Latest posts

Differetail

Posted on 2 December 2020 by Henry Gee

News has reached Cromer that the Pfizer vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, has been approved for use in the UK. This information followed the news yesterday that Debenhams, a department store founded well over a century ago, had collapsed; and, before that, that the business of the Arcadia Group, a retail concern that owns many fashion stores, was now under the aegis of t Continue reading →

Posted in circumlocution, circumnambulation, circumnavigation, Commutatis Maledictis, COVID-19, futures, SARS-CoV2, snoop dogg, The High Street, The Tiger Who Came To Tea | Comments Off on Differetail

On fraud, redux

Posted on 1 December 2020 by rpg

One of the worst things about the pandemic is that it reminded me that once upon a time I was really rather good at RT-PCR. And that reminded me of when I spent 8 months in Sydney trying to replicate a result that was, essentially, made up.

A brief exchange on the Twitter with Henry Gee of this parish made me think that the story, which I have told once elsewhere, probably bears repeating.

Posted in covid19, Ethics, figure 5B, fraud, Grauniad, Ill-considered rants, J Cell Biol, Lab ratting, Me, PCR, send to Ireland for processing, Sydney, War stories, znf265, zranb2 | Comments Off on On fraud, redux

Sex, Gender, Research and Fairness

Posted on 30 November 2020 by Athene Donald

It is a daily matter to look around a typical laboratory and note the imbalance of the sexes in different roles. In a lab using animals, there may be a fair number of female technicians, but the PI is more likely than not to be a man. In a computer laboratory, women are in short supply at all levels, despite the prevalence of women as ‘computers’ in the early days of the subject. Read Programmed I Continue reading →

Posted in cell-lines, ERC, Gendered Innovations, Londa Schiebinger, machine learning, Research, Science Funding, statistics, Women in science | Comments Off on Sex, Gender, Research and Fairness

In which winter sets in

Posted on 29 November 2020 by Jennifer Rohn

Unexpected color

Although winter has not yet formally begun, this is the time of year when the darkness stretches ahead into infinity. In the face of this, the prospect of brighter days, of snowdrops and crocuses pushing up from the bare earth, seem like an impossible dream. We know that day will come, but it’s not a reality we can yet grasp.

As the second lockdown ends, the news has come t Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic bliss, Epidemics, Gardening | Comments Off on In which winter sets in

Covinfamy

Posted on 28 November 2020 by Henry Gee

Are you frightened of COVID-19? Being frightened is not good enough. If you are one of those legislators who dismiss lock-downs as over-reaction; or a person anxious about the cancellation of Christmas; or one of the seeming large number of people who seem to think it could never happen to them — you should be a lot more than just frightened.

You should be terrified.

Continue reading →
Posted in coronavirus infection, COVID-19, mince pies, Research, SARS-CoV2, Science Is Vital | Comments Off on Covinfamy

Nature’s new open access option – a few first thoughts

Posted on 24 November 2020 by Stephen
A news article published online in Nature this morning discusses the announcement of new open access options in the Nature family of journals. Nature-News-OA-24Nov The details are in the article, but the basic story (written by Holly Else) is that authors wanting to make their work OA can pay an APC of €9,500 or choose a ‘guided’ route, which is about 50% cheaper but splits the price between reviewing and Continue reading →
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Teaching online: how to use an iPad as a whiteboard

Posted on 22 November 2020 by Stephen

Last week I gave my first online tutorials where I needed to scribble on a whiteboard and to show the students their exam scripts from last term, which has been posted to my home by the university. To solve both of these problems, I spent a bit of time figuring out how to share my iPad and iPhone screens within Microsoft Teams running on my Apple MacBook. For anyone wanting to do the same, I thoug Continue reading →

Posted in science | Comments Off on Teaching online: how to use an iPad as a whiteboard

Linnean

Posted on 22 November 2020 by Henry Gee

This picture, which I have shamelessly stolen liberated stolen liberated from the Twitter account of the Linnean Society of London, is of Charles Darwin’s study at Down House, reminds me of an anecdote that Twitter is too small to contain, so I shall recount it here.

Darwin’s Study. Some Considerable Time Ago.

Many years ago when the world was young, and definitely BC (Before Children) Continue reading →

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Becoming a Leader

Posted on 22 November 2020 by Athene Donald

This week I took part in a panel aimed at young adults who see themselves as future leaders. An interesting, if slightly disquieting experience. My fellow panellists were two young men in their twenties, who had both already done amazing things setting up charities and networks to support the disadvantaged. Inevitably I felt very grey and old. I was tremendously impressed by their energy, their se Continue reading →

Posted in Equality, leadership, Michelle Obama, Simone de Beauvoir, Women in science | Comments Off on Becoming a Leader

Expectation

Posted on 22 November 2020 by Henry Gee

I’ve been writing books since my twenties. In fact, I have been working on one book or another almost constantly since I finished my first — which was my doctorate thesis, resting unread in a dusty vault in Cambridge.

Notwithstanding inasmuch as which the draft of my forthcoming tome A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth is now with my editor, who will get back to me when the time co Continue reading →

Posted in Writing & Reading | Comments Off on Expectation