‘Scientific Discoveries Aren’t Made to Order’
Nobel prizewinning astrophysicist reflects on the perceptions and realities of how big breakthroughs are made.
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Academia's Emerging Crisis of Relevance and the Consequent Role of the Engaged Scholar
Academia's Emerging Crisis of Relevance and the Consequent Role of the Engaged Scholar
Universities are facing a crisis of relevance. While there are multiple reasons for this to be happening, one that deserves particular attention is the extent to which academic scholars do not see it as their role to engage in public and political discourse. However, increased engagement is unavoidable in an emerging educational context where the calibre of public discourse has become so degraded and social media is changing the nature of science and scientific discourse within society.
Transparency and Openness in Science
Among the wider scientific community, there is a widespread dissatisfaction with the current level of transparency and reproducibility in published research and, as part of our response to this, we signed up to the Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) Guidelines (https://cos.io/top/).The objective of the TOP guidelines is to encourage transparency, openness and reproducibility in science. By developing shared standards for openness across journals, it is hoped to change the current incentive structures to drive researchers' behaviour towards more openness.
Science in the Social Media Age
A survey of 2,955 readers of 40 randomly selected science blogs.
Academic Research Can Be Accessible To All. The Art World Shows Us How.
Academic Research Can Be Accessible To All. The Art World Shows Us How.
Shouldn't all research be, first and foremost, accessible? Accessibility underpins equality.
A Manifesto for Reproducible Science
A series of measures improving research efficiency and robustness of scientific findings by directly targeting specific threats to reproducible science.
Where Science and Nonsense Collide
After a decade of progress, Argentina’s scientists are battling a government bent on twisting public conceptions of their role.
The Impact of Postdoctoral Training on Early Careers in Biomedicine
The Impact of Postdoctoral Training on Early Careers in Biomedicine
While postdocs are necessary for entry into tenure-track jobs, they do not enhance salaries in other job sectors over time.
Open Science and Free Culture
A committment by a young researcher to practice open and good science, and more generally to free culture.
Spraying RNA On Plants Silences A Gene and Protects From Viruses
The technique could be faster and more versatile than developing GMO crops from scratch.
Best Practices for Scientific Computing
A set of best practices for scientific software development, based on research and experience, that will improve scientists' productivity and the reliability of their software.
This University Has No Teachers, Syllabus or Fees
Paris's École 42 is reinventing education for the future
Imagining the ‘Open’ University
The potential for open scholarship to improve university research and education, as well asincrease the impact universities can have beyond their own walls.
Does Peer Review Help Weed Out Bad Science?
Does Peer Review Help Weed Out Bad Science?
Peer-review had a role to play when journals were all in print and competing for subscription real estate, but today it may be little more than a vestige of the print era.
Scientific Papers Need Better Feedback Systems. Here's Why
Scientific Papers Need Better Feedback Systems. Here's Why
The current peer-review system is limited to asking two people for their opinions - this is not enough.
To Spark Medical Innovation, Canada Should Embrace Open Science
The Canadian government is again in the midst of its annual consultations on innovation. It seems our efforts to find the magic key to an “innovative economy” just never go away. By Aled Edwards, CEO of the Structural Genomics Consortium and professor at the University of Toronto.
Top 10 Reasons Why Blog Posts Are Better Than Scientific Papers
Envisioning the scientific paper of the future.
The Effect of Science and Technology Parks on Firms’ Performance
How can firms benefit most under economic downturns?
Why STEM Majors Need the Humanities
It’s often argued that studying the liberal arts will enrich the life of the mind. For STEM majors, it can also give them a practical advantage in their careers.
ScienceDisrupt Picks From 2016
We wanted to share with you some of the awesome science innovations and disruptors from the last year. This is our list.
German Researchers Start 2017 Without Elsevier Journals
In Germany, negotiations between scientific publishing company Elsevier and a consortium of hundreds of universities, technical schools, research institutes, and public libraries stalled in December 2016. As a result, more than 60 institutions have lost their online access to Elsevier's journals effective 1 January, although some can still access archived articles published before that date. The price of the journals is only part of the problem.
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