We’re almost finished introducing you to each of the blogs in the new look nature.com blogs network. We’ve already heard from the editors about the News blog, the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist,  Stepwise, Naturejobs, Trade Secrets , Indigenus, House of Wisdom and Methagora. We complete the list of blogs by journal and portal editors, with Free Association by Nature Genetics. Senior Editor, Orli Bahcall tells us more…

Transitions

We launched Free Association in November 2005, as one of the first two Nature Publishing Group journal blogs. Our blog was launched as a pioneering effort by our then Senior Editor Alan Packer (who has since moved to a position as Associate Director for Research at the Simons Foundation) as a new way for the editors of Nature Genetics to engage our community.  We did so with excitement about interacting and discussing papers and community issues on a more informal level than is possible in our print publication.  At the same time, I recall that we (the Nature Genetics editors at the time) shared some concerns about what we would be able to discuss, given the confidential nature of the peer review process. We also wondered if our community of authors, reviewers, and readers alike would manage to find time and interest in posting on our site.  While these concerns have in some part remained, we have a new perspective as we move into the 7^th year of this blog and with the launch of this new site.

Over these years, we have maintained Free Association as an editor driven blog, used to highlight and discuss our own content, press and feedback from the community, and to announce special events.  We will continue to post on these topics, and are also welcoming guest posts on topics relevant to our own content and our genetics/genomics community.

We have also experimented with using this blog as one means to discuss and develop community standards and research guidelines relevant to our community, but we have now shifted to using the data standards section of Nature Precedings  for this purpose.

This coming year will also mark the 20^th anniversary of the launch of Nature Genetics.  I have been fortunate enough to be an editor here since 2004 (yes, I do remember our pages pre-GWAS), and have to admit that every year I find myself saying that this is one of the most exciting times to be in this field.  We have much to celebrate in advances within the genetics and genomics communities.   All I will say for now is that you should stay closely tuned for how we will mark this anniversary.  Comments and suggestions are of course welcome.

Our introduction of all the new-look nature.com blogs continues! We’ve already heard from the editors about the News blog, the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist,  Stepwise, Naturejobs, Trade Secrets , Indigenus and House of Wisdom. Next up is Methagora, the Nature Methods blog.

Methagora

The Nature Methods’ blog, Methagora, was launched on October 11, 2006 by our former Chief Editor, Veronique Kiermer. The original intent of the blog was to provide a forum for discussion of papers we published. This is often the current month’s Editorial and recent blog posts have been focused on providing material to supplement the journal’s Editorial and asking readers to comment.

We encourage readers to propose discussion topics and anyone interested in breaking into ‘methods journalism’ is welcome to contact us about guest authoring some articles for the blog. If there is a particular type of blog post you are interested in please let us know and we’ll see what we can do.

You can also follow Nature Methods on Twitter and any questions or comments should be directed to methods@us.nature.com

We hope you enjoy the redesigned blog and check back occasionally to see what is going on.

Our introduction of all the new-look nature.com blogs continues! We’ve already heard from the editors about the News blog, the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist,  Stepwise, Naturejobs, Trade Secrets and Indigenus. Now we focus on House of Wisdom, the blog for the Nature Middle East portal, edited by Mohammed Yahia…

A window to science in the Arab world

The House of Wisdom blog deals with a nice niche field–  everything to do with science in the Arab world.

This region of the world may have fallen off the science bandwagon in recent history, but between the 8^th and 13^th centuries it was pretty much the home of science. There are various efforts now to bring about a science renaissance in the region and regenerate the science tradition that once lived here.

And that’s exactly why we created The House of Wisdom blog. It is named after one of the most major intellectual centres during the Islamic Golden Age of Science, which was based in Baghdad before it was destroyed during the Mongols invasion of the city. We want to be part of that science renaissance and cover it as it unfolds, making the blog a home for scientists and those interested in science who want to discuss issues of science and keep up with all the latest from the region, along with our parent portal Nature Middle East.

Most posts are written by the Nature Middle East editor, Mohammed Yahia, but occasionally guest blogs on really interesting subjects – often controversial – will pop up. If you think you have an interesting idea for a blog post do get in touch!

House of Wisdom’s editor, Mohammed Yahia

Posts are quite diverse, from coverage of conferences taking place in the Arab world to quick news to more in-depth discussions of topics important to science in the region. Just stop by regularly and there will always be something interesting!

More controversial topics that generate a lot of discussion are always a nice addition, such as one post last year, Evolution & Islam, discussing why there is outright denial of evolution in most of the Arab states, and whether it was indeed a case of “science vs. religion.”

We’re gearing up for more regular posts in 2012, with a bigger focus on science news and discussions to engage our audience – and we would be very happy to have input from you to tailor it to the topics that you find interesting and would like to discuss. Keep up to date with everything on the blog by subscribing to our RRS feed here.

Meanwhile, you can also easily find Nature Middle East and the House of Wisdom on Twitter, Facebook, and more recently now on Google+ as well. We are open to your suggestions so do stop by, even if just for a chat with one of the editors!

