Author Archives: Stephen

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

Open Access – reasons to be cheerful: a reply to Agrawal

Posted on April 2, 2014 by Stephen

A opinion piece by Anurag Agrawal that was rather skeptical about some aspects of moves toward open access was published in the March issue of Trends in Plant Sciences. I felt several of the arguments advanced by Agrawal were rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Moon Boy

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Stephen

After splashdown at 4:51 pm on 24th July 1969 the Apollo 11 astronauts returning from the first moon landing  had to don full-body Biological Isolation Garments before they could leave the conical command module that was bobbing in the Pacific Ocean. … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, Technology | Tagged , , | 8 Comments

The horror is in the detail

Posted on March 13, 2014 by Stephen

I recently came across a film on YouTube called ‘Unedited footage of the bombing of Nagasaki (silent)’. It is one of the dullest and most horrific things I have ever seen. The film shows US servicemen on Tinian island performing … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Impressions of Turner

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Stephen

I may not know much about art but I know what I like and I like the work of Joseph Mallord William Turner — all the more so now that I have seen the Turner and the Sea exhibition at the National Maritime … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Art | Tagged , , | 14 Comments

Unfinished Business

Posted on January 11, 2014 by Stephen

I’ve reached that age where my eye is drawn to the obituary column every time I open the newspaper. It hasn’t been a conscious move but, having arrived at my fiftieth year, I am increasingly aware of the hopes of … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 30 Comments

The Schekman Manoeuvre

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Stephen

This is the original version (with the original title) of an article that has been published at The Conversation.  Having climbed all the way to the Nobel prize on a ladder made of Nature, Science and Cell papers, biologist Randy Schekman has … Continue reading →

Posted in Open Access, Scientific Life | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments