Latest posts

Levelling the European Playing Field

Posted on 23 October 2013 by Athene Donald

One of the good things about (certain) committees is that one learns so much. That may not be everyone’s experience but over the years I personally have found many committees – though most certainly not all – very educational. I learnt a lot of the biology that I hadn’t had any occasion to use personally in my own research through chair Continue reading →

Posted in CV, ERC, maternity leave, research grants, Women in science | Comments Off on Levelling the European Playing Field

Call for Papers?

Posted on 23 October 2013 by Steve Caplan

A few days ago I received an email from “The American International Journal of Contemporary Research“–now there’s an oxymoronic journal title: American International. Make up your minds!

Apparently, this journal is not good at ‘making up its mind,’ as the call for papers went as follows:

“American Internati Continue reading →

Posted in American-International, broad-specific, fed up with BS, get serious, humor, journals, oxymoron, papers, peer review, pretend peer review, Research, science, scope | Comments Off on Call for Papers?

Puffed-up and partying

Posted on 23 October 2013 by Frank Norman

My ears were burning a month ago and my head was swollen. Fear not, I hadn’t caught an interesting disease, I was just being talked about and made prideful.

At the end of the summer I learnt that I had been shortlisted for the Medical Research Council Chief Executive Officer’s awards, in the category for public engagement. It is easy to Continue reading →

Posted in Social networking | Comments Off on Puffed-up and partying

Science and society – Vancouver Change Camp 2013

Posted on 23 October 2013 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I have a new post up at Occam’s Corner on the Guardian website today, about how non-scientists can (try to) influence the course of scientific research.

As I mentioned over there, the ideas in the post originated and evolved from a session I chaired at this year’s Vancouver Change Camp. I thoroughly enjoyed participating in my first Cam Continue reading →

Posted in activism, communication, conferences, education, environment, personal, Politics, science, Vancouver | Comments Off on Science and society – Vancouver Change Camp 2013

Old technology wins out

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Frank Norman

If there is  one thing I hate more than confusing new technology, it is confusing old technology. While it can sometimes be a bit confusing trying to get misbehaving PDFs to print, that’s nothing compared to doing battle with an ageing microfilm reader/printer.

So, when I saw an email this morning headed “Microfilm…” my hear Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Comments Off on Old technology wins out

It’s ….. HERE!

Posted on 21 October 2013 by Henry Gee

It takes years of work to become an overnight sensation.

The story is now legend of how J. K. Rowling overcame years of failure and mountains of rejections to score a hit with Harry Potter and the Fissure of Sylvius. Continue reading →

Posted in Books, harry potter, j k rowling, The Accidental Species, Writing, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on It’s ….. HERE!

Tea Parties

Posted on 20 October 2013 by Henry Gee

As time goes by and politics get more polarised I am increasingly aware that we British are separated from our colonial cousins by a common language. But this separation goes beyond mere phonemes, to plumb deeply held – and different – cultural referents.

For example, what images come to mind when I mention the word-string ‘tea pa Continue reading →

Posted in dormice, h p lovecraft, Politicrox, Silliness, tea party | Comments Off on Tea Parties

Noble/Nobel Validation

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Steve Caplan

For the past 10 years–my career as an independent investigator–I feel as though I have been swimming against the tide. The science that I was trained to do, the critical thinking and desire to understand the fundamental basis of how cells function at the molecular and even atomic level, has increasingly been attacked as unnecessary. Sci Continue reading →

Comments Off on Noble/Nobel Validation

Storage space

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I found myself waiting alone outside a meeting room at work the other day, while the people in there wrapped up and packed away and the person I was meeting with was fetching a laptop. Looking around me, I noticed a somewhat unexpected label on one of the cupboards over the printer:

IMG_4516

I thought that maybe the labels hadn’t been updated for a w Continue reading →

Posted in photos, technology, the wonders of technology | Comments Off on Storage space

Jettisoning One’s Past

Posted on 19 October 2013 by Athene Donald

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 and here), I am also going to be moving from one rather large office to what I suspect will be a rather smaller o Continue reading →

Posted in academia, offices, paperwork, Science Culture | Comments Off on Jettisoning One’s Past