So, no blog posts from me for a little while. But please make use of the London discussion forum for all your Londony needs.

What’s the Portuguese for Ciao?

The event sees students unleashing their debating skills in competition with other schools, while a panel of adult judges steers the discussion.

At this year’s final, held at the Wellcome Collection, students debated topics as diverse as whether we should adopt a system of presumed consent for organ donation, whether or not the use of performance-enhancing drugs would undermine the sprit of sport and whether the West is unfairly demonising China.

The competition, sponsored by Pfizer with support from the Wellcome Trust, is now looking for judges to help with the autumn qualifying rounds of the 08/09 event, taking place throughout the UK.

There’s no better place to find intelligent people than Nature Network, so I’m really hoping a few of you will want to get involved with this worthy initiative.

From the Institute of Ideas:

The judging panel is what makes Debating Matters stand out from other competitions. Judges encourage students to think on their feet and substantiate their arguments with in-depth research and intelligent insight to bring a new dimension to every debate.

To register your interest, contact Dave Bowden on davebowden [at] instituteofideas.com

Today, I encountered a 300-year-old skeleton with a better haircut than me. Normally (and this kind of situation is increasingly normal for me) such a meeting might depress my mood for the day. But these hirsute remains belong to such a stimulating display that I soon perked up.

The Wellcome Collection’s Skeletons exhibition is attracting Londoners both ancient and modern. Two dozen former denizens have been disinterred from the Museum of London’s bone stores to meet their descendents. Laid out in glass cabinets, the necrocopia illustrates the social history of London through 16 centuries. Diseases, dietary habits and working conditions are all written into the bones, if you know how to read them. Information panels help the visitor identify rickets, osteosclerosis and syphilitic scars, and how to judge the age of remains from telltale signs. For example, I learnt why Romans had excellent, if worn-down, teeth by staring one in the mouth, and other ossific specifics.

After visiting, make sure you follow up on the Wellcome’s website, where interactive features reveal more about the burial sites and analytical techniques used to piece together these long forgotten life stories.

The exhibition runs until 28 September. If you’re coming along on the science tour of London ahead of the blogging conference, this will be one of the stops.

I think it’s time to launch a new feature, the Friday Poll.

Click one of these options to vote:

Researcher

Scientist

Biologist, Chemist etc..

Academic

Other

I guess this one works best for research scientists, but you can still vote if you ever worked in a lab.

You might remember my previous post in which I challenged you to name the famous scientists on the Royal Institution’s new wall of fame.

Well, I made a bit of a goof. Turns out the sitters were all architects and benefactors connected with the Royal Institution, and not researchers. I now have the answers for that one, but will hold off a bit longer in case anyone wants a second look.

This time round, I really do have a wall of scientists for you. And at least one of them has appeared on a UK bank note. Guess away.

The Malaria Lifecycle, by Drew Berry of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, gives a ‘scientifically accurate and fascinating visualisation of the malaria parasite’s invasion of a young child’. Perhaps not the kind of imagery you or I would want to hang on our walls, but highly suitable for a place of science. Note, in the montage shown above, I’ve pasted the six panels side by side to fit into our own bloggy niche. The actual work of art displays the panels skyscraper-fashion.

The second piece, ‘Faraday’s Magnetoscape’ comes from Ken Skeldon of the University of Glasgow. It recreates the patterns produced when you stick a magnet close to an old-fashioned TV. So something I used to get punished for as a child is now a work of art. That’s my kind of progress.

Attendees of our Science Blogging conference in August will get to see the works in situ.

If you bring a print out of your Nature Network profile, you can enjoy a free drink.

Undergraduates, PhDs, postdocs, PIs, professors, science communicators, curators…you’re all welcome.

See you tonight!

Last night I attended the opening ceremony of the International Congress of Genetics in Berlin. Three Nobel Prize winners – Oliver Smithies, Mario Cappechi and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard – described their key work. It overran by an hour and a quarter. So much for German efficiency, but I guess that’s what happens when you ask such a stellar line-up to keep their talks to 20 minutes each.

If the ICC lecture hall had included a clap-ometer, that most scientific of devices for measuring audience appreciation, the biggest reaction by far would have been for Oliver Smithies. He took the audience on a whistlestop tour through 60 years of his laboratory notebook, upon whose pages some of the most important advances in molecular biology were first recorded. When he wasn’t busy inventing new techniques (gel electrophoresis, knockout mice…) he tinkered away on home-made lab equipment. Here’s a picture of a PCR machine he knocked together in 1987, before such things (and the Taq polymerase at the heart of PCR) were commercially available. He still uses it today.

After the opening symposium we were crowded into a reception area for beer and pretzel. The German cuisine was complemented with traditional folk music from these guys.

I rather enjoyed it, but my Teutonic colleagues were visibly embarrassed. I suppose the same would be true in England if the reception featured morris dancers.

So here I am at the International Congress of Genetics in Berlin. It’s the 20th installment, as neatly reflected in the conference logo – a pair of chromosomes spelling XX in Roman numerals. Using biological imagery to pun…there should be more of this sort of thing.

Because the conference is held only every five years, its origins are much older than the double decade suggested by the title. In fact, it dates back to Victorian London. The Royal Horticultural Society hosted the first meeting in 1899, decades before the word ‘genetics’ was coined, with an emphasis on plant hybridisation. I’m going to have to look this up when I get back home.

This is the first time the ICG has convened in Germany since 1927 (which itself was a postponement – Berlin had been selected to host the 1916 meeting, but WWI got in the way). After the 1920s, things went rapidly downhill for German genetics, reaching an horrific nadir under the Nazi regime (Martin covers this in a bit more detail). It took many years for the discipline to recover, but strong progress was made following the founding of the German Genetics Society in 1968. Now, Berlin is proudly welcoming geneticists from around the globe to the pre-eminent conference for geneticists.

The International Conference Centre is a monumental structure – its brutalistic hulk could make a good service ship for Battlestar Gallactica. The interior decor hasn’t changed in decades I suspect. Everything is in that charming 1970s futuristic style that you don’t see so often anymore.

Into this building, 2000 of the world’s geneticists are convening; among them six Nobel Prize winners. The six-day conference includes 54 symposia 9 plenary lectures, a keynote symposium and the usual miscellanea of workshops, poster sessions and satellite meetings. The organisers have tried hard to get a good mixture of speakers, and one delegate noted that 30% of the symposia chairs are female. (A situation partly engineered by the steering committee who admitted that their first pass was too male, too old and too North American). The typical delegate is also hard to describe; researchers in their early twenties are as numerous as those of more advanced age and seniority, again something that the organisers specifically aimed for.

Nobel laureate Oliver Smithies set the stage at the opening press conference. To paraphrase his remarks, “You can never tell what’s going to happen at an international congress. Most reports take us only a little further in knowledge. But every now and then, there’s one person who goes a little further than the rest. They are the ‘jumpers’. And I hope to see a few jumps at this conference.”

More soon on the scientific programme…

Now, we thought we’d done pretty well getting James Randi to attend the Nature Network London drinks. Hats off to our friends in the Berlin group who persuaded Nobel laureates Oliver Smithies and Mario Capecchi to join us for a dinner in Berlin last night.

The pair shared the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for creating the first knockout mice. Smithies is also credited with the invention of gel electrophoresis. They very graciously gave a few hours of their time to dine with members of the Nature Network Berlin group, giving young scientists a unique opportunity to meet scientific royalty.

Oliver and his wife Nobuyo Maeda then joined us for a few drinks at a local bar. I think I’m not the only one with a hangover this morning. Thanks to Philipp Selenko for organising such an incredible evening (and picking me up from the airport).

The prizewinners are in town with fellow laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard to open the International Congress with keynote talks. I’ll be attending for the first two days and will blog about it here.

But a special kind of congratulations are due to Imperial College’s Michelle Dougherty who just won a medal for…and this takes some beating…helping discover an atmosphere on another planetary body.

The Royal Society likes to reward successful scientists, dishing out 10 medals, 6 awards, and 9 prize lectureships. As part of a bumper prize-giving announced today, Professor Dougherty receives the Royal Society’s Hughes Medal for heading the team behind the magnetometer aboard Cassini, still orbiting the Saturn system. This experiment uncovered a tenuous atmosphere on the moon Enceladus in 2005. If you were to stand on the moon’s surface, this is what you’d see:

There’s the atmosphere, looking all tenuous on the horizon.

The Hughes Medal is awarded annually to scientists who make important discoveries in the physical sciences. Dougherty follows in the footsteps of JJ Thomson, Niels Bohr, Enrico Fermi and Stephen Hawking.

Imperial College is stooping under the weight of multiple awards. Professor Edward Hinds picks up the Rumford Medal for pioneering experiments at super-cold temperature. Meanwhile, Professor Andrew deMello will deliver the 2009 Clifford Paterson Prize Lecture at the Royal Society, on the subject of nanotechnology.

Elsewhere in London, Professor Christopher Marshall of the Institute of Cancer Research receives the Buchanan Medal as a leading oncologist. Professor Eleanor Maguire from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging picks up the Rosalind Franklin Award for services to cognitive neuroscience. And Linda Partridge has been selected to deliver the 2009 Croonian Lecture.

The full list of honours can be found on the Royal Society’s website.

This fruit-flavoured think tank demystifies science policy for researchers, while also giving policy makers access to scientists. I interviewed the people behind the initiative last year.

