Keith Taber
@drkeithstaber.bsky.social
Retired former school and college science teacher; science teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge. Interested in HPS, music, photography, peace & justice.
Nothing tells me that the Annals of Urology & Nephrology is a serious scientific 🧪 journal rather than a predatory journal more than writing to me with a subject heading i?n?t?e?r?s?p?e?r?s?e?d w?i?t?h? i?r?r?e?l?e?v?a?n?t? q?u?e?s?t?i?o?n? m?a?r?k?s?.
November 11, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Nothing tells me that the Annals of Urology & Nephrology is a serious scientific 🧪 journal rather than a predatory journal more than writing to me with a subject heading i?n?t?e?r?s?p?e?r?s?e?d w?i?t?h? i?r?r?e?l?e?v?a?n?t? q?u?e?s?t?i?o?n? m?a?r?k?s?.
Someone at a Journal thought that this email would get my attention.
It did.
But, …
It did.
But, …
November 6, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Someone at a Journal thought that this email would get my attention.
It did.
But, …
It did.
But, …
I was shocked to learn that the BBC is cutting its 30 min radio show 🧪 'Science in Action' @peaseroland.bsky.social after next week's episode. But at least the schedulers think it is continuing…
October 25, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I was shocked to learn that the BBC is cutting its 30 min radio show 🧪 'Science in Action' @peaseroland.bsky.social after next week's episode. But at least the schedulers think it is continuing…
Waiting for my Amazon delivery - which today seems to be being delivered by one of their new quantum trucks powered by the Adams infinite improbability drive.
October 10, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Waiting for my Amazon delivery - which today seems to be being delivered by one of their new quantum trucks powered by the Adams infinite improbability drive.
Anyone interested in explaining 🧪 science (teaching or science communication) may wish to download this resource - a compilation of examples of science analogies, similes, metaphors, etc., from across a wide range of topics from various sources.
science-education-research.com/downloads/pu...
science-education-research.com/downloads/pu...
October 9, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Anyone interested in explaining 🧪 science (teaching or science communication) may wish to download this resource - a compilation of examples of science analogies, similes, metaphors, etc., from across a wide range of topics from various sources.
science-education-research.com/downloads/pu...
science-education-research.com/downloads/pu...
Okay, I ordered this on Amazon.
Wondering:
a) It will arrive within a month;
b) it will arrive on, or around, 12th Feb, 2026;
c) when it gets close to 12th Feb., Amazon will cancel the order.
Hoping for (a).
Past experience prepares me for (c). Not sure if others have experienced that?
Wondering:
a) It will arrive within a month;
b) it will arrive on, or around, 12th Feb, 2026;
c) when it gets close to 12th Feb., Amazon will cancel the order.
Hoping for (a).
Past experience prepares me for (c). Not sure if others have experienced that?
August 6, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Okay, I ordered this on Amazon.
Wondering:
a) It will arrive within a month;
b) it will arrive on, or around, 12th Feb, 2026;
c) when it gets close to 12th Feb., Amazon will cancel the order.
Hoping for (a).
Past experience prepares me for (c). Not sure if others have experienced that?
Wondering:
a) It will arrive within a month;
b) it will arrive on, or around, 12th Feb, 2026;
c) when it gets close to 12th Feb., Amazon will cancel the order.
Hoping for (a).
Past experience prepares me for (c). Not sure if others have experienced that?
(3) even though the stats in the paper gave a non-significant result, the authors concluded a positive outcome.
The JChemEd 🧪 editor was not interested in publshing a comment on this (let alone a retraction).
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
Poor scientific practice & peer review
The JChemEd 🧪 editor was not interested in publshing a comment on this (let alone a retraction).
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
Poor scientific practice & peer review
August 3, 2025 at 2:43 PM
(3) even though the stats in the paper gave a non-significant result, the authors concluded a positive outcome.
The JChemEd 🧪 editor was not interested in publshing a comment on this (let alone a retraction).
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
Poor scientific practice & peer review
The JChemEd 🧪 editor was not interested in publshing a comment on this (let alone a retraction).
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
Poor scientific practice & peer review
(2) Despite the lack of equivlence between groups, the very similar (bizarrely so, from my teaching experiecne) successive average course scores were used to argue for a positive experimental outcome.
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
The editor was not interested in acknowledging. …
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
The editor was not interested in acknowledging. …
August 3, 2025 at 2:37 PM
(2) Despite the lack of equivlence between groups, the very similar (bizarrely so, from my teaching experiecne) successive average course scores were used to argue for a positive experimental outcome.
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
The editor was not interested in acknowledging. …
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
The editor was not interested in acknowledging. …
Well it does not seem to apply in chemistry education.
(1) These results poltted here justified claiming in an American Chemical Society 🧪 journal that an innovation (red) was effective.…
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
(1) These results poltted here justified claiming in an American Chemical Society 🧪 journal that an innovation (red) was effective.…
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
August 3, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Well it does not seem to apply in chemistry education.
