Author Archives: Stephen

Prize-winning video

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Stephen

Well this is nice. The Celebrating Crystallography video made last year by the Royal Institution, which I narrated and helped to script-edit, has won the the EuroScience New Media award. Full details are available on the RI blog but it’s great to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Science, Science & Media | 4 Comments

Copyright Infringement

Posted on November 22, 2014 by Stephen

This morning I received an email from a publisher inviting me to write a chapter for an ‘upcoming hardcover edited collection’ on a topic of research to which I have made a number of contributions over the years. I politely declined because of … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Scientific Life | 14 Comments

Digital culture: my so-called week

Posted on October 19, 2014 by Stephen

My week, my cultural week, started last Sunday when I found time to catch up with Radio 4’s five-part series on Dorothy Hodgkin, an extraordinary scientist who was brought vividly to life through readings of her letters. Hearing the words … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, Science & Art, TV review | Comments Off on Digital culture: my so-called week

Debating the role of metrics in research assessment

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Stephen

I spent all of today attending the “In metrics we trust?” workshop organised jointly by HEFCE and the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at Sussex University. This was part of the information-gathering process of HEFCE’s independent review of the role of … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Popular neuroscience book suggestions

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Stephen

Neuroscience isn’t really my thing, so when my teenage daughter came asking for suggestions of a good popular book on the subject I took to Twitter. Several people kindly made suggestions, while others asked to be notified of the outcome … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Advice on presentations: I’m not as clever as you think

Posted on July 23, 2014 by Stephen

I spent the last two days in Leicester at Translation UK, a two-day conference that is an annual gathering for scientists working on all aspects of translation — the protein synthesis kind. The conference is friendly and informal. It is … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | 8 Comments

Australia Tour 2014

Posted on July 10, 2014 by Stephen

It’s funny how one thing leads to another. The video of my Friday Evening Discourse at the Royal Institution last year caught the attention of a former colleague and produced an invitation to contribute a lecture to her plans to … Continue reading →

Posted in Protein Crystallography, Science | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The REF: what is the measure of success?

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Stephen

Science has been extraordinarily successful at taking the measure of the world, but paradoxically the world finds it extraordinarily difficult to take the measure of science — or any type of scholarship for that matter. That is not for want … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

Mars Attacks (the senses)

Posted on May 10, 2014 by Stephen

Last night on Twitter someone posted a ‘selfie’ taken by the Mars Curiosity rover. It’s quite a photograph, particularly since it captures a fantastic piece of human technology amidst the landscape of another planet. The detail is what makes the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Science | Tagged , | Comments Off on Mars Attacks (the senses)

Get out of the laboratory

Posted on May 4, 2014 by Stephen

The Society for General Microbiology (SGM) kindly awarded me this year’s Peter Wildy Prize Lecture, which I delivered at their Spring meeting in Liverpool just a few weeks ago. The prize is given for “an outstanding contribution to microbiology education … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Scientific Life | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Losing my virginity and the Café Scientifique Reading List

Posted on April 30, 2014 by Stephen

Last night I lost my virginity. To be precise, I lost my Café Scientifique virginity because I gave a talk about science in a café in Portsmouth at the kind invitation of local organiser Maricar Jagger. It was a really … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Communication, Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Open Access — yes you can

Posted on April 20, 2014 by Stephen

For researchers who have never dipped a toe into the debates on open access that surge across the blogosphere it is all too easy to imagine that they need not get involved. For sure, people are increasingly aware that a decision … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , , | 25 Comments