From the category archives:

Odds and Ends

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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