On Tuesday morning I walked on the beach at sunrise, and saw a kingfisher hunting sand hoppers on the tide-line. It seemed somehow fitting for the day when the sun would shine on our old airman’s last fiight. For my father-in-law died on Friday and Tuesday was the day of his funeral: a loving celebration […]
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a cheer for saccharomyces cerevisiae
Here’s another of those catchy science-based ditties – & definitely one I’ll be adding to my collection for showing in class 🙂 (I would have embedded it, but MT is not doing what it should today…later edit: thank goodness for IT wizards!) And a happy St Patrick’s day!
Continue readingmore quirky science songs
Lately I’ve been amazed and entertained by some of the quirky science music videos out there (some are parodies, some not). Here are two of the latest to catch my eye. This one – this one we’re sooo going to show in the first-year cellular & molecular paper 🙂 And this works for me too […]
Continue readinga lovely friday photo
I am a sucker for lovely photos of the unexpected. And here’s a real beauty: water droplets caught in the splash 🙂 Macro-photography images of water in motion, photography by Heinz Maier.Via Analytical Chemistry Techniques.
Continue readingnormal service will resume in about a week…
… because today the Significant Other & I are heading off for a week in balmier climes. Oh all right, in Rarotonga. So apart from a little something I prepared earlier, I won’t be blogging for a bit. Also, I’m not sure what my internet access will be like & so I may not be […]
Continue readingwalking on custard
This is not biology at all 🙂 I’ve previously seen (& linked to) videos of people walking on the surface of a mix of cornflour and water. (Marcus will be able to explain the physics behind it.) But now – via PZ Myers – we have: Walking on Custard! If my embedding skills fail, follow the […]
Continue readinga genetic chimera?
I used to enjoy watching CSI (the original series), back when Gil Grissom (actor William Petersen) headed that fictional forensics lab. It was never the same after he left. Anyway, one episode that I still remember involved a crime being committed by someone who was a genetic chimera: someone who had developed from an embryo formed […]
Continue readingevery major’s terrible (apologies to gilbert & sullivan)
I have spent a lot of time lately advising students on their programs of study. (This is one of the reasons my blogging has been sparse of late: I have been filling in while we are ‘between’ registrars & as a result have almost nil ‘spare’ time.) One of the things we often talk about […]
Continue readingon your bike
I drive a car. I also ride a bike to work a couple of days a week (an 18km round trip each time). And this is not a post on the science of either, but a plea to some car drivers for a bit more consideration (& road space). Today I consider myself lucky to […]
Continue readingare we ready for disaster?
That’s the attention-grabbing title for a post on Number 8 Network. The answer: maybe, and maybe not. That was the experience of Peter & Vicki Hyde, who live in the Christchurch suburb of Redcliffs & were interviewed by the N8N team. They’ve got some valuable lessons to share, which will well reward time spent reading […]
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