This weekly Nautilus column highlights some of the online discussion at Nature Network in the preceding week that is of relevance to scientists as authors.
The Nature Network week column is archived here.
Jennifer Rohn has once again sparked a vivacious discussion, this time about how to document an ever-expanding plethora of files, information and notes — on paper and, as mostly described in the long comment thread, electronically. There is much to note here about the practical problems of date-stamps, peer-review, wikis, plagiarism and data sharing – from and for those at the sharp end.
The theme of electronic and web-based research and teaching is taken up in a blog post by Bob O’Hara. The pros and cons of online tools for collaborative research are discussed, both in the post and in the comment thread, with links to several services that are currently available.
Philipp Selenko reports on the Nature Network Berlin group’s evening with Alison Abbott of Nature, and urges local students to join. “The basic idea of Nature Network Berlin is to also give students the opportunity to participate in activities that they would otherwise not have access to (like talking to a senior Nature editor over a glass of beer, for example).”
On 2-3 June, there will be a Royal Society meeting (free to attend) on synthetic biology, a field covering the design and construction of novel artificial biological pathways, organisms or devices, and the redesign of existing natural biological systems. Synthetic biology has developed from the convergence of other disciplines such as systems biology, genetic engineering, engineering, information theory, physics, nanotechnologies and computer modelling. Advances and applications of this exciting technology will be discussed at the meeting.
Jose Manuel Otero gets stuck into another myth of industrial (as opposed to academic) research, that “if you join an industrial research center, you can kiss good-bye the exciting days of the pursuit of knowledge, teaching students, working on large consortium projects, or in fact, having individual impact. Essentially, you will be relegated to a number inside what are often large organizations, and find moments of happiness reading the Dilbert Comic Series, only to realize you are Dilbert.” Among many other points, he discusses the lack of training in management and human resources in the academic community, and the rights of the individual in large-team collaborations.
Some useful advice to the scientist who has never submitted to an international journal is provided by the ever-engaging Paul Smaglik, emeritus Editor of NatureJobs.
Finally, an historical note. On Monday (14 April) a meeting at King’s College will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Rosalind Franklin. Molecular geneticist Noreen Murray will discuss Franklin’s inspiring role for women in science (also celebrated by the Rosalind Franklin Award), Ellen Solomon will speak on Franklin’s legacy for genetics and medicine, and Franklin’s co-worker Ray Gosling will recall their work in elucidating the structure of DNA. Read more about Franklin’s work at Nature Network London News.