Monthly Archives: February 2016

Drinking Habits of the Academic

Posted on 25 February 2016 by Athene Donald

Do we, poor misguided academics drink too much? I am sure many of us could do with drinking less but I was surprised to see the Guardian’s Academics Anonymous complaining that Russell group universities ply everyone with too much alcohol. … Continue reading →

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Fire and ice (water) — parallels to inflammation

Posted on 20 February 2016 by Steve Caplan

The hallway in front of my lab space filled with fans for drying the moisture. Things have been a little hectic around here recently. And to make things even more challenging, there was a fire on the floor above me … Continue reading →

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On Being Biased

Posted on 18 February 2016 by Athene Donald

The subject of unconscious bias training has risen swiftly up the agenda at many organisations with the recognition that we are, almost without exception, guilty of it. (If you think you’re exempt, try the Project Implicit tests.) Be it that … Continue reading →

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The Environmental Sisterhood

Posted on 14 February 2016 by Athene Donald

The admissions process to Cambridge can raise strong opinions. I’ve written about dispelling the myths behind the process and more recently about widening participation issues. But now I’m provoked to write about my own experience of applying to the university, … Continue reading →

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Permission Given

Posted on 8 February 2016 by Athene Donald

This is a post about professional anxiety and what might be done to alleviate it. Consider who asks questions after departmental seminars or conference talks: too often it is the usual suspects (although my impression is that this is getting … Continue reading →

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Got no time for the blogger-blagger!

Posted on 7 February 2016 by Steve Caplan

One of the toughest things about modern science is its all-consuming nature–it literally sucks up one’s time. And while I am unable to sit down and write a serious blog, I thought this photo nicely illustrates how scientists struggle-to-juggle their … Continue reading →

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Birthdays on the brother blog

Posted on 7 February 2016 by Erika Cule

Contemplating Birthdays on the Beach This week, I reviewed Having a Birthday as part of Ant Cule’s project antcule.reviews, (Subtitle: An Extremely Subjective View of Being A Human). For the uninitiated, Ant and I collaborated on this blog post about … Continue reading →

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Combining pre-prints and post-publication peer review: a new (big) deal?

Posted on 6 February 2016 by Stephen

Stimulated, I believe, by Ron Vale’s call to preprints last year, various luminaries from the world of science and science publishing will be gathering in Maryland at the headquarters of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) later this month to … Continue reading →

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Cambridge University, Widening Participation and the Government

Posted on 4 February 2016 by Athene Donald

What follows first appeared on the Times Higher Education blog platform on February 2nd 2016 (this is the unedited version). At the bottom I add a footnote about further developments since I first drafted this piece mainly regarding Cambridge admissions … Continue reading →

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Open access and public engagement: I need your help

Posted on 1 February 2016 by Stephen

Dear Reader, I would appreciate your help. I am working on a chapter for a book on openness within science (to be published by Manchester University Press). The book is part of the ‘Making Science Public’ program run by Prof … Continue reading →

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