Lindau and #MentoringSci
The latest Soapbox Science mini-series has been focusing on the role of mentors in science, tying in with this year’s Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting where almost 600 young scientists have the opportunity to meet each other and 25 Nobel laureates.
In our series of 14 guest posts we kicked off with a day dedicated to women in science. The next day we shifted focus to a couple of academic mentoring projects and an online schemes. During the series, we also heard from scientists who’ve received positive mentoring experiences, including from a high school teacher and a graduate supervisor. Finally, you may be thinking of becoming a mentor yourself and might appreciate these useful tips from Dr Bosch:
“Face‐to‐face meetings help to build trust, one of the most important ingredients for a successful mentor‐mentee relationship. Following through on scheduled meetings and other commitments are also essential for building trust.”
The full list of posts can also be found here– we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments. To get a taste of the Lindau conference, you can also read Storifys and blogging round-ups here.
Physics Time
This week physics has dominated the news, you can read our blogging coverage of the Higgs announcement here.
Boston blogger, Tinker Ready, continues the trend in her latest post by talking about the comeback of physics communicator, Walter Lewin:
With his European accent and electrically charged hair, Walter Lewin more than evokes the mad scientist of cartoons and B movies. For years, the MIT emeritus professor has been delivering silly, energetic, easy-to understand physics lectures. Videos of him swinging in front of the classroom on a huge pendulum went viral before anyone had coined the term.
Last year, he gave one last lecture. and retired at 75. But, this summer, he’s engaged in an encore performance. Lewin has prepared eight new lectures and is delivering them before live audiences for Japanese public television. On Monday – a brilliant summer morning – students and admirers packed a windowless lecture hall to see Lewin live.
Find out more about Walter’s lectures in Tinker’s post.
Courting cuttlefish
Scientists in Australia have observed the cuttlefish’s unique courting behaviour, which they call ‘tactical deception.’ Find out more in this video below, or read Cosmas Butunyi’s summary in the News Blog.
How a German christened America
The American continent might have been named ‘Columbia’, after Christopher Columbus, were it not for a sixteenth-century German cartographer, Martin Waldseemüller, reveals Quirin Schiermeier in the News Blog.
On a global map produced in 1507, Waldseemüller famously dubbed the New World ‘America’ — in honour of the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci, whom he mistook as having discovered the continent. In 2007, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented the precious, three-square-metre wall map to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. But today librarians at the Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Germany,announcedthat they have just discovered, between the pages of an otherwise unremarkable antique geometry book, a different version of that map (picture), also printed in 1507. It is one of the very few surviving ‘globe-segment’ maps, of which 100 or so may have been produced in Waldseemüller’s workshop in the monastery of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in Alsace (now part of France). Only four copies were previously known to researchers — one is now in Minneapolis, Minnesota; two are in Germany and the fourth was sold at auction in 2005, for US$1 million.
Learn more about this in Quirin’s post.
Q&A with a Chemist
The Spoonful of Medicine’s latest “Reactions” post is with Bas de Bruin, a chemist in the Department of Homogeneous and Supramolecular Chemistry at the van ‘t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA).
1. What made you want to be a chemist?
As a boy at the age of 10, I got inspired by visits to the laboratories of the KEMA institute in Arnhem (Netherlands), where my father took me sometimes. Since then I already wanted to become a chemist. This has not changed since.
2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?
I would probably be working in physics or biology, areas which have always appealed to me besides chemistry. I could well imagine exploring the fascinating world of deep-sea marine biology, for example.
Find out more about Bas de Bruin’s career in the post.
The Season of the Impact Factor
Christopher Surridge is talking about Impact Factors in Nature Protocol’s blog, Stepwise:
It is that time of year again! A bit like Christmas, now is the time when journal editors wait expectantly to open their presents; or in this case present singular. I’m talking about the annual release of Impact Factors from ISI. I’m not going to go through all the reasons why Impact Factors may not be the best way to judge scientific research. Katharine made some comments about that last year and I haven’t changed my opinion much since I railed against their tyranny at another journal. But Impact Factors and the other citation metrics probably say something about a journal so I thought I’d give you the numbers for Nature Protocols and say what I’m taking from them.
Chris’s favourite cover image from 2011.
You can find out these numbers in Chris’s post.
Nanotechnology Research
Mohammed Yahia discloses in the House of Wisdom Blog, that The American University in Cairo and the Zewail City of Science and Technology have partnered to establish a new research centre for applied nanotechnology research:
ZEWAIL CITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
The Center for Nanoelectronics and Devices (CND), which will be home to internationally published researchers from both institutes, will look into the uses of nanotechnology in diagnosing and combating diseases, water purification, improving food production and producing clean, renewable energy, among other fields. “Our aim is to develop a world-class center of excellence that is closely tied to the industry and is recognized internationally,” said Yehea Ismail, professor of electronics engineering and director of the center, in a press statement. “Working on the creation of advanced electronic sensors and devices could help solve Egypt’s most pressing problems, from traffic to hepatitis C.” Continue to Mohammed’s post to hear more about the centre.
(Photo Credit: Corey Aumiller, Blogspot )
No Sweat
Scitable’s student blogger, Naseem S, is talking about perspiration in her latest post –that nasty, embarrassing sensation you get when your underarms are soaked. Naseem explains why we perspire and the difference between antiperspirants and deodorants:
If you don’t want to smell, the easy way out is to jump in the shower or take a bath! But for everyday protection, it’s best to use an antiperspirantor deodorant (no, they’re not the same). Antipersperants have aluminum based compounds as an active ingredient that instantly block the pore of your sweat glands by 20%, but there’s a catch! They only work for a short while. Most deodorants can’t do that–they are alcohol based, acidic and use fragrances to disguise the icky odor. Wear loose-fitting, natural fiber clothing and please change your socks frequently!
Hear more from Naseem, in her post.
Always look on the bright side of life
Finally, Viktor Poór‘s latest cartoon urges scientists to look on the bright side of life:
Science is a competitive sport. You might be at the finish line of your research, when an other research group publish those results.
I guess, it happens at least once in every scientist’s life (if not you work on a too obscure topic and you won’t be able to publish your results). It happened to me last week, but always look on the bright side:
