Author Archives: Stephen

Popular neuroscience book suggestions

Posted on 14 September 2014 by Stephen

Neuroscience isn’t really my thing, so when my teenage daughter came asking for suggestions of a good popular book on the subject I took to Twitter. Several people kindly made suggestions, while others asked to be notified of the outcome … Continue reading →

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Advice on presentations: I’m not as clever as you think

Posted on 23 July 2014 by Stephen

I spent the last two days in Leicester at Translation UK, a two-day conference that is an annual gathering for scientists working on all aspects of translation — the protein synthesis kind. The conference is friendly and informal. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in science | Comments Off on Advice on presentations: I’m not as clever as you think

Australia Tour 2014

Posted on 10 July 2014 by Stephen

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. The video of my Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution last year caught the attention of a former colleague and produced an invitation to contribute a lecture to her plans to … Continue reading →

Posted in Australia, Protein Crystallography, science, travel, X-rays | Comments Off on Australia Tour 2014

The REF: what is the measure of success?

Posted on 5 June 2014 by Stephen

Science has been extraordinarily successful at taking the measure of the world, but paradoxically the world finds it extraordinarily difficult to take the measure of science — or any type of scholarship for that matter. That is not for want … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, impact factor, REF, Scientific Life | Comments Off on The REF: what is the measure of success?

Mars Attacks (the senses)

Posted on 10 May 2014 by Stephen

Last night on Twitter someone posted a ‘selfie’ taken by the Mars Curiosity rover. It’s quite a photograph, particularly since it captures a fantastic piece of human technology amidst the landscape of another planet. The detail is what makes the … Continue reading →

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Get out of the laboratory

Posted on 4 May 2014 by Stephen

The Society for General Microbiology (SGM) kindly awarded me this year’s Peter Wildy Prize Lecture, which I delivered at their Spring meeting in Liverpool just a few weeks ago. The prize is given for “an outstanding contribution to microbiology education … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, science communication, Scientific Life, SGM, Society for General Microbiology, YouTube | Comments Off on Get out of the laboratory

Losing my virginity and the Café Scientifique Reading List

Posted on 30 April 2014 by Stephen

Last night I lost my virginity. To be precise, I lost my Café Scientifique virginity because I gave a talk about science in a café in Portsmouth at the kind invitation of local organiser Maricar Jagger. It was a really … Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Cafe Scientifique, communication, public engagements, science, science communication, Scientific Life | Comments Off on Losing my virginity and the Café Scientifique Reading List

Open Access — yes you can

Posted on 20 April 2014 by Stephen

For researchers who have never dipped a toe into the debates on open access that surge across the blogosphere it is all too easy to imagine that they need not get involved. For sure, people are increasingly aware that a decision … Continue reading →

Posted in Copyright, elsevier, Open Access | Comments Off on Open Access — yes you can

Open Access – reasons to be cheerful: a reply to Agrawal

Posted on 2 April 2014 by Stephen

A opinion piece by Anurag Agrawal that was rather skeptical about some aspects of moves toward open access was published in the March issue of Trends in Plant Sciences. I felt several of the arguments advanced by Agrawal were rather … Continue reading →

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Moon Boy

Posted on 30 March 2014 by Stephen

After splashdown at 4:51 pm on 24th July 1969 the Apollo 11 astronauts returning from the first moon landing  had to don full-body Biological Isolation Garments before they could leave the conical command module that was bobbing in the Pacific Ocean. … Continue reading →

Posted in Apollo 11, History of Science, Michael Collins, Moon Landing, technology | Comments Off on Moon Boy