I haven’t taught research methods for a year or so. But right now I do wish I still was. I’m not asking for additional workload. Not at all. It’s just that there is so much potential for learning in the current pandemic. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m pretty unhappy with the kind of […] … learn more→

As world leaders met for the annual World Health Assembly online on 18 May, more than 140 prominent figures, including current and former premiers, had signed an open letter calling on governments to unite behind a people’s vaccine against Covid-19. Among other things, this calls for any vaccine to be “patent-free”. A notable absentee from […] … learn more→

Ice shelves, massive floating bodies of ice, are well-known for their buffering effect on land-based ice sheets as they slow their flow towards the sea. This buffering effect plays an important role in moderating global sea level rise. The Antarctic Peninsula has been experiencing high levels of change during the last 30 years due to atmospheric and […] … learn more→

In the past two decades, much has been made in academic circles about global rankings of educational institutions. Bodies such as Times Higher Education and Webometrics regularly rank universities based on a set of criteria. These include internationalisation of faculty and students, cited research publications and awards won by scholars. This ranking phenomenon has increased the pressure on academics and researchers […] … learn more→

On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Congressman Adam Schiff recently referred to Robert Kennedy’s writings on the rarity of moral courage. My husband demonstrated moral courage when, as director of a microscopy imaging center at a public university, he observed, proved and reported scientific fraud in the Vice President for Research’s laboratory.  The Vice […] … learn more→

Australia’s researchers have answered the call to help with urgent pandemic clinical trials and other research needs, placing other work on hold. Experts across a broad range of disciplines are crucial to our health, mental health and economic well-being. And yet the COVID-19 pandemic has posed one of the most significant threats in history to […] … learn more→

Human knowledge of viruses and human bodies has reached the molecular and even atomic scale, yet the past few months has revealed how vulnerable we remain to pandemics. This, in turn, illustrates that for all of humanity’s progress in understanding nature and humanity itself over the past centuries, some of the scientific problems and global […] … learn more→

The whole world is in lockdown. And so is mine. But I’m not confined to four walls. I’m stuck at sea. Since late February, I’ve been aboard the Avontuur, a schooner that transports cargo under sail. I joined the vessel to research the revival of such sailing cargo vessels in an attempt to decarbonise the […] … learn more→

I recently heard about a rejection letter from a Chinese economics journal that was a bit too generous with the sugar vis-à-vis the pill. “If we were to publish your paper, it would be impossible for us to publish any work of lower standard,” the editor wrote, several decades ago. “And as it is unthinkable […] … learn more→

The recent resignation of Mauro Ferrari as president of the European Research Council has thrown into sharp relief the distinction between “basic” and “applied” research, as understood today. In the UK, this is particularly topical given that it coincides with the start of parliamentary scrutiny over the role that the government’s proposed “high risk, high […] … learn more→