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Science is still a final frontier for women

Science is still a final frontier for women

Women continue to face serious obstacles when pursuing a scientific career in Switzerland, with the juggle of family life and research particularly difficult.

Wo bleibt der offene Diskurs?

Wo bleibt der offene Diskurs?

Es ist höchst eigenartig: Die Schweiz driftet, seit dem 9. Februar mit erhöhter Geschwindigkeit, auf eine gewaltige Bewährungsprobe zu, doch die politischen Parteien bleiben weitgehend stumm.

On the rise

On the rise

Africa has a poor reputation for scientific innovation. But when South Africa jointly won a bid in 2012 to host the world's largest science project, for a radio telescope called the Square Kilometre Array, it hoped to foster a new image.

Stressed students reach out for help

Stressed students reach out for help

Graduate students struggling with the stresses of their work and lives can tap into multiple avenues of support.

The Kardashian index: a measure of discrepant social media profile for scientists

The Kardashian index: a measure of discrepant social media profile for scientists

While social media is a valuable tool for outreach and the sharing of ideas, there is a danger that this form of communication is gaining too high a value and that we are losing sight of key metrics of scientific value, such as citation indices.

OA explained in 8 mins

OA explained in 8 mins

What is open access? Nick Shockey and Jonathan Eisen take us through the world of open access publishing and explain just what it's all about.

How did Lego become a gender battleground?

How did Lego become a gender battleground?

A palaeontologist, an astronomer, a chemist - into the pantheon of children's toys stride three new Lego characters. Not so surprising. Except the scientists are all female.

Public consultation on Science 2.0

Public consultation on Science 2.0

The goal of the consultation is to better understand the full societal potential of 'Science 2.0' as well as the desirability of any possible policy action

Researcher's death shocks Japan

Researcher's death shocks Japan

One of Japan's top stem cell researchers, died in an apparent suicide. He was famous for his ability to coax embryonic stem cells to differentiate into other cell types.

Canada National Research Council 'hacked by Chinese spies'

Canada National Research Council 'hacked by Chinese spies'

A top Canadian government research organisation has been struck by Chinese hackers, the government has said.

Researcher's death highlights problems in dealing with scientific misconduct

Researcher's death highlights problems in dealing with scientific misconduct

We need to deal swiftly with fraud when it is identified. But time after time I have watched not only the accused, but everyone around them, be treated with such sanctimonious disdain. by Michael Eisen

Genesis of altmetrics or article-level metrics for measuring efficacy of scholarly communications: current perspectives

Genesis of altmetrics or article-level metrics for measuring efficacy of scholarly communications: current perspectives

This paper provides a glimpse of genesis of altmetrics in measuring efficacy of scholarly communications. This paper also highlights available altmetric tools and social platforms linking altmetric tools, which are widely used in deriving altmetric scores of scholarly publications.

Assessing Science

Assessing Science

Earlier this year, at a symposium organized by Nature in Melbourne, Australia, a group of leading academics, funders and government advisers discussed how research outcomes are measured. This Nature Outlook was influenced by these debates.

Work Programme 2015

Work Programme 2015

This document is the annual work programme for the European Research Council funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.

A surge of p-values between 0.040 and 0.049 in recent decades

A surge of p-values between 0.040 and 0.049 in recent decades

It is known that statistically significant results are more likely to be published than results that are not statistically significant. We conducted a search in the abstracts of papers published between 1990 and 2014. The results indicate that negative results are not disappearing, but have actually become 4.3 times more prevalent since 1990. Positive results, on the other hand, have become 13.9 times more prevalent since 1990.

NIH institute considers broad shift to ‘people’ awards

NIH institute considers broad shift to ‘people’ awards

Fund people, not projects. The NIH is now encouraging its 27 institutes and centers to launch their own people awards.