Gent: Zonder Dank...

Gent (Ghent) was great, many thanks to Le Pew for making it such fun! More later, when I recover.


Artwork within The Gravensteen (The medieval "Castle of the Count")

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Toodaloo...

So why the rash of blogs recently? Well, I'm making up for the fact that I will be away next week. I'm off to visit Le pew (of Ubiquitous) in Belgium, to go catch up, see some sights and get away from the lab.

I was just reading through the dos and don'ts of the airline I'm flying with:

For safety reasons, we may decide not to allow you to use electronic devices when you are on board the aircraft, including:

- mobile phones
- laptop computers
- personal recorders
- personal radios
- MP3, cassette and CD players
- electronic games or
- transmitting devices (for example, radio-controlled toys and walkie-talkies).

[No mention of GPS receivers, hehehe]

You must not use these items when we have told you that they are not allowed.

We will allow you to use hearing aids and heart pacemakers.

It's so good of them that they will "allow" people to wear hearing aids and heart pacemakers, though to be honest, I believe these things go without saying!

Anyway, smell you later.

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Goof....

A BBC Online article entitled "Earth Could Seed Titan With Life" discusses the possibility that meteor impacts on Earth could have seeded life on Titan, one of Saturn's moons, however, I take issue with the following comment:

"The theory of panspermia holds that life on planets like Earth and Mars was seeded from space, perhaps hitching a ride on meteorites and comets."

I wasn't aware that we'd actually confirmed there is life on Mars, seeded from space or otherwise. Are they perhaps getting a little ahead of themselves?

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Pissed with Science...

Yes, I'm having a bit of a grump with my discipline today. Not the discipline that has me running amok in the halls, spitting and graffitiing, but that which I spend my life sweating blood and tears over.

I've been waiting 4 weeks to hear the response from my editor regarding the revised edition of my manuscript to the premier journal in my, and a few other, fields. Now the first time round I had comments from three reviewers. The first referee basically sent a paragraph describing the contents of my manuscript and that it was all relevant. End of. The second and third referees, who identified themselves, sent an exhaustive list of (some) petty whims and wishes including some very constructive advice that strengthened the paper considerably - at the expense of 3 months extra work!

So now I was just waiting for the A-OK, we'll publish. I did, after all, meet all the referee's comments, questions and suggestions. Only now the 1st referee has decided he/she has a question! It's a stupid shitty pointless question which means they're not paying attention (which probably accounts for their response the first time round). So now it's back in my bag to deal with, politely and professionally. Twat. I'll answer it. It'll go back to the editor. They'll publish it. Eventually. Hopefully.

Science on the edge:

The front cover of this week's Nature left me feeling a little puzzled. Why? Well take a look.

Here we have what the author described as a "disk with holes" followed, tongue in cheek style, by "(smiley)". As if we didn't know. It's a nanostructure made with M13 phage DNA, constructed tile fashion, in two-dimentional, rectangular blocks that contain cross-overs (interlinks) that make the structure more rigid.

The construct is then visualised using atomic force microscopy - where a molecular needle taps its way over the surface, tracing the contours of the molecule thick structure.

I'm curious because the only question it raises in my head is this: Why?

Honestly, of late I've been seeing a lot of this sort of silliness. I'm concerned with real questions, real solutions, real discoveries. Quantum leaps and paradigm shifts, things that will improve our lives, the environment and, perhaps selfishly, the lives of researchers and academics. However, what I'm seeing is an increasing trend toward wacked out craziness that gets itself into the doyen of science journals. It is, in my opinion, a cheap shot. At the end of the day, you have a giggle. You think, wow, that's quite clever, look what he's made with DNA. Then you turn over the page and read some real science.

The News and Views section of Nature contained a favourable appraisal of the article, but none the less ended with "The barrier we have to surmount next is to deploy our knowledge to develop structures and devices that are really useful." Yes indeed, and herein lies my position. Those useful structures are what I want to see in Nature, a double whammy of "wow, look at this, isn't this cool" and "wow, look how important and useful this is". Don't get me wrong, I think he's perhaps on to something, but this particular paper: cheap shot.

So I leave you with some of his "unuseful" creations whilst I go listen to Cyndi Lauper's "I don't want to be your friend".

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Absurdity...

Now I know we've all heard of the little bags of nuts that say, in warning, on the back of them "May contain nuts", but to be honest, I've never actually seen one myself.

The bag of crisps (chips) that I didn't almost buy in Sainsburys had, emblasoned on the back:

Ingredients:

Potatos, vegetable oil, sea salt, cyder vinegar. No nuts.
(I shit you not, it said this, and right underneath this...)

Warning:

This product may contain traces of nuts.

!

I've just downloaded an email from my tailor, yes, I have a tailor. Anyway, he's having a Mother's Day sale. I've never seen a single piece of feminine ensemble in their store. So just why the fuck is this guy having a Mother's Day sale! What am I supposed to do, dress up nicely?

Answers on a postcard.

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On being famous...

Not only did I used to live around the corner from Chas & Dave, but now I find that none other than Paul Daniel's son lived around the other corner.

I therefore summise that I am almost famous, by proxy.

So suck my toes. Plebs.

(p.s. for those over the pond, or with good taste, don't ask)

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Responsible research...

Now I'm not one for blabbing out poorly rumenated opinions, but I need to get this one down for further development. Something occurred to me whilst doing my usual literature searches today.

You often hear we scientists say that cures for cancer and other diseases could be found in the great pharmocopoeia that are the rainforests. You also hear that certain traditonal medicines, particularly in the orient, say that the gonad of some rare big cat, or shavings of an equally rare species of coral, can make you live forever.

