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Author Archives: Stephen
No, DeepMind has not solved protein folding
(Please note that this post was updated on 12th Dec 2020 – see below) This week DeepMind has announced that, using artificial intelligence (AI), it has solved the 50-year old problem of ‘protein folding’. The announcement was made as the … Continue reading
Posted in Protein Crystallography, Science
23 Comments
Nature’s new open access option – a few first thoughts
A news article published online in Nature this morning discusses the announcement of new open access options in the Nature family of journals. The details are in the article, but the basic story (written by Holly Else) is that authors … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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Teaching online: how to use an iPad as a whiteboard
Last week I gave my first online tutorials in which I needed to scribble on a whiteboard and show the students their exam scripts from last term, which had been posted to my home. To solve both of these problems, … Continue reading
Posted in Science
5 Comments
In defence of the bureaucracy of equality, diversity and inclusion
The UK government’s new policy to reduce bureaucracy in research institutions aims at an easy target. But the bonfire of administration lit by the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, risks burning down the foundations of much-needed efforts to value … Continue reading
Posted in Equality Diversity & Inclusion, Science & Politics, Scientific Life
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Our Beirut Brexit
At 6:18 on the afternoon of Tuesday 4th August a huge store of ammonium nitrate exploded at the port of Beirut. The blast, one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history, killed nearly 200 people, injured thousands more, and … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, International, Science & Politics
3 Comments
In our elements
I have been coming to the Lake District on and off for much of my life. It is my favourite corner of England. I first came in 1981 when I was seventeen, as one of half a dozen venture scouts … Continue reading
Posted in Scientific Life
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Comet NEOWISE – catch it if you can
Comet NEOWISE has come but not yet gone. If there is no cloud cover for the next night or two, you might be able to catch its wispy presence low in the north-west before it fades from view. Don’t feel bad … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy
2 Comments
Augmented reality: me and my hearing aids
When I started out on this blog back in ’08 I made a passing observation about my age, having noticed I was increasingly lifting my glasses to read the date on my watch. Not long afterwards I upgraded to varifocals. … Continue reading
Posted in Communication, Technology
16 Comments
UK R&D Roadmap 2020: big picture poses big questions
The latest in a long line of R&D strategy documents from the UK government reveals some promising evolution in its strategic thinking. But while it touches on a wide range of complex and interacting challenges, the precise direction of travel … Continue reading
Posted in Science & Politics
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The Flattened Curve
The lockdown might have flattened the curve of infection and death, but it has also flattened the curve and swell of life. Existence has shrunk to fit within four walls; life ‘outside’ has largely been compressed within the flat rectangles of … Continue reading
Posted in Science
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The still unsustainable goal of university ranking
The new and improved Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2020 were published this week with as much online fanfare as THE could muster. Unfortunately, they are not improved enough. The Impact Rankings score participating universities on how well their … Continue reading
Posted in Research Assessment, Scientific Life
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Three weeks
Just three weeks ago, on eve of the weekend, my wife and I met an old friend for dinner at a restaurant in Southwark. Even then, the most normal things in the world were beginning to feel risky. Our friend … Continue reading
Posted in Science
2 Comments