(1) These results poltted here justified claiming in an American Chemical Society 🧪 journal that an innovation (red) was effective.…
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
(1) These results poltted here justified claiming in an American Chemical Society 🧪 journal that an innovation (red) was effective.…
science-education-research.com/falsifying-r...
A quick typographic question if you will:
tbe, or not tbe?
That is the question.
🧪
tbe, or not tbe?
That is the question.
🧪
![short incompelte extract from JJ Thomosn's 1899 paper on the masses of 'ions' [actually electrons] in gases at low pressure.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fkrue2iokhe2cslgnnodlqpa/bafkreidaeom54uwa437qbanuvgv77ystkjtl7oo7bgqt64vrt2bqdeo7ve@jpeg)
July 30, 2025 at 12:24 PM
A quick typographic question if you will:
tbe, or not tbe?
That is the question.
🧪
tbe, or not tbe?
That is the question.
🧪
That's not Felix Mendelson then?
July 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
That's not Felix Mendelson then?
I'll raise you.
Europe after the rain.
Europe after the rain.
July 19, 2025 at 10:10 PM
I'll raise you.
Europe after the rain.
Europe after the rain.
Hang on, I think I can see where it's sticking.
(Sorry, just came to mind.)
(Sorry, just came to mind.)
July 19, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Hang on, I think I can see where it's sticking.
(Sorry, just came to mind.)
(Sorry, just came to mind.)
Do not believe everything you find on line.
I am not sure which is worse / funnier
the claimed distance to the nearest doctor being so wrong (its actually right in the middle of town)
the claimed precision for the measurement!
345.9270 miles!
Oh, and we have a fire station.
I am not sure which is worse / funnier
the claimed distance to the nearest doctor being so wrong (its actually right in the middle of town)
the claimed precision for the measurement!
345.9270 miles!
Oh, and we have a fire station.
July 17, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Do not believe everything you find on line.
I am not sure which is worse / funnier
the claimed distance to the nearest doctor being so wrong (its actually right in the middle of town)
the claimed precision for the measurement!
345.9270 miles!
Oh, and we have a fire station.
I am not sure which is worse / funnier
the claimed distance to the nearest doctor being so wrong (its actually right in the middle of town)
the claimed precision for the measurement!
345.9270 miles!
Oh, and we have a fire station.
But Chelsea has taken a page out of Stalin's book to remove him from the celebrations!
There is also uncertainty about the reason why a replica of the trophy had to be made for presentation after Trump who was given temporary loan of the orignal was allowed to keep it…He claims they gave it to him!
There is also uncertainty about the reason why a replica of the trophy had to be made for presentation after Trump who was given temporary loan of the orignal was allowed to keep it…He claims they gave it to him!
July 15, 2025 at 10:36 PM
But Chelsea has taken a page out of Stalin's book to remove him from the celebrations!
There is also uncertainty about the reason why a replica of the trophy had to be made for presentation after Trump who was given temporary loan of the orignal was allowed to keep it…He claims they gave it to him!
There is also uncertainty about the reason why a replica of the trophy had to be made for presentation after Trump who was given temporary loan of the orignal was allowed to keep it…He claims they gave it to him!
Any cognitive scientists 🧪 on here?
Is there an actual psychiatric condition where part of 'theory of mind' never develops, and 'being nice to me' is equated with being 'good' without regard to the person being nice's honesty, motivation or actual behaviours.
A genuine defecit would explain much.
Is there an actual psychiatric condition where part of 'theory of mind' never develops, and 'being nice to me' is equated with being 'good' without regard to the person being nice's honesty, motivation or actual behaviours.
A genuine defecit would explain much.
June 25, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Any cognitive scientists 🧪 on here?
Is there an actual psychiatric condition where part of 'theory of mind' never develops, and 'being nice to me' is equated with being 'good' without regard to the person being nice's honesty, motivation or actual behaviours.
A genuine defecit would explain much.
Is there an actual psychiatric condition where part of 'theory of mind' never develops, and 'being nice to me' is equated with being 'good' without regard to the person being nice's honesty, motivation or actual behaviours.
A genuine defecit would explain much.
That tone sounds kind of familiar…
June 18, 2025 at 10:37 PM
That tone sounds kind of familiar…
Heard this on the radio: "drill a hole through the imaging lens".
Any 🧪 expert here on electron microscopes? The 'lenses' that focus the beam are electromagnetic fields, not a refacting medium, so can anyone explain about drilling through them?
science-education-research.com/reference/sc...
Any 🧪 expert here on electron microscopes? The 'lenses' that focus the beam are electromagnetic fields, not a refacting medium, so can anyone explain about drilling through them?
science-education-research.com/reference/sc...
![An example of an analogy used in public science discourse:
"What we did was drill a hole* through the imaging lens [of the microscope] to put the gas in, It's like drilling a hole through a person's heart, because imaging lens is the heart of the machine… even if we had made a fraction of a nanometre error we could have killed the poor machine."
