How jazz boosts my creativity in physics
Theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander was 12 years old when his father bought him a saxophone at a garage sale near their home in the Bronx, New York. Soon after he heard Ornette Coleman, a pioneer ...
29 Maj 20min
Hit a lab project glitch? Thinking about your thesis title like a storyteller can help you focus
Frances Brodsky believes that writing her three mystery novels set in the world of bench science has improved her scientific writing. “I love making up titles for my books and chapters,” she says. “On...
22 Maj 16min
Running a farm, pursuing a research career: what’s the difference?
Brandon Brown “fell into farming” after tiring of city life during the COVID-19 pandemic and now tends more than 150 fruit trees alongside his research into HIV and public health ethics at the Univers...
15 Maj 14min
How a passion for baking fermented a fresh career move
Baking bread during Covid-19 lockdowns provided Chantle Edillor with some career inspiration. “I knew I wanted to do something different and an exploration in sourdough presented an opportunity that I...
8 Maj 16min
How sewing can set you up for failure and success in science
Yasmin Proctor-Kent likens sewing to science. “I find them really hard to separate them in my brain. I don’t think I can sew without engaging the same part of my brain that I do science with,” she say...
30 Apr 18min
Hit a glitch in your research? Some ‘night science’ thinking could move it forward
The French biologist and Nobel prizewinner François Jacob talked about day and night science as part of the creative process that underpins research. The former, he argued in his 1988 autobiography, i...
23 Apr 22min
How to thrive in science when you move abroad
Among the barriers faced by researchers who move abroad to develop their careers is a so-called “hidden curriculum,” says Sonali Majumdar, whose book, Thriving as an International Scientist, was publi...
9 Apr 36min
How procrastination can rob you of career fulfilment in science
Simon May describes his 2025 book Jump! as a new approach to conquering procrastination. Unlike self-help manuals that urge readers to break tasks down into manageable chunks with clear deadlines, May...
1 Apr 29min
