This is the original version (with the original title) of an article that has been published at The Conversation.
Having climbed all the way to the Nobel prize on a ladder made of Nature, Science and Cell papers, biologist Randy Schekman has turned around and declared that he is going to boycott these ‘luxury’ journals in future because of t Continue reading
I have recently added a new title to my signature: that of director of our institute’s microscopy facility. One of my goals is to upgrade our capabilities and acquire a microscope capable of super-resolution; that is the ability to differentiate between particles that are as close as ~20 nm to one another–about 10 fold better than trad Continue reading
To celebrate the imminent release at your local enormoplex of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, I’m giving away The Science of Middle Earth for that whole weekend, 12-15 December. My agent tells me that it’ll be available as a free download from Amazon’s Kindle store for that period (you never quite know with Amazon, their view Continue reading
Even at moments of the most extreme duress, it is difficult for me to stop thinking like a scientist.
A few days after the birth of my son some twelve weeks ago, things were just starting to normalize for Richard and me. We were home from the hospital and, though the daze of sleepless nights had hit us pretty hard, we’d found time to get out of the Continue reading
The internet was all aflutter last week because Elsevier has sent thousands of take-down notices to Academia.edu, a social networking site where many researchers post and share their published papers. This marks a significant change of tack for Elsevier. Previously the publisher had only been sending a handful of DMCAs a week to Academia.edu (the n Continue reading
There has been a flurry of articles of late listing important things that scientists, politicians and the public should know about each other. I am logging them here because I enjoyed each of the pieces and think it likely that I will want to consult them in future.
First to appear was the piece by William Sutherland, David Spiegelhalter and Mark B Continue reading
Back in July I went, for one reason or another, on a meandering bike ride. I ended up here:
My bike. And the Thames Barrier
The Thames Barrier is apparently the world’s second largest movable flood barrier (I believe the Dutch have the largest immovable such barrier: most of Holland is actually a giant dyke). Continue reading
Women in science seem to fare less well than men based on practically any measure. The reasons for this are many and various; they are also much discussed yet progress remains slow. To take as a specific example, why are success rates for women applying to the ERC for grants – at all levels and in all domains – lower than for men? This question wa Continue reading
Winter has finally arrived here in Nebraska; from mid-50 degree F weather just a few days ago, we hit a chilly low of 1 degree F early this morning. Even some of the local youth actually abandoned their gym shorts for jeans, surprising as that may seem. Trying to make it up to Ginger-the-dog for not having gone on an outdoor walk these past few day Continue reading
Last night I reported that Cromer was being battered by the combination of a very high tide and onshore winds. This lunchtime the Canes Croxorum and I went down there to see for ourselves. 
From a distance, Cromer seems untouched, the pier thrusting magnificently into the sea as much as it ever did, and especially after last year’s £1.2-m ref Continue reading
