Category Archives: Uncategorized

In “MS Hope MS Heroes”, the MS Society of Canada’s BC & Yukon Division member newsletter. I have a couple of good friends with MS, one of whom works for the MS Society. I’ve raised money and volunteered for the … Continue reading →

I got the flu. But the title of this post does not refer to my symptoms, which I’m pleased to report have been relatively mild [1]. It refers instead to what the people responsible for making, distributing, and rationing the … Continue reading →

As with most other fields of biology in which I’ve had no formal training, I know just enough microbiology and epidemiology to be dangerous. In this particular case, it’s my peace of mind that’s at risk. I’m going on holiday … Continue reading →

Well, the big autumn grant deadline cluster is finally behind me. Thank goodness for that. Now I can get to the rest of my to-do list: it’s four days until a big meeting with some international collaborators, eight days until … Continue reading →

Um… Bob? What have you been up to? You told us you adopted The Beast from an Australian postdoc. Now, tell the truth: are you actually planning to invade Germany with an army of undead cats? I didn’t realise how … Continue reading →

I have clearly spent far too much time looking at LOLcats. In trying to clear a massive backlog of New Scientist magazines from my house, I was reading a little too quickly yesterday when I reached this snippet at the … Continue reading →

I do enjoy the reader comments on the CBC News site. As with many (most?) similar sites, the comment threads are populated chiefly by people who harbour opinions on the more extreme ends of whatever spectrum is at issue. There … Continue reading →

Being scooped is every researcher’s worst nightmare. It happened to me, once; less than three days before submitting my first paper from my postdoctoral lab, I spotted a new paper in press at my target journal, with substantially overlapping conclusions. … Continue reading →

This video popped up on the Best of YouTube podcast. The developers describe the system as follows: a prototype musical instrument capable of generating sound in real time from the lines of doodles as well as from the contours of … Continue reading →

I saw this freak of nature on PZ Myers’ Pharyngula blog, and since I don’t want to be the only person with nightmares, I thought I’d share the photo. (beyond the jump so as to protect the squeamish)