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Predicting your academic career
Publication metrics and success on the academic job market David van Dijk, Ohad Manor, Lucas B. Carey Current Biology 2014 Vol 24 No 11 R516 I caught this paper in a TOC email from Current Biology. “Predict who becomes a PI” they say. “Hmm,” I think, “This should be interesting.” The abstract sets out the…
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The physics of human walking and considering the wider picture
Impulsive ankle push-off powers leg swing in human walking Susanne W. Lipfert, Michael Günther, Daniel Renjewski, and Andre Seyfarth J Exp Biol 2014 217:1218-1228. I love papers like this. The extreme level of detail people go to in the quest to discover is fascinating. The question that always comes to my mind is “What made them decide…
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How to (not) do science writing
This is a repost of an interesting and humorous post from Green Tea and Velociraptors – Jon Tennant gives some pointers on good science writing for both specialist and non-specialist audiences. Bare in mind the sarcastic tone! via Spice up your science with these 10 simple steps.
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Ginger SNPs
As part of the Royal Institution’s video Advent calendar series for 2013, ‘Chromosome’, I presented a little video about a gene on Chromosome 16, melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), called ‘Genetically Ginger’.
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The difficulty celebrating my first first-author paper
The paper that my thesis worked towards was published last week.
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Genomic parasites
Genomic parasites – we all have them but how are they kept under control? You may think you are parasite free. “No malaria, bilharzia or tapeworms in me”, I hear you say… If you think this you’re actually mistaken. Humans, and many organisms besides, carry parasites within their own DNA. These parasites have left behind…
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Why have a circadian clock?
Almost every animal and plant on the planet has a circadian clock, even those that live in the depths of the sea and deep underground in caves. The presence of clocks in almost all life-forms implies that it is a helpful or advantageous characteristic, an evolutionary adaptation, serving to improve the fitness of the organism. This…
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Explainer Science News 07.08.13
This week, some research news for the Explainer team at the Science Museum – encompassing research from the whole of July, 2013.
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How do you communicate the benefit of applied science to people who still live hand to mouth?
As I said in my last post, the Planet Earth Institute asked me to write a second piece after my write-up of the #ScienceAfrica UnConference. Because of my background in research, science communication and now science education (and because of the expertise of my wife, Joanne, in development; she works as a water and sanitation…
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Planet Earth Institute #scienceafrica UnConference
In case you wanted to find out a bit more about the Africa’s Scientific Independence conference, the Planet Earth Institute made a Prezi of points and pictures from the day (I’m even in one of the photos!). Catch it on the prezi website. Watch this space for further articles on science/science communication/science education in the…
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