Isn’t it time we acknowledged that research is only occasionally a pleasure? Continue reading
research
Hidden Value
Good things come in small packages
It’s here at last: hard evidence that small research groups do more original work. Continue reading
Do your bit
One of the cruellest insights a young scientist will receive is how often the working reality of a field is very different to its grand image. Continue reading
A chip off the old block
Supervisors don’t just train you in techniques, to a degree they impart their ideology as well. Continue reading
Fail to learn (a personal confession)
I hate making mistakes. Worse than that, I fear making mistakes. The realisation that I’ve made an error – or sometimes, just the thought that I might have made an error – is enough to bring on pinpricks of sweat, an urge to run away, and a noticeable loss of composure. Continue reading
Blockbuster science vs Arthouse science
Are young scientists being encouraged to emulate Michael Bay? Continue reading
Mining the blue sky
Science may be unique in human activities in that it produces a raw material instead of a product. Continue reading
Facts, figures, and rhetoric
What’s the real purpose of scientific figures?
There’s a common misconception that they’re to show what we did. Continue reading
How’s your legacy?
Like it or not, most of us are doomed to be rapidly forgotten.
There’s a great moment in Anne Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire”, in which the brooding protagonist has been scouring the Earth for the oldest of the immortals. He finds his man in Paris, but is stunned to discover that the world’s oldest vampire is a relative juvenile of just a few hundred years’ age. Armand, the vampire in question, breaks it to him gently – although vampires can theoretically live forever, in practice they tend to fade away after a couple of centuries.
It’s an uncomfortable parable for any scientist, given that an oft-cited lure of the job is that tantalising chance of immortality. Continue reading
