… green?

Well, yes. It doesn’t sound as nice as the original, but that is exactly the color to describe my envy since I will not be attending the NN blogging conference in London (Aug. 30). Why, exactly, won’t I be there? Well, first, I just became a blogger on NN (something new), using their soon-to-be-upgraded-to-a-new-platform blogging software (something borrowed). I also thought that I would be at another conference discussing neurodevelopment at the time of the blogging conference. Well, I won’t be there either since my negligence in registering on time led to a denial of acceptance when the conference became full. But enough of my rambling. Who am I and what niche will this blog attempt to fill??

This is where I introduce the “something old” part of my title. Me. And my tired writing style. I used to blog on Action Potential, a neuroscience-based blog hosted by Nature Neuroscience when I was an editor there. As of July, I became a neuroscience editor for Nature, and am based in the NYC office.

What do I do there? Well, my load includes:

1. Vertebrate neurodevelopment (including spinal cord injury and axonal regeneration
2. Learning and memory
3. Neuronal circuits and plasticity
4. Vertebrate sleep and circadian
5. Social neuroscience (including cognitive emotion, language, animal behavior, neural correlates, and a bunch of miscellaneous other stuff)

So what will this blog be about. Neuroscience, obviously, but if you have ever read any of my Action Potential posts, you’ll know that I have a fairly creative definition of neuroscience. I will also get significantly involved in conversations regarding publishing, Web 2.0, citation metrics and other fun divisive topics.

It will take me a while to get organized, but I am also planning on having a few features here involving other writers/correspondents. I started this concept at Action Potential, but only posted one contribution. I have several other correspondents waiting in the wings and will roll them out regularly.

I will also be recycling some old posts discussing topics that don’t necessarily have an imminent expiration date. I would like to continue several of those discussions that matured on Action Potential, but show promise to be valuable in this forum as well. Bear with me on this one. Recycling will typically occur when I am insanely busy with journal business.

Finally, I want to remind everyone interested in neuroscience that the Neuroscience forum still exists! I have let it sink into a deep sleep, but with the help of Ben Saunders here on NN, we will wake it from its slumber and provide you with all of the neuroscience content that you so desperately crave. The old journal club will be active again, along with new features involving a review/highlight of neuroscience blogs around the ’net and more. Stay tuned.