By Alex Jackson on 05 Mar 2015
This week’s entries for the poll of the most beautiful experiments with light occurred around the turn of the 19th century. Read more
Posted in Events, Featured, Science communication and outreach, Science education, Science festivals | Tagged Communities Happenings, experiments, iyl2015, light, physics, science communication
By Alex Jackson on 26 Feb 2015
Many scientists, as evidenced by recent discussions, appreciate the value of an open access journal – the convenience of being able to immediately and freely access the latest articles, for example, and the value in a freer exchange of scientific ideas. But what may be less obvious is why this matters to the community served by the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation (PDF) – the patients whose lives are directly impacted by the advances and disappointments in Parkinson’s disease research. Read more
Posted in Events, Featured, Science communication and outreach | Tagged npj, open access, parkinsons
By Alex Jackson on 26 Feb 2015
For this week’s set of experiments in our poll we will stick to the 19th century. Our first entry is from 1839, when Alexandre Edmond Becquerel invented the photovoltaic cell at the tender age of 19. While playing around in his father’s lab, Becquerel created an electrolytic cell from silver chloride in acid. After connecting it to platinum electrodes, he found that exposing it to light generated an electrical current. Currently, photovoltaics is one of the most active themes in materials research, as it may be key in our challenge to produce enough clean energy for the world for generations ahead. Read more
Posted in Events, Featured, Science communication and outreach, Science education, Science festivals | Tagged Communities Happenings, experiments, iyl2015, light, physics, science communication
By Alex Jackson on 19 Feb 2015
The next couple of experiments with light listed in our ‘beautiful experiments’ poll come from, well, the age of enlightenment. Read more
Posted in Events, Featured, Science communication and outreach, Science education, Science festivals, Uncategorized | Tagged Communities Happenings, experiments, iyl2015, light, physics, science communication
![By Tonya Cook (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)](https://blogs.nature.com/ofschemesandmemes/files/2015/02/Week-1-Blog-Lighthouse-Lens-150x150.jpg)
By Alex Jackson on 12 Feb 2015
We are basking in light. In our daily lives we encounter a multitude of light-based technologies from basic lighting, optical fibre communication, television and computer screens, to diagnostic techniques in healthcare. Sunlight energy harvesting will almost certainly be essential to match the world’s growing energy needs. The International Year of Light 2015, which is celebrating these achievements, and more, is now in full swing. Read more
Posted in Events, Featured, Science communication and outreach, Science education, Science festivals | Tagged Communities Happenings, experiments, iyl2015, light, physics, science communication
By Alex Jackson on 09 Feb 2015
Irreproducibility issues affecting basic research in biology can be traced to a variety of common causes. One of them is the misguided use of statistics. Read more
Posted in Featured, Science communication and outreach, Science education | Tagged biology, Communities Happenings, nature, nature methods
By nature.com Communities Team on 26 Jan 2015
We’re pleased to start 2015 with an announcement that we’re now using Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0 as default. This will apply to all of the 19 fully open access journals Nature Publishing Group owns, and will also apply to any future titles we launch. Two society- owned titles have introduced CC BY as default today and we expect to expand this in the coming months. … Read more
Posted in Featured | Tagged NPG, open access, palgrave