Author Archives: Cath@VWXYNot?

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010

When the NIH and UK Research Councils sneeze…

Posted on 14 July 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

…does the CIHR catch a cold? From an email I received last week, titled “CIHR Funding News: Issue 104 – Results of the March 2011 Operating Grants Competition”: Looking ahead, it seems clear that we will continue to be challenged … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, grant wrangling, UK | Comments Off on When the NIH and UK Research Councils sneeze…

Cost to benefit ratios

Posted on 13 July 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

From today’s RSS feeds: 1) Alilain WJ, Horn KP, Hu H, Dick TE, Silver J: “Functional regeneration of respiratory pathways after spinal cord injury“. Nature 2011: 475: 196-200 (This article also showed up in my BBC science feed, with the … Continue reading →

Posted in current affairs, Medicine, original research, science, the media | Comments Off on Cost to benefit ratios

Lab-fab abs and post-lab flab

Posted on 12 July 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

And bend and stretch and rack those tips and run to the water bath to rescue your samples and walk to the fridge to put them away and lift that big heavy bottle of isopropanol onto your bench and run … Continue reading →

Posted in career, exercise, food glorious food, personal, science, Silliness | Comments Off on Lab-fab abs and post-lab flab

Tuesday Pet Peeve: shoulder check

Posted on 5 July 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m a reasonably competent computer user. I can’t do anything fancy, but I’ve got the basics down pat. And I’ve built up my folder (and sub-folder and sub-sub-folder and sub-sub-sub-folder) structure in a very logical manner that allows me to … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, personal, plagues, rants, technology | Comments Off on Tuesday Pet Peeve: shoulder check

Geeky Grossness Gauntlet

Posted on 30 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Long-time readers may remember my friend Kyrsten’s famous guest post about Bob the bot fly. Bob in March 2008. Commenters’ reactions on the original post ranged from mild (“kinda icky”) to ambivalent (“horrible.

Posted in blog wars, career, freakishness, Medicine, Meta, monkeys, nature, personal, photos, science, Silliness, TMI | Comments Off on Geeky Grossness Gauntlet

Visual cymbal

Posted on 29 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Here’s an astounding slo-mo video of a cymbal strike: Isn’t that amazing?! I mean, you know at some intellectual level that sound is a wave caused by the vibration of a solid object… but actually seeing that?

Posted in Music, science, videos | Comments Off on Visual cymbal

Seeking reader input on internal pre-submission grant review practices

Posted on 26 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I received the following email last week: “Hello All: As  you are aware there has been some discussion about the relevance of the form 100 as part of the grant application package. At the Department Head meeting yesterday it was … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling | Comments Off on Seeking reader input on internal pre-submission grant review practices

Waiting for my congratulatory telegram from the Queen

Posted on 25 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I realised recently that I’ve: lived in our current house for five years, which is longer than I’ve lived anywhere since I left my parents’ house (previous record: two years and two months in a shared flat in Glasgow during … Continue reading →

Posted in career, personal, Silliness | Comments Off on Waiting for my congratulatory telegram from the Queen

Trees do the darndest things! (Part II)

Posted on 22 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

TREE HUG! Awwwww! (Part I is here, if anyone cares to relive the horror).

Posted in nature, photos, Silliness | Comments Off on Trees do the darndest things! (Part II)

No con/census consensus

Posted on 21 June 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Dilemmas, dilemmas… life is full of them. However, there are two in particular that are causing me much internal debate at the moment: The census It’s census time in Canada! Every household in the country is obliged to fill in … Continue reading →

Posted in activism, bad people, Canada, current affairs, personal, Politics, rants | Comments Off on No con/census consensus