United Kingdom
scientificactivist | August 18, 2006It has been known officially since 2002 that the sciences are hard, and, as much as we scientists love it when our friends and family tell us how smart and wonderful we must be since they could never understand what we do... is this elevated position going to cost us in the end? Big time?
Addressing this issue, an article by Emma Brockes in yesterday's Guardian explores the plight of the physical sciences in the UK, taking a humorous look at the question of whether a lack of interest from students will spell their eventual demise:
It is presumably never easy being a physics teacher, what…
scientificactivist | July 24, 2006From the archives:
(21 January 2006) I had a great trip to the doctor the other day. I showed up for my appointment (one I had made only one day before), waited a few minutes, saw the doctor, and then I left. There was no paperwork, no long wait, no money exchanged, and no stress. Basically, there was nothing standing in the way of what I had come there for--medical care.
And, no, I don't live in some fantasy world.
I live in England.
I love universal health care, and for me it's because of the small things. I never had any major problems with my health insurance in the U.S., but I still…
scientificactivist | July 2, 2006I've been following Oxford's pro-research organization Pro-Test since its inception, and a few weeks ago I wrote a post describing its second large march through the streets of Oxford. Pro-Test has received quite a bit of well-deserved press in general, but I was recently directed to another very comprehensive account of the latest march. On his blog, freelance journalist Kieren McCarthy also wrote a long post on the event that's about the same level of detail as my account, but he ends up putting me to shame with professional-quality photographs and, even better, audio recordings of almost…
scientificactivist | June 14, 2006Here's another post from the old site. Since I've been writing quite a bit lately about Pro-Test and the response of Oxford scientists to animal rights extremism, it's important to understand why the current movement is significant, in light of what scientists in Oxford have been facing over the last few years. This post, which takes the reader into the heart of an animal rights protest, attempts to do just that. I think it's also interesting because it offers a unique explanation of the forces motivating the animal rights activists in Oxford.
This post is the same as when it originally…
scientificactivist | June 13, 2006"Ph.D. programs don't really attract the most exceptional students," he said. I was having dinner with a few professors and graduate students from the Oxford Department of Biochemistry last night when one of the professors made that assertion. The topic of conversation was why so many graduate students in our program seem to lack a broad knowledge of areas of biochemistry outside of their specific area of research.
Feeling slightly offended, and fueled by the copious quantities of wine we had consumed, I pointedly asked, "Have you actually seen any figures that would back that up?" He hadn…
scientificactivist | June 10, 2006This is a plug for an event that the Oxford University Biochemical Society is putting together. This Monday, June 12th, at 4:00 pm the Oxford University Biochemical Society will be hosting a talk by Nobel Laureate Robert Huber in the University Museum (on Parks Road). The topic of the talk will be "Molecular machines for protein degradation", and more information on Huber and the 1988 Nobel Prize in Chemistry can be found here.
scientificactivist | June 9, 2006I published the following post on my former blog on June 3rd, but I'm republishing it here because it serves as an great introduction to the inspirational scientific activism currently taking shape in Oxford.
The only sounds were those of passing traffic and the whispers of interested observers as close to 1,000 people marched together in silence today down Oxford's High Street. Although the stated reason for the quiet was to avoid disturbing the many Oxford students currently taking their exams in the nearby Examination Schools, the symbolism was as tangible as the warmth of the brilliant…