Nothing shocks me, I'm a scientist

Happy Geek Pride Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:24:00 +0000

Get your gadgets out and start waving them about, because today is of course International Geek Pride Day (Or Towel Day for Hitchhiker fans). I could barely sleep last night for the excitement. Today I shall be gladly feasting on diet Coke and pizza, as we observers of this holiday do every year. And if you're still looking for gifts for your loved ones (you're cutting it fine aren't you?) then don't forget that Geek Nation is now out in paperback all over the world.

If you're looking for a geeky way to pass half an hour today, then you can also download the latest edition of BBC Radio 4's science news programme, Material World, which I was lucky to present this week while Quentin Cooper was away. This edition covers such exciting topics as bugs getting frisky under streetlights and a new super-fast computer chip. If you'd prefer to catch it on your wireless, then it will be repeated at 9pm on Monday.

Where is the support for working mums?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:01:00 +0000

Working mothers are big news at the moment, following the unsurprising revelation that the UK has some of the most expensive childcare in the world (not to mention only two weeks of paternity leave in the workplaces that offer it at all).

As someone who doesn't yet have children, but hopes to someday, I find British attitudes to working families ridiculously sexist. I wrote a short article for The Guardian the other week about why there are so few women scientists in Britain, particularly higher up the career ladder, following comments by Lesley Yellowlees, the Royal Society of Chemistry's first woman president, that the UK is half a century behind the US on this front... and every woman I interviewed said that the lack of family-friendly policies was the biggest reason they drop out of research. Across all professions, women are put off working by the fact that childcare is so expensive in this country, and that legislation discourages men from taking over childcare responsibilities.

There was a wonderful edition of BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour last week that looked at how different things are in Sweden, where parents split child caring and the state offers amazing help for very cheap. It's still on iPlayer and I recommend everyone listen to it, especially MPs. Until legislation divides the burden of having a family equally between men and women, and the state makes it financially possible for both parents to work, there will be no equality between the sexes.

Off to the States in August

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:35:00 +0000

There are few places in the world a geek yearns to visit more than the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US. I have certainly dreamed about it a few times. So it's with a happy heart I can tell you that, from August, I'll be spending nine months there on a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship. Yes, I'll miss London and it's psychotic weather, and yes, I'll miss being heard on your wireless sets for a year, but I will continue blogging intermittently so you can hear about my exploits.

If you live in the UK and would like to see me before I go (if only to tell me how glad you are to see me leave) then I still have lots of events lined up this summer. On Monday, I'll be in lovely Bishop's Stortford at 6.45pm for a Cafe Scientifique, next Saturday I'll be at the Bristol Festival of Ideas, and on 21st May I'll be at Skeptics in the Pub in Sheffield. Finally, I'm hosting a special philosophy-themed afternoon tea at the How the Light Gets In festival in Hay on Saturday 2nd June. Grab your tickets now. In a rare burst of generosity, I'll be randomly giving away free copies of Geek Nation at some of these events.

If you missed me at the Perugia Journalism Festival the other week, then you can watch the video here.

The drugs don't always work

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 23:03:00 +0000

A doctor friend of mine recently told me that side-effects from prescription drugs are one of medicine's biggest embarrassments. We take it for granted that some of the pills we take might hurt us, or may not even work at all. What I didn't learn until last year was just how high the rates of drug intolerance and adverse reactions really are. So high, in fact, that thousands of people die every year from taking drugs that don't suit them. Patients haven't really had much choice in the matter... until recently. Some pharmacologists now believe that genetic tests may one day be able to give us a better insight into what medicines each of us is intolerant to. The research is in its very early days, but if it pans out, it could mean personalised prescriptions and fewer adverse drug reactions. To find out more, check out the feature I've written on the subject for today's Guardian.

Wannabe science writer?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:26:00 +0000

Last year, the Guardian and Observer, along with the biomedical charity, the Wellcome Trust, launched a competition for new science writers. In a tough industry, it was a brilliant opportunity for people to showcase their work. So, wannabe writers, you will be pleased to know that they're relaunching the contest this year. If you'd like to find out more, check out the website. And if you would like some tips on how to make your copy sparkle, then I and other science writers have dissected some of our favourite pieces of science writing for you, published daily on the Guardian website. My pick is Atul Gawande's beautiful yet disturbing article in the New Yorker, about a woman with a compulsive itch.

