Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-29

RT @NeilWithers: Nobel prize prediction starts early at ChemBark http://trunc.it/aladh #
RT @morphosaurus Stages Of Succession On University Applications http://goo.gl/fb/rwe07 #
RT @Allochthonous: Interesting post from co-blogger @highlyanne: [Edinburgh] Castle geology http://bit.ly/cTeQgQ #
@LouiseJJohnson some Tesco extras stock it too. Absolutely love cooking with it in reply to LouiseJJohnson #
marking in august = extreme misery #
currently trying [...]

Got a question? What’s next?

I wrote a few weeks ago about phrasing research questions and did so in a fairly generic way.  I didn’t touch on how you find a good research question, a problem worth working on.

Research can be incremental, working carefully through possibilities and adding to the sum of knowledge about a specific sub-field.  For example, synthesizing all molecules with [...]

Variety in Chemistry Education 2010

Next week I’m off to present an Oral Byte at the Variety in Chemistry Education conference in Loughborough.  Due to a minor scheduling class I’m there on the Thursday then off to London for Science Online London 2010 hideously early on the Friday morning. (I had to rebook my tickets after they published the programme for SOLO10 because the website said a noon start, the programme says a 10 am start – bah humbug advanced non-refundable rail tickets).

Continue reading Variety in Chemistry Education 2010

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-22

Awesome: New kind of POSS dendrimer, and used for drug delivery! http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/mp1000923 #
RT @morphosaurus: Stages Of Succession Disappointment Peak http://goo.gl/fb/Lhkiv #
RT @deborahblum: A chemical-free rant. My new post on Speakeasy Science: http://blog.deborahblum.com/?p=540 #
Yes! RT @NeilWithers: Does it matter if people re-use the periodic table but don’t understand the real thing? http://trunc.it/a9vh4 #
also http://bit.ly/aiuTdH @ChemistryWorld: A MOF [...]

POSS Dendrimers for Drug Delivery

Drug delivery is an area of research on the border of pharmaceutical science and medicinal chemistry.  My experience of drug delivery is mainly concerned with using polymers to devise new ways of getting approved drugs into the human body.  For example, a drug used in chemotherapy may well have extensive side effects when administered to a patient by intra venous infusion, yet [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-15

RT @LouWoodley: Are blogging networks compatible with publishing business plans? http://bit.ly/cPp9me #
RT @SmallCasserole: A thought-provoking post on skepticism by @sciencepunk http://bit.ly/cr67Wn #
@SmallCasserole well that sounds dignified! I thought I might be chasing the pigeons rather than floundering ineptly in their midst… in reply to SmallCasserole #
RT @morphosaurus: Stages Of Succession Wordless Wednesday: Not For Long [...]

A question of questions…

I was asked a few weeks ago to give some advice on how to write a research proposal.  I’m neither qualified nor able to give a definitive  guide to writing a research proposal.  I can, however, describe the process that I  go through, and make a few suggestions.

The first thing you need is  a research question.  [...]

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-08-08

Heffernan NYT Mag article

NYT Magazine on Science Blogs (well it made me laugh) http://nyti.ms/9j92T8 #
RT @BoraZ: still collecting blog responses to Heffernan NYT Mag article: http://bit.ly/9E8wXw #

British Science Festiaval

Yay! RT @robajackson: RT @stuartcantrill The Armchair Chemist Online Sept 16th @British Science Festival http://bit.ly/9Tdu2r #britscifest #
http://bit.ly/9Tdu2r The Armchair Chemist Online: online chemistry from blogs to [...]

Online Chemistry Resources

I’ve started a new page on this site: ‘Chemistry Online‘ (see bar above header image).  I’d like to compile a list that demonstrates the diversity of online chemistry resources.  I’ve started off with blogs, a couple of open science initiatives, the Periodic Table of Videos, and the 3 major publishing outlets for chemistry (Nature Chem, ACS [...]

September Epic

September is shaping up to be a busy month.

It all starts on the 2nd of September when I’m off to the Variety in Chemistry Education conference over at Loughborough University. I’m presenting an oral byte called ‘From lo-tech to high-tech: Teaching spectroscopy with the writing on the wall’ which is restricted to 5 minutes in length and a maximum [...]