Monthly Archives: June 2008

So all this gumph and hoohaa over blogrolling. From my perspective (and I’m putting the ‘grumpy old man’ tag on) blogrolling is all very 2002. It’s feeding the worst of the vanity aspects of weblogging. Now, we could have a … Continue reading →

A bit of a kerfuffle in last week’s Nature. Turns out that we practising scientists are all making it up, or at least fiddling Western blots to make things look better than they are. According to some learnéd0 commentators (who … Continue reading →

My two girls (aged 8 and 11 going on 36) are playing within earshot. The eldest, just now, said “We’re both the smartest, but I’m using DNA to make dragons.” Call Social Services now. It’ll be kindest in the long … Continue reading →

Here in Australia we’re (nearly) on the end of a long, damp piece of string, internet-wise. (The actual end is occupied by New Zealand, which is a terrible place and why anyone would want to live there is beyond me). … Continue reading →

You know those stereo images so belovéd of structural-type people? The ones you get in journals where you’re supposed to be able to squint somehow and see it in 3-D? I’ve never been able to pull off that trick. Never … Continue reading →

There is something deeply, deeply wrong with the advert that keeps appearing to the right of your erudite discourse: Please, in the name of all that’s holy, make it stop. Look, I’ll even buy something from Eppendorf if only they … Continue reading →

When does a piece of knowledge become so widespread, so known (self-evident?) that it no longer needs to be cited? I’m trying to find a reference for Le Chatelier’s Principle. Any clues?

I see that Dr Rohn has thrown down the gauntlet. Last year our faithful lab microwave (food use only, no nasty chemicals please) died, and Kate and myself were despatched to K-Mart to buy a new one. I carried it … Continue reading →

I was ready to launch into a diatribe about useless morons at webhosting companies, after sending the same damned email three times; but after the fourth I finally got through to a human being (snark, obviously, helps). Thank you for … Continue reading →

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned an exciting result from a freshly-minted PhD in our lab. I can’t really say much about it, still, but here is an artist’s impression of what got us so excitable (‘stricken’, maybe?). I … Continue reading →