Getting geeky this spring

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:54:00 +0000

It's a been a long, cold while since book festival season. So, if you're having literary withdrawal symptoms, you'll be pleased to know that there are loads of great events coming up this spring. I'll be kicking off the end of this month with the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, where there will be an entire event devoted to Geek Nation, exploring how science reporting can offer a fresh perspective on the developing world. In May, I'll be at the Bristol Festival of Ideas with the former Times science editor Mark Henderson, author of forthcoming The Geek Manifesto. And then in early June, I'll be in Wales for the How The Light Gets In philosophy festival.

For other geeky things across the UK check out the events page on my website. And if you can't make it to any of them, then grab your own copy of Geek Nation at your local bookshop. It came out in paperback across Europe and Australia in February, and will follow up across Asia and the US in May. Finally, thank you for all the lovely emails and tweets about the book over the last year... you rock.

A life through a lens

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:14:00 +0000

As those of you who have read Geek Nation will know, the one thing I love more than writing about science, is writing about scientists. There are few times that I've met a researcher or engineer and not found a fascinating life story. So it should have come as little surprise that when the folks at Science asked me to write about a revolutionary new kind of microscope that has a giant lens, named the Mesolens, there was a lovely tale there, too. Brad Amos, a scientist working at Cambridge University and the inventor of this new lens, was remarkably candid about his life and battles with one of the world's largest microscope companies. As a result of his experiences, he has made the unusual decision to shun the optics industry and manufacture the microscope himself, with the help of his colleagues. If you have time to read it, and access to the magazine (sorry, it's behind a paywall), the article is in the latest issue.

The picture above is of Brad Amos (centre) and his colleagues, with the Mesolens. Credit: David Blatchford, University of Strathclyde.

A year on from Fukushima

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:31:00 +0000

There's a moment in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles when Tess wonders which of the dates in her calendar will be the one on which she dies. There are tragedies that get added to all our personal calendars as we grow older, turning innocuous dates into painful memories. The latest is March 11th, when the magnitude 9.0 earthquake hit Japan. The death toll, a year later, stands at 15,800, with thousands more still missing.

Now, one of the things that we members of the press are wont to do when anniversaries like this roll around is ask ourselves what we could have done better. And unsurprisingly, the coverage of the Fukushima nuclear accident following the earthquake is prompting a lot of soul searching. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting last week, it was one of the big topics of discussion, and there's an excellent outline of the main points of concern on the Sense about Science website now.

One of their recommendations is "that governments and the nuclear industry relate their communications to the scientific evidence and are clear and open about the risks from nuclear energy." One of the major mistakes that some politicians have made in the past is to claim that nuclear power perfectly safe. When accidents happen, and they're proved wrong, the public instantly lose all faith in the technology. The truth is, no technology is foolproof, but even with the risk, nuclear power happens to have caused far fewer deaths than other means of energy production. The question is, is it a risk we're still willing to take?

The subject of nuclear risk is something I've explored for my latest feature in New Humanist magazine, now online. There also happen to be lots of brilliant pieces in this issue about freedom of speech. Check it out and also let me know your thoughts on nuclear safety.

How to make engineering more ethical

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:52:00 +0000

Making things may seem like an unquestionable good. But think again. Behind the products we use, the buildings we live in and every machine we have are sets of choices that can sometimes be ethical minefields. Take the Dow Chemical Company, for instance, which is still living with the ethical stain of the Bhopal tragedy in 1984, simply because it bought out Union Carbide. In 2010, eight former Union Carbide employees were convicted of death by negligence for the toxic gas leak that killed thousands. Now, campaigners have attacked the organisers of the Olympic Games in London for allowing Dow to sponsor the fabric wrap around the main stadium.

Which goes to show, ethics are a hugely important and sometimes sadly neglected aspect of engineering. Whether it's a choice of sustainable material, or whether to bribe a government official, engineers need to be more aware of the social repercussions of their work. The latest issue of the fabulous E&T Magazine explores this topic, including a piece by me on how engineers, ethicists and social scientists can learn to get along for the wider good of society - including views from the engineering giants, Shell and Arup. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.

Support the Little Atoms!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:40:00 +0000

... They're small and helpless! In case you've been living in a box and have only just discovered the Internet, Little Atoms is a brilliant podcast that takes the form of a talk show, with guests drawn from the world of science, humanism and beyond. It promotes scepticism and rationalism, which is something we can surely all get behind. Little Atoms is self-funded and always in search of a buck, so the folks there have organised an eBay auction of ten signed books by authors who were on the show last year. Among them is one of my personal first copies of Geek Nation in hardback. The current bid is just £51, and I don't need to tell you what a steal this is. Get in quick.

