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To Whom I Give My Vote of Thanks

Posted on 7 October 2011 by Athene Donald

Today is Ada Lovelace Day, a day when we are asked to celebrate the women who have inspired us in our scientific lives.  I have to admit that ‘famous’ women such as Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin have no part in my mythology and the woman from history I wrote about recently, Mary Somerville, I am ashamed to say I had never heard of until quite la Continue reading →

Posted in Ada Lovelace, Camden School for Girls, education, inspiration, physics, teachers, Women in science | Comments Off on To Whom I Give My Vote of Thanks

Bragging Rights Central: New Archive Post

Posted on 7 October 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

October 2011 – March 2012

Ricardipus has been dominating recently; the rest of you clearly need to comment more.

Comment(s) of the week
Oct 7 2011:  Chall for “I’m in. Somehow I don’t think it will go worse than the current NFL pool…. Continue reading →

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Careering out of control

Posted on 7 October 2011 by Stephen

As Jenny mentioned this morning, I have a post on the Science is Vital campaign on science careers on the Times Eureka blog today. For those of you without a subscription, the text is reproduced here:

The business of science is essentially one of creative problem solving. But there is a problem within science that has long resisted resolution: how Continue reading →

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In which we lay hands on an oil tanker [9]

Posted on 7 October 2011 by Jennifer Rohn

Many of you have probably heard about the Science Careers campaign that we at Science Is Vital are currently running – which is also the reason I have not blogged for a few weeks. I’m a little in shock right now because I appear to have just obtained a full eight hours of sleep: I’d forgotten how that feels. (Since I’d also Continue reading →

Posted in careers, Policy, Science Funding, Science Is Vital, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which we lay hands on an oil tanker [9]

Numbers that limit us

Posted on 6 October 2011 by Frank Norman

The first big number that I remember learning about was Avogadro’s number, N, which is 6.022 x 1023 and represents the number of molecules in one gram-molecule of oxygen. My first chemistry teacher at school, Mr Horkan, was Russian-born and I remember he had a distinctive way of pronouncing ‘Avogadro’, with a heavy guttural accent Continue reading →

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So long, Steve, and thanks…

Posted on 6 October 2011 by rpg

Without further comment.

Steve Jobs

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The Teacher Feature

Posted on 6 October 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Writing my last (proper) post reminded me that way back in 2009 I started a series on my most influential teachers, and that I’d intended to include my PhD supervisor in the list. However, given that it’s World Teachers’ Day today (and seeing as I’d always planned to do this in chronological order), today I’m going to talk about my secondary school Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, education, Music, personal, science | Comments Off on The Teacher Feature

Bad review, good review, peer review, Parliamentary review [2]

Posted on 5 October 2011 by Sylvia McLain

Are neutrinos faster than light?

This is a big question at the moment since they have been ‘observed to be’ by a group of researchers recently. I myself am sceptical, Jon Butterworth wrote an excellent blogpost about this which points out some of the problems. However if it were to be true, its a REALLY BIG DEAL. Continue reading →

Posted in fast neutrinos, Parliamentary peer review committee, peer review, superfast neutrinos | Comments Off on Bad review, good review, peer review, Parliamentary review [2]

Balmy Beginnings, But What Comes Next?

Posted on 4 October 2011 by Athene Donald

Cambridge – like much of the country – was bathed in sunshine, hot sunshine this weekend. It was that weekend when our roads are cluttered up by cars full of suitcases, assorted bulging bags and guitar cases, and with bikes attached to the roof. It would normally have been the weekend when the railway station was heaving too, except that Railtrack Continue reading →

Posted in education, Freshers, HE White Paper, University Council, University of Cambridge | Comments Off on Balmy Beginnings, But What Comes Next?

A tour of Kings Cross / St Pancras

Posted on 4 October 2011 by Frank Norman

One of the sessions at Science Online London this year was about “offline communities in online networking“.  There are all kinds of groups around that either started as online groups or that use online tools to organise themselves and gain new members. One group that I am on the fringes of is LIKE – the London Information and Kno Continue reading →

Posted in Crick Institute, Froth, Kings Cross, LIKE, London, Regeneration, walking | Comments Off on A tour of Kings Cross / St Pancras