Author Archives: rpg

This rather splendid piece of apparatus is sitting on a trolley just round the corner from my office. Mitch Guss uses it to demonstrate the use of the Ewald Sphere in indexing crystals for space group determination and data collection … Continue reading →

Having always been of a somewhat literary bent (i.e. the production of it, if not necessarily uncritical consumption), I have a thing for spelling and grammar (not a word, Rohn). Writing and other forms of communication are also important to … Continue reading →

Katie has been discussing how to write covering letters . I was always fascinated by how my previous boss managed to make our work sound of fundamental importance to . . . well, just about everyone, really. A well-written covering … Continue reading →

A couple of days ago I was talking with a friend about the graphic novel (no, not the ‘comic book’) _”Watchmen”:http://www.amazon.com/Watchmen-Alan-Moore/dp/0930289234 _. In this story there is a character who at one stage is discorporated, yet somehow manages to reincarnate … Continue reading →

There is an incredibly smart lecturer in our department (there are, indeed, several such; I’m concentrating on but one of them) who nonetheless managed to say in a lab-meeting “… these four-helix bundles are designed to bind substrate …” I … Continue reading →

(I started replying to Rus Bowden’s comment , but decided I shouldn’t waste the opportunity to create a new weblog post. I think we scientists can gain an insight into the gulf, at least): Fun with ideas is (views the … Continue reading →

“and your chicks for free”. Big money. Big science . A good example of why we need to explain ourselves: “These scientists could trim $10 million if they would just cut out some of the purple and blue spheres,” said … Continue reading →

I think I’m going to make myself unpopular. Over at Popsci, Henry advocates the murder of a reasonable percentage of the population. Elsewhere on the web this week I have read how over a million Londoners are quite obviously stupid … Continue reading →

In Australia, chartered accountants (_Number 1 in Numbers_) have their own magazine. In an amazing display of creativity it is called _”Charter”:http://www.charteredaccountants.com.au/charter _. I know this because there was a chap on the train this morning, reading a magazine that … Continue reading →

In a move that is bound to put Felix among the _”Columbidae”:http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/w/woodpigeon/index.asp _ the Journal of Cell Biology has come up with an interesting way of licensing its content. Emma Hill and Mike Rossner take us on a journey that … Continue reading →