On another note, I was on Midori House, a show on Monocle 24 (the 24-hour radio station of Monocle magazine) this evening, talking about Geek Nation (yeah, I really know how to celebrate Valentine's Day). If you missed it, then listen again here.

Sense and censorship

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

I'm always a bit bemused when people tell me we should censor the Internet. For one thing, it's technically tough, because the people who want information will usually find a way to get it. Secondly, the Internet is like much of the rest of the media: you may like only the New York Times, but to get it, you'll have to grudgingly accept The Daily Mail. Censoring one person online threatens the freedom of speech of everyone else. Thirdly, and most importantly, you can never be sure of the motives of the people who are calling for censorship and where they will stop. I wrote a comment piece for The Guardian today exploring this third point, following news that Google, Facebook and other giants of the Internet will be censoring some of their content in India, in line with a court order from the government. Check it out and please do let me know what you think about Internet censorship too.

Out soon in paperback!

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:20:00 +0000

If you missed out on reading Geek Nation last year because you're not keen on hardbacks, or they're a bit too expensive for you, or you prefer a book you can fit in your pocket or your bag, then you'll be delighted to know that it will be out in the shops in paperback in exactly three weeks' time (or in May if you happen not to live in Europe). American readers may also be pleased to hear that it will be available Stateside too for the first time in May.

The cover is a funky mash-up of the Asian hardback and some of the colours from the European version, and on the back you will find a fetching little portrait of me looking especially geeky. There will be a few more events and signings this year, so please keep an eye on the events page of my website for more details. Have a Happy 2012!

Could our streets make us happier?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:01:00 +0000

Living in London these days, you can't help but notice how aggressive the city seems to have become. Cyclists hate drivers, drivers hate cyclists, pedestrians hate cyclists and drivers, and everyone who's not on a bus hates buses. We just don't seem to be very happy on our streets. Sadder still, we've taken for granted that there's not a lot we can do about it.

Well, that was until now. For the last few months I've been asking traffic engineers and scientists whether it's possible to rebuild the streets in a way that might make us safer, happier and generally nicer people. One answer is an increasingly popular (if controversial) concept known as Shared Space, which is a way of designing streets without segregating road users. Essentially, everyone is encouraged to use the same street at the same time... there are no pavements as such. Pioneered in Holland, it seems to be working over there by slowing down drivers and making all road users more aware of each other. And it's since been imported all over the world. The most high-profile British Shared Space project is almost finished in London's famous museum district on Exhibition Road (in the photo).

Another solution to maddening traffic junctions is the "scramble crossing", seen in Tokyo and now at Oxford Circus in London. I live very close to this crossing, and have to say, I love it. The traffic lights are still there (it's not a Shared Space) but now pedestrians can cross diagonally as well as on the sides, making it simpler to get from one corner to another.

If you'd like to know more about this and other research into the future of smarter streets, then tune in to hear me on BBC Radio 4 at 9pm on Tuesday 3rd January. There are loads of mind-bending ideas packed into the half-hour show. In fact, since making it, I've been looking at the roads around me with totally fresh eyes... Why is the kerb at that particular height? Why do we have traffic lights? Why do we need signs to tell us to go slower? It may sound nerdy, but it's one of the most fascinating topics I've worked on, so please listen in and let me know your thoughts.

A lot of cooking later...

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:14:00 +0000

We had a bottle of sloe gin, two jars of mango chutney, three jars of sweet chilli jam (below), a tin of biscotti (above), a jar of peanut butter fudge and a tin of florentines... phew. My husband and I decided to get into the holiday spirit this year by making our presents ourselves (for reasons explained in an earlier post). And even though it was damn hard work, you'll be happy to know they went down a storm. Join the revolution and try making your own stuff! Let me know about it too.

Watch out, my blood and sweat is in there. Yum.

