Liberating academia. Hopefully.

Travelling hopefully, returning ill.

Liberating TGFβ

Stem cell side show B efore scientists can harness heart stem cells to repair damage to the organ, they have to pin down the elusive cells. On page 329, Oyama et al. bolster the case for a group of cells known as side population cells, showing for the fi rst time that they home in on injured heart muscle and differentiate into all the types of cardiac cells in vivo. Previous research has turned...

Liberating primatology

Among the many zoologies that have emerged over the last hundred years or so, primatology is astonishing in its reach and breadth of influence on other sciences and people’s thoughts. It is noteworthy for the cultural imprint it carries and the forceful reactions its practice engenders. Primatology is also a contested site for various disciplines and epistemologies. In addition, the field is re...

Reclaiming academia from post-academia.

I s nanoscience the “first full embodiment of post-academic science”? Have many of the traditional core values of publicly funded university science been eroded to the point where they are now “part of a scientific mythology”? And is it “morally bankrupt” to draw a distinction between ‘pure’ and ‘applied’ science? These claims, which were all made in a recent commentary in Nature Nanotechnology...

“ Liberating the NHS ? ”

People at HSMC 12 experience enforced changes. Even the Department of Health and national bodies such as the NHS Institute and NPSA face major re-organisation or abolishment. The potential involvement of private organisations and social enterprises could lead to the independent sector becoming a major player in direct NHS delivery and commissioning and signal the end of a largely public sector ...