So as a genuine open question Steve. What do you think is the best way of trying to see current activity in science in the broad? You've mentioned a background in the botanical sciences before, so I can see how one might try to keep up with what is new in a more restricted field like that, but it won't tell you what is happening in neuroscience, or vice versa. Similarly, it's not that hard to know more established, historical science (though how Penrose's The Road To Reality ever made the Sunday Times Top Ten Best sellers list is beyond me.)

Part of the reason I ask is that I get quite irritated when I read a paper and it is clear they have never read something I as a much more general reader know about that would really help their research. But because everyone is so specialised they simply don't have the time to read and benefit from other work unless it is directly in their speciality.

So, as I say, I use New Scientist and Scientific American as a way of at least being aware of some of the current thinking across a relatively broad span of scientific subjects. What ways have you found to keep things both broad and current?