London Science Book Club 6

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:16:00 +0000

Tuesday was the latest meeting of the London Science Book Club (now officially a year old!), and our pick was Supercooperators, out just this year by mathematical biologist, Martin Nowak, and former New Scientist editor, Roger Highfield. It being almost Christmas, this was the perfect touchy-feely tome our group needed to get us into the spirit. I've often heard friends of mine (usually bankers) claim that selfishness is programmed into our genes, to justify bad behaviour and greed. In fact, as Nowak's research proves, there is a good case to be made that cooperation has played a vital part in evolution. Essentially, his argument is that "natural cooperation" is as important as Darwin's idea of natural selection.

There's a lot in the book that our group had heard before, and some of it a long time ago: I was already familiar, for example, with the Prisoner's Dilemma and the Tragedy of the Commons, which are both fleshed out in detail in Supercooperators. But Nowak's trick is to frame familiar ideas like these in the world of biology. We all found his argument compelling, and Highfield had also done a brilliant job of illustrating the science in a way that's fun to read. The real pleasures of this book are the anecdotes and the glimpse you get into the everyday life of a scientist. For at least one of our group, it was the favourite book club pick of the year.

My homemade Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 12:07:00 +0000

I live very close to one of London's busiest shopping streets and over the years this has made me nervous of Christmas. I've learned to hate the elbow-poking crowds with their fists full of plastic bags, so rude that they'd kick a grandmother to grab the last bargain. Which is why, this year, my husband and I are making all our presents ourselves. We're baking, gluing, cutting and picking everything from scratch (or as close to scratch as possible). I would tell you what we're making, but for the sake of surprise I'm keeping the actual gifts a secret for now. I'll let you know how it went after 25th December. Suffice to say, it's hard work but satisfying.

What got me thinking about all this in the first place was an exhibition and debate on making and crafting at the V&A a little while ago. It inspired me to write a piece for the BBC Radio 4 show, Four Thought, about why I'm a late adopter to technology. I'm of course in favour of scientific and technological progress, but when it comes to buying new gadgets (or any new things actually), I feel uncomfortable about throwing my old stuff away. This may be one reason I'd rather fix things or make them if I can. If you'd like to hear more of my thoughts on this, then tune into Radio 4 on 30th November at 8.45pm. I'd love to know what you, both my blog readers, think too.

(And if you'd rather not make your own presents and are looking for something to gift, then The Independent has just named Geek Nation one of their best science books for Christmas. There are even a few signed copies available at the magnificent Foyles bookstore on Charing Cross Road... just sayin'...).

The Right to Information revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:09:00 +0000

In the second of my two special radio items from India following massive anti-corruption protests there this summer (the first being an episode of Discovery on electronic governance), this week I'm on Click talking about Right to Information. This is a legislative act passed around six years ago that requires the Indian government to give citizens whatever data they want about how the country is run... as tiny as the decisions behind pupil admissions at a school, to as major as which politicians are diddling their expenses.

Just like freedom of information powers in other countries, Right to Information has been called the most powerful piece of legislation in Indian government history. And a glance at the newspapers in any given week will explain why: it's exposed enormous scandals and empowered millions of ordinary people. In this week's Click on the BBC World Service, I explore how this new generation of information activists are using the Internet and social networking to squeeze maximum benefit out of the act and helping to reduce corruption. Tune in or listen to the podcast here.

India's bureaucracy goes digital

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 13:29:00 +0000

Living in Britain, I've always been sceptical of public sector IT projects. If you'd like to know why, you need only monitor the progress of government efforts to move NHS paper medical records onto a national computer network. Not only did the projected costs of this spiral past £11 billion, but in the end the idea was shelved altogether. So when I learned that India was trying to shift its entire bureaucracy online (and bear in mind, this is one of the biggest and most tangled bureaucracies on the planet), I'll admit, it sounded like a white elephant waiting to appear.

In the course of writing Geek Nation, though, and now having done a feature for the BBC World Service science series Discovery about electronic governance in India... my mind has been changed. Although there have been pitfalls along the way, India is slowly and successfully digitising every scrap of paper in its bureaucratic ministries and regional government departments from land records all the way down to birth certificates. It's even rolling out a national biometric identity scheme (photo above), with the aim of processing a whopping million people a day. And much of this is thanks to India harnessing its legions of skilled IT professionals. It's transforming the lives of ordinary people by making government more accessible, transparent and less corrupt. Don't believe me? Then tune into the BBC World Service tonight at 7.30pm.

