Archive by category | Public and media

Standing up for science in public

Reporting of scientific research is sometimes exaggerated or at worse inaccurate. Researchers need to change this and have the power to do so. So states the August Editorial in Nature Immunology (10, 795; 2009). Although attention-grabbing headlines might increase subscriptions or traffic to newspaper websites, such reporting is irresponsible to the public and to science in general. Even if the article itself is more balanced, many readers never get much beyond the headlines, which include: “Man flu is not a myth; “Burger fellas firing blanks”; red wine is a “cancer-busting antioxidant”; and a 47-million-year-old fossil of a lemur-like animal is a “missing link” in human evolution.  Read more

Holiday reading suggestions from Nature Methods

The Editorial in the July issue of Nature Methods is the journal’s popular annual round up of summer reading (Nat. Meth. 6, 471; 2009). According to the Editorial, for those who look hard enough there are a few good fiction books to be found with refreshingly realistic biologists as central characters in laboratory settings. A mix of the old and the new follows, including brief accounts of Cantor’s Dilemma by Carl Djerassi; Intuition by Allegra Goodman; Long for this World by Michael Byers; Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis; Experimental Heart by Jennifer Rohn; and Mendel’s Dwarf by Simon Mawer.  Read more

NSMB on US visa procedures for scientists

The US State Department promises to accelerate the visa process for foreign graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, a promise welcomed by Nature Structural & Molecular Biology in its July Editorial (16, 677; 2009). The Editorial decries the occasions when researchers have been severely delayed in trying to obtain or renew visas, leaving some stranded and others unable to travel to the United States for work or to attend scientific meetings.  Read more

Responsible nanotechnology research

Various codes of conduct have been proposed for nanotechnology —and in the June issue of Nature Nanotechnology (4, 336; 2009), Richard Jones examines what they mean for individual researchers, particularly in the light of the European Commission’s code, aimed at academic research rather than at businesses and other commerce.  Read more

Thursday 25 June: Women in Science, Engineering and Technology – and the recession

The UK Resource Centre for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology is hosting an evening of speakers and discussion on Thursday 25 June at the Institute of Physics,London, 6pm – 8.30pm (approx). There are some spaces left – men and women are very welcome, but booking in advance is essential.  Read more

Incentives needed for science outreach, says Nature Neuroscience

In its June Editorial Encouraging science outreach, Nature Neuroscience (12, 665 ; 2009) responds to US President Obama’s recent call for more scientist involvement in education. Science outreach programs are very welcome, states the Editorial, but to be effective, they must include incentives for teachers and better training for scientist volunteers if true change is to be achieved.  Read more

The Nature Big Science Debate: A Biological Century?

On Monday 8 June, Nature is hosting The Big Science Debate: A Biological Century? The event starts at 7 p.m. at Kings Place 90 York Way, London NI. Physics, biology and chemistry have all helped define the twentieth century. Many world-changing innovations from physics include electric power, the microchip and the internal combustion engine. In biology and chemistry, an agricultural revolution has helped to feed a growing population. But some of these advances have also helped to create climate change and a rate of species-loss not seen since the last mass extinction. What will physics and biology look like 50 years from now? And what might the impacts be?  Read more

Dangers of scientific publicity machines

A hyped-up fossil find highlights the potential dangers of publicity machines, according to one of the Editorials in today’s Nature (459, 484; 2009 – free to access online). The Editorial describes last week’s publication of paper describing a 47-million-year-old fossil primate with a remarkable degree of preservation, which quickly led to enormous media and internet coverage, including claims that the fossil is a “missing link” in human evolution. The Editorial describes how, “in the paper the authors explicitly state that Darwinius masillae “could represent a stem group from which later anthropoid primates evolved, but we are not advocating this here, nor do we consider either Darwinius or adapoids to be anthropoids”. The authors also refrain from claiming that the fossil changes our understanding of primate evolution.”  … Read more