Here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We’ve already heard about the News blog, the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist,  Stepwise, Naturejobs, Trade Secrets and now we hear about from Subhra Priyadarshini who coordinates the Indigenus blog by Nature India…

The Indigenus blog was started a couple of months before the Nature India portal went live in February 2008, primarily to engage prospective readers on what they wanted out of our portal. After days of brainstorming and striking off probable names, we zeroed in on ‘Indigenus’, which we thought was a cool representation of the Indian scientific species.

I  write the blog using unusual bits and pieces that might make for interesting reading for a wide scientific audience in the largest democracy of the world. I  also moderate the blog. We haven’t had guest authors yet but it would be a great idea to explore.

The content is spread across disciplines – astrophysics , careers , climate Change, science education, environment , gender in science, genetics, health, policy, pollution,  publishing, space, technology and wildlife. We break news, discuss policy decisions, play with science pictures, invite comments and also indulge in the mundane at times.

One of my favourite posts from the archive is ‘Of eclipses and giant leaps’ which resulted in clogging my e-mail with loads of beautiful pictures of the ‘solar eclipse of the century’. We had to choose just a few for the blog. I loved it for the level of participation it generated as also for the happy realisation that the Indian spirit of inquiry was alive and throbbing.

Here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We’ve already heard about the News blog, the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist,  Stepwise and Naturejobs blog and now we hear about from Brady Huggett who coordinates the Trade Secrets blog by Nature Bioentrepreneur…

Trade Secrets was launched in March 2011 as a platform for biotech’s global voices. Nature Biotechnology Business Editor Brady Huggett is the main editor for the blog, but the content is supplied by more than 30 authors working in or alongside the biotech industry all around the world. It is a varied, talented group, but we’re always looking to add new voices, especially in areas not currently represented.

The blog is ultimately fueled by posts from our authors – we publish two or three a week.  We also occasionally put up free content from Nature Biotechnology and a global news roundup in our “Five Day Filter.”  We encourage comments on posts and direct questions to the authors.

Trade Secrets aims to be a source of information on biotech business around the world, as well as offer advice on how to break into the industry.  Many readers are academics looking to make the jump into business, which explains why this was one of our most popular posts.

If you’d like to get in touch, you can email Brady: Bioentrepreneur@us.nature.com or follow Nature Biotechnology on Twitter.

Over the next week or so here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We started off with the News blog, followed by the Spoonful of Medicine, the Sceptical Chymist and Stepwise. Now we hear from Rachel Bowden who runs the Naturejobs blog…

Nature Jobs – Talk science jobs and careers with the Naturejobs blog

Are long working hours inevitable for postdocs? How can PhD students improve their communication skills, and why should they? What’s the best way to move from science into business? Discuss these questions and more on the Naturejobs blog — now with a new user-friendly WordPress interface.

As well as insights from science careers experts and opinion leaders — including representatives from the US National Postdoc Association and the UK’s Vitae — you can also get advice and tips from your fellow readers and jobseekers. In our post on getting a pay rise in academia, for example, Oliver de Peyer extolls the role of unions in improving postdoc pay. And when it comes to the secrets of successful science communicators, Smitha Dutt highlights the importance of maintaining eye contact with your audience when giving a presentation.

The Naturejobs blog was launched at the start of 2011 to provide a platform for discussion and to highlight a selection of the latest news and developments related to science jobs and careers. The Naturejobs website, www.naturejobs.com, already collates a wide range of science careers news and features from sources such as Nature Careers and Nature News, so the blog helps complement this content and fill in any gaps in our coverage.

The blog is run by the Naturejobs web editor, Rachel Bowden. As with any blog, we’re looking for interaction with our readers — so please let us know what you think in the comments section. We’d also like to hear from anyone who would be interested in writing a guest post on a topic related to science jobs and careers — just email Rachel at naturejobseditor@nature.com to discuss. If there’s something you’d like to see covered, please let us know that as well.

You can also get in touch with us on Twitter — follow our main feed, @naturejobs, for bite-sized updates on science jobs and careers from Nature publications and external sources such as Times Higher Education — and Facebook (www.facebook.com/naturejobs).

We look forward to hearing from you — and good luck with your career development or job search.

Over the next week or so here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We started off with the News blog, followed by the Spoonful of Medicine, from Nature Medicine and the Sceptical Chymist from Nature Chemistry. Now we hear from the team at Nature Protocols who present the renamed Stepwise blog…

Stepwise

Firstly:  Welcome to Stepwise, an essential stop on your journey to finding and sharing great scientific protocols! Around the table on our end are:  Chris Surridge (The Chief), Katharine Barnes, Dot Clyde, Hannah Clarke and Bronwen Dekker, the editors from Nature Protocols and the guardians of the Protocol Exchange.
The first blog post for the Nature Protocols blog was in May 2010, and asked the very important question: What should we call our blog? While we all agreed that out blog should have an outstanding name, we were not able to get terribly much further than “Nature Protocols Blog” until Dot looked up from her computer in a commissioning meeting and said: *Stepwise*!

