When we think of great names in science, say Darwin, Einstein, or Curie, we mostly focus on their exceptional achievements, not necessarily on the persons themselves. But like everyone else, long before they became great names, they were children. What were the things that influenced them as they were growing up? As we know,...
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A Tricky Business?
Years ago, I read in a science magazine somewhere that in order for someone to increase one’s probability of winning the Nobel Prize, one has to be 1) white, 2) male, and 3) belonging to the upper class. That was based on the demographic analysis of Nobel laureates in science and medicine awarded so far....
Poster or Oral?
Presentations in conferences are typically classified into oral or poster presentations. Obviously, oral presentations are reserved for those topics which are considered “hot” and of higher appeal to the intended audience. If you want to increase your signal-to-noise ratio (here, signal pertains your scientific work, in contrast to noise, which is what everyone else is talking about), oral presentation is...
Scientists, Know Thy Hirsch Number!
The Hirsch number (otherwise known as the h-index) tries to quantify the (scientific) productivity of a scientist. The Hirsch number was first described by the physicist J.E. Hirsch in a 2005 PNAS paper: An index to quantify an individual?s scientific research output. Hirsch says: I propose the index h, defined as the number of...
Calling on all Filipino bloggers to unite for S&T
Filipino bloggers are growing in number, everyday. It’s amazing how we have immediately warmed up to the blogosphere. However, most of the blogs that I encounter are personal blogs, some of them are technoblogs written by technology-savvy individuals. Some bloggers with scientific backgrounds occasionally write posts that are science-related. However, it’s obvious that a...
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