Author Archives: rpg

bq. just saw AVATAR… long and a bit boring in places but GODDAM AMAZING EFFECTS says the Elder Pawn on her Facebook profile. Which is a succinct review, if a little lacking in insight. But she’s right: I took the … Continue reading →

bq. I should imagine that most readers of this blog do not seriously think that women are any less able, intrinsically, than men to do science. (Wired readers excepted.) It all started when I gave a friend a Bosch cordless … Continue reading →

You already know I’m a propeller-head. I heart technology. I’ll love any gadget as long as it’s black. Or has wings. Preferably both. So there I was, ready to write a serious blog post about sexism and whatnot, and decided … Continue reading →

Benoit’s comment on Jenny’s blog reminds me of the time that I was scooped, but not because my boss was carefree with data. I’ll tell you about that some other time, though, because there’s an another issue he mentions that’s … Continue reading →

Some Friday cell porn for you. Among other things, I used to be a cell biologist (which reminds me: I need to blog about Jenny’s mis-classification of me). I used to be able to spend hours simply peering down microscopes … Continue reading →

Regular listeners will remember the Science Online London gathering back in August. The day before, Mendeley hosted a pre-conference ‘fringe’ event, organized by Jenny. It turned out to be quite a wild evening, and there is video evidence of shenanigans. … Continue reading →

Who gets custody of the Gilsons? I’ve left a few labs in my time. It’s part of the nature of science: we’re all at least a little bit itinerant, needing or wanting to move on every few years (except for … Continue reading →

Following on from a number of posts about mentors or mentorship, I got thinking about my own experience of being on the receiving end of leadership. I should think that most of us who have had the fortune to work … Continue reading →

“Scientific publishing is not primarily about communication. It’s a way of keeping score.” Discuss.

Over on another planet blog Darren Saunders asks what is an Associate Faculty Member (AFM). There was some sales training on this subject last week and I sat in, so I should know. I’ve also been re-writing the FAQs for … Continue reading →