Advancement of science lives on

The British Association for the Advancement of Science may be a thing of the past, they changed the name to British Science Association, but the advancement word lives on. This is thanks to the Royal Society, which has just set up a new centre for the advancement of science.

The RS has bought Chicheley Hall, a country pile, sorry, "historic stately home," where "scientists from all over the UK and the world will be able to meet to discuss and develop their work". The RS's new pad is two miles east of Newport Pagnell, not far from idyllic Milton Keynes.

Unless the RS decides to get into the business, the place will lose its role in the weddings market, but it will reclaim its status as a place where more important things happen. Wikipedia tells us that during the Second World War the Special Operations Executive used the place as its Special Training School No. 46. (More recently, it also stood in for Bletchley Park in a TV programme.)

The money for the new venture comes from the Kavli Foundation, those nice people who are funding the AAAS's awards for science writers. The foundation will also use Chicheley Hall as its European home.

The place cost £6.5 million, knocked down from an asking price of £9 million in 2007, and will open in 2010, the 350th Anniversary of the Royal Society.

No prizes for kids books

It is the time of the year again for science writers to pile in with their entries for the Royal Society's awards for science books. The RS has just put out the Call for entries for this year's awards.

You have until 2 April 2009 to fill in the on-line entry form and to persuade your publisher to send them seven "non-returnable copies of each entry".

There is a prize of £10,000 for the winner while the authors of the short-listed books get £1000. Sadly, they haven't lined up a big sponsor, so there is no Junior Prize this year.

The press release says that, after winning last year, Mark Lynas's Six degrees: Our future on a hotter planet "saw sale figures more than double throughout the months following the award".

Royal Society awards for engaging the public with science

The closing date for nominations for the Royal Society Kohn Award for Excellence in Engaging the Public with Science and the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize is 23 February 2009.

The Cohn award is for "UK-based early-career scientists or science communicators who have undertaken high-quality public engagement activities which has had (or will have) a strategic impact on institutions, organisations and cultures, and whose career and future public engagement activities will benefit from the award".

The Faraday gong, "the UK's premier award for science communication," goes to "the scientist or engineer whose expertise in communicating scientific ideas in lay terms is exemplary".

ABSW members might qualify for the first award. (Has a professional communicator, as opposed to a "slumming boffin," ever taken home the bacon?) They may also know someone they would like to nominate for their spot in this year's Faraday cage.

Start here for links to pages with full details of these and all the other awards that the Royal Society hands out.

Naked Scientist has winning ways with podcast

Anyone who wants to do some homework before attending the ABSW's briefing on podcasts on 17 September might like to do some home work to see what it takes to create an award winning podcast. Check out the Naked Scientists.

Dr Chris Smith, Clinical Lecturer and Specialist Registrar in virology at the University of Cambridge, and, in his spare time, podcaster extraordinaire, has just won the "prestigious," they tell us, Royal Society Kohn award "for his work engaging a diverse audience with science".

The press note on the award, Naked Scientist wins Royal Society award for science communication, tells us that "In recognising that there was a gap in the market for a science programme that would reach a non-scientific audience, Dr Smith pioneered the Naked Scientists radio show while still a graduate student. He now successfully manages to juggle his busy career working as a doctor and researcher with his science communication activities."

It seems that success is not always welcome, by the techies at least. "I blew up a couple of web-servers and was even ejected by a number of web-hosting companies for compromising their networks every time we published a show." You have been warned.

2008 book winners announced

There it is, screaming atop the page at the Royal Society, Winners Announced. The puff of white smoke has gone up, and Six Degrees by Mark Lynas (Fourth Estate/Harper Collins) picks up this year's General Prize in the 2008 Royal Society Prizes for Science Books.

The Junior Prize goes to Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt, (Usborne).

For some reason, the detailed account of the event is over on Flickr, along with some pictures. (That's where you land if you follow the links in the above.)

The general prize is for a book on climate change. The title of the book that collected the junior prize explains itself.

Author finds happiness at the Royal Society

Just in case you missed it, the announcement of this year's winners of the prizes run by the Royal Society, Pursuit of happiness leads to top science book prize.

Tim Radford bangs the drum for science books

The recently retired science editor, and former literary editor, of The Guardian, Tim Radford, continues to merge his enthusiasms for science writing and literature. Queerer than we suppose, Tim's take on science books, accompanied the paper's coverage of this year's prizes.

Lots of nice quotes. "In a good science book, you are likely to read not just something you have never read before but something nobody has written before."

And he even managed to provoke a debate among readers. Perhaps there is life in the science book after all.

Beeb puffs books prize

The piece on BBC NEWS, Best popular science books named, has more details of this year's book prizes. With pictures of two of the books' covers and a brief history of the prize.

Royal Society announces short list

In its press release announcing the Royal Society Prize for Science Books , the Royal Society makes much of the fact that all six authors "are newcomers to the prize's shortlist".

Nice to see at least one ABSW member in there, which is why we are rooting for Henry Nicholls. The judges say of Henry's book, Lonesome George, that it "is a great piece of journalistic writing that makes you think about a wide range of complex issues ".

Long list brought to book

The Royal Society has announced the books that are on the "longlist" for this year's 2007 General Prize for the year's best science book.

• A Mind of its Own by Cordelia Fine (Icon Books)
• Bang! The Complete History of the Universe by Brian May, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott (Carlton Books)
• Francis Crick, Discoverer of the Genetic Code by Matt Ridley (Harper Press)
• Giant Leaps by Jack Challoner and John Perry (Boxtree)
• Homo Britannicus by Chris Stringer (Penguin Allen Lane)
• In Search of Memory by Eric R. Kandel (WW Norton & Co)
• Lonesome George by Henry Nicholls (Macmillan)
• One in Three by Adam Wishart (Profile Books)
• Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert (Harper Press)
• The Goldilocks Enigma by Paul Davies (Penguin Allen Lane)
• The Rough Guide to Climate Change by Robert Henson (Rough Guides)
• The Science of Doctor Who by Paul Parsons (Icon Books)

There is a description of each book and its author(s) on the web site.

Science books, the Junior Shortlist

The PR machine rolls into action for "the world's most prestigious awards for science writing". Well, that's what they say. In reality, we are talking about the "Junior Shortlist" for the Royal Society Prizes for Science Books.

The six books shortlisted by the judging panel are:

• Can you feel the force? by Richard Hammond (Dorling Kindersley)
• How nearly everything was invented by the Brainwaves, illustrated by Lisa Swerling and Ralph Lazar (Dorling Kindersley)
• It's true! Space turns you into spaghetti by Heather Catchpole and Vanessa Woods (Allen and Unwin)
• KFK Natural Disasters by Andrew Langley (Kingfisher Knowledge)
• My Body Book by Mick Manning and Brita Granström (Franklin Watts)
• Science Investigations: Electricity by John Farndon (Wayland)

It is now down to "over 100 schools and youth groups" to pick the winner.