Archive by date | December 2008

The Sceptical Twitterer?

One of the most frequent questions I am asked at conferences is ‘what do you do all day?’ It’s always hard to envision what someone else’s job is like; this is probably particularly true with me because I’m outside of the ‘normal’ scientific careers of academia and industry. I thought one simple way to try to tell you all what my day is like would be to give you a blow-by-blow account. So, here goes! Hope it’s not too boring…  … Read more

NChem Research Highlights: Bryostatin, dendrimers and rowing microparticles

A busy week in the Nature Chemistry office: Anne has just returned from a tour of Japanese universities, Stu is about to head off to Bath for Catalysis and Sensing for our Environment 08, Gav’s already in Grenoble for ElecMol 08, Steve’s visiting Harvard tomorrow and I’m off to a symposium in honour of Professor the Lord Lewis of Newnham at the Royal Society on Thursday and Friday. Phew! But we’ve still time to bring you a dose of Research Highlights.  Read more

Materials Girl: Old school, new school

Posted on behalf of Materials Girl Fourth year as an undergrad reminds me of being a high-school senior, only more complicated with the wider range of post-graduation options. Still, the ultimate goal generally remains the same: to secure a source of income while pursuing personal interests. (This poses an interesting question regarding why people even go to college – to get a better job, for the pure joy of learning, because it’s expected, to avoid the real world? Aside from the last part, I fell in the category of “all of the above”). In the high school days, seniors were  … Read more