Knotty problem
Lee Smolin ("With string, science has tied itself in knots", August 10) takes issue with the "scientists" who have "never read a book or a paper in their speciality written earlier than ten years...
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Noise abatement
Leslie Grofton's labyrinthine defence of noise (Letters, August 10) misses the point. If nine people in a room want and make noise, and the tenth doesn't, the tenth doesn't spoil it for the nine. But...
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To boldly go...
The spaceship cartoon accompanying the piece by Michael Arthur and Deian Hopkin appealing to the Department for Children, School and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and...
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Pay review news
Charlie Owen's letter last week (August 10) suggests there is some confusion about when the next pay negotiations will be, following the current three-year deal. The full reference from the 2006-09...
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In praise of history
Penelope Corfield made a very strong case for the study of history (Opinion, July ). As Winston Churchill put it: "The further back you look, the further forward you see." The study of history should...
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In praise of history
Penelope Corfield regrets the absence of grand narratives in the field of history. However, such books were certainly published within living memory. I recall Arnold Toynbee's A Study of History as...
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The cap doesn't fit
It seems that Bill Rammell (Letters, August 3) is a little too preoccupied with UK universities competing on an international stage to notice the concerns some institutions have on a national level....
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Know your quartiles
Paul Wellings, vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, claims that his university "is now in the top quartile of UK institutions" (Letters, July 20). No university is that, since a quartile is not a...
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Time not to care
In his review of Pascal Richet's A Natural History of Time (Books, August 10), Keith Thomson says that philosophers, faced with conundrums such as "What is time?" or "Does time exist if nothing is...
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How Turnitin works
While being entertained by your neo-oxymoronic "self-plagiarising" ("Self plagiarising lecturer exposes software failings", July ), I was disappointed to see your description of Turnitin as "...
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Faulty genes?
I read with great amusement the front-page news of James Watson's latest idea that social ineptness and misogyny might be nothing more than a quirk in the genetic set-up of poor fellows like Larry...
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Double-publish and be damned
Is the RAE behind academics' lack of respect for books or is it just a case of old-fashioned dishonesty, wonders Tim Birkhead Books are up against it. Undergraduates are increasingly reluctant to...
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Lend support to students' PAL
Peer-assisted learning allows advanced students, such as third-years, to help new students to develop their study skills. It's not, however, an excuse for lecturers to put their feet up, as Harriet...
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Going ape for medical innovations
Name - Ruth Wilcox Age: 32 Job: Lecturer in the Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Leeds University. Salary: Enough to satisfy my need for chocolate...
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Ask the panel
Worried about your employment, maternity, pension rights? Send your questions to The Times Higher advice panel. 'After a recent impact assessment of academic staff recruitment, our head of department...