Monthly Archives: August 2013

On Dawkins and Ignorance

Racism – it exists.  It’s not easy to talk about, it’s something most of us don’t want to talk about in the hope it will just go away.  It hasn’t.  I find it awkward to talk about it myself, largely … Continue reading

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Standing up to the Bullies

The vile and criminal threats and harassment delivered to intelligent and outspoken women in the public eye through the medium of Twitter has been much discussed recently, from journalist Caroline Criado-Perez  to my Cambridge classicist friend and colleague Mary Beard.  … Continue reading

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Cath, 2038

It was her toenails I noticed first, as I bent over to push my bag under my chair in a restaurant a few days ago; they were painted the same colour as mine, a funky metallic turquoise. “Ooh, nice sandals”, … Continue reading

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Mammaloid

We editors at Your Favourite Weekly Professional Science Magazine Beginning With N are masters of misrule. We revel in discord. We thrive on disagreement. Nothing pleases us more than witnessing the more cerebral branches of human misery. Nothing pushes our … Continue reading

Posted in arboroharamiya, evolution, Haramiyid, haramyavia, mammal, megaconus, multituberculate, Research, science, unknown | Comments Off on Mammaloid

MRC publishing – 100 years on

It may have escaped your notice that this year is the 100th anniversary of the Medical Research Council, and there has been a cornucopia of celebratory activities to mark the occasion.  One aspect that has not been much remarked on … Continue reading

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Fantastic

By now the three of you know that if I am anywhere near a secondhand bookshop or bookstall of any description I can’t resist a rummage. This has been the case all my life. When I was a callow fifteen-year-old, … Continue reading

Posted in Cromer, fantasy, horroir, Lovecraft, M R James, Salt Publishing, Science-fiction, Steven Haynes, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Fantastic

And I thought scientists were smart…

I don’t get it. Really. I just don’t understand. Early this morning, when the first of the 90-odd emails bounced into my inbox, I looked again with disbelief. Yes.

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My six-monthsary

Anniversaries are all the rage these days, from the centenary of the MRC and the 80th anniversary of the flu virus, to the bicentenary and centenaries of Wagner, Britten, Lutoslawski and the Rite of Spring. But anniversaries are so slooooow to come around. … Continue reading

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Eyeballing It

Luckily my experiences of A+E departments are limited, although I’ve spent plenty of time cycling across Cambridge to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in the interests of research.  The site is expanding rapidly, with new buildings for different aspects of biomedical research springing … Continue reading

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Ectopia

Contrary to popular belief, I am not a grumpy-trousers, and quite like my fiction – even if dark in places – to be uplifting. Dystopias tend by their very nature to be downbeat: a cheerful dystopia is an oxymoron, like … Continue reading

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