Announcing SpotOn London 2013 #solo13
Save the date – this year’s SpotOn London conference will take place on Friday 8th and Saturday 9th November.
Hosted by Nature Publishing Group, in association with the Wellcome Trust, SpotOn London is an annual conference for anyone interested in how science is carried out and communicated online.
The overall theme of this year’s event is Impact – so if you have a suggestion that fits into this theme, please add it to the public google document. For further details on the conference see here and if you’re not already on our mailing list, send us an email and we’ll add you!
Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting 2013
Photo courtesy of Anthea Blackburn
This year’s 63rd Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates is dedicated to chemistry and, to tie in with this, over the last few weeks the Sceptical Chymist Blog have been hosting a collection of Lindau Letters by attendee Anthea Blackburn. In her very last post from the conference, Anthea recalls the final sessions she attended:
Well, the 63rd Lindau Meeting is officially over. And what a final day it was.
We spent the day on Mainau, an island owned by the Bernadotte Family (descendants of former princes of Sweden), who are also the instigators and organisers of the Lindau Meetings. It was fitting that we spent time on the island, considering the discussions on sustainable chemistry that we have had during the week, as it is maintained as a garden island and a model of excellent environmental practices.
You can also follow the Lindau blogging team on the Lindau Nobel Community site, who have been doing a fantastic job at covering the meeting.
nature.com blogs – a collection of blogs from editors and other staff at NPG
More effective tech transfer, genetically modified sugarcane, a rotavirus vaccine. All this, and more, from around the globe in the July monthly map, taken from Trade Secrets latest blog post:
See this week’s best of NPG blogs for a summary of the latest content including: CV advice, anxiety disorders, plus answers as to why we sigh.
Scitable – Nature Education’s network of science blogs
How did the first forests arise? In a sublime post, Sedeer el-Showk looks at just that: “Sometime around 500 million years ago, green algae floating in shallow coastal waters adapted to take advantage of the nearby dry land. Two major obstacles faced the early pioneers: the need to support their bodies and the threat of drying out. While some terrestrial plants (mosses, liverworts and hornworts) adapted to survive periods of desiccation but remained dependent on water, others overcame these challenges by developing roots to anchor them, a waxy layer to prevent water loss and vascular tissues to transport water and provide structural support.”
SciLogs.com – a blogging network
There is a whisper of a revolution in the methods by which scientific and medical research findings and data sets are circulated among researchers and disseminated to the public. Just consider the open access movement to the advent of e-science and “big data”. In her latest post, Shannon Bohle looks at the new and suggested tools used by those who are embracing open access and open data.
Annelie Wendeberg continues her series on Biological Warfare. In her latest installment, she revisits the great Napoleon and explains how his army was decimated by… bugs: “Napoleon pushed another 300 miles towards Moscow, while his troops melted down to a mere 95,000 exhausted, starved, and lice-infested soldiers. Soon, the army was forced to retreat. Only ten percent of the Grande Armeé returned home.”
And don’t miss Malcolm Campbell’s weekly list of science goodies.