Trying to analyse the amount of activity on Google+ in comparison to Facebook or Twitter yields little useful information - because it doesn't have the same purpose as them.
Taking the interdisciplinary path is not easy, but universities can boost interaction between researchers and departments through social spaces that foster collegiality, says Elizabeth Dzeng.
As London's Royal Society prepared to award its annual book prize, we asked five top writers to debate what makes good science writing in a technically minded age