Latest posts

Macaroni and Montaigne

Posted on 26 January 2011 by Frank Norman

My Facebook page is looking very macaronic these days. Forget pasta; I’m talking language here. I am not an expert on Flemish vocal music from the Renaissance period, but I sometimes listen to a CD of music by Ockeghem and Josquin des Pres. That is how I learnt that ‘macaronic’ denotes a text that is a mixture of languages, such a Continue reading →

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In which we fail to meet expectations

Posted on 26 January 2011 by Jennifer Rohn

Sometimes you find yourself in a crowd, experiencing the unreal sense that you’re wearing a disguise, or acting out a part in a play, or watching yourself in a web-cam feed. Last week I attended the biennial meeting of Wellcome Trust Fellows, a gathering designed to allow chances to network, learn about each others’ work and discuss future funding Continue reading →

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The shove that dare not speak its name

Posted on 24 January 2011 by Stephen

The following is a commentary that has been published today (in a slightly edited form) in Chemistry and Industry.

Only the excellent need apply. Such was the message on research funding from nobelist Sir Paul Nurse, incoming president of the Royal Society. It is a message echoed by the Wellcome Trust — a major funder of the medical and life scienc Continue reading →

Posted in Excellence, Pressure, science, Science & Politics, Science Funding, Temperature, Volume | Comments Off on The shove that dare not speak its name

Peer review here we go again

Posted on 22 January 2011 by Sylvia McLain

Once again the peer-review vs. science online debate appears!

In an article by Peer review: Trial by Twitter - Apoorva Mandavilli talks about a lot of things but it mentions that science is getting ‘torn apart’ in the online media… which is ‘scary’ @rpg7twit (aka. Richard P Grant) has a nice response to this in the F10 Continue reading →

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Peer-review here we go again …

Posted on 22 January 2011 by Sylvia McLain

Once again the peer-review vs. science online debate appears!

In an article by Peer review: Trial by Twitter - Apoorva Mandavilli talks about a lot of things but it mentions that science is getting ‘torn apart’ in the online media… which is ‘scary’ @rpg7twit (aka. Richard P Grant) has a nice response to this in the F10 Continue reading →

Posted in Guest posts, peer review | Comments Off on Peer-review here we go again …

The Importance of Being Confident

Posted on 22 January 2011 by Stephen

The government is worried about the economy and rightly so. It’s in a bit of a state.

When Value Added Tax was raised by 2.5% to 20% at the turn of the year, there were nervous glances to see what impact it might have on consumer confidence. Continue reading →

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In which I marvel at a serious swag #fail

Posted on 19 January 2011 by Jennifer Rohn

Who doesn’t love a good conference swag bag? Yes, I know it’s frequently full of useless tat destined to go straight into the hotel bin. But what jolts the adrenalin as you paw through the bulging canvas sack in your jet-lagged haze is the promise of maybe one really, truly cool item: the gadget or gizmo that you’d be happy to swa Continue reading →

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Frankly dilutional

Posted on 12 January 2011 by Austin

In which I have the strong feeling that it’s Déjà vu all over again.

Ah, me. Homeopathy.

Continue reading →
Posted in Annoyances, Grumbling, Medicine, Pseudoscience | Comments Off on Frankly dilutional

Burying Pigs and Information

Posted on 9 January 2011 by Stephen

Ben Goldacre wrote a short blogpost today to bemoan the habit of many media outlets of not linking to the primary sources for their reports and headlines. He was referring to stories that have appeared today about Asian gangs abusing white girls (e.g. this form the BBC). In typically trenchant terms he dismisses such shoddy reporting, “If you Continue reading →

Posted in animal welfare, foot-and-mouth disease, science, Science & Media, Science & Politics, science communication | Comments Off on Burying Pigs and Information

Padding times three

Posted on 7 January 2011 by Stephen

Henry started it by banging on about his iPad. Somehow the subject of blogging came up and I mentioned the BlogPress app, so here I am testing it out. I used it once on MT4 but this is my first go on WordPress.

Seems OK so far…

Continue reading →
Posted in Blogging, filler material, Fun, iPad, Protein Crystallography, quora | Comments Off on Padding times three