Science Forums?

May 21, 2008 12:38 PM

I am a grad student in the physical sciences and I've got questions, but I work in a small group on a project by myself so a lot of the times I have simple questions that can take a while to dig out of papers. Is there a good forum or message board that is generally accepted to be useful for posing questions and such?

In specific, I am working in the field of nanotechnology, if anyone has any suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it.

posted by Large Marge to education (7 comments total)

If you find the right group on Nature Network, you may find some help there. If you're looking for help with a specific software package, there are usually support forums for that tool (example: R, genome browsers, BLAST etc).

Other than that, I don't think there's much of what you're looking for out there. This kind of info is usually spread through the literature, or by word-of-mouth (including networking at conferences, collaborating, and developing good relationships with others in your field).
posted by chrisamiller at 12:54 PM on May 21, 2008

Mr Trixie_Bee is active on the BBC Focus (science) magazine forum. He says it's mostly lay people with an interest in various sciences, but there are some professionals from various fields involved. I suppose it depends on how simple your simple questions are and whether you'll consider answers by eager amateurs.
posted by trixie_bee at 1:44 PM on May 21, 2008

I find Protocol Online useful for the biosciences but that probably isn't much help to you though.
posted by euphorb at 2:01 PM on May 21, 2008

Definitely Physics Forums. A high signal-to-noise ratio with many helpful members.

My focus was MEMS for a number of years, and I've searched many times in vain for the type of forum or message board you describe. PF is the closest I've found.
posted by Mapes at 2:41 PM on May 21, 2008

I'm a grad student in the biosciences and not the physical sciences.

It has been my experience that playing "ask the postdoc" (or even "ask the PI") is often far faster, more practical, and more accurate than digging through the piles of references that $search_engine_for_your_field will return. "Ask the postdoc" also gets you lots of practical advice on crucial experimental details that never make it into the methods section of a paper.

People pay a lot of lip service to collaboration, but really, feel free to wander down the hall or to another floor and ask away. Politely worded, sufficiently narrow and well-formed questions to famous senior investigators at other centers can also reliably net responses and answers, even if it's in the form of them forwarding your email to be answered by someone in their group.
posted by NucleophilicAttack at 2:41 PM on May 21, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

seconding nucleophilicattack's recommendations, for one. the postdoc in your field is the single greatest resource available to you. i worked in nanomaterials chemistry for the last 3 years and like mapes, i haven't really found a forum online where you can ask technical questions and get them reliably answered. if you read something in a paper you don't understand, you really ought to write to the contact author and ask. even if it's very basic and they dont have the time to explain it themselves, they should at least be able to provide you with a pointer to a book or reference.

a while ago i made a post in the blue about nanohub, and it appears they've added a Q&A section. it looks like if you ask a question that is not braindead in nature you will get a response, maybe. it's worth trying.

finally, askmefi is full of people from a variety of backgrounds, and your topic may not be so esoteric as you think, so you might as well ask here also.
posted by sergeant sandwich at 4:06 PM on May 21, 2008

"ask the postdoc" is also a great way to make connections with others in your field, and to cultivate future recommendation letters or collaboration opportunities. Plus it's good to get in the habit of formulating your questions so that they are succinct and comprehensible; talking or emailing things out will help this.

And, often, if said postdoc doesn't know the answer-- they'll be happy to put you in touch with someone who does.
posted by nat at 4:25 PM on May 21, 2008