Posts

Have a Happy, Scientifically Correct Valentine's Day

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I'm going to share a secret. I LOVE Valentine's day. But I don't do soppy, romantic gestures very well. So if you, like me struggle to share your feelings with that special someone and you live too far away from London (like me) to enjoy one of these fabulously, amazing real heart cakes (yes, these are for eating!) I have created a science themed Pinterest board , for your science love pleasure. Featuring everyones love favourites, the brain, serotonin, dopamine and Carl Sagan. Hope you enjoy it. Happy Valentine's Day! Don't forget to keep your eyes and ears open for any dubious 'science' valentines stories/research appearing in the news and online :-) Maybe we will all be enlightened with the 'love formula'. Source:  lily-vanilli.blogspot.com  via  hapsci  on  Pinterest

Why Good Biologists are Better Than Sherlock

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Me, pretending to be Sherlock with my 'critical thinking' hat on Sherlock Holmes is famous for his ability to apply logical reasoning. His amazing ability to watch, to observe, to put two and two together and make a conclusion. A critical thinker, his theories are not wild and are only based on fact. He studies, finds ways to find and gather all the information he can.. and then boom, hits everyone with the name of the culprit.  My argument, is that a good biologist (actually, any good scientist) needs to be at least as good as Sherlock to perform, and if they want to be really successful they have to be better.

The Cosmic Comic - Interview with Helen Keen

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Published in Issue 1 (June 2011) of Au Science Magazine . Find out more about Helen here Helen’s show, 'It IS rocket science' is a humorous look at the people involved in space exploration. It was recently aired on BBC Radio 4 and has been performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. I caught up with Helen in Aberdeen where she did a short version of her show for, 'Skeptics in the Pub' in March.

Cannabis: menace or medicine?

Latex gloves, white lab coat and an expression of intense concentration. This is not your stereotypical image of a cannabis user, but it is one. Scientific researchers from all over the globe are devoting their time to uncovering the secrets of cannabis. If you are able to believe the hype, cannabis can relieve pain, prevent infection by HIV and fight cancer. In the UK, the first medicinal license for a cannabis-based medicine, Sativex , was granted in 2010, yet cannabis remains an illegal substance. So, is it medicine or menace?

Why do rejected applications not receive feedback?

If you apply for an event that is designed to help you and your career, but are then rejected without the option of requesting constructive feedback. Is the event failing to achieve its aims?

Things I wish I had known when I started my PhD

I am entering the final stretch of my PhD and here is a list of things that I wish I had known (or things I wish someone would have told me) when I started my PhD...

The Scary world of Science

Obscure bad-science stories (of the  'Wine, gives you cancer but makes you thin' variety) seem relatively thin on the ground at the minute. There are some lurking, but they are mostly playing second fiddle in the health sections to the very important NHS reforms and to 'Andrew Wakefield sues the BMJ'. Maybe I haven't been looking closely enough, or I am starting to shut out the noise. There hasn't been anything that has stirred the fury in me enough to blog about it. Or, and this might be the bigger reason... I am being distracted by something else...