First, a very warm welcome to BlueSci in yet another incarnation – on Nature Network. In the three years since BlueSci launched its flagship magazine about science stories from Cambridge University in England and beyond, it has become a familiar reference on the cultural landscape in Cambridge.

In fact, it is pretty hard to avoid the magazine when it rolls out at the start of each academic term. And it is all run by volunteers – undergraduates, graduates and postdocs who share a passion for communicating science.

But in common with all media outlets, the internet and people’s changing habits of how they obtain news and information, has opened up opportunities to branch out into multimedia. BlueSci has a growing film and podcast division, an online news service updated weekly, and now, a forum on Nature Network. It is an exciting time to be experimenting with all the new tools, and doubly so because no one really has any idea about how things will evolve beyond a few humble months.

Indeed, part of the motivation for launching this forum is to get a discussion going around this very theme. But this forum is equally for anyone with thoughts on what they liked, didn’t like, or indeed on what they would like to see, hear, read on BlueSci, or, simply, to be used as a tool to help plan and discuss science events in Cambridge. So feel free to suggest interesting interviews and subjects: for example, last year we interviewed Director of Amnesty International, Kate Allen, who warned that the internet is a double-edged sword when it comes to human rights, and George Monbiot, who called for radical measures to avoid disastrous climate change.

Oh, and a quick final note to clear up any potential confusion: sometimes, BlueSci goes under the name of ‘Cambridge University Science Productions’ (CUSP). Quite a mouthful, but the reasons for this are historical, and therefore impossible to alter. We are based in Cambridge…