Category Archives: science

HERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, part 1

Posted on July 19, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I have a new paper sitting on my desk that I plan to summarise in the near future. The study investigates the relationship between syncytin, a human endogenous retroviral protein, and MS. I actually wrote a review of an earlier … Continue reading →

Posted in journal club, medicine, original research, science, virology | 3 Comments

Field dispatches from the war on viruses

Posted on July 15, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I have yet to be formally challenged, so I will take the initiative to venture ever so slightly away from the very centre of my usual comfort zone…I have written before about the ongoing arms race between viruses and the … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, journal club, original research, science, virology | 2 Comments

Challenge me!

Posted on July 11, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’ve been actively soliciting feedback from scientists whose papers I have summarised on this blog. A critique I received from one respondent is that my posts are very technical, and might be difficult for the lay person to follow.I tend … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, publishing, science | 6 Comments

Evolving regulation

Posted on July 8, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

For the latest installment of my Sunday Journal Club, I had initially thought of summarising this paper, but half of the internet seems to have been there before me. All I will contribute to the debate is to say that … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, journal club, original research, science | 2 Comments

Tonight’s entertainment provided by…

Posted on July 6, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A very entertaining 64th Skeptics’ Circle is now up at the skeptical alchemist – and I get to make my first contribution! I must be going up in the world. Here’s something else that is enormous fun to read, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnivals, creationism, embarrassing fan girl, evolution, science, silliness | Comments Off on Tonight’s entertainment provided by…

So-called Science

Posted on July 4, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

What message did you infer from my choice of title? Perhaps that I am going to talk about something that is posing as science – pretending to be the real deal – but that is actually some kind of quackery … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, English language, rants, science | 2 Comments

Fun with yeasty beasties

Posted on June 26, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’ve always been quite envious of researchers who work with yeast; there are some amazing tools available for microbial genetic analysis that just don’t exist for mammalian systems. You do have to put up with some unpleasant odours in your … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, journal club, original research, science | 6 Comments

Reasons Not to Believe – Part 2

Posted on June 22, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I am not alone!Paul Gardner has also had a couple of papers misrepresented by Reasons to Believe.

Posted in bad people, creationism, Reasons not to believe in lies, science | 4 Comments

Endogenous retroviruses and the evidence for evolution

Posted on June 21, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Here is my description of the part of my research that has been misrepresented by the Reasons to Believe website. See this post for an explanation.My paper concerns the regulation of a human gene by DNA derived from an endogenous … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, original research, science, virology | 31 Comments

Reasons Not to Believe – Part 1

Posted on June 20, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I had an interesting email a few years ago from a collaborator who had recently co-authored the first paper to come out of my postdoctoral research. He had Googled himself, and our paper had cropped up in some unexpected places. … Continue reading →

Posted in bad people, creationism, rants, Reasons not to believe in lies, science | 6 Comments