Blogs

Once again, we said hello to new bloggers on Nature Network this week. Most topically, Nicole Edmison is stationed in the Gulf of Mexico reporting on the ongoing oil disaster. In her own words:

I’m hoping to bring you right into the heart of the oiled wildlife response effort to experience the animals, responders, residents, and the environment during this man-made disaster in hopes that we can learn something. The master plan is to report to this blog on a regular basis with photos, video, and commentary on the wildlife situation. There are plenty of people focused on the politics and blame game circulating throughout the media so I’ll avoid that as much as possible.

Wilson Pok is a PhD student at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia. His blog, Plenty of Room, discusses ‘the ideals and realities of scientific research in nanoscience and materials’.

Finally, we welcome the Nature Protocols blog (still in search of the right name). Regular readers will already be familiar with authors Bronwen Dekker and Chris Surridge. This group blog, focussing on protocols publishing at Nature, will also see contributions from Katharine Barnes, Hannah Clarke and Dorothy Clyde. Meanwhile, Nature subeditor Nicolas Fanget kicks off his new blog with an insider’s guide to working on the journal.

Elsewhere in the blog section, Bob O’Hara examines the ethics and morals of spousal hiring – employing a scientist because their partner works at the same institution. Martin Fenner picks up the current hot potato of social media: privacy. Elizabeth Moritz worries that her PhD is taking too long, but receives assurance from an experienced set of commenters. And Richard Grant spots a typographical mutation in this week’s big paper.

Forums

Science Online London 2010 will take place at the British Library on 3-4 September. The conference brings together all those interested in scientific communication and collaboration online. The conference now has a Nature Network forum where you can suggest sessions and speakers, and ask questions.

And finally…

What do you buy the scientist who has everything? Eva Amsen discovers Petri dish soap!