Category Archives: Science

We need medicine

Posted on 13 May 2024 by rpg

I caught up with Wanda on Friday. She’d managed to inspect the captured swarm the day before, and all seemed hunky-dory. No eggs yet, but you can expect to wait a couple of weeks before a newly mated queen will … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

On postnatal depression

Posted on 24 June 2022 by rpg

I’m going to file this under “Better late than never”, cross-indexed to “No shit, Sherlock”. Discussion of mental health has over the last several years become less taboo than it was.  It doesn’t seem that long ago (it was 14 … Continue reading →

Posted in Me, Personal, Science | Tagged , | 2 Comments

On occupational hazards

Posted on 5 February 2021 by rpg

(First posted over at the day job.) On Christmas Day I received an email. It was addressed to my 7-year-old son, and it told him that his coronavirus test was positive. There were mixed emotions. I was amused at the … Continue reading →

Posted in Friday afternoon, Nonsense, Science, Silliness | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

On biological modelling

Posted on 12 August 2014 by rpg

You can take the rat out of the lab… … but you can’t complete translation without a ribosome.

Posted in London, Nonsense, Science, Silliness | Tagged | Comments Off on On biological modelling

On why

Posted on 12 March 2012 by rpg

The other morning, between about 7.30 and 8.45, I had a long, involved and very realistic dream. In it, I visited the MRC LMB in Cambridge, to discover that it had been partly rebuilt into a modern, if not downright … Continue reading →

Posted in Lab ratting, Science, War stories, Work, you | Tagged , , | 18 Comments

Science is Vital meets David Willetts

Posted on 9 October 2011 by rpg

Cross-posted from Science is Vital. Following the publication of our report on science careers in the UK, which drew on nearly 700 responses to a call for evidence, members of the Science is Vital team met with Minister of State … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

On keeping a good notebook

Posted on 17 August 2011 by rpg

(Lazy cross-post time: also at Naturally Selected) One of the first and most important things a neophyte scientist learns–or at least, is taught–is the importance of keeping a comprehensive and accurate record. We all know it’s a good thing, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged | 6 Comments

Echoes

Posted on 13 July 2011 by rpg

At the pub the other night, I was asking how a friend was doing. He was particularly busy, it appears, because he had to attend students’ exhibitions, located inexplicably at inconvenient and distant locations the length and breadth of town. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Photography, Science | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Big angry macrophage

Posted on 17 June 2011 by rpg

Those of you who know anything about British popular culture will no doubt be familiar with Benny Hill. The Benny Hill Show was long-running and immensely popular—although it was often accused of being sexist, it was the men who were … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Video | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

On the hairy nature of light—redux

Posted on 15 June 2011 by rpg

A while ago I reported on an experiment. Using my laser beam I demonstrated the wave nature of light, by measuring its diffraction. One of the referees, for reasons of poetry, wanted to see the experiment repeated with a different … Continue reading →

Posted in Science | Tagged , , | 6 Comments