I suspect too few of us understand the mechanisms of policy making—how research papers inform white papers. I’d be keen to see the site support basic dummy’s guides to these processes for the UK and other regions, and develop Q&A-style forums where researchers could pick the brains of policy makers and vice versa. But any initiative that begins to break down these boundaries has to be applauded.

If you’re interested with the increasingly important interface between research and policy, check out the site and contact info [at] newtons-apple.org.uk

Click for larger image.

Key (provided by Frank)
NIMR = MRC National Institute for Medical Research. The best research institute in North London, if not the world!

MRCT = MRC Technology. MRC’s technology transfer arm.

Mill Hill School – grand old public school. Francis Crick was a famous old boy there. In 2003 the School purchased a series of Wyllie-O’Hagan’s spectacular prints inspired by Rosalind Franklin, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Crick-Watson DNA paper.

The Scriptorium was also based at the School. Here the Oxford English Dictionary was created by James Murray (1837-1915), who has a blue plaque.

During WW2 the school housed the Maudsley Hospital, hence the “Mill Hill Vocabulary Scale”. (No, I’d never heard of it either but its amazing what you find on Google.)

Peter Collinson (1694-1768) has a blue plaque. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, an avid gardener, and “the middleman for an international exchange of scientific ideas in mid-18th century London” according to Wikipedia. He maintained a plant collection at Mill Hill.

Apex Corner – just a big roundabout, but has a pleasingly mathematical ring to it.

RAF Museum, just down the road at Hendon – not really science, but they do have a helicopter simulator there, where you can get your bones shaken.

Mill Hill Observatory – it is a real live astronomical observatory, part of University College London!

Health Protection Agency, over at Colindale – used to be PHLS, and originally part of the MRC.

NIBSC - National Institute for Biological Standards and Control. Used to be part of NIMR in the old days before moving out to Potters Bar.

CRUK Clare Hall – used to be located next door to NIMR at Mill Hill before moving to Potters Bar.

Wilberforce’s house – as well as his anti-slavery work William Wilberforce was one of the founders of what is now the RSPCA.

Raffles’ house – Sir Stamford Raffles, of Singapore fame, was also the first president of the Zoological Society.

Darlands Lake Nature Reserve is the remains of a man-made lake that was part of a Capability Brown garden and is now a nature reserve. It used to be an SSSI, because of the rare snake’s head fritillaries found there but got downgraded when it was shown that they were introduced rather than native. It is a lovely haven and has a heron in residence.

Hampstead probably deserves its own separate map but but I’ve included it here as it is where the original NIMR was housed, in the Mount Vernon hospital. The house where Henry Dale (first NIMR Director) lived there has a blue plaque.

Sterling work, I think you’ll agree. Please send maps of your own institutions to me, and I’ll post them in future blog entries. If you have your own NN blog, feel free to post there, but tag it sciencemap, so we can pull all these together.

On with the listings. As usual, wildlife/nature programmes are highlighted in green.

Monday
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. Making fireworks and extracting limestone (not at the same time).
7.30 The Sky At Night, BBC4. The Phoenix Mars lander.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
8.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4. Monkeys.
8.30 Panorama, BBC1. Increasing privatisation on the NHS.
9.00 HIGHLIGHT Science in the Making, Radio 4. Why should we believe scientists? Or, rephrasing for the audience, why should people believe us?

Tuesday
11.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Animal migrations.
3.00 Home Planet, Radio 4. Environmental chat.
7.30 Extraordinary Animals, FIVE. Rats that can smell TB, and other oddness.
8.00 Tiger: Spy in the Jungle, BBC4. Attenborough and big cats.
9.00 All in the Mind, Radio 4. Psychology show.
9.30 NHS at 60: The Cost of Health, Radio 4. Similar to yesterday’s Panorama.

Wednesday
11.00 In Living Memory, Radio 4. The scientists who tracked down the cause of Legionnaire’s Disease, first identified in 1976.
4.30 All in the Mind, Radio 4.
8.00 Tiger: Spy in the Jungle, BBC4.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4.

Thursday
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. Metabolomics.
8.00 Tiger: Spy in the Jungle, BBC4.
8.00 NHS at 60: National Doctors, Radio 4. The changing role of doctors during the NHS’s 60 years.
9.00 Leading Edge, Radio 4.
9.00 Life and Death on the NHS, ITV1. Yet another programme to mark 60 years of free health care.

Friday
11.00 The Eureka Years, Radio 4. Adam Hart-Davis starts a new history-of-science slot with a look at the role of the coffee house on English Enlightenment science.
3.00 Shared Earth, Radio 4.

Yes, we’re putting on another drinks and networking night for London researchers, and anyone else working in a vaguely scientific role.

We’re back in the upstairs bar of the Lamb on Lamb’s Conduit Street.

