This quarter featured one of our most heavily commented on posts since the classic “Say NO to the second postdoc entry” in 2009, but unlike the personal angst that the postdoctoral post dredged up, this quarter’s “Sorry Rick Mercer, I’d love to agree but I think you’re wrong” post was about the level of interest Canadians had in all things science. I received many emails about the post in addition to these comments and it seems that our readers either said “bang on, I totally agree” or “you’re way off the mark, Canadians love science.” My old Let’s Talk Science colleague Theresa voiced her disagreement here and Science Borealis tackled the article as well. After all of this back and forth, I feel that it’s fair to state that the energy and enthusiasm are present to better support science outreach and engagement in Canada. Optimizing that energy and enthusiasm to reach out to all Canadians to see tangible changes in future generations is the challenge, but I am optimistic (though I still think the average Canadian often opts to suppress their curiosity in favour of the next episode of the Amazing Race).
Debate aside, this blog intends to stimulate people in an attempt to tackle big issues in science and science training – sometimes that’s as simple as finding each other and engaging the issue together.
Jonathan and I will of course write much more about these topics in the future. But for now, let’s recap the quarter’s posts:
Jonathan:
- Looking south: The NIH’s 2015 fiscal outlook
- Science in society by the book
- Blog articles are opinion pieces not news
- Translating knowledge … in Interlingua!
- Building bridges between basic science and public interest
Dave:
- Leveling the playing field for young female researchers in Europe
- Sorry Rick Mercer, I’d love to agree but I think you’re wrong
- Practice what you preach – Lip service to public outreach frustrates me…
- Four hours from submission to acceptance… come on, really?
- Europe to offer cross-border pension plans for mobile researchers
Jonathan and I will be devoting considerable time in 2015 to collating all of the excellent discussions and themes brought up over the last five years on the Black Hole. We are greatly indebted to our readers both for their online and email comments and for their support of this blog.
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