Category Archives: Scientific Life

From the pedestal – take 3

Posted on January 14, 2012 by Stephen

Earlier this week I had an interesting email from Jesse Shore, President of Australian Science Communicators, about a blog post I wrote back in 2010. Jesse has kindly agreed to let me post our brief correspondence so I’ll let him … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Work and Energy

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Stephen

It has been a quiet week in lab woebegone*. Though we have been working to pack up everything for a move across campus in mid-January, Christmas has intervened to scatter us to our homes, where traditionally we have the time … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 17 Comments

First Anniversary

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Stephen

A year ago today Occam’s Typewriter made its debut on the blogosphere and I published my first post at the new home of Reciprocal Space. It’s been a good twelve months. OT has established itself as a home thoughtful and … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 21 Comments

Real and False Economy

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Stephen

Last week I went to Germany to talk to a pharmaceutical company about my work on the blood protein, human serum albumin. It set me thinking. But first I need to tell you about albumin. Albumin is a surprisingly abundant … Continue reading →

Posted in Protein Crystallography, Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Incoming

Posted on November 24, 2011 by Stephen

I gave a talk a couple of weeks ago at a Biochemical Society meeting on the subject of the Research Excellence Framework, the process that will assess UK academic research quality for the purpose of determining how a large tranche … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Perusing the Papers

Posted on September 25, 2011 by Stephen

Last night, having rounded off a busy week with a day of manual labour helping to repair my mother-in-law’s kitchen floor, I retired to bed early with the newspaper. Saturday’s Guardian, if you want to know. It was delightful. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Scientific Life | Tagged | 12 Comments

I’m a Scientist – making the film

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Stephen

Today sees the release of my new film: I’m a Scientist. It’s about scientists. Please take a look either here, or on the web-site that I have created specially for it*. The film was a long time coming. I had … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fun, Science, Science & Media, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 45 Comments

Is Massively Collaborative Scientific Publishing Possible?

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Stephen

The job of a newspaper columnist is to agitate and George Monbiot did exactly that last week with a furious rant in The Guardian about academic publishers. It may have been an odd choice for most of his readers but … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Open Access, Science, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 113 Comments

Coming Soon

Posted on August 29, 2011 by Stephen

Today sees the release of the new trailer of my latest and most ambitious film project. In doing so I am following the sound advice of Richard Hamming and forcing my own hand. With the trailer now on public view, I will … Continue reading →

Posted in Communication, Fun, Scientific Life | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Science, it’s a bloody marvel

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Stephen

Michael Brooks has scratched beneath the glossy surface of science to write a revealing and thoroughly entertaining book about its practitioners. By cutting so close to the scientific bone that it spills blood, his “Free Radicals” departs violently from the … Continue reading →

Posted in History of Science, Science & Politics, Scientific Life | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Rhythms of Life

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Stephen

Some say April is the cruellest month but I found July to be more punishing. You might think that, for university staff like myself, July would bring respite from the tiresome enslavement of exam and project marking that fills all … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientific Life | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Science is Vital: Letter to my MP

Posted on October 18, 2010 by Stephen

I am presently attending a conference on Caliciviruses in Chile and am enjoying being immersed in both the warm spring sunshine and the latest research on this important group of pathogens. Any of you who has suffered at the hands … Continue reading →

Posted in Science & Politics, Scientific Life | 12 Comments