London Science Book Club 5

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 20:24:00 +0000

Tonight was the latest meeting of the London Science Book Club, and our pick was Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear by Canada-based journalist, Dan Gardner. It's essentially a book about the way we misuse and misinterpret statistics, in areas as broad as breast cancer occurrence and fears around nuclear power. It's full of wonderful snatches of research, particularly by the psychologists Kahneman and Tversky, who ran some famous experiments trying to understand why and how people make errors. And it will make you think very differently about the stats you hear about in the news. One funny example I read recently, proving how easy it is for people to blind us with numbers is this: When Elvis Presley died in 1977, there were 37 Elvis impersonators in the world. By 1993, there were 48,000. So extrapolating, every 3rd person will be an Elvis impersonator by 2010. This is ridiculous of course, yet it's the kind of thing that happens in news reports all the time.

Risk also happens to be well-written and beautifully researched, if a little more focused on examples than human stories. The only thing missing, a couple of us noted, was some deeper explanation of why humans behave so irrationally when it comes to some fears. Having read Antonio Damasio's book Descartes' Error in our first book club, we were all aware of the neuroscience of behaviour and how it has shaped our understanding of what it means to be human - with all our faults. Is there something about odds that we just can't seem to grasp? Are we just a bit thick, or is there more at play?

In all though, a big thumbs up for Risk! We really enjoyed it.

Also, some good news for new members: Owing to work and family commitments, we have had a couple of people drop out of our small club. So if you're based near London and would be willing to get together with us once every two months over a good non-fiction science book, then please send me an email or a tweet (contact details available here).

Final book talk of the year

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:11:00 +0000

By my reckoning, I have done 21 book talks and literary festivals on three continents for Geek Nation this year. Now, the last one is approaching. And it's in Sheffield. The Off the Shelf literary festival starts this weekend and my part will be played on Monday night, with an illustrated talk at the Showroom Cinema at 7pm. Since it's a special occasion, I'll be giving away a free signed copy of Geek Nation to the best question from the audience. So book your tickets now (or get them on the door on Monday)!

In other news, Geek Nation will be out in paperback in Europe in February with a fresh cover (above). Well, actually, it's the Asian cover slightly remixed, but it looks super cool. If you'd like to be one of the first to get your hands on a copy, you can pre-order it now on Amazon UK.

Mathematics in the dock

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:54:00 +0000

A few years ago I met a mathematician called Norman Fenton at Queen Mary, University of London, who told me about the disturbing problem of miscarriages of justice happening in British courts because jurors, judges and lawyers were failing to understand statistics. The most famous case in recent years is that of of Sally Clark, who was sent to jail for killing her two young children, before mathematics proved that it was likelier that they were both victims of cot death. The solution to bad statistics like this sometimes comes in the form of Bayes' Theorem, a formula that forensic scientists use to calculate the odds of one event given the prior odds of other related events. Number-crunching evidence using Bayesian reasoning, Fenton said, was a much more accurate way of assessing a suspect's guilt (in fact with one of his colleagues, he invented a piece of software that does all this number crunching for you).

But while lots of mathematicians support the use of Bayesian reasoning in courts, judges have historically shown a hostility to formulae for fear of confusing jurors. Explaining Bayes' Theorem to people isn't easy, even with diagrams. Fenton has been an expert witness in some high-profile trials, including that of murderer Levi Bellfield back in 2007, and he knows first hand just how easy it is for people (including scientists) to misinterpret forensic evidence. So I ended up writing a feature about our encounter for New Scientist in 2009, explaining the common statistical fallacies that happen in courts, and how they might be avoided.

Then last year, in an appeal case known as RvT (the redacted judgment is available here), a High Court judge effectively ruled that Bayes' Theorem can't be used at all except in limited circumstances, such as with DNA evidence. Experts have told me on and off the record that this could lead to many more miscarriages of justice in the future. It has sent shockwaves through the forensic science community. Fenton has been so concerned by the ruling that he is forming a research group to figure a way to get this mathematical tool back in the courts. If you'd like to read more about the whole story, check out my feature in The Guardian today.

For anyone who would like to investigate the issue more deeply, there has been a spate of academic publications recently looking at it, including this draft paper by Fenton and his colleague Martin Neil, one in the Criminal Law Review by Redmayne, Roberts, Aitken and Jackson, and a paper in Science & Justice by Berger, Buckleton, Champod and Evett.

