Author Archives: Cath@VWXYNot?

About Cath@VWXYNot?

"one of the sillier science bloggers [...] I thought I should give a warning to the more staid members of the community." - Bob O'Hara, December 2010

Nascent tweet sequences visualise peer review at LOLcat resolution

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

There’s never a dull moment. Earlier today, I read a paper from Nature titled “Nascent transcript sequencing visualizes transcription at nucleotide resolution*”. The paper describes a very cool new technique that allows you to see gene transcript sequences as they … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, furry friends, original research, publishing, science, silliness, technology | 56 Comments

Hockey pool, week 15

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, seeing as I completely forgot to organise who was doing which update, I’ll host this time – and try to do better next week! Lavaland (at the very top) and Thomas (at the very bottom) tied for the week’s … Continue reading →

Posted in hockey pool | 11 Comments

The scope of horoscope horror

Posted on January 14, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

My friendly local morning news team are discussing horoscopes today. This is, unfortunately, nothing new; I had to change the channel on New Year’s Day because their guest astrologer was doing my head in with her “Scorpios will come into … Continue reading →

Posted in career, current affairs, drunkenness, family, idiocy, personal, pseudoscience, rants, television, the media | 43 Comments

It Gets Better

Posted on January 13, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(ETA: DAMNIT! I still can’t figure out how to embed videos. I’ll try to fix this later, but for now I’ll just put the links in) (E again TA: Richard fixed the embedding! Yay! Thanks again, Richard!) (3rd edit: adding … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, education, embarrassing fan girl, music, personal, videos | 17 Comments

Hockey pool, week 14

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, after the exciting changes in the rankings in weeks 12 and 13, this is a wee bit of a dull installment: Yes, there was only one change in position, by GertyZ; her table-topping weekly score of 34 points was … Continue reading →

Posted in hockey pool, sport | 15 Comments

Fear o’moans

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of the publication in Science this week of a study suggesting that pheromones in women’s tears reduce testosterone levels and sexual arousal in men (summarised by Ed Yong here). This is definitely not … Continue reading →

Posted in education, original research, science, silliness, TMI | 14 Comments

Instant karma

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

An acquaintance at a funding agency emailed me today, asking if I had contact information for a researcher I’d never heard of. I didn’t, obviously, so I Googled the person’s name from the search box on my browser toolbar. The … Continue reading →

Posted in career, science, silliness, technology, TMI | 8 Comments

And the winner is…

Posted on January 2, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Second Annual VWXYNot? Readers’ Choice Comment of the Year Award! It was a close race between the top three contenders, but luckily for me we have a clear winner, and I don’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, meta | 11 Comments

Do The Art, Man!

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m a big fan of the visual abstracts that many journals have introduced recently (even if they do make scrolling through TOCs in Google Reader like wading through treacle at times); I’m a very visual person, and I find it … Continue reading →

Posted in art, original research, publishing, science, silliness | 24 Comments

Book ’em!

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, the bookcase Mr E Man got me for Christmas may not have been a surprise, but it sure is awesome! Before: + During: (She also hopped into the dresser while I was emptying it, but I didn’t manage to … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, book review, drunkenness, education, furry friends, photos | 22 Comments