A History of Panic Buying
A humorous look at how the human brain consistently reacts to crisis in a similar manner — by hording toilet paper.
Ask The Chefs: Picking A Superpower!
With the world in chaos around us, this month we’ve asked the Chefs about superpowers! What would YOU select if you could pick any superpower? Let us know.
Revisiting in a New Light: A Conference Call in Real Life
Living in our new world of videoconferencing makes it worth reconsidering a funny video on the perils of conference calls.
Guest Post — Report: Gender Diversity in Research is Improving, But We Still Have Work To Do
Bamini Jayabalasingham, Ylann Schemm, and Holly J. Falk-Krzesinski present the takeaways of a new report by Elsevier, “The Researcher Journey Through a Gender Lens”.
Ritual, Process, and Social Interaction: The World’s Oldest Surviving Video Rental Store
A visit to the world’s longest running video rental store and a lesson about the value of inconvenience.
Building a Brain Trust
Building a brain trust is a key part of the tasks of a CEO, as some difficult questions require the guidance and reflection of trusted advisors.
A Rare Shared Cultural Experience and the Value of Inconvenience
When was the last time everyone you knew experienced the same piece of culture at the same time? Is the age of shared cultural experiences over?
China Strives to Catch Up on STM Publishing: An Interview with Dr. Zong-Ming Cheng and Dr. Xiaofeng Wang
China is making great official strides in developing a system of scholarly communications. Tao Tao interviews two experts for their opinions on how international collaborations and internal developments are happening.
Guest Post — The Emergence of Chinese STM Publishers: Threat or Opportunity? An Interview with Matthias Wahls
A look at the recent acquisition of EDP by Science Press, and the larger implications it holds for the future of Chinese science publishing.
A Historical Look At Vaccine Skepticism
The Washington Post looks at the long history of vaccine skepticism.
A Proto-VOIP Conference Call from 1978
Using an amazing new technology from 1978 looks awfully familiar.
A Case for Popularization: A Review of Rockonomics
Bringing the authority of the academy to a broad audience should be second only to original research itself, especially if the research community hopes to retain or even increase the public’s support for the esoteric work that goes on behind the laboratory walls.
Balancing Author Satisfaction with Reviewer Needs
Authors want their papers published quickly while also expecting high-quality reviews. Reviewers want reasonable deadlines. These two groups come from the same communities so why the disconnect? This post by Angela Cochran looks at the numbers and offers suggestions for closing the gap.
Things Called “American” in Different Countries
A Friday video showing different things around the world that are called, “American”.
Regional Accents of the United States
A Friday video offering 50 different regional accents from 50 states in America.