Women in science | Comments Off on Telling Stories

Confidence, Rebellion and Schools

Posted on 20 January 2016 by Athene Donald

‘A swot and a rebel’ was how Mary Beard described herself when I interviewed her last week for Churchill College (you can listen to the full interview here). She seemed to think this was a common pairing of terms but … Continue reading →

Posted in education, extrovert, faking it, Mary Beard, Science Culture, Sutton Trust | Comments Off on Confidence, Rebellion and Schools

Hey, I didn’t even get the grant!

Posted on 15 January 2016 by Steve Caplan

Scientists today spend a considerable chunk of their time writing: grants, protocols, manuscripts, reviews, grant reviews, etc. One of the bureaucratic requirements that most of us are familiar with is the “progress report.” Every year — or even after every … Continue reading →

Posted in awardee, bureaucracy, foundation, funding, grant, humor, No, progress report, Research, science, scientist, Writing | Comments Off on Hey, I didn’t even get the grant!

Being Unexpectedly Provocative

Posted on 14 January 2016 by Athene Donald

I have recently returned from a trip to Santa Barbara, to the conference to honour my late mentor Professor Ed Kramer, and San Francisco, where I met up with various alumni and alumnae of my College and the University. In … Continue reading →

Posted in alumni, California, Communicating Science, Ed Kramer, Equality, Miss Triggs, Women in science | Comments Off on Being Unexpectedly Provocative

Blogging; totally worth a go

Posted on 13 January 2016 by Matthew (@MCeeP)

This is my first post to Occam’s Irregulars and when I was planning out what I wanted to write, I though that I needed something that was going to have a splash and get plenty of clicks. But that sounded … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Guest posts, SciBlogs, SciComms, Writing | Comments Off on Blogging; totally worth a go

The Numbers Game

Posted on 9 January 2016 by Athene Donald

If you are the only boy in a ballet class or the only girl studying physics, it can feel uncomfortable. However much what you’re doing may be your passion, it may feel awkward. Quite likely you will adopt some adaptive … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, conference speakers, Equality, minority | Comments Off on The Numbers Game