Latest posts

Being Prepared

Posted on 15 February 2014 by Athene Donald

I was a Girl Guide once, briefly, but I don’t think that’s where I learned that it’s wise to travel well supplied. It just seems to come naturally to me to fear the worst and so carry enough on one’s person to meet any eventuality. So, even when just going out to a formal dinner, I will typically be carrying a hefty handbag Continue reading →

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Music for love

Posted on 14 February 2014 by Frank Norman

Today, 14 February, was a day of celebration devoted to lovers and their love. Love remained a mystery to me for many years. Now that its full majesty has been revealed to me I embrace it with all my limbs and I pulsate with love.

Music and love are natural companions. Continue reading →

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In which baking imitates science

Posted on 14 February 2014 by Jennifer Rohn

It’s Friday, and Richard and I couldn’t help noticing that this croissant looked as if it were about to extravasate and transmigrate to the bottom of the oven, in search of…invading micro-organisms? Damaged tissue?

Jam?

Continue reading →
Posted in Scientific thinking, Silliness | Comments Off on In which baking imitates science

The Linnaean Society Library

Posted on 13 February 2014 by Frank Norman

Visiting other libraries can be a great source of inspiration to a librarian, giving you ideas to copy and making you jealous of the lovely things that other libraries have. Over the past twelve months I have hosted visits to my Library by three separate groups of librarians, during which I told them about our library service and showed them our co Continue reading →

Posted in History, Libraries and librarians | Comments Off on The Linnaean Society Library

UK Photography, OR how my ten-year-old daughter kicked my butt, three times

Posted on 12 February 2014 by Richard Wintle

A few months ago, I posted this photograph of my daughter piloting my best camera and biggest telephoto lens, while I was reduced to snapping a picture of her with an early-1970′s vintage rangefinder loaded with honest-to-goodness black and white film. In that post, I alluded to a few occasions on our recent UK trip where she not only snaffle Continue reading →

Posted in England, parenting (I suppose), Photography, Scotland, travel, UK, vacation | Comments Off on UK Photography, OR how my ten-year-old daughter kicked my butt, three times

Science of Middle-Earth: New Paperback Edition

Posted on 12 February 2014 by Henry Gee

newSOMEThe printing history of The Lord of the Rings is reputedly one of the more complex and tangled issues in modern publishing history. Matters aren’t quite so fraught for The Science of Middle-earth, my own contribution to the canon. For those interested, the second edition until now only available as an eBook for Kindle is now available as this Continue reading →

Posted in the science of middle earth, tolkien, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Science of Middle-Earth: New Paperback Edition

Next to (Ab)normal

Posted on 9 February 2014 by Steve Caplan

I’ve had a rough time this week; not just the stress at work, the snow storm here in Omaha, a bit of illness and a young inexperienced driver smacking into the back of our car. It’s more than that. Part of it has to do with a play that I watched this week.

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Continue reading →
Posted in "Matter Over Mind", actors, anger, bipolar disorder, depression, drugs, mental illness, musical, Next to Normal, Omaha Community Playhouse, parent, play, science | Comments Off on Next to (Ab)normal

Echinoids

Posted on 9 February 2014 by Henry Gee

Here is a small collection of fossils.
IMG_8149

I’m posting this to celebrate the recovery of the second one along on the bottom row, found by me earlier today on Cromer East Beach while Crox Minor and I were walking the dogs.

It’s worth celebration because we don’t discover these very often. Continue reading →

Posted in Apparitions, belemnites, Blog Norfolk!, Cromer, Cromer East Beach, echinoids, evolution, fossils, palaeontology, probability of fossilization, The Accidental Species | Comments Off on Echinoids

Thinking about the Pipeline

Posted on 8 February 2014 by Athene Donald

A PhD should comprise both education and training. It should not be slave labour or done in blindness about where it might be leading. But I fear these statements don’t always apply. In the research grouping in which I sit at the Cavendish, which now has quite a large number of attached staff and research fellows, we try to provide a programm Continue reading →

Posted in Career advice, careers, PhD, Science Funding | Comments Off on Thinking about the Pipeline

Cats for Kites

Posted on 7 February 2014 by Henry Gee

Mrs Crox has just passed me a story on some unforseen consequences of the present inclement weather.
Screen Shot 2014-02-07 at 19.07.12
The full story may be found here.

Posted in cats, climate change, Cromer, Domesticrox, Silliness, weather | Comments Off on Cats for Kites