constructive skirmishes with science and the world
A recent Twitter discussion with fellow nerd Joseph has reminded me about a post I’ve been meaning to stick up here for a while. We were comparing accounts of how optogenetics developed: one in Discover Magazine and one from the Faculty of 1000. The contrasting viewpoints are probably a story for another time; both pieces [read on...]
One of the great advantages of blogs is the opportunity they offer to react quickly to developments in science, the news, the courts, and so on. Considering I’m discussing the way a science paper was covered in the news three weeks ago, this blogpost misses that ideal of topicality by some distance – but I [read on...]
While standing outside a party the other night, basking in the eerie glow of a moon halo, a good friend of mine who has a penchant for skepticism of science turned to me and said, “You realize that science works on an honour system, right? If a scientist makes some stuff up, more often than [read on...]
I fear I have turned into a naïve idealist. I’m concerned about the increasingly blurred line between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ actions of big corporations, and saddened that science lies at the heart of it. [A disclaimer: I am aware that there are a plethora of companies who strive for success strictly through ethical practices, and [read on...]
These are time lapse sequences taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station during August and October. The combination of city lights, aurora and thunderstorms from space are simply mesmerizing. A super fun game is to try and guess the location of each sequence from the visible land masses. I’ll post them below the vid. [read on...]
We’ve all suffered that terrifying moment during our research when we’ve been asked what it is we’re actually doing. There’s that slight awkward pause, the sucking-in of breath through the teeth, and then… we bust out the moves and interpretive dance our way to an explanation. Right? Well, maybe not. But that’s the premise of [read on...]
Modern methods of production have given us the possibility of ease and security for all; we have chosen, instead, to have overwork for some and starvation for others… there is no reason to go on being foolish forever. – Bertrand Russell There is a pervasive belief in science that unless you’re an obsessive workaholic you [read on...]
Labelling tiny plastic tubes and doing a lot of washing up – that’s how I summed up the daily grind of the lab bioscientist in my last post. Now that I’m back in a lab coat and safety glasses on a daily basis, let’s see how accurate my memory of the lab was with an account [read on...]
There’s been a bit of a hiatus here at Team Nerd, but rest assured it is temporary! There is another podcast in the pipes, and the flow of wallpapers and blogposts will resume before you can say “Where the hell is the octopus?” In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this spectacular, informative [read on...]
It seems that us Nerds are becoming a rather nostalgic bunch. Change is very much in the air. Adding to those changes, I have recently left the never-ending pursuit of knowledge that is academic science for the never-ending pile of submitted manuscripts that is academic publishing. It’s a bit too early for me to ramble [read on...]