College employees are particularly vulnerable to e-mail scams. Our e-mail addresses are readily available, and regular hacks of the system mean the entire mailing list is at the disposal of your typical e-scammer. Our particular weakness (at the risk of exposing it) are phishing scams sent, falsely, from the Poo Bah. We know better than […] … learn more→

Have you heard that scientists are planning a march on Washington? The move is not being billed as a protest, but rather as a “celebration of our passion for science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community,” although it comes as a direct response to recent policy changes and statements by the […] … learn more→

Two great failings of the American professoriate are timidity and self-righteousness. Casting about to orient myself in my new calling a decade or so ago, I found David Horowitz defining one extreme view of it and Michael Bérubé standing out on the other. Horowitz was pushing professors further into timidity and inaction (something that also […] … learn more→

In my final year of doctoral study, I realised I wanted to write a book about research methods. There are already so many books on the topic that I knew I would need to think of a good angle, which wasn’t easy; plus I was busy earning my living as an independent researcher. Then in […] … learn more→

S is for SPECULATE The word speculate has bad press. It is usually equated with guessing, making things up. Not good. However, to speculate can also mean to theorise, hypothesise, surmise, make a supposition. Speculation needs a bit of a helping hand IMHO. This is my attempt at recuperating it. Speculation in research doesn’t mean guessing […] … learn more→

If you think back to your childhood, what sticks with you? For many people, it’s those cosy times when they were cuddled up with a parent or grandparent, being read a story. But bedtime stories aren’t just lovely endings to the day or a way to induce sleep, they are also a safe way to […] … learn more→

At the beginning of 2017, France announced the launch of its green bonds scheme. A green bond is like a conventional bond, but one issued specifically to fund an environmental project. The amount, not yet officially revealed, could be counted in billions of euros, thus constituting the first green sovereign borrowing scheme on this scale […] … learn more→

For the past 28 years, I have been involved in crowd safety and risk analysis, and I have been fortunate enough to have been consulted on some of the world’s biggest events, from the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia to the royal wedding in 2011. In many of these instances, the media are […] … learn more→

The recent riots at Berkeley are no accident; we’re training our college students to get upset at the silliest little things…it’s no surprise they violently nuts when significant things are being discussed. But today I want to talk about tiny little things, aka microaggressions. A few years ago, the entire concept of microaggression was just […] … learn more→

Scientific research can change our lives for the better, but it also presents risks – either through deliberate misuse or accident. Think about studying deadly pathogens; that’s how we can learn how to successfully ward them off, but it can be a safety issue too, as when CDC workers were exposed to anthrax in 2014 […] … learn more→