Latest posts

Not log tables [6]

Posted on 23 August 2011 by Austin

 

Room to spread out

I come from a family of decidedly womble-ing tendencies.

In other words, we tend to acquire objects, and do not tend to throw them away. Continue reading →

Posted in Family business, Getting old, History, The Life Scientific | Comments Off on Not log tables [6]

A momentary lapse of reason—Chapter Four

Posted on 21 August 2011 by rpg

Chapter Three

The Postdoc

Brad stared at the printout in front of him. There it was again, that damned high molecular weight peak he had seen on both previous runs. Everything else was normal, or as close to normal as to be normal, as his PhD advisor had often repeated. But, once again that damned peak. Continue reading →

Posted in A momentary, A momentary lapse of reason | Comments Off on A momentary lapse of reason—Chapter Four

Bafflement and effort

Posted on 20 August 2011 by Erika Cule

From Robbins to McKinsey – The Dismantling of the Universities by Professor Stefan Collini (Faculty of English, University of Cambridge) is a thoughtful, articulate and damming critique of the Browne report (pdf) and subsequent Higher Education White Paper (pdf).

Cover image of the London Review of Books Volume 33 Issue 16

© LRB Ltd

It is published online and in print in the London Review of Books (vol Continue reading →

Posted in 1984, bafflement, Browne report, effort, George Orwell, Higher Education White Paper, longreads, university | Comments Off on Bafflement and effort

Advice on taking advice

Posted on 20 August 2011 by Steve Caplan

Last week I pontificated wrote about my views on the traits that are necessary for a scientist to survive and indeed thrive in today’s world. And while there seems to be agreement that “luck” “fate” and “opportunity” are certainly useful for scientists, I sensed a lot of support for my premise that resilien Continue reading →

Posted in advice, critiques, education, faculty, fate, journals, learn, luck, mentor, mentors, opportunity, papers, PI, post-doc, post-docs, Research, reviews, science, student, students, success | Comments Off on Advice on taking advice

Graubunden

Posted on 19 August 2011 by Henry Gee

As you both no doubt know, part of my job as an editor at Your Favourite Weekly Etcetera is to travel round the place doing my stand up routine talk about how we editors handle papers, demystifying the editorial life to any scientists present, whether they want me to or not. The idea is to show that editors are actually human beings (I was the best Continue reading →

Posted in language, Lombard, one of our alpenhorns is missing, Romansch, Science Is Vital, Writing & Reading, Zurich | Comments Off on Graubunden

SNAFU

Posted on 18 August 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Posted without comment

Note URL...

Posted in grant wrangling, Silliness, technology | Comments Off on SNAFU

Sir Charles Harington (1897-1972)

Posted on 17 August 2011 by Frank Norman

I have been working for a few weeks to put together some posters for a small internal exhibition about Charles Harington, one of our past directors.  I hope it might be of interest to a wider audience, so I have turned it into this blog post. 

Sir Charles Harington

Sir Charles Harington

A true biochemist. Continue reading →

Posted in History, Research Councils, Research management | Comments Off on Sir Charles Harington (1897-1972)

On keeping a good notebook

Posted on 17 August 2011 by rpg

(Lazy cross-post time: also at Naturally Selected)

One of the first and most important things a neophyte scientist learns–or at least, is taught–is the importance of keeping a comprehensive and accurate record. We all know it’s a good thing, and yet I’d wager most of us struggle with it. Who hasn’t scribbled a calcula Continue reading →

Posted in Ethics, science | Comments Off on On keeping a good notebook

Serendipity luckydippery

Posted on 17 August 2011 by Frank Norman

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country, with tropical beaches, lush hill country, tea plantations, spice gardens and a fiery cuisine.  The Arabic name for the island was Serendib, “from the Sanskrit Simhaladvipa which literally translates to “Dwelling-Place-of-Lions Island”  (thankyou, Wikipedia). There is a Persian fairy tale called The Three Prin Continue reading →

Posted in History | Comments Off on Serendipity luckydippery