Dame Pratibha Gai, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at York University was being interviewed by Prof. Al-Khalili on an episode ('Dame Pratibha Gai on training atoms to do what we want') of The Life Scientific.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:fkrue2iokhe2cslgnnodlqpa/bafkreiaykuekzs2pkydwa7ms3ewhlck34oppipxei67syi3ae5l7ttu4t4@jpeg)
June 14, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Heard this on the radio: "drill a hole through the imaging lens".
Any 🧪 expert here on electron microscopes? The 'lenses' that focus the beam are electromagnetic fields, not a refacting medium, so can anyone explain about drilling through them?
science-education-research.com/reference/sc...
Any 🧪 expert here on electron microscopes? The 'lenses' that focus the beam are electromagnetic fields, not a refacting medium, so can anyone explain about drilling through them?
science-education-research.com/reference/sc...
Just found myself agreeing with something the President of Mesonorthamerica, DJT, was claiming. (Yes I do think the Concorde was aesthetically a great design.) Really must get an early night.
['We (USA) won WW2' Hm. (Never heard of 'the Allies'?)
'We had concorde'. No, that was us with the French.]
['We (USA) won WW2' Hm. (Never heard of 'the Allies'?)
'We had concorde'. No, that was us with the French.]
June 9, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Just found myself agreeing with something the President of Mesonorthamerica, DJT, was claiming. (Yes I do think the Concorde was aesthetically a great design.) Really must get an early night.
['We (USA) won WW2' Hm. (Never heard of 'the Allies'?)
'We had concorde'. No, that was us with the French.]
['We (USA) won WW2' Hm. (Never heard of 'the Allies'?)
'We had concorde'. No, that was us with the French.]
Newton's 3rd law 🧪. Pretty straightforward? But a common area of misunderstanding for many learners. Time to drop notions of action and reaction?
science-education-research.com/an-unfortuna...
science-education-research.com/an-unfortuna...
June 8, 2025 at 11:32 PM
Newton's 3rd law 🧪. Pretty straightforward? But a common area of misunderstanding for many learners. Time to drop notions of action and reaction?
science-education-research.com/an-unfortuna...
science-education-research.com/an-unfortuna...
Apparently I taught an aeronautics engingeering course despite having no qualifications in the subject.
And I cannot recall anything about my supposed studies into composite materials.
science-education-research.com/about-keith/
Do not believe what you read on these sites (even about yourself!)
And I cannot recall anything about my supposed studies into composite materials.
science-education-research.com/about-keith/
Do not believe what you read on these sites (even about yourself!)
June 8, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Apparently I taught an aeronautics engingeering course despite having no qualifications in the subject.
And I cannot recall anything about my supposed studies into composite materials.
science-education-research.com/about-keith/
Do not believe what you read on these sites (even about yourself!)
And I cannot recall anything about my supposed studies into composite materials.
science-education-research.com/about-keith/
Do not believe what you read on these sites (even about yourself!)
Seems a very odd mistake to have made (not even close) but I guess the name was not changed on template used for a rather different book? Mistakes happen but it says something about quality control that no one at the publishers noticed.
Nor Amazon but they think 🧪chemist John Dalton is still alive.
Nor Amazon but they think 🧪chemist John Dalton is still alive.
June 8, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Seems a very odd mistake to have made (not even close) but I guess the name was not changed on template used for a rather different book? Mistakes happen but it says something about quality control that no one at the publishers noticed.
Nor Amazon but they think 🧪chemist John Dalton is still alive.
Nor Amazon but they think 🧪chemist John Dalton is still alive.
Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Micrographia... is selling a digital edition of the 🧪classic Micrographia (using text freely available from 'Project Guttenberg'), but the publishers, 'Prabhat Books', seem to have made a slight typo on the cover?
What do you think, Holmes?
An elementary mistake, Watson.
What do you think, Holmes?
An elementary mistake, Watson.
June 7, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/Micrographia... is selling a digital edition of the 🧪classic Micrographia (using text freely available from 'Project Guttenberg'), but the publishers, 'Prabhat Books', seem to have made a slight typo on the cover?
What do you think, Holmes?
An elementary mistake, Watson.
What do you think, Holmes?
An elementary mistake, Watson.
It was nice of Co-op bank to email me about account security, to tell me they will never (sorry, 'NEVER') send me an email with a link, and to include a link for me to follow up for more details…
@cuebcustomerunion.bsky.social
Am I the one being especially thick here, or is the Bank?
@cuebcustomerunion.bsky.social
Am I the one being especially thick here, or is the Bank?
May 23, 2025 at 7:29 PM
It was nice of Co-op bank to email me about account security, to tell me they will never (sorry, 'NEVER') send me an email with a link, and to include a link for me to follow up for more details…
@cuebcustomerunion.bsky.social
Am I the one being especially thick here, or is the Bank?
@cuebcustomerunion.bsky.social
Am I the one being especially thick here, or is the Bank?