The irreverent science writings of Matthew Partridge (MCeeP)
Humans are an inventive bunch. We’re not long out of the trees and our brains have already given us literature, art and the sciences. We are a creative species that constantly seeks to invent, create and problem solve. However, as smart as we are Nature is often one of the Read more…
This Christmas to try and keep our scientific minds active and not despair at experiments lost but think to new experiments we can do. If we can’t do experiments in the lab let’s do experiments on Christmas!
There have been many changes since the start of the COVID crisis. For one the frequency of articles that start “something something COVID crisis” have sky rocketed and I’ve never started so many emails with “I hope you are well” and meant it with genuine concern. But one change was Read more…
It’s a brave new world. Universities, once busy centres of social interaction, intelligent discourse and complex drinking games, have become ghost towns which echo with only the sound of remote learning servers.
Teaching in universities has always been a strange thing. Anyone that has been through the university system is oh too aware of it’s inconsistencies, eccentricities and tweed. But things have suddenly changed….
There are lots of reasons that you may need to take a break from working in the lab at some point. Over this year an unprecedented number of people have spent a significant time away from their labs and are only just now starting to go back. This is a Read more…
So last week we put out an article about all the ways you can keep doing research in these lockdown times. The tips range from ones that you can spend hours a day doing, to simple things that take just a few minutes a day. But, I don’t think we Read more…
We may all be stuck at home but there is still science to be done! Admittedly it’s currently very hard to do science that involves large lasers or going outside for more than an hour at a time, but with a bit of creativity there is still research we can Read more…
From my first experiment in primary school (when I dissolved salt in some water and wrote down how long it took) all the way up until the last time I made a saline buffer, I have been writing things down in a lab book. Well I say “writing” obviously most Read more…
In my lifetime as a researcher I have made more buffer solutions than I’ve had hot baths. That is to say that, if all the water from all the baths I’ve ever had was compared to the volume of buffer solutions I’ve made, it would be like comparing a glass Read more…