Deep thoughts and silliness

From all of us here, myself, The Beast, the wombat, the rabbit, and any other creature that’s kicking around the flat, we hope you will have/are having/have had a jolly Christmas, and that whilst you’re having fun your experiments are doing whatever they should be doing particularly well. Those of you who aren’t running experiments will just have to feel left out. Sorry.
My electronic Christmas card is below the fold. What you have here above it is the inside of the card, I suppose.

Continue reading →

I really should do some more sciency stuff, but it’s almost Christmas, so instead I’ll let myself get sucked into a blog meme, as seen on VWXYNot (hang on, don’t I recognize her from somewhere?) and Grrlscientist.

Continue reading →

A week ago I was at a departmental Christmas party. During it they had a quiz, and one question was “Which animal has the longest tail?” The right answer was the giraffe, but one group suggested it was the chicken.

Continue reading →

This is more education about Finnish Exports, but this time detailing the lengths the Finns go to to make sure they are safe. The wilds of Finland can be dangerous.

Continue reading →

I posted this a year ago, but as only about 3 people were reading my blog then, it’s worth re-posting. It’s a short educational piece about one of the major Finnish exports.

Continue reading →

This morning I got a message through Nature Network from a Ms. Mary W.Matsuno of Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa. I suspect some of you got the same message. Here is how it starts:

Continue reading →

I really must stop making suggestions if I’m not sure how serious I am. People take them seriously.

Continue reading →

I know this is trivial and obvious, but some people seem to think that Nature Networkers aren’t superior to other denizens of the scientific blogosphere. In order to demonstrate this to one fowl witch, I suggested that we compare abilities to caption photos.

Continue reading →

A lot of electrons have been whizzed around the world discussing how scientific publishing will be changed by the internet. The move from having to massacre whole forests to produce journals like Forest Ecology and Management has changed the possibilities. We are presently exploring what can be done and what will work.
The latest experiment in this area is a new Open Access journal, called Ideas in Ecology and Evolution. The intention of the journal is to provide an outlet for discussion of new ideas, which will stimulate more research. It aims to provide quick publication and the opportunity for comment from other readers.

Continue reading →

I’ve put up the answers to the 5-56 book meme. Whilst you’re all digesting that, I thought I’d give you some more fun for the weekend.

Continue reading →