Now there are many beneficial biologically active compounds that have been isolated from the environment, and we rely on the chemists to be able to distill the essence of the compound, the active part, then chemically synthesise an identical, or very similar, molecule. Thus preserving the original organism. They then scale-up and the manufacturing cogs whir into motion. But what happens if they can't? What if the only way to get this life saving drug is to distill it from said rare animal, plant or habitat thereof?

So it raises the question, all be it a philosophical one, of whether we should start looking for answers in such places in the first place, lest the unimaginable happens and we're forced to destroy a species for the purposes of treating a particular disease? Of course we should look at these areas. It is irresponsible not to, but perhaps unethical to do so? We have to have faith that the chemists can synthesise the compound.

I haven't yet scanned for how many such situations exist, where unique and rare species, unpropagatable in other environments, are harvested for medications. I know that you can buy special calcium supplements made from ground up coral. Bad and wrong. I also know that there are compounds in pre-clinical trials, also derived from a rare coral, that are highly effective against certain cancers. No chemical synthesis has yet been solved.

I guess it's all too easy to take the moral high ground when you don't need the drug, but when you do, well, that's a different ball game.
Hmm. Perhaps I should give this as an undergraduate Bioethics tutorial, under the title "Discuss"?

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Overheard...

...in a bus queue (yes, I've started to use the Free Metro bus into town. Occassionally). Two guys, one a researcher I know (English), the other and overseas student, looks and like he could be from Kenya.

Kenyan: Now what the hell is this!?
Researcher: What man?
Kenyan: This stuff falling from the sky? I don't know how to describe it.
Researcher: It's Sleet.
Kenyan: SLEET!?
Researcher: Yup, Sleet...it's like snow and rain at the same time.
Kenyan: Shit. I can't believe it. Is there anything else that can fall from the sky?
Researcher: Do you want to make a list?
Kenyan: Shit.

...or words to that effect. Got to love Blighty. If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes.

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Planet Earth

My lovely lady is in the Sahara Desert today. Mad as it sounds, it's the complete truth. I'm not envious or anything, especially as I'm not having to turn the lab upside-down due to one of the six electrical circuits in the lab blowing out. So of course half of the equipment in the lab is now on my bench, which still has power.

Planet Earth. So far I am completely stunned by this series. As far as I'm concerned, BBC Natural History can do no wrong, but they've really pulled out the stops with this one. It is completely mind-blowing. Just when you think you've seen it all, and believe me, my house if chocked full of books and material on this subject, you realise you haven't. The way they have chosen to contextualise the animal life with some detailed coverage of the underlying climate, geology and flora that form their habitats is superbly done. I was completely entranced by the footage of a Snow Leopard hunting in the Karakorum peaks of Pakistan, chasing its prey down a near vertical cliff. Fantastic. DVD on order.



I also recommend the Open Earth Archive where you can freely download video clips from a large natural history database and edit them into your own homemade natural history programme.

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Parcour fun...

This is a great example of free running. For more about the E.M.C. Monkeys.

[see YouTube here]

Thanks to Dawn, I have been completely hooked on YouTube since last night. Help.

In other news, my lady is off to Tunisia tomorrow with two girlfriends, so it'll be bachelor week next week, hehehe. I mention this trip as an example of some of the things she occassionally forgets to tell me, as it now seems that I am to take them to the airport. "Oh, didn't I tell you?", "...er, no!". "Well you are". Good job I asked really. I honestly believe that I wouldn't have known she was off to North Africa if she hadn't needed me to dig out her passport. That girl!

We're about to get snowed on. Big style...well 18 cm. I have buckets of grit on standby, but my neighbour and I were rather annoyed to discover that the lazy, self-centred bollocks who live up the road have practically emptied the public grit bins to layer an inch of grit outside their own properties. Total overkill and a waste. Meanwhile, I can do the whole lane sufficiently on the same amount. Buggers. If there was any justice, someone would empty a few buckets of water onto their driveways tonight, hehehe.

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Wayne Rooney

Why!?

Why, oh dear God why!? Do we really think that the autobiography of a decidedly average chav is: a) worth reading and b) worth the £5m they're paying him for it!?

The "first volume" is due out in July. FIRST volume! Just how many volumes could there possibly be?!

Apparently, he has said that the books contain some "surprises". Perhaps these will include how his parents shared a womb? He also wants to get it across that hes "just a normal young lad who plays football". Ok, so we need volumes for this? The country is crammed full of normal young lads who play football, the only difference being that Rooney really can play football. That's it. Said and done in one paragraph.

Another mark against why I hate footballers.

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Le jardin....

Snow arrived last night...



...and this morning

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Planning the trip....

So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to be at a conference at Fallen Leaf Lake, South Lake Tahoe, CA in September, but I figure it’s a LONG way to go just for a 5 day conference. I’m getting together with a mate of mine, a guy I met in Pittsburgh in 2002, who works at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, and who similarly has never done California; we’re thinking of taking off after the conference to see some of the state.

Thing is, it’s a bit like kids in a sweety shop, too many things to do! So far, on our potential short list, we have Yosemite (that’s at the top), then there is the Napa Valley, San Francisco and a coastal road trip up to the Redwood National Park. Of course, we’re probably going to be too busy to actually book any accommodation and my inkling is that we should just wing it. I’m thinking that if we get ourselves a rental car with unlimited mileage and just hit the road, we can bag all these places on our own terms and stay in guesthouses/motels etc. where ever we find them?

…BUT, if anyone has some travel experience in CA, then let me know – I’m fishing for ideas and information.

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Hypnosis...

I know, I know, but in my defence I've had a cold and major dilemnas at work. Coming good now.

It's Stupid O'Clock right now, but I felt I needed to point people in the direction of this fantastic hypnosis therapy.

(disclaimer: this is puerile silliness and probably thoroughly beneath me, but can I just say that the "FF+G" in sprint mode is just bad and wrong!)

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