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This week, in Frankfurt

Posted on 20 January 2014 by Bob O'H

This morning the latest blog post on the Grauniad’s science pages was the annual complaint about crap news stories about ‘Blue Monday’. I’ve no idea if these stories have reached Germany (and there doesn’t seem to be anything about it in the Frankfurter Rundshau), but surely it can’t be a coincidence that this we Continue reading →

Posted in Silliness | Comments Off on This week, in Frankfurt

Unexpectedly transferable skills

Posted on 19 January 2014 by Erika Cule

The transferable skills developed over the course of a PhD have been a recurring theme on this blog. I have blogged both about being trained and, later, about training other students, in the skills that might be useful beyond the office, lab, and thesis. This Christmas, those very transferable skills I developed came into their own in an unexpected Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Transferable skills, Wedding | Comments Off on Unexpectedly transferable skills

Creation, by Adam Rutherford

Posted on 18 January 2014 by Henry Gee

creationduoThere’s a story, probably apocryphal, of how Winston Churchill gave a speech to the Free French, ill-advisedly in the tongue of Molière and Balzac. Quand je regarde mon derrière, boomed Britain’s great wartime leader, Je vois qu’il est divisé en deux parts. None of which appears at first sight to have very much to do with the fine Continue reading →

Posted in Adam Rutherford, creation, evolution, origin of life, synthetic biology, Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Creation, by Adam Rutherford

The Maison Des Girrafes Caption Competition #67

Posted on 18 January 2014 by Henry Gee

Here’s a snap I took this morning in the Vestibule des Girrafes, featuring Emma the until recently pissed-off Siamese Cat, and Heidi the Dog.

Now, normally, I’d invite captions, and you may submit some if you wish. However, to make it easier, I posted the picture on Twitter and Facebook, and was deluged by a letter from Professor Trelli Continue reading →

Posted in canis croxorum, dog, Domesticrox, emma the cat, heidi the dog, kittehs, Silliness | Comments Off on The Maison Des Girrafes Caption Competition #67

A Pensieve for your Thoughts

Posted on 18 January 2014 by Athene Donald

Last weekend my OT colleague Stephen Curry put up a thoughtful and thought-provoking post reflecting on the shortness of life, where his is going and other angst-inducing topics including obituaries, all provoked by the fact that he was approaching 50. It was an excellent read and I wanted to put out a tweet about it, describing it as pensive. Inst Continue reading →

Posted in JK Rowling, post-it notes, Science Culture | Comments Off on A Pensieve for your Thoughts

Open Access and the self-forming journal hierarchy

Posted on 18 January 2014 by Steve Caplan

I recently posted a piece on Occam’ Corner explaining why I think instituting radical changes in science publishing should not be a major focus of scientists at this juncture. As those who have read the post will realize, my point is that we scientists need to band together to impress the public – and the politicians – that we are Continue reading →

Posted in editor, editorial board, journals, manuscript, Open Access, paper, priorities, Research, science, Science Funding, science journals, science publishing | Comments Off on Open Access and the self-forming journal hierarchy

Graphzilla

Posted on 16 January 2014 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I looked at one of my progress tracking graphs for one of my projects right after telling my colleague that Mr E Man had worked on the new Godzilla movie, and what I saw can not be unseen.

 

progzilla

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Continue reading →
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Guns + ammunition

Posted on 13 January 2014 by rpg

Just after I started shooting I was listening to a couple of the old(er) timers bitching about their recent poor performance. One of them blamed the ammunition they were using. The other pointed out that while shooters often blame the grade or particular batch of ammunition, nobody ever credits their ammo when they shoot a particularly good card.

Y Continue reading →

Posted in .22, ammunition, Annie the .22 Long Rifle, Don't try this at home, experiments, guns, personal, pipettes, rifles, shooting, target | Comments Off on Guns + ammunition

Jumps Red Lights

Posted on 13 January 2014 by Henry Gee

hanochThe death a couple of days ago of the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon raised memories of my one and only visit to Israel, and is associated with a particular piece of music. When I visited, in the summer of 1985, I was just 23. The memory of the 1982 war in Lebanon, in which Sharon had been a prime mover, was still raw among the Israeli Continue reading →

Posted in ariel sharon, Israel, jumps red lights, Politicrox, shalom hanoch, waiting for the messiah | Comments Off on Jumps Red Lights

No Comment

Posted on 12 January 2014 by Athene Donald

Dear Reader

I am going to make a complaint. This is a complaint directed to many of you, but by no means all, so bear with me. I know I am not the only blog-writer who feels this way, so I it seems a good moment to register my annoyance. So what has got my beef? Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Communicating Science, discussion, Science Culture, twitter | Comments Off on No Comment