Category Archives: Science Culture

Jettisoning One’s Past

When you have been inhabiting any space for a substantial length of time it tends to be somewhat dispiriting and challenging to move out and move on.  Quite unconnected with any of the other moves I’ve written about recently (here … Continue reading

Posted in Academia, Science Culture | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Is Helping Women such a Bad Thing to Do?

I am not infrequently asked to give talks at other universities about gender issues, including the work we are doing in Cambridge. (Strangely, I find myself doing quite as many of these sorts of talks as physics ones.) I would … Continue reading

Posted in Equality, Science Culture, Uncategorized, Women in Science | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

Don’t Say Too Much (or Too Little)

This week NESTA‘s Executive Director of Research Stian Westlake wrote a piece for the Guardian science policy blogs about those who offer scientific advice. If you want to find out why wonks should avoid being either a ‘berk’ or a … Continue reading

Posted in Communicating Science, Science Culture, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

A levels, Cricket and Resilience

It’s that time of year again when exam results are forthcoming, making or apparently breaking many a child’s future aspirations. GCSE’s today, A levels last week. It seemed to me that the A level media over-excitement seemed less this year, … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Science Culture | 3 Comments

Standing up to the Bullies

The vile and criminal threats and harassment delivered to intelligent and outspoken women in the public eye through the medium of Twitter has been much discussed recently, from journalist Caroline Criado-Perez  to my Cambridge classicist friend and colleague Mary Beard.  … Continue reading

Posted in Equality, Science Culture | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments