zotz: (Face on Earth)
So Livingstone brought the office of mayor into disrepute by hurling abuse at a tabloid reporter? Sounds like perfectly reasonable behaviour to me, I'm afraid.

The dentistry is over for another year. Read more... )

Which reminds me. I was looking at the Onion the other day, and they're featuring a fine story about using technology to increase the impact of science on policy-making. They aren't ignoring the major matters of topical interest, either. I was also (admittedly slightly cynically) amused by the headline Betty Friedan Honored With Second-Class Postage Stamp also.

Anyway, that cloning thing leads nicely onto this article, from Wednesday, about moves to oppose the ALF and their cronies, who are issuing scarcely-veiled threats of violence against researchers, students, builders, and anyone else who has the temerity not to agree with them. Read more... )

A lot of people argue that medical research on animals is misleading. The evidence that tends to be supplied for this is generally inaccurate or irrelevant. Nothing (and nobody) is perfect, but the tools we have are used because they've been proven by years of testing.

On a more pleasant topic, Patti Smith will apparently be reading her poetry in Glasgow.

I'm moderately impressed by the Whitby lineup, but as I remarked elsewhere there isn't anyone that I'd drop everything for and run to buy tickets, as I did for (frinstance) the Lorries or ITN. I was thinking, though - if they're after that sort of coup, someone's playing what seems to be her first gig in well over a decade in France soon, and her initials are D D. I wonder if she could be tempted? In fairness, she used to be very expensive to book. Ah well.

Finally, this, although it'll admittedly be of little interest to most of you :

Hamburg, 23.02.2006. Olympus has developed a new family of objectives specifically for Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRFM) which selectively visualises processes and structures of the cell membrane. Researchers can now choose from four different specially designed TIRFM objectives with magnifications between 60x and 150x, and extremely high numerical apertures (NA) - including a world record NA of 1.65.

Yeech! That's outrageous - f/0.6 in photographic terms. TIRF is also known by the far more beautiful name Evanescent-wave microscopy, but for some reason the buggeringly ugly term caught on.
zotz: (Default)
Hum. Didn't make it out to see Ed last night, unfortunately, because I found out after getting home that yet another person is in hospital. I was a bit shaken. You remember that yesterday I asked you to be careful . . . ? I meant it. Please be careful.

Today I've been wresting with a dirty camera. It's taken about three hours, on and off, but finally the front pane - a little piece of thin glass less than a centimetre a side - is clean enough to do microscopy through. Not perfect, but good enough. Any of you fancy my job? Nope, didn't think so.

I am amazed - although given their record I shouldn't be - at the treatment tabloid reporters feel it's OK to give to people who haven't asked for the attention. But of course the real blame lies with the people who buy these newspapers. Unfortunately I think few of them realise this or care. Remember, kids : glorified scandalsheets - they're not big and they're not clever. Come the revolution . . .

And speaking of millenarian events, I notice that George R R Martin has finished writing A Feast For Crows. There'll be one more (only one more, he promises) and then maybe he can settle down to write a sensible-sized book. Please? Pretty please?

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