We will continue to share news, helpful hints on how to use our site, comments about our protocols, or give updates from conferences.
These are handily organised into the following categories:
– Hints and Wrinkles
– News and Updates
– Spotlights
– There and Back Again

Here are some example posts that highlight what we are all about:
Recipes for Research
The arrival of guidelines for reporting experiments
Focusing on stem cells
Nature Protocols Roundup
Notes from the 3rd EMBO meeting, Vienna
Update on inserting images into Exchange Protocols

We have quite an active twitter account for up-to-the-minute news about published protocols, and other things we happen to find interesting. Follow us  at: @NatureProtocols

If you would like to contact us you can also email: protocols@nature.com:protocols@nature.com.

Over the next week or so here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We started off with the News blog, followed by the Spoonful of Medicine, from Nature Medicine. Now we hear from Neil Withers and the team at Nature Chemistry, who run the Sceptical Chymist blog….

Welcome to the new-look Sceptical Chymist! Of course, if you’re just reading this in your RSS reader, then things will look pretty familiar (unless you’re logging on to Google Reader for the first time in a few months — but then you probably can’t see through the tears of frustration you’re weeping).

All the other nature.com blogs are having a re-vamp, so we’ve been asked to do a post to introduce the blog to any new readers. Regular readers may even learn something too — or you can skip the next two paragraphs to see what’s new!

We’ve been blogging at the Sceptical Chymist since March 2006 — the first post even handily explained the name (it’s from the book written by Robert Boyle in 1661, which is a useful point to consider as when chemistry started emerging from alchemy;). It started out with contributions from editors from Nature, Nature Chemical Biology and Nature Nanotechnology, but has since evolved to mainly us, the editors of Nature Chemistry — which was just a twinkle in a publisher’s eye back in 2006! Since then, it’s been a great way to communicate with readers less formally than in an editorial or other journal article, plus a wonderful means of generating discussion and receiving feedback.

You can expect to read interviews with chemists around the world in our Reactions series, reports from conferences we attend, ’edited highlights‘ of editorials and In Your Element, our monthly Blogroll column, as well as the occasional post inspired by almost anything. We also have a brave cadre of guest columnists: our two current guests are both graduate students negotiating the academic maze.

That’s the old blog; what’s new? Well, apart from lots of behind-the-scenes improvements that will make blogging much easier for us, you can see that it’s more seamlessly incorporated in the Nature Chemistry website. The side navigation is a bit less cluttered too. Hopefully the main improvement will be in the commenting: now, once your first comment has been approved, your subsequent ones will go live immediately. This should make discussions a bit more dynamic, and remove the wait while we fish every single comment (including our own!) out of the spam filter.

So have a look round, make yourself at home, test out the comments and let us know what you think!

The Nature Chemistry team.

Over the next week or so here on Of Schemes and Memes we’re introducing you to all the blogs on the new nature.com blogs site. We started off with the News blog and now we hear from Roxanne Khamsi and the team at Nature Medicine, who run the Spoonful of Medicine blog….

Our Spoonful gets a more polished look

You probably notice today that the Spoonful of Medicine blog has had some “work done”. But unlike many celebrities of our day, we’re not ashamed to dish on the details of our cosmetic surgery. Thanks to the hard work of our web developers, the blog should be easier to read and navigate. The revamp has also made our blog archive more readily available, so if you’re feeling nostalgic, click on the right to rekindle memories of days when Bush’s stem cell ban reigned supreme (which you’re likely not) or the retreat of swine flu. There’s a spiffy new commenting tool as well, so let us know what you think.

We launched this blog almost five years ago to the date as a place to expand on the news and commentary that you find in Nature Medicine. The journal comes out each month, but here in the Spoonful blog you can get your daily serving of information about drug development and policy changes affecting biomedical research.

From here forward, the Spoonful of Medicine will continue to bring you interviews with leading thinkers in global health and the pharmaceutical industry, such as Seth Berkley (formerly of IAVI, now with GAVI) and the new head of the US National Institutes of Health’s stem cell center, Mahendra Rao. We’ll also continue to dish on business news, in the tradition of earlier stories about the most expensive drug in the world, leadership woes at the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine and how companies are coping with the so-called ‘patent cliff’.

You’ll also find pharmaceutical news off the beaten path on the Spoonful blog, comic-book-style drug reports, reviews of pharmaceutical-themed art exhibits and medicine-inspired musical apps. And, further off the path: movie reviews of films such as Contagion, Extraordinary Measures and We Were Here, a documentary of the AIDS epidemic. You can also find our in-house videos, including a short one about DIY-labs, medical apps for the iPhone, and innovative diagnostic tools for developing-world settings.

If you’re more inclined to teaspoons of news than tablespoons, you can get your fix via Twitter.  We’re also on Facebook and Google+.  If RSS is more your style, you can subscribe to our feed here. And if you’d rather listen than read, you can subscribe to our monthly podcast via iTunes.

Screenshot of Nature Medicine’s Facebook Page

Many of you reading this blog are scientists, or have some sort of scientific inclination, so don’t be afraid to experiment with how you get your Spoonful of Medicine. Please note, however, that side effects may include an uncontrollable urge to discuss the forecasted market share of biologic drugs at your office holiday party or singing a song about DNA that you can’t get out of your head. Should either of these adverse reactions occur, please consult your doctor.