10th July 2013
San Francisco, USA
I know what you’re thinking – this is a blog for the Science and Innovation Network. What’s next, a post on fire-breathing dragons? But in fact, over the course of the past decade the concept of invisibility cloaks has turned from fiction to science. Much to the dismay of Harry Potter fans across the globe, however, […]
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17th June 2013
San Francisco, USA
In my mind, when the names Watson and Crick come up in casual conversation (as they do for so many of us), an image of a three-dimensional double helix rotating slowly in front of my eyes immediately comes to mind. Regardless of your own reaction to the mentioning of these famous Cambridge scientists, their discovery […]
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17th June 2013
San Francisco, USA
Arriving in Portland, Oregon recently on the 6am flight from San Francisco, I immediately felt at home – as much as I love the California sunshine, like many Brits I secretly miss the grey skies and drizzle of the UK, and I was delighted to see that the Oregonian weather was very similar. With the […]
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7th June 2013
Los Angeles, USA
The Los Angeles S&I team recently visited NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to meet the Megacities Carbon Project team. The MCP is designed to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban areas, starting with Los Angeles (LA). CLARS, a laboratory housing remote-sensing instruments built by JPL researchers, sits atop of Mount Wilson, where it samples […]
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30th May 2013
Chicago, USA
Big Science is expensive, and as justifying why tax dollars should pay for large scientific instruments is more difficult than ever. But Big Science is important and in these times of austerity, researchers and science leaders must do a better job of explaining how large scientific endeavours such as particle accelerators, massive light sources or […]
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9th May 2013
Washington DC, USA
The following is a guest blog post from Suzanne Austin, Deputy Director for Research Councils UK team in the US. I wanted to start this blog post with a joke. You know the one where there’s a historian, biologist and computer scientist in a bar? And they….except they don’t. There are no jokes about these […]
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6th May 2013
Atlanta, USA
According to the WHO, worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. There are so many stories in the media right now related to this epidemic, many of which are causing an uproar, from New York’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg, recently announcing a proposed ban on the sale of sugary drinks larger than 16oz in the […]
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25th April 2013
Houston, USA
Can you name a living scientist? If you are reading this ‘Partners in Science’ blog, it is likely you can. Unfortunately, a ‘Research! America’ survey conducted in 2011 says that only 34 per cent of Americans can actually name a living scientist. As someone who works everyday with scientists who are doing some truly revolutionary […]
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16th April 2013
Chicago, USA
Life-changing technologies like the automobile, personal computer, and even electric lighting all once faced the same challenges of public perception now faced by clean technology. Following their inception, these were written off as “novelties”, or “luxuries for the wealthy”, before they went on to take the world by storm. Cleantech is now at this tipping […]
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25th March 2013
San Francisco, USA
It’s something we depend on every day – when we power up our phones and laptops, use a domestic hot water tank, or turn on a flashlight – but energy storage technology also has a role to play at a much larger scale. As I found out recently, the ability to store energy in the […]
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