Last week, OpenAI shocked the mathematical community by revealing that one of its internal artificial intelligence (AI) models had found a counterexample to a famous conjecture made by legendary Hungarian mathematician Paul Erdős in 1946. The planar unit distance problem, or Erdős problem 90, has intrigued mathematicians for decades. The new result is no mere curiosity. Canadian mathematician Daniel Litt described it […] … learn more→

The American academic research engine has long been the envy of the world. Generally well-funded, labs in the United States have been able to attract the best minds who generate breakthroughs and train the next generation workforce that powers the U.S. economy. But since the start of the second Trump administration in January 2025, new federal policies have destabilized the American […] … learn more→

Scientific discoveries rarely happen alone. Modern research often involves teams spanning institutions and even countries. Yet when research is published in academic journals, credit is reduced to a list of names – a list that can shape careers. Authorship is a key signal of expertise. It influences hiring, promotion, and funding decisions. Despite this importance, the […] … learn more→

I’ve been thinking about Australian’s recent Open Access (OA) deal now that the dust has settled on the recent showdown with Elsevier. After all, we’d been spending some $500 million to $1 billion per year on journal subscriptions (an eye‑watering 5–10% of our national research spend), so it feels sensible to negotiate as a national bloc. But the […] … learn more→

Coherence in research design is not the same as coherence in academic writing, although the two are related. Research design coherence is sometimes described through the metaphor of a red thread, one continuous line of logic running from the question through every subsequent decision. This metaphor is a just a little bit too tidy, research […] … learn more→

In my last post, ‘Transferring your funding’, I talked in general about the things to consider for your grants when you move universities. This post covers the questions that I ask when someone says “I’m coming to your university and I need to transfer my grant”. As I said last time, it is worth remembering […] … learn more→

Me no When you move to a new university, what happens to your grants or fellowship? You might be moving because you have a new job and a promotion. You might be moving because things are bad where you are right now and you need to get out. You might be moving because someone you […] … learn more→

With everything that is going on in the world, reading is hard and stamina in short supply… If you prefer, you can watch a version of this post on our YouTube channel (comments are on there too) Before I started working on neurodivergence I thought I understood the word ‘Ableism’. I didn’t realise how pervasive it is, […] … learn more→

Visa restrictions for foreign researchers and students, political attacks targeting some of the world’s leading research universities, and sudden suspensions of public funding, particularly in the fields of climate and the environment: since Donald Trump’s re-election in November 2024, these decisions have generated considerable media surprise. They are often presented as a radical break with […] … learn more→

The most exciting landmark scientific achievements don’t happen without researchers sharing and collaborating with others outside their field. When people first landed on the Moon in 1969, Neil Armstrong’s first footsteps marked the realization of a century-long vision that integrated a variety of scientific fields. Landing on the Moon required expertise in electrical, mechanical, chemical […] … learn more→