Category: Personal series (Page 15 of 35)

by columnist Cira Brown

I’ve recently been doing a bit of work for the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, part of the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. I love the CHSI and have used it and its exhibitions as a basis for some of my papers here at Tufts. Over the past year I’ve also had internship and volunteer experiences at the Museum of Science and the MIT Museum, and have watched an assortment of visitors engage with each museum’s content. Each of these Boston-area museums attract different types of people, and I want to explore their expectations of their museum visits. I’m also curious as to whether their visit was motivated by an interest in history, science, or even the history of science – and even whether that expectation makes any difference at all.

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By columnist Catherine Sigmond

Let’s face it. English has become the global language, the lingua franca that links us all together. It’s also increasingly being recognized as the international language of science.

For non-native English speakers, the necessity of being able to read, speak, and publish research in English is an ever-growing hurdle.

Of course, the expanding use of the English language touches many more disciplines than just the hard sciences. But the fact remains that many of those who may be interested in pursuing careers in science may be hampered by their lack of high-level English language skills.
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by columnist Kacie Rice

Those who have worked in scientific research know that it’s often a world ruled by numbers and formulas. Even studies based on a mineral’s color or an animal’s morphology (that is, its basic shape and look) have to be backed up by numerical data and rigorous statistical calculations. It’s not enough for me to say, “yep, that rock looks mostly purple to me;” in a scientific publication, I would have to present data on optical density and other factors, and additionally show that these calculations are repeatable under laboratory conditions.

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