Category Archives: Lablit

In which I lurk on the edges of the playground

Posted on 5 May 2025 by Jennifer Rohn

I’ve just finished Richard Powers’ latest novel, Playground. This is not a book review (although I can highly recommend it), but more of a reflection on its aftertaste. Cryptic spoilers below. I’d consider the book ‘lab lit lite’ – there … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in careers, Domestic bliss, Gardening, Joshua, Lablit, staring into the abyss, The ageing process, The profession of science | Leave a comment

In which I mark a milestone

Posted on 22 April 2025 by Jennifer Rohn

I have been putting off writing about a special twenty-year anniversary. But first, apologies are in order. Yet again, I find that another season has passed without me writing here. This was never meant to be a quarterly affair, but … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic bliss, Gardening, Lablit | Comments Off on In which I mark a milestone

Paperback Writer

Posted on 21 May 2024 by rpg

I made a list. I’m doing quite well with it—ticked off more than half, and others are ‘in progress’. I’m not going to finish it before I start work again, but I’ve given myself permission not to get through everything, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in 15MinutePost, Lablit, Literature, Me | Comments Off on Paperback Writer

In which I imagine a dystopian future

Posted on 23 January 2022 by Jennifer Rohn

Despite my dedication to promoting the Lab Lit genre, I’ve always been an avid science fiction fan too. I admire how a good dystopian tale can transport you into a terrifying alternative future so convincingly that when you emerge from … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Science-fiction, Writing | Comments Off on In which I imagine a dystopian future

Ultramarine

Posted on 25 July 2021 by Henry Gee

One or two of you might have read By The Sea, my Gothick Bodice Ripper with Detectives, which was originally serialized by my Occam’s Typewriter Compadre Jenny Rohn on her LabLit website, but now published in book form and available … Continue reading →

Posted in adapted screenplay, by the sea, Jenny Rohn, Lablit, tolkien, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Ultramarine

In which life imitates art, and an epidemic leaps off the page

Posted on 29 December 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

In mid-November, a journalist from BBC Southeast contacted me about a perplexing rise in COVID-positive cases in the nearby borough of Swale, a mainly rural part of Kent known for its fruit orchards, beer hops and vast areas of marshland … Continue reading →

Posted in Epidemics, Lablit, Science Funding, The profession of science, Writing | Comments Off on In which life imitates art, and an epidemic leaps off the page

Does it pass the smell-test? Review of “The DNA of you and me”

Posted on 18 January 2020 by Steve Caplan

Moving into 2020, I realize that this is now my 10th year of blogging, a sport that I never really signed up for. In 2010, my daughter was 13 years old; now she is preparing for a series of interviews … Continue reading →

Posted in Andrea Rothman, author, fiction, lab, Lablit, novel, olfatory, postdoc, Research, reviews, science, sense of smell, smell test, student, The DNA of you and me | Comments Off on Does it pass the smell-test? Review of “The DNA of you and me”

In which I realize I am part of a select sci/art group

Posted on 13 August 2019 by Jennifer Rohn

Me talking about the antimicrobial resistance crisis back in 2015 I haven’t written here for a gazillion years – life is just too full-on. But I found out an amusing fact that I wanted to share. I’m not sure how … Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Nostalgia | Comments Off on In which I realize I am part of a select sci/art group

In which I question an assumption: do fiction readers really dislike scientific detail?

Posted on 20 September 2018 by Jennifer Rohn

My regular readers will know all about Fiction Lab, the world’s first book group devoted to discussing lab lit fiction. We’ve been meeting once a month for just over a decade at London’s Royal Institution to talk about novels with … Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Scientific thinking, Writing | Comments Off on In which I question an assumption: do fiction readers really dislike scientific detail?

In which I plug: Cat Zero! (Punchline: it’s a great holiday read)

Posted on 24 August 2018 by Jennifer Rohn

Are you heading off for some well-needed rest? Then do considering packing a copy of Cat Zero, my latest lab lit novel – in which a feminist virologist joins forces with a sexist mathematician to solve a cat plague that … Continue reading →

Posted in Lablit, Writing | Comments Off on In which I plug: Cat Zero! (Punchline: it’s a great holiday read)