Latest posts

FIRST!

Posted on 19 September 2012 by Cath@VWXYNot?

So last night, I was enjoying a friendly Twitter argument with @ScientistMother and @27andaphd about Tim Hortons commercials. During the course of our conversation, it transpired that both ScientistMother (born in Canada to foreign-born parents) and I (born in the UK, moved to Canada in my 20s) think that we’re first-generation immigrants: I Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, Canada, English language, family, fun with language, rants | Comments Off on FIRST!

Booked

Posted on 17 September 2012 by Stephen

Everyone of a certain pretension likes to think they have a book inside them. I know I do.

But I’ve looked and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s in there somewhere but at too early a stage of germination to be visible. Continue reading →

Posted in book review, Open Laboratory | Comments Off on Booked

Urban Heat Islands and Climate Change

Posted on 17 September 2012 by KristiV

A recent story on NPR’s Morning Edition piqued my interest in the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, which has been recognized since the late 1980s. In the radio piece, the rather startling claim was made that cities are heating up at rates twice as fast as those measured for non-urbanized regions of the planet. The US city of Atlanta, GA is Continue reading →

Posted in cities, climate change, London, urban landscape, urban_heat_island | Comments Off on Urban Heat Islands and Climate Change

Is it Ever Safe to Shed the L-plates?

Posted on 16 September 2012 by Athene Donald

I well remember that moment of transition when moving from undergraduate to postgraduate; that moment when my tutor asked me to call them by their first name (perhaps a rite of passage no longer so exciting, since first names are used so commonly by all students) coupled with the feeling that surely I must finally understand my subject because I ha Continue reading →

Posted in confidence, fear, life skills, Science Culture | Comments Off on Is it Ever Safe to Shed the L-plates?

Most people don’t worry this much…

Posted on 15 September 2012 by Sylvia McLain

is what one of my collaborators told me this week.

She was talking about my science, not about my over-arching propensity to worry about everything (although I have that too). I am running a series of experiments, mostly focused on checking and double-checking my results at the moment. I am within a mere inch of writing a paper (hopefully it w Continue reading →

Posted in Academic dishonesty, Philosophy of Science, scientific fraud, scientific publishing | Comments Off on Most people don’t worry this much…

On common denominators between scientists and journalists: integrity in dealing with complex matters

Posted on 15 September 2012 by Steve Caplan

Since my recent experience in posting a first blog entitled “Academic Boycotts, Science and Hypocrisy“ on Occam’s Corner at The Guardian’s science blogsite, I have spent a good deal of time thinking about the parallels between good scientists and good journalists. The reason for this is that although I am certainly not train Continue reading →

Posted in academic boycott, conflict, hypocrisy, integrity, Israel, journalism, Middle East, Occam's Corner, Palestinians, propaganda, Research, science | Comments Off on On common denominators between scientists and journalists: integrity in dealing with complex matters

Not quite a book prize

Posted on 14 September 2012 by Frank Norman

It is the season for scientific prizes – this month already we have had the K. J. Zülch Prize, the Perkin medal, the Keio medical science prize, the Balzan prizes, the Golden Goose awards and the Lasker prizes. Science writing honours are underway too – the Max Perutz essay prize was awarded this week, with the Wellcome science writing Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Lasker, Maniatis, Prizes | Comments Off on Not quite a book prize

Another way to measure your research impact

Posted on 14 September 2012 by Frank Norman

The h-index attempts to reduce a researcher’s output to a single number: your h-index is the number of papers you’ve published, N, that have been cited at least N times. It seems like a broader measure than pure citation counts but is by no means a perfect measure. It is seen as mostly confirming past successes and it is variable between diff Continue reading →

Posted in Bibliometrics etc | Comments Off on Another way to measure your research impact

The joy(ride) of delayed gratification

Posted on 14 September 2012 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The first music I loved was my parents’ music – The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, all that.

The first music I loved that was my own was, embarrassingly enough, Stock Aitken Waterman pap.

In my late teens came Nirvana, Blur, et al. Continue reading →

Posted in embarrassing fan girl, family, Music, personal, videos | Comments Off on The joy(ride) of delayed gratification

Falling Down the Cracks: The Challenge for Interdisciplinary Science

Posted on 12 September 2012 by Athene Donald

Let’s hear it for interdisciplinary science. Everyone says what a good idea it is. The research councils strategic plans tend to laud it. And yet, and yet….Do they mean it? Continue reading →

Posted in BBSRC, Biological Physics, EPSRC, Interdisciplinary Science, refereeing | Comments Off on Falling Down the Cracks: The Challenge for Interdisciplinary Science