How useful are makers to manufacturing?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 07:11:00 +0000

If you're in London anytime during the rest of this year, I strongly recommend you get yourself down to the Victoria & Albert Museum in South Kensington because they have a brilliant exhibition celebrating the power of making, crafting, tinkering and fixing. Curator Daniel Charny has assembled a little bit of everything, from enormous artistic makes, to the ingenious ministerial Red Box (the lock is at the bottom so you can never forget to close it) and personal 3D printers.

I was there last night to see the exhibits and then take part in a panel debate about manufacturing, organised as part of the Battle of Ideas. And to my surprise, it became a pretty heated discussion (and not just because the room had no air conditioning). James Woudhuysen, professor of forecasting and innovation at De Montfort University, said that knitters, crafters and individual makers had no value in real manufacturing because the scale at which they work is just too small. And this left Sandy Black, professor of fashion & textile design & technology at the University of the Arts London, having to defend people who work in sustainable fashion. Meanwhile I was somewhere in the middle: I'm an advocate for big scientific projects and industrial-scale technology, but at the same time I really can see the value in individual makers. Not only are they one end of a manufacturing spectrum that includes all inventors, but they help nurture a culture that values products as more than disposable engines of economic growth.

Claire Fox, the director of the Institute of Ideas, which organised this entire debate series, commented that she neither had the time nor inclination to fix things. But while I don't want to force people to knit their own clothes or mend their own toasters, one aspect of maker culture that I think everyone should experience at least once is the satisfaction that comes from fixing something. I was taught to sew, knit and do DIY by my parents, and I still get a buzz from stretching the lifespan of stuff I own by repairing it, or transforming some piece of clothing with a little imagination. Whether it's driven by necessity or desire, making satisfies a human urge. We are a creative species.

So try it for yourself just once. Make something. You'll love it, I promise.

Festival fun in Delhi

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:09:00 +0000

I'm in New Delhi right now, courtesy of The Hindu newspaper's Lit for Life festival, which was at the weekend. It was really good fun, thanks mostly to the other authors on my panel, Mukul Deva and Anuja Chauhan, who are both bestselling fiction writers here. Thank you to all the Geek Nation fans who turned up. If you'd like to see coverage of the event, check out the The Hindu's website (the photo above of me doing my usual weird hand-waving while I talk is from Monday's newspaper, taken by Rajeev Bhatt).

On Friday I'll be back in London and part of a panel debate at the Victoria and Albert Museum about manufacturing, hosted by the Institute of Ideas. It's free and you don't even need to book a place, so why not come along if you happen to be in the Big Smoke.

What happened to higher education?

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:56:00 +0000

When I was at university, a long time ago, tuition fees had just been introduced in England. They were pretty low but enough to have us students up in arms that suddenly higher education was no longer free. Worse than that, it felt as though young people were being penalised for wanting to learn and train to become more productive citizens. Today, things are even worse. We have higher fees and British universities are threatened with closure because of government spending cuts. Meanwhile, in Asia, new universities are being built as I write.

I was asked to write about this topic recently by University Alliance, an organisation that represents universities who are tightly engaged with business and industry recently, which has been producing a report about the value of graduates to economic growth. It may sound obvious, but in a time of huge cuts these things need to be spelled out. You can take a look at my take here, and also those of other contributors, including the legendary Sir Patrick Stewart (yes, from Star Trek).

Geek Nation now out in Zhongwen

noreply@blogger.com (Angela Saini) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 16:59:00 +0000

I've just got back from a three-day visit to Yorkshire for the British Science Festival, which was this year held in the salubrious city of Bradford. Last night I ended the trip in Otley to take part in their Science Cafe. Big thanks to Ruth Wilson from the UKRC, Farrah Nazir from the British Science Festival, Alom Shaha who kindly conversed with me for a Geek Nation event at Waterstones on Wednesday night, Marty Jopson from the Otley Science Festival for hosting me, and all the other wonderful people who turned up and were so nice.

In other news, Geek Nation is now available in Chinese! The Taiwanese publishers have gone with a different cover from the Asian and European editions, but it's funky in its own way. I've been sent five copies by my publishers, which sadly owing to my rudimentary Mandarin reading skills are likely to go to waste. So if you would like one then let me know by leaving a comment below. As long as you can send me a stamped-addressed envelope, you can have a copy for free.

I'm off to New Delhi next week for The Hindu newspaper's Lit for Life festival. I'll be speaking on Sunday morning (25th September), at the Habitat Centre on Lodhi Road. It's free and open to everyone, so hope to see as many of you there as possible.