Science Quick Picks » Reviews

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine

Jorge Goncalves — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:12:25 +0000

The American College of Physicians (ACP) has named Christine Laine editor of its flagship journal, Annals of Internal Medicine. A former vice president and senior deputy editor of Annals, Christine Laine succeeds Harold C. Sox who will retire in July.

The Annals of Internal Medicine New Editor is the youngest editor in the history of Annals of Internal Medicine and brings a unique perspective to the journal. She plans to continue the tradition of excellence established by her predecessors, while striving to chart new and innovative courses that will help to make the journal invaluable to general internists and subspecialists alike.

Christine Laine, a widely respected name in the field of medical journalism, is Secretariat for the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, the Vice President of the Council of Science Editors, and a member of the Ethics Committee of the World Association of Medical Editors. She is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Internal Medicine at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia where she continues to teach and see patients.

Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians (ACP), the Annals of Internal Medicine is the leading journal for studies in internal medicine. The purpose of the journal is to promote excellence in the clinical practice of internal medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine is one of the most widely cited peer-reviewed medical journals in the world. The journal accepts only 7 percent of the original research studies submitted for publication.

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

String Theory Books Reviewed by Joseph Polchinski

Jorge Goncalves — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 01:03:18 +0000

All Strung Out?. ‘The 1970s were an exhilarating time in particle physics. After decades of effort, theoretical physicists had come to understand the weak and strong nuclear forces and had combined them with the electromagnetic force in the so-called Standard Model. Fresh from this success, they turned to the problem of finding a unified theory, a single principle that would account for all three of these forces and the properties of the various subatomic particles. Some investigators even sought to unify gravity with the other three forces and to resolve the problems that arise when gravity is combined with quantum theory.
The Standard Model is a quantum field theory, in which particles behave as mathematical points, but a small group of theorists explored the possibility that under enough magnification, particles would prove to be oscillating loops or strands of “string.” Although this seemingly odd idea attracted little attention at first, by 1984 it had become apparent that this approach was able to solve some key problems that otherwise seemed insurmountable. Rather suddenly, the attention of many of those working on unification shifted to string theory, and there it has stayed since.
Today, after more than 20 years of concentrated effort, what has been accomplished? What has string theory predicted? Lee Smolin, in The Trouble with Physics, and Peter Woit, in Not Even Wrong, argue that string theory has largely failed. What is worse, they contend, too many theorists continue to focus their efforts on this idea, monopolizing valuable scientific resources that should be shifted in more promising directions.’

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String Theory Books Reviewed by Joseph Polchinski is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance by Eric Scerri

Jorge Goncalves — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:57:21 +0000

Did a Frenchman beat Mendeleev to the periodic table? ‘Credit for the periodic table of the elements generally goes to Dimitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, but a specialist in the history and philosophy of chemistry says the Russian chemist probably peeked at the work of predecessors.
In his new book, “The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance,” Eric Scerri says that six now obscure scientists came up with periodic tables in the 1860s, before Mendeleev sketched out the basis of his version of the table, which graphically lays out the elements and their properties, on the back of an invitation in 1869.
The first was a French geologist named Alexandre Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois, but his publisher was unable to publish the complex diagram of the periodic table that he submitted with the article, according to Scerri, a chemist at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Although Mendeleev said the idea for the table came to him in a dream one night during a time when he toiled over a textbook, the Russian probably had a peek at Chancourtois’ work.’ [Read the whole article]

The Periodic Table: Its Story and Its Significance by Eric Scerri is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Discover Poll: What’s the Greatest Science Book of All-Time?

Jorge Goncalves — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:01:08 +0000

Discover Poll: What’s the Greatest Science Book of All-Time?. ‘In the December 2006 issue, DISCOVER assembled The All-Time Essential Reading List—the 25 greatest science books ever written. But what do DISCOVER editors know, anyway? Would you choose a different (and, no doubt, better) book for your #1?
Here’s your chance to tell us—along with the rest of the world. Select any of our top 25, presented here in order, or write in a different book that we missed entirely. After you vote, you’ll see the the results to date. The poll will run until December 15.’

25 Greatest Science Books of All-Time – DISCOVER presents the essential reading list for anyone interested in science.

Discover Poll: What’s the Greatest Science Book of All-Time? is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Book: Theory and Practice of Online Learning

Jorge Goncalves — Sun, 28 May 2006 11:51:19 +0000

Theory and Practice of Online Learning, edited by Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi, is concerned with assisting providers of online education with useful tools to carry out the teaching and learning transactions online. It presents, in an easily readable form, the theory, administration, tools, and methods of designing and delivering learning online. By doing so, the authors bring to the teaching community a valuable product which should go a long way in popularizing the use of the learning technologies.

‘Starting with a comprehensive summary of relevant educational theory, the book revisits, in a lively way, the great dichotomies that have marked the history of open and distance learning. How should we balance the social and individual aspects of study? What is the right mixture between independent and interactive learning? Should courses be paced for cohorts of students, or unpaced for the benefit of individuals?’

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Tags: Online Learning, eLearning, Distance Education, Educational Technology, Teaching, Learning

Book: Theory and Practice of Online Learning is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

The Open Research Web

Jorge Goncalves — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:51:16 +0000

The Open Research Web: A Preview of the Optimal and the Inevitable. Abstract: ‘Further development of GNU EPrints and Citebase, together with the growing webwide database of Open Access (OA) articles, and the data we will collect and analyse from it, will allow us to do several things for which the unique historic moment has arrived with the Research Assessment Exercise’s recent transition to metrics: (1) Motivate more researchers to provide OA by self-archiving; (2) map the growth of OA across disciplines, countries and languages; (3) navigate the OA literature using citation-linking and impact ranking; (4) measure, extrapolate and predict the research impact of individuals, groups, institutions, disciplines, languages and countries; (5) measure research performance and productivity, (6) assess candidates for research funding; (7) assess the outcome of research funding, (8) map the course of prior research lines, in terms of individuals, institutions, journals, fields, nations; (9) analyze and predict the direction of current and future research trajectories;(10) provide teaching and learning resources that guide students (via impact navigation) through the large and growing OA research literature in a way that navigating the web via google alone cannot come close to doing.’

The Open Research Web is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Poisonous Elements

Jorge Goncalves — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 00:11:04 +0000

Reviewers’ Corner: The Elements of Murder: A History of Poison, by John Emsley. ‘Some mystery authors write their stories based on days of the week or letters of the alphabet, but John Emsley has a potentially richer source of inspiration: the periodic table. Emsley, who was a chemistry lecturer at London University, and is now the Science Writer in Residence at Cambridge University (both in the United Kingdom), has successfully mined Mendeleev’s table in at least nine previous works.’

Poisonous Elements is a post from Science Quick Picks, a blog dedicated to the world of Science.

Science Quick Picks » Reviews

Christine Laine Named Editor of Annals of Internal Medicine

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