Thursday, March 13, 2025
Think public involvement is just a tick-box exercise? So did a lot of the researchers whose grants got rejected. Here’s how to actually get funded: bit.ly/ppiefundi…
The secret grants panels won’t tell you… Many applications are rejected for bad public involvement plans. Not the science. Not the budget. Just how you involve the public. Most researchers treat it like paperwork. Here’s how to play the game — and win: bit.ly/ppiefundi…
Public involvement is the most underrated skill in clinical research. It’s not just a box to tick — it’s how you get funded. Many rejected grants fail on this… but most researchers treat it like an afterthought. Do it properly, and outshine the competition. Here’s how: bit.ly/ppiefundi…
Friday, February 28, 2025
For at least the last 25 years, since I read Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon, I’ve flirted with Linux every so often, and it’s so much better now than it was. I think Apple’s pricing and Windows' cruft and AI might be making it time to move. My latest flirt is with the Linux partition of my Chromebook, partly for sheer tinkering, and also because there’s a specific notes app which is best in Linux, and also ChromeOS’s file management app is execrable and even a lightweight Linux file manager is vital.Monday, February 24, 2025
I’ve been using a Chromebook as my main computer for months now, and for almost everything, it’s a great laptop. Almost everything. The one thing it lacks is halfway usable file management. The ChromeOS file manager is like using a particularly clunky website from 2009 which needs to sync to the server every time it as much as breathes. Trying to organise my files has been agony. Then, in a belated flash of inspiration, I realised the solution, and now I have a file manager that works as well or better than Windows file explorer and Mac’s Finder.Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Latest sciencey comms newsletter open.substack.com/pub/trues… newsletter.Wednesday, February 12, 2025 →
Another sciencey communicationsy newsletter, about explaining your work to your mother. And other civilians.
Most journalists (some of my best friends etc.) want to get the story right, but they need your help. Find out what you can do in this close analysis of me getting the wrong end of the stick over a story this week. truesciencestories.substack.com/p/how-to-…
Most journalists (some of my best friends etc.) want to get the story right, but they need your help. Find out what you can do in this close analysis of me getting the wrong end of the stick over a story this week. truesciencestories.substack.com/p/how-to-…
A planned post for my True Science Stories substack about how a study got covered in the media didn’t turn out how I expected. Always good to figure out when you’re wrong why you got it wrong.
Full confession in tomorrow’s newsletter.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Just heard Fi Glover on Times Radio being immensely dense about a study saying banning phones in school doesn’t materially affect educational benefits. However much the lead researcher patiently explained the point was that school use made little difference because most use is out of school, Glover was determined that the take away was that phone use overall makes no difference. I double checked the story quickly on the BBC (https://www.Thursday, January 30, 2025
I asked it to collate contact names from public websites like LinkedIn and employee profile pages. But it can’t use that dataset. It can make up researchers, departments and institutions and only admit it when you point this out. I’m only getting scared of AI when it stops recommending I buy a Very Expensive Thing because I just bought an identical one.When you realise that of your five Substack readers, one is yourself, another is your ex wife keeping tabs, and another is a bot. The other two are old clients.
When accidentally leaving your laptop at home reminds you that sometimes scrawling stuff into an actual physical paper notebook hits a vein of way better ideas.
As a Brit in Canada, this whole Trump Tariffs insanity is sounding very much like Brexit - the triumph of deluded bigotry over the mutual benefits of trade and compromise.