• Science in the Bel Paese by Massimo Pinto

    Italy has a serious scientific research excellence problem at home. Why there are so few foreign scientists in Italian Labs? Is the Italian academic job ladder closed to foreigners? Something new is happening, just may be, and I feel an urge to report it.

    • Leaving Rome

      Sunday, 17 Aug 2008 - 21:59 UTC

      I am about to leave Rome for a holiday+work trip that will also take me to London to the great Science Blogging Conference, on August 30.

      When I will be back to Rome I will have to change desk. So, just like Seed Magazine, I am going to feature my soon-to-be-ex workbench.

      Probably you will read the text better on this larger version

      See ya in London.
      Massimo

      Last updated: Sunday, 17 Aug 2008 - 21:59 UTC

      • Comments

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 05:57 UTC
          Eva Amsen said:

          I love this! I should have taken a picture of my desk, but I already took my favourite desk toys and all of my papers home. I do have a picture of my old lab bench, from when I didn’t have a lot of space.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 08:51 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

          Great picture, Massimo – I look forward to meeting you at the blogfest.

          Your picture is great. I have to say, though, that your office space looks suspiciously neat and organized. Mine (at home, at least) looks like this

          but as I have a laptop it has the potential to look like this

          oops – sorry – wrong photo. What I Meant was this:

          http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3099/2619695334_ee5ec331c3.jpg?v=0

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 08:52 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 08:52 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 08:52 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

          Buggeration!!!

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 09:31 UTC
          Matt Brown said:

          Haha. Henry – in the picture of your desk, what are those yelow and grey things to the left of the laptop? It looks like you’re cultivating giant bumble bees.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 09:45 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

          That’s because they are giant bumble-bees.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 10:31 UTC
          Massimo Pinto said:

          Ha! I can be messier than that, though…

          Henry, and what is the lovely pen drawing of a lady stuck on the board?

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 10:49 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

          It’s a picture by either Gee Minor or Minima…

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 10:52 UTC
          Kristi Vogel said:

          It looks like you’re cultivating giant bumble bees.

          I thought they were marzipan hedgehogs.

          I’ve never seen marzipan hedgehogs, but I’d like to believe that they exist.

          Massimo, your workspace is so tidy! I’ve tried keeping the papers I’m working on in nice neat files, but they refuse to stay that way.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 11:30 UTC
          Henry Gee said:

          Actually, they are hosepipe couplings, connected with me ongoing rainwater-saving projects.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 12:28 UTC
          Graham Steel said:

          By my standards, my workspace is pretty tidy actually. Us lion tamers property loss adjusters where possible like to have a tidy desk.

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 16:43 UTC
          Bob O'Hara said:

          Do marzipan hedgehogs often look like they’ve been shaved around the middle? I’ll admit to being ignorant about their particulars, although I too would like to believe they exist.

          Massimo – I’m looking forward to seeing you at the end of the month!

        • Date:
          Monday, 18 Aug 2008 - 18:45 UTC
          Sara Fletcher said:

          My desk looks tidy, because everything is piled underneath it. Soon my desk will reach the ceiling…

        • Date:
          Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008 - 00:09 UTC
          Kristi Vogel said:

          Do marzipan hedgehogs often look like they’ve been shaved around the middle?

          I don’t think so, Bob-it looked to me as if there were two marzipan hedgehogs in the white bowl. Or perhaps two hard-boiled egg yolks.

          Have a wonderful time at the blogging conference, Massimo! I shall be very envious of all of you, and I expect to be notified immediately if any marzipan hedgehogs are spotted. Or striped.

        • Date:
          Tuesday, 19 Aug 2008 - 01:15 UTC
          Richard Grant said:

          Are marzipan hedgehogs inermous?


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