Author Archives: Stephen

Open Access: journey without end?

Posted on 31 January 2013 by Stephen

The Science and Technology Committee of the House of Lords, the second chamber in the UK parliament, met this week to hear evidence from various stakeholders on the implementation of government’s policy on open access. In three separate sessions, which … Continue reading →

Posted in House of Lords, Open Access, Science & Politics | Comments Off on Open Access: journey without end?

Response to House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Call for Evidence on Open Access

Posted on 18 January 2013 by Stephen

In the UK the parliamentary House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology is conducting an enquiry into the implementation of the government’s policy on open access. Last Tuesday they took oral evidence from Dame Janet Finch (which you … Continue reading →

Posted in Finch Report, House of Lords, Open Access, RCUK | Comments Off on Response to House of Lords Science and Technology Committee Call for Evidence on Open Access

Year

Posted on 30 December 2012 by Stephen

The Christmas holiday has unmoored me. End of year exhaustion segued into a bout of ‘flu that knocked me onto my back, where I lay and ached, semi-detached by illness and medication as around me my family made preparations for … Continue reading →

Posted in CaSE, Libel Reform, Open Access, review, Review of 2012, Science & Politics, Science policy, Scientific Life | Comments Off on Year

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Carbon

Posted on 12 December 2012 by Stephen

I may not know much about Chemistry but I know what I like. And I like carbon. In fact, I’ve decided that it’s my favourite element. I’ll tell you why in the short video below, which is part of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon, communication, Protein Crystallography, Royal Institution, science communication | Comments Off on Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Carbon

We need to talk about open access

Posted on 24 November 2012 by Stephen

Last week I spoke on open access at the annual conference of Research Libraries UK (RLUK). I did so at the end of a session that also featured Dame Janet Finch, who had chaired the working group set up by … Continue reading →

Posted in Dame Janet Finch, Mark Thorley, Open Access, RCUK, RLUK | Comments Off on We need to talk about open access

That was the open access week that was

Posted on 5 November 2012 by Stephen

 A round-up of some of the issues that got an airing during Open Access (OA) Week and in the days that followed, including more rumination on the implementation and implications of the RCUK OA policy, more bad (and some good) … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, open access week, publishing, Stevan Harnad | Comments Off on That was the open access week that was

A television programme about the second law of thermodynamics

Posted on 20 October 2012 by Stephen

CP Snow must be doing cartwheels in his grave. The BBC has made a beautiful, intelligent film about the second law of thermodynamics. You only have until Tuesday 30th Oct* to catch it on iPlayer and you should. Presented by … Continue reading →

Posted in BBC, Entropy, History of Science, jim Al Khalili, Science & Media, TV review | Comments Off on A television programme about the second law of thermodynamics

Imperial debate: light and heat on the RCUK open access policy

Posted on 11 October 2012 by Stephen

It is two weeks since the meeting organised by the Imperial College Science Communication Forum to discuss the new open access policy announced by Research Councils UK (RCUK) in the light of the Finch Report. Richard Van Norden of Nature chaired … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Comments Off on Imperial debate: light and heat on the RCUK open access policy

What does the Higgs boson look like? (Audio Version)

Posted on 30 September 2012 by Stephen

As an little experiment I sat down and recorded an audio version of my Occam’s Corner post on the historical account of the difficulties that scientists had in accepting the reality of atoms. You can listen here:  

Posted in audio, narcissism, science, Spoken word | Comments Off on What does the Higgs boson look like? (Audio Version)

Around Downe

Posted on 23 September 2012 by Stephen

Around Downe, Sept 2012, a set on Flickr. I visited Downe yesterday. Darwin’s home village is quite close to where I live and we like to avail ourselves from time to time of the local environs and the local (which … Continue reading →

Posted in Darwin, Downe, Photography, science | Comments Off on Around Downe