Cats are the best pet. Now I understand that there are a great number of people that prefer dogs, some rabbits and small fluffy things. But based on the vital metric of “cute videos online” it is very clear that cats have won the war of pets and stand (well Read more…
I am based in the UK. The UK has two very specific properties that I like very much. Firstly, the UK has a climate that for the vast majority of the year could be best described as incredibly and exceptionally okayish. Secondly, we never ever shut up about how occasionally Read more…
Research tends to breed/attract people who are very subject-focused. The nature of the job tends to push people into narrowing their expertise down to a very finely focused point. This is in someways unavoidable and in fact quite required to push the boundaries of your chosen researcher area, or at least Read more…
Dear Santa, I realise it’s been a while since I wrote to you. In fact if memory serves, the last time was in about 1987 when I scrawled “I want Nintendo” on some paper and threw it out of my bedroom window. Now that I think about it, you may have Read more…
I have had a bad day. Okay, that’s a lie – I have had a bad week. It appears after years of abuse, misuse and seemingly minor neglect, my equipment has finally had enough. Not only that but it appears to have realised that individual action wouldn’t be enough and has Read more…
When I started at Cranfield Univeristy I had a brilliant idea. I wanted to look at my nice glass slides on the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). I’d put some interesting chemicals on the glass and I was quite keen to see what they actually looked like. Besides, pretty pictures are Read more…
A few weeks back I shared some very neat little 3D printed phages. I printed them up as freebies to give away to a crowd of school kids who attended a careers event I was talking at. They loved them to bits and I hopefully persuaded a few to consider a career Read more…
A check list of things that every academic will be doing as they start the new year
I am currently shopping for a new laser as a Christmas present from the department to myself. My existing laser was purchased in 1996 and is currently held together by wishes, string and probably fear – thanks to the threats I give it almost daily. For those not trained in physics, lasers Read more…
