Odds and Ends

Brain candy for the intellectually incapacitated – the sequel

by Andrew Maynard December 22, 2011

Two years ago I posted links to ten (relatively) mindless online “games” as a bit of fun, and as something not too taxing to indulge in over the holiday break.  Having reached that point again where anything more intellectually challenging than tic tac toe makes my head hurt, I thought I would revisit and update [...]

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Didn’t get a reply to your email? This might be why:

by Andrew Maynard November 16, 2011

You sent me an email and didn’t hear back?  This might explain it: OK so it’s not a serious decision chart.  But it’s beginning to look increasingly attractive! I always have the best of intentions when it comes to keeping up with my email correspondence.  But increasingly I find myself struggling to keep up. The [...]

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Brushing off the academic time planner

by Andrew Maynard September 1, 2011

With the new university year just about to kick off, I thought I would brush off that most essential of items that no faculty member is ever without: the Academic Time Planner.  Here’s what it looks like: Things to do this year: Prepare and deliver a great number of mind-blowing lecture courses that make even [...]

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The ultimate rules list for accepting speaking engagements

by Clare Maynard May 30, 2011

I think I might have just accepted one speaking engagement too many!  After years of patiently bearing the brunt of my grueling travel schedule, my wife Clare has finally put her foot down.  Sorry folks – if you want me to speak at your meeting, these are the new rules! After nearly 24 years of [...]

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James Gleick’s Chaos – the enhanced edition

by Andrew Maynard April 9, 2011

In 1987 I got my Bachelors of Science in physics, Prozac was launched in the US, and James Gleick published Chaos.  I don’t think the middle one has any bearing on the other two.  But the first and last are tentatively linked because, despite being completely jazzed on physics, I didn’t read it. Being a [...]

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Davos 2011 – Partnering with teens to build a better world

by Andrew Maynard January 29, 2011

This is not a science and technology post – which is a bit odd for a science and technology blog.  But I wanted to introduce five people who together shake up the whole idea of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos as being an elitist and increasingly irrelevant gathering of middle aged balding guys [...]

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Knitting science

by Andrew Maynard July 25, 2010

Sitting in a meeting on informal science education recently, I was intrigued to see a respected academic working on her knitting.  And she wasn’t the only one.  Now I may have had a something of a sheltered life, but in over twenty years of attending scientific conferences and workshops, I think this was the first [...]

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Have iPad, will travel – 48 hours on the road with Apple’s iPad

by Andrew Maynard April 17, 2010

I owe my nearly-thirteen year old son – big-time!  This time next week he will be the proud recipient of an iPad – part birthday present, part relocation “compensation” and part his own personal investment.  But in the meantime, I’m here at 30,000 feet, typing on his intended device – being a kind soul, he [...]

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The politics of change

by Andrew Maynard April 11, 2010

Well, it’s been a week since I upped sticks from D.C. and started my new life as an academic in Ann Arbor. It’s been an eventful week, with the start of a several-month commute between my family who are still in Northern Virginia and Michigan, and beginning to find my feet in a new town, [...]

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Scientists and social media – This is not a case study

by Ruth Seeley January 4, 2010

By Ruth Seeley, No Spin PR. A little over a year ago, Ruth Seeley – a freelance communications consultant – rather bravely approached me with a proposition:  She would help me develop a social media strategy for 2020 Science, if I would let her write the experience up as a case study.  Was she mad?  [...]

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2020 Science in 2009 – and a chance to win a rather nifty 2020 Science Mug!

by Andrew Maynard January 1, 2010

I know you’re supposed to look forward at the beginning of the new year, but having done that the other day, I thought I would take this opportunity to have a quick glance back at the last 12 months of 2020 Science.  And just to keep your attention – I know how tedious these retrospectives [...]

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Scientist just wants to have fun – a compendium of mindless games for the holiday season!

by Andrew Maynard December 22, 2009

Brain-candy for the intellectually incapacitated. To help the brain cells recuperate from over-exertion (and quite possibly over-indulgence) this Holiday season, here’s a short compendium of mindless games – the sort of things scientists and others indulge in when they think no-one’s looking!

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Texas Instruments – transforming the world, one graphing calculator at a time (or, Where I Went Wrong With My Life)

by Andrew Maynard September 13, 2009

I always thought mathematics at school was all about being taught a new language – one that helps us live in a culture built on numbers, enables scientists and engineers to understand and control the world we live in, and enriches us by revealing the underlying complexity and beauty of the universe. I was wrong…

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