Posts tagged as:

Science

British Science in the 21st century: The Royal Society on securing Britain’s future prosperity

March 8, 2010

It’s a week for significant science reports.  Following hot on the heels of the UK Expert Group on Science and Trust’s report on Monday comes what could well be a seminal work on science in 21st century Britain from the Royal Society.  In “The scientific century: securing our future prosperity” a distinguished panel of experts [...]

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

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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Researchers are real people too – thoughts on interviewing scientists

November 29, 2009

Andréia Azevedo Soares has just posted an excellent blog on how to interview scientists over at YS Journal – an on-line journal written, edited and published by students.  The piece is aimed specifically at students from 12 to 20 years old who are engaged with the Young Scientists Journal project from around the world, and [...]

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Science: So what? – So what?

November 27, 2009

I sat down this morning to write a light-hearted blog about the UK government’s “Science: So what? So everything” campaign.  The angle was going to be:
Why write about this when people want to read about this?
But the more I dug around, the more apparent it became that this is an initiative that seems to have [...]

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Do peer review journals need a media code of conduct?

October 14, 2009

Since when did peer review journals start to put press hits before published data?
Scientific peer review journals are a cornerstone of modern science – providing an authoritative repository of scientific discovery that researchers and others can examine, test and build upon.  Publication in peer review journals is the primary route by which new science is [...]

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Hooked on science – ten things that inspired me to become a scientist

September 3, 2009

How exactly did I get hooked on science?  It’s not something I’ve thought about too much before. But an invitation to discuss how to inspire the next generation of scientists, technologists and engineers next week has got me thinking…

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Graphically comparing 523 scientwists’ Twitter stats

August 24, 2009

Following on from yesterday’s update on my quest to track science influence on Twitter, I’ve posted a bubble-chart of the August “influence stats” for all 523 scientwists in David Bradley’s list over at Many Eyes.
Using the chart, you can quickly explore the number of followers, secondary followers, social capital and a handful of other Twitter [...]

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Science influence on Twitter – August update

August 23, 2009

It’s the middle of August, and time for my regular two-monthly update on science tweep influence on Twitter.
Back in April I posted data on three indicators of “influence” for ~400 science-focused Twitter users – based on David Bradley’s list of “Scientific Twitter Friends.” This is the third update of the indicators – the second was [...]

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TED talks science – 5 classic science talks, plus a couple of bonuses

July 22, 2009

The internet is littered with videos of science lectures and science talks – witness the recently posted “100 Incredible Lectures from the World’s Top Scientists” for instance.  But it’s not easy to sift through the tedious, the impenetrable and the down right boring, to arrive at a core of science talks that really are worth [...]

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Experiments in science engagement – the exquisite corpse!

July 14, 2009

Tim Jones has just posted a video of a new science engagement technique he’s working on over at his blog Zoonomian.  I was so impressed with the result that I asked his permission to post it here also.
Before explaining what this is, take a look at the video – it’s ten minutes long, but well [...]

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Nanotechnology on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour

July 2, 2009

Just a quick post (at least, as far as the text goes). Last week, I had the pleasure of appearing on Twit TV’s Dr. Kiki’s Science Hour with Kristen Sanford and Leo Laporte. The conversation covered nanotechnology from every conceivable angle. I should have known with Leo’s opening question – asking what [...]

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Science influence on Twitter – June update

June 23, 2009

Back in April I posted data on three indicators of “influence” for ~400 science-focused Twitter users – based on David Bradley’s list of “Scientific Twitter Friends.” Intrigued to see how these Tweeps’ influence evolves over time, I will be updating these data periodically.
In this first update (aided and abetted by @ruthseeley – thanks Ruth!), the [...]

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To tweet or not to tweet – social media and the scientific meeting

June 3, 2009

Should live tweeting and blogging from scientific meetings be controlled?
Back in May, Daniel MacArthur – a researcher and blogger – wrote a number of on-the-spot blogs on the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Biology of Genomes meeting.  By all accounts a number of people were tweeting and blogging from the meeting.  But Daniel had the [...]

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Vote for science

June 2, 2009

At least, vote for your favorite science blog post!  Voting is now open on the the 171 (yes – 171!) blog posts nominated for this year’s Quark award for science – being run by 3 Quarks Daily…

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Time to vote for your favorite science blogs

May 26, 2009

Science bloggers sometimes have a tough time being heard through the incessant chatter and endless distractions endemic to the web. Which is a shame, as there is a wealth of top-knotch writing out there to be digested and enjoyed, if only more people knew about it.  The good news is that a new award from [...]

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The long shout

May 13, 2009

In the long run, does art trump science?
Lateral communication—sending information from point to point around the world—is so fast and efficient these days that we tend to take it for granted.  But how good are we at passing information forward in time—what you might call longitudinal communication?  If we wanted to send a message to [...]

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Cultural smokescreens

May 6, 2009

50 years on, have we missed the point of C.P. Snow’s “Two-cultures?”
50 years ago, long before Richard Dawkins coined the term “meme,” the British scientist, public figure and novelist Charles Percy Snow planted an idea into the collective consciousness that has since grown to have a profound influence on science and the arts in Western [...]

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Science influence on Twitter

April 22, 2009

This is by way of a quick follow-on to yesterday’s post on the number of people on Twitter  following science-focused users.  As was pointed out, just logging the number of followers someone has on twitter is a poor indicator of either success or influence.  So, spurred into action, here is a rather more sophisticated analysis [...]

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As Twitter users skyrocket, how are the science tweeps doing?

April 21, 2009

Earlier today, David Bradley over at ScienceBase announced that his growing list of “Scientific Twitter Friends” has hit the 400 mark.  Given the recent explosion in Twitter use, I was intrigued to see how these science-types are faring in the brave new world of on-line communication, 140 characters at a time.

This is a bubble chart [...]

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Twitter: changing your perspective on reality, 140 characters at a time

April 14, 2009

13 “Twits” Who Will Change Your Perspective on Reality
Back in the days when Twitter was a mere slip of a social media service—around four months ago by my reckoning—it was a byword for meaningless web-chatter and banal exchanges.  But the service is growing up rapidly —not only in the number of users (which is skyrocketing, [...]

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Communication: Science and technology in a connected world

April 7, 2009

Part 3 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century
I’m fascinated by the power of communication.  The idea that someone’s perceptions and actions can be changed by information received through sight, sound or touch, is rather profound.  Even more so is the idea that, through exchanging information and ideas, people can [...]

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Coupling: Actions and consequences in a shrinking world

April 3, 2009

Part 2 of a series on rethinking science and technology for the 21st century
In the previous post in this series I introduced the idea of the three “C’s:” Coupling Communication and Control—three factors that together challenge conventional ideas on how science and technology are best developed and used within society.  Following on from that introduction, [...]

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Blogging the demise of science journalism

March 20, 2009

This week’s edition of Nature includes a thought provoking piece by Geoff Brumfiel on the decline of mainstream science journalism and the rise of science blogging.  The big question: Can one replace the other?  It’s a sobering read: Blumfiel paints a picture of old media in crisis—science coverage in the mainstream media is being cut [...]

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Darwin, evolution, and the genesis of intelligent design

February 11, 2009

Charles Darwin has a lot to answer for.  He saw the world with new eyes, fundamentally changed our understanding of nature, and upset a lot of people in the process.  200 years after his birth, Darwin’s work underpins modern biology.  His findings still challenge, stimulate and—amazingly—offend people the world over.  And his discoveries continue to [...]

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