Monthly Archives: January 2023

In which my lab is a garden

Posted on 29 January 2023 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s a grey afternoon, the light already fading. R. and I have just done a circuit of the back garden – ‘inspecting the troops’, we call it. The entire space is dishevelled, as it always is this time of year: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in academia, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Research, The profession of science, work-life balance | Comments Off on In which my lab is a garden

Inequity and Research Culture

Posted on 29 January 2023 by Athene Donald

Research culture remains a topic that is of concern to many, because it can be so very far from ideal. You don’t have to be from a minority background – of whatever kind – to find yourself in an environment … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in disability, Equality, ethnicity, marginalised researchers, research funding, Science Culture | Comments Off on Inequity and Research Culture

What I Read In January

Posted on 29 January 2023 by Henry Gee

Penelope Fitzgerald: The Bookshop It is 1959, and widowed Florence Green opens a bookshop in the sleepy Suffolk town of Hardborough. Discovering a strain of quiet obstinacy she doesn’t know she has, she ignores or attempts to sidestep the  polite … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in cal chinn, gary gibson, neil gaiman, peaky blinders, Penelope Fitzgerald, Peter frankopan, Science-fiction, space opera, stealing light, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on What I Read In January

The Last Question

Posted on 25 January 2023 by Henry Gee

In his 1956 story The Last Question, Isaac Asimov has human beings ask computers of increasing power the Ultimate Question. You know, the one about Life, The Universe, and Everything. And the question goes something like this — HOW CAN … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ChatGPT, Humour, Isaac Asimov, Science-fiction, Silliness, The Last Question | Comments Off on The Last Question

I am evangelical about this

Posted on 14 January 2023 by Erika Cule

PhD students should* consider industry roles; academics should not dissuade them. Ten years ago today I began what I now refer to as my industry detour, a decade spent as a statistical consultant in the pharmaceutical industry. I went directly: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in alternative careers, career, careers, conferences, Life, PhD, science careers | Comments Off on I am evangelical about this

Computers these days

Posted on 11 January 2023 by Erika Cule

When I was in primary school, in the early nineties, Tesco ran a scheme called Computers for Schools. Shopping at Tesco earned paper vouchers which were collected by local schools. When a school had collected enough vouchers, they could spend them … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Apple, Computers are stupid, Life, Mac, Meta, Tech, Windows | Comments Off on Computers these days

Where is Social Mobility Heading and for Whom?

Posted on 8 January 2023 by Athene Donald

Levelling up may have been a phrase that tripped off Boris Johnson’s lips more than other politicians, but whether or not the phrase is politically dead, the concept is as important as it ever was during his prime ministerial tenure. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Alun Francis, education, Equality, Further Education, Katherine Birbalsingh, Levelling Up, Sure Start | Comments Off on Where is Social Mobility Heading and for Whom?

It Has Not Escaped Our Notice

Posted on 4 January 2023 by Henry Gee

This one contributed by my correspondent Professor Trellis of North Wales and received with thanks. Presumably the injunction does not apply to Residents.
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Hard of Hearing

Posted on 3 January 2023 by Henry Gee

While researching a recent tome I discovered much about the wonder that is mammalian hearing. As the so-called mammal-like reptiles of the Triassic shrank, from the size of large dogs to small dogs to cats to mice to shrews, they … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in hearing aids, mammalian evolution | Comments Off on Hard of Hearing

The Humane Scientist

Posted on 3 January 2023 by Athene Donald

It was Philip Ball who drew my attention to the recent memoir by Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman. He said, over Twitter, that he thought it would resonate with me, and it certainly did. His … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in bullying, Dominic Raab, hierarchy, Lindy Elkins-Tanton, Peter Medawar, Science Culture | Comments Off on The Humane Scientist