There really were some excellent and useful talks, from presentation skills (including how to use pauses and silence correctly) to possible new therapies for inherited skin diseases.
On the second day there was a debate about open access publishing. I tweeted the debate and have collated them using storify.
Post-doctoral researchers in Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen were told this week that they need to be publishing, on average, 3.25 papers per year in order to have a competitive chance of getting a research fellowship. I always get worried when I hear exact numbers being quoted as 'what you NEED to have'. The number, apparently was determined by asking research councils that give fellowship grants what they look for. A good idea in theory, the ones that answered the request said they want (on average) 3.25 papers per year. But do the people that receive fellowships really have that record? That isn't clear. With a decrease in research council funding is more research being funded by industry? I don't know, as I don't have the numbers. I'm just speculating, but, if you are industry funded my experience has been so far that you are likely to publish less as your results will go towards things like patents and be kept internally for the company.
Celery Cupcakes: A dieters dream? A popular diet belief is that there are some amazing diet wonderfoods that contain negative calories, like celery . So if you eat lots of them, you will burn extra calories; without even lifting a finger. The theory goes, negative calorie foods contain fewer calories than they take to digest. Celery is a reported 'negative calorie food'. If one lump (this is a hypothetical example) contains 6 calories, but it takes 10 calories to digest then the body uses 4 calories and does not gain any. I had some faith in the principal of this idea, it seemed to make sense in my head. Maybe I had just turned my skeptical inquisitive brain off, or maybe, a part of me just wanted to accept that it might be a possibility.. A quick google search revealed a host of information, news articles and blog posts on this subject. Dr Stu posted a blog post summarising some of the literature about negative calorie foods very recently. Sadly, but pred
I've been thinking about how to use my blog and online spaces. I spend a lot of time consuming science communication and public engagement news, updates and discussion across all of the social networks. I have little time to blog but I realised that there is a big gap - as nowhere pulls all of this news and information together regularly. So, I am launching a newsletter for science communication news. The aim is to bring together science communication news from around the globe, including events, journal articles, events and podcasts. It's for anyone that practices science communication or studies it or has any vague interest in it whatsoever. You can sign up here . It's free. It will be in plain text. It will work on mobile. Simple! The first newsletter will arrive on Tuesday 29 Sept. Then it will be weekly from that point. I've been quiet as I am returning to work from maternity leave. Stepping away from work always allows some time to reflect. I have also been
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