“Antonio Vivaldi did not write 600 concerti, but the same concerto 600 times.” This witticism, which has been ascribed – possibly apocryphally – to the 20th-century Italian composer Luigi Dallapicolla, could also be applied, with a few factual tweaks, to Vivaldi’s contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach not only reused his own material through the process […] … learn more→

Systematically practiced in the scientific world, communication is a central, complex exercise that responds to codes specific to the academic world, with specificities from one discipline to another. True “caudine forks” of research, symposia, conferences, congresses, national, European or international level require to transmit complex knowledge, sometimes the fruit of long years of research, in just […] … learn more→

After several months of tensions between the government and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungarian academics are once again up in arms, after the academy banned two conference presentations on what many are claiming to be purely political grounds. According to the Hungarian Free Press, one of the talks, which looked at the under-representation of women in the computer […] … learn more→

In our “criminal justice” system, being convicted of a sex crime is a permanent mark of shame. Lay hands on a girl one day shy of her 18th birthday, or equally molest an infant, and forever more you’re branded a “sexual predator,” and your neighbors are notified as such whenever you move. That label is […] … learn more→

You can often find me on the edge of things. For the most part it’s where I choose to be. When you do find me in the thick of it, it’s invariably when thinking and speaking collide fuelled by feeling and I really ought to remain silent. But my current state of in-betweenness feeds on […] … learn more→

It is not uncommon for doctoral writers to get supervisor feedback saying they need to unpack an idea. But what does this unpack really mean – and how does a writer get in a situation where they have something that needs to be unpacked? Well. Let me start with the last question first of all. How do […] … learn more→

Curious by nature, I have always been passionate about science. During my studies, it seemed natural to me to turn to research. Like the majority of doctoral students, my enthusiasm has been somewhat shaken by the reality of the laboratory, between the experiments that do not work, the hypotheses swept over after several months of experimentation, as […] … learn more→

Your adult academic life will be defined by two of the most important exams: your SAT exam and your GMAT exam. You will spend quite some time properly preparing for these exams, but many of you are still unaware of how to manage the process itself. Fear not, because, in the following paragraphs, we will […] … learn more→

Donna Strickland, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo in Canada, was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics. The third woman to have ever been awarded this prize in 117 years, she shares it with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou. Strickland explained that she’s been treated as an equal by her male peers, which […] … learn more→

Kiswahili will, from 2020, become the latest language to be taught in South Africa’s classrooms. This East African lingua franca, which is also an official language of the African Union, will be an optional subject. The news has been greeted with interest and has drawn praise from some quarters. But practical questions related to South Africa’s current […] … learn more→