Blogs

Stephen Curry worked up a significant head of steam this week after reading an article in which journalist Simon Jenkins accused scientists of avoiding self-criticism, and pedestal squatting. With Bill Hanage, Stephen penned a rebuttal, also published in the Guardian:

If Jenkins aimed his rhetorical flourishes to get a rise out of scientists then, judging by the comment thread beneath the online version of his article, he succeeded admirably. The howls of protest are not so much from righteous anger however, as our frustration with his misrepresentation of the scientific process. Jenkins is an intelligent writer with an avowed love of popular science: why then does he have so little appreciation of how science really works?

Slightly calmer but no less frosty oceans were highlighted by Steffi Suhr. She wrote about the difficulties of Antarctic research – a boatload of PIs is currently getting nowhere fast thanks to thick sea ice. She also points us toward the Antarctic Photo Library which, as one commenter observed, provides a welcome alternative to NASA for desktop background images.

Elsewhere, Heather Etchevers talks about the talkers and doers of science, Brian Derby saves the planet one solar panel at a time, while Martin Fenner provides a photographic guide to the new Nature mobile app.

Forums and Groups

Space and space science are rarely out of the news pages. Just in the past week, President Obama has altered the course of US manned space flight by advising NASA to give up its Constellation program, and the shuttle Endeavour launched to the International Space Station to ferry up a new module and window. Anyone with an interest in the final frontier should check out the Nature Network space forum.

Those of a more artistic bent might find company in the science and art forum where Michael Butler has initiated a conversation about collaboration between the two areas.

Elsewhere, Cameron Neylon levels some criticism at Nature Communications.

Finally, anyone interested in the use of virtual worlds to communicate science should take a look at the Elucian Islands Village group, a space in Second Life for educational and scientific projects. We held our first residents’ meeting this week and will now start introducing the different projects here on NN. Join the group and meet us next Thursday at 6pm GMT in Second Life if you’d like to get involved.

And finally…

Can you summarise a famous paper in 140 characters or fewer (the limit on Twitter)? Richard Grant started the meme, which has received over a hundred responses. Join in by tweeting entries to #sci140.

And remember our Cambridge (UK) pub meetup! Anyone in the area with an interest in science, and networking with scientists, should join us for a few beers this Saturday (13th) from noon. We’ll be starting in The Eagle, where Francis Crick famously boasted his discovery (with James Watson) of the DNA helix. Check out the Cambridge forum, moderated by Taylor Burns, for more Cambridge science.