Latest posts

Expectations

Posted on 25 September 2016 by Athene Donald

Nature this week published its annual (and international) survey on salaries. As the article points out, many respondents use the survey as a means of venting, so the survey also provides a snapshot of (self-selecting and therefore not necessarily representative) attitudes towards jobs and careers from around the world. Many people are happy. A con Continue reading →

Posted in advice, careers, early career researchers, Royal Society, Science Culture | Comments Off on Expectations

In which the calm cowers before the storm

Posted on 21 September 2016 by Jennifer Rohn

Can you hear it?

Yes, that’s the sound of a distinct lack of undergraduates knocking around the place. Even the summer lab students have departed, off for a few weeks of R&R or debauchery before the grind kicks back in again.

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Posted in academia, students, Teaching, The profession of science | Comments Off on In which the calm cowers before the storm

Withdrawal Symptoms

Posted on 20 September 2016 by Athene Donald

As a new PI what advice is likely to be of assistance? Eight of us old hands were recently asked by the THE to write some words of wisdom, which newly-minted PI’s may or may not have found useful. Their tenor varied. There was ‘Don’t worry: we are all just making it up as we go along’ from Cambridge colleague Ottoline Leyser – which sounds quite en Continue reading →

Posted in advice, early career researchers, mentoring, principal investigator, Research, Science Culture | Comments Off on Withdrawal Symptoms

Freeing the Brain

Posted on 17 September 2016 by Athene Donald

I’ve been away for the past week somewhere where I really could escape my email. (My previous post about whether one should read email on holiday was written with feeling!) When I go away I particularly like to go somewhere with water, frequently close to the sea. This year I had the pleasure of staying in a cottage overlooking the River Wye. Continue reading →

Posted in academia, holidays, River Wye | Comments Off on Freeing the Brain

The Lasker book prize

Posted on 15 September 2016 by Frank Norman

Well, not really.

The 2016 Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science has been given to Bruce M. Alberts for “Discoveries in DNA replication, and leadership in science and education”.

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Posted in Books, Prizes | Comments Off on The Lasker book prize

Pride and Prejudice and journal citation distributions: final, peer reviewed version

Posted on 12 September 2016 by Stephen

Today sees the publication on bioRxiv of a revised version of our preprint outlining “A simple proposal for the publication of journal citation distributions.” Our proposal, explained in more detail in this earlier post, encourages publishers to help mitigate the distorting effects on research assessment of journal impact factors (JIFs) by providin Continue reading →

Posted in Academic publishing, Preprints | Comments Off on Pride and Prejudice and journal citation distributions: final, peer reviewed version

Goodbye David – my brother and childhood hero

Posted on 11 September 2016 by Sylvia McLain

My older brother, David McLain, died suddenly of a heart attack on August 18, 2016. He was only 51 years old and none of us saw this coming. He was a force of nature, my big brother, I already miss the hell out of him – right down to his more stupid jokes. I can still just about remember the sheer joy of me and David rolling down the hill i Continue reading →

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Failure in Real Life

Posted on 8 September 2016 by Athene Donald

Before my university term starts, I have two dates towards the end of September to talk to young women. One of these is directed at girls of school age, the other women at PhD level, to try to encourage them that science and women mix perfectly well and careers in science may be satisfying and fruitful (note, I don’t just mean academic science eith Continue reading →

Posted in Communicating Science, CV, Outreach, school children, Science Culture, Stuart Firestein | Comments Off on Failure in Real Life

Changing horizons

Posted on 8 September 2016 by Frank Norman

Much years. So change. Sniff. 

I have left the place where I worked for the past (almost) 27 years and I have started in a new place of work. Continue reading →

Posted in Libraries and librarians | Comments Off on Changing horizons

Commuting and communities

Posted on 8 September 2016 by Erika Cule
Biodiversity in Stevenage

Biodiversity in Stevenage
Stevenage, Hertfordshire

Crick's Corner, 80 Dartmouth Park Hill, London N19

Outpost of The Crick, closed Sundays after 1pm
80 Dartmouth Park Hill, London N19

Posted in Life, Meta, Photography, Skies, Stevenage, The Crick | Comments Off on Commuting and communities