What science becomes news?

A question almost constantly on the minds of (well, most, I guess) science communicators is: “Is this piece of research newsworthy? Will anyone CARE about it, and read what I write on the subject?” And, as a general rule, the bigger and more important the news outlet, the more crucial that question is. Thankfully, people […]

Scientific collaboration between researchers - map

Following my last post, which talked about work which has been done ranking the excellence of scientific organisations around the world, there’s this: a map of scientific collaboration between researchers. Developed by Olivier H. Beauchesne, who makes really interesting data-visualising maps, it looks at scientific collaboration between cities (and their researchers) all over the world. […]

Software Carpentry Bootcamp - a delicious name for a delicious thing

Friends! Readers! Random people who ended up here alone and confused! As hopefully all of you* know by now, the 2013 eResearch Symposium is next week in Christchurch.  Started in 2010, this illustrious and awesome event is all about the burgeoning field, of, well, eResearch. Which is still in the process, in many ways, of […]

The danger of science denial

This, ladies and gentlemen. THIS. Journalist Michael Specter gives an impassioned TED Talk on the danger of science denial. A brilliant talk, and something to be shared as widely as possible. _Especially_ with the anti-science people you know! Vaccine-autism claims, “Frankenfood” bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public’s growing fear (and, often, […]

Journals and personalities

Today, one of my favourite science (t)witterers, @enniscath, posed an intriguing question: Is it normal to assign personalities to scientific journals? e.g. Curr Biol is an enthusiastic extrovert; Nucl Acid Res is dull but worthy — Cath Ennis (@enniscath) February 19, 2013 I think it’s a marvellous idea :) I instantly proposed a thought… @enniscath […]

It’s Ada Lovelace Day!

Today, October 16th, is Ada Lovelace Day. Ada Lovelace, for those who didn’t already know (and you all do, right? * wink *), also called Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace, is one of the shining stars in mathematics and computer history. Yep, you heard right - a _girl_ was incredibly good at maths :P […]

Measuring the value of science

UPDATE: Please see the end of this piece, where I give examples of possible ‘good’ metrics The subject of innovation/science/tech/R&D, and its contribution to a country’s economy and society, appears to be top of mind for policymakers, funding bodies and scientific bodies all over the world. In New Zealand alone, MSI has set a target […]

So you think science is hogwash?

I think this piece almost perfectly sums up why I struggle not to become Quiet and Sarcastic* with anti-science people.   You stare into your high definition plasma screen monitor, type into your cordless keyboard then hit enter which causes your computer to convert all that visual data into a binary signal that’s processed by […]

TOSP Episode 22: February 27th 2012

Hello, and welcome to a very watery TOSP :) [Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] This week, Elf and aimee talk of things watery – watery planets, flying squid and plankton blooms – as well as new FTL neutrino info (what may have gone wrong), genius computer software, bioscience’s contribution to […]