Zombies Pt. 1 (or how my students distracted me)

As I mentioned a little while ago I have been made an associate lecturer for first year biology at the University I have been doing my PhD at. Most of my job is taking tutorial classes and the other week during one of these classes I got totally distracted by a very interesting discussion.

Earth Day 2011

Okay so I missed it in my timezone but like beer o'clock it’s always the right time somewhere. Earth Day is an important opportunity to look at the way we use the environment and consider ways we alter our impact for the better.

Below is an article that I previously published in the Adelaide Advertiser, the main newspaper from where I live about a much overlooked but vitally important cog in the environment, bacteria. It’s about a year old and I have mentioned it before but some of the info is worth another look.

Happy Earth Day, for yesterday.

Earth view from Orbiter (modified from)

Discoveries need dollars

In Australia at the moment there is a real fear that our Government (who are supposed to be on the left side of that political line) is going to cut $400 million from medical research budgets. To protest this rallies are being run in most Australian capital cities to advertise the role of scientists in the community and to show all scientists that collectively we have a voice that can be heard, you just have to start shouting.

Arty farty photo of the rally taken by a friend of Thomas Tu, I'm not sure who

Blogging 101 Workshop

Tonight I attended a Blogging 101 workshop run by a friend of mine Mr. Mike Seyfang (@fang for twits) who is a bit of a social media guru. It was really fun to go back to first principles with a room full of people learning about something I enjoy doing in my spare time and involving themselves in this time blackhole :)

So if you find yourself looking for new blogs to follow can I suggest those from the 'class'? They're new so give them time to develop and, of course, be gentle...

Other Side of Science
Heathers Sciencey Stuff
Bilbies Rule
Turk Thrust
Monianneo
Team Placenta
Sans Science
Tropidoderus
Disease of the Week

Enjoy!

Yes We C(r)an(berry)!

That title is awful I know but I'm tired. Cut me some slack :)

 

I ran into a something that I have heard about before but assumed was rubbish and never really looked into it properly. A friend of mine insisted it was the case so I looked it up and I have to say, I was a little surprised.

So this is what cranberries look like. I never knew.

Exploding Head Syndrome - No pun required

This is an old post from my previous blog. Recently it has been seeing a lot of activity so I thought I'd play around with it a bit and re-post it here. Enjoy :)

Sometimes when searching for disease to write about a wonderful thing happens. The clouds part, cherubs descend, angels play intricate harp-based musical compositions, and a beam of light illuminates the link to a wonderful disease. This happened to me the other day, and now, without further ado, let me introduce you to Exploding Head Syndrome. Best. Disease. Name. Ever.

Acute Exploding Head Syndrome sufferer (screenshot from the 1981 movie Scanners)