Over the weekend, MIT announced that it was forming a new center for energy research, called the MIT-Fraunhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute (which is owned by Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a research company). The center’s projects will focus on lowering the cost of solar technologies.
The Globe’s careers section this weekend had a nice article about how blogging (reading them, commenting on them, writing them) can help boost your career. The article was focused on careers in general (not on any particular type of career) but I thought the tips provided were relevant to many fields, including science.
Reading blogs can be a good way to keep up with latest events and trends in your area. Commenting on blogs is valuable too: “_The conversation is what forges relationships and before you know it, you have a much stronger network from blogging than you ever could from more conventional, nonidea based networking moments, like the exchange of business cards at a convention._”
And finally, I blogged a little while ago about wacky science videos making the rounds on Youtube. Well, one of those videos in particular has inspired Nature Publishing to launch…yup, you guessed it, its own science video competition! See the announcement below that’s going out today to members of Nature’s Facebook group:
What’s in your nature(.com)?
Calling all budding filmmakers! Inspired by BioRad ‘Scientists for better PCR’ video, ’It’s in my nature.com’ is launching a video competition –enter for your chance to win a camcorder.
Make a video that sums up what the phrase ’it’s in my nature.com’ means to you. It could be about why you love science, about your research, about you as a person, or it could be about www.nature.com! Be funny, be serious, be creative.
To enter: 1. Upload your video to the It’s in my nature.com Group on Facebook. 2. Email one of the ’It’s in my nature.com’ Group admins your name, email address (so we can contact you) and link to your video and your Nature Network profile or Facebook profile.
File restrictions: under 100 MB and under 2 minutes, should comply with Facebook video rules.
Closing date: 12 May 2008.
Eligibility: Member of ’It’s in my nature.com’ Facebook Group or a Nature Network registered user. Employees of NPG, Macmillan or their families are not eligible.
Restrictions: ’It’s in my nature.com’ reserve the right to remove video that is obscene, libellous/slanderous, or is judged to be offensive. ’It’s in my nature.com’ take no responsibility for the content of the videos.
Judging: Judges (the Facebook group admins and other employees of Nature Publishing Group) will choose a shortlist of 3 videos, which will be voted for by the ’It’s in my nature.com’ Facebook group to choose a winner.