Category Archives: Uncategorized

There’s an old British expression, ‘A change is as good as a rest’. I never gave it much credence before; after all, hard work is hard work, so how could it ever be relaxing? Enter my mini-sabbatical at the European … Continue reading →

You’ve probably all seen it by now: Scientists for Better PCR, an advertisement for BioRad’s 1000-series thermal cycler. Fabricated as a music video and available on YouTube, the song is a deft send-up of the 1985 classic “We Are The … Continue reading →

I’ve just had an epiphany of sorts. A lab colleague of mine wanted to read the most recent draft of my second novel, still in manuscript form, but quite fancied trying out a shiny Sony PRS-505 electronic reading device that … Continue reading →

You might think you have some control over your life. And it’s true that you can carry on in a purposeful direction with a bit of thought and effort, but still events will tumble across your path, and nobody can … Continue reading →

Every so often I like to stray outside my comfort zone. You won’t find me jumping out of airplanes, but as a scientist, I do like to keep an open mind about things I know nothing about. A hoarse of … Continue reading →

I should be above aesthetics at this stage of the game. After all, am I not a hardened professional scientist, squinting heroically into the winds of the unknown? Heartbreaker: mammalian cell division But bravado unravels in the face of truly … Continue reading →

I just can’t resist. The cat’s away for more than a week, which just happens to coincide with a big genome-wide screen I’ve been putting off for a few weeks. As there’s no one waiting at home for a nice … Continue reading →

Recently, the ex-practicing scientist Daniel Glaser of the Wellcome Trust, with mock-horror, used me as an example of the fact that no scientist leaving the lab was ‘safe’ from getting sucked back in. Even though I’ve been restored to scientific … Continue reading →

There’s a thread running on the LabLit forums inspired by a recent news article in Nature about two young scientists who have been facing an uphill battle to get their unconventional work published. Have a look at Erika Check’s piece … Continue reading →

Maybe some of you will recognize the following scenario. I was ill a few days ago with a bad cold and forced to take a few days off from the lab. As I lay in bed, too drained to do … Continue reading →