If you’ve not been before it works a little something like this. Turn up, chat to other local scientists, have fun. And that’s it. No presentations, no obligations – just an informal atmosphere in which to mingle with other scientists and a few Nature folk.

Last time, over 70 people turned up, including a few celebrities.

You can also claim a free drink if you bring along a print-out of your Nature Network profile. Our munificence knows no some bounds.

Please drop me a line (m.brown – at – nature.com), if you’d like to come along. This makes it easier to keep track of numbers.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Here’s a handmade map of the area around Nature’s London offices, with a few features of interest highlighted. (Click for larger view.)

Although the King’s Cross area is blighted by train lines and traffic, there’s still plenty to see within a square half-mile or so. Ask me for a tour if you’re ever visiting.

Now it’s your turn. I’ll award a map-based prize to whoever can hand-draw the best chart of the area around their own institution. If you post to a NN blog, tag the post with ‘sciencemap’ so we can collect them all together. And if you need somewhere to upload the image, just send it my way and I’ll stick it on a Nature server and send you the code.

My favourite event in the science calendar just rolled round again. The Royal Society hosts an annual jamboree celebrating the best of UK science. This year, 27 exhibitors fill the marbled halls of the RS to show off their research to the general public.

The exhibition seems more diverse than ever. Research teams cover climate change, plant biology, space research, materials science, medical technologies…just about every discipline. I like to play a game when talking to the researchers: pretend I know absolutely nothing about science, nod politely as they explain the really basic stuff, then ask a devastatingly insightful question about the role of semaphorins in axon guidance. I’ve never seen a researcher’s face moves through such a complicated parade of expressions (especially when asking an astrophysicist about the role of semaphorins in axon guidance).

My favourite bit, because I’m obsessed with all things spacey, was the display from the European Space Agency and partner universities. I spoke for about 20 minutes with one of the team working on the next generation of Mars missions. ESA are keen to put a series of probes at various locations around the red planet, to test for Marsquakes and other geological phenomena. That’s after they send the ExoMars rover in 2013, a flimsy-looking test model of which can be seen at the exhibition.

You should get down there today, if you can, when the show stays open till 9. It continues tomorrow and Thursday, but only during working hours.

What do you reckon? Even more hammy than the last Dalek episode, in which pig-like humanoids roamed New York’s sewers?

And here’s a question. Pretend you’re a TV news producer. If the Earth were transported millions of light years and imprisoned with 26 other planets in the Medusa Cascade, which scientist would you phone to give comment?

And how about that ending (of the episode, not the short Dawkins clip)? Who saw that coming?

Sorry those of you who aren’t Dr Who fans.

You’ve gotta love the Centre of the Cell in London’s Whitechapel. They’re still half a year from opening, but already have one of the coolest web sites around.

The centre will be an educational attraction, teaching youngsters (and a few oldsters like me who’ve forgotten some really elementary biology) about the roles of cells in health and disease.

As well as the Cell Trumps card game I’ve mentioned before, they’ve also made a bevy of interactive games and features. Check ‘em out. I just fought off a gut infection by killing cytokines, and helped a young lady kick a football by collecting cells for her in a Petri dish. Not bad for a slow Wednesday afternoon.

I might suggest they build a video game to teach the importance of sterilisation. Grand Theft Autoclave, anyone?

Monday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Radio astronomy.
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. Turning Cold War technology into household appliances.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
9.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4. Aquatic mammals.
9.00 Hitting the Buffers, Radio 4. How does the human body cope with excess speed?

Tuesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Black holes.
9.00 All in the Mind, Radio 4. Brain research.

Wednesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Quasars.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4.

Thursday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Dark matter.
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. Malaria research.
9.00 Leading Edge, Radio 4.
9.00 Britain’s Lost world, BBC1. Kate Humble, relieved of Springwatch duty, heads off to St Kilda, one of Britain’s most isolated places.

Friday
3.00 Shared Earth, Radio 4.
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Anthropic principles.
7.30 Britain’s Lost world, BBC1.
9.00 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Omnibus edition.

Saturday
7.10 Dr Who, BBC1. Special guest star Richard Dawkins opines his way through time and space.

The Royal Institution, venue for the upcoming bloggers’ conference, has some unusual furnishings. Here’s a scene from their new wall of fame, which depicts the great and good of science in often surreal poses.

This is perhaps the least peculiar panel. Can we name the six scientists?

UPDATE: I just heard that these are not scientists, but architects and benefactors connected with the Ri. Hope that helps.

• You can now use hyphens in tags (‘Yay!’ shouts Dr Rohn)
• If, for some reason, you’re not happy being in someone else’s network, you can now extricate yourself by following the link on that person’s profile page.
• We put in a bit of helper text next to the Most Commented blog posts, to make it clear that the comment count relates to posts made in the past two weeks. This was confusing some people.

And many more behind-the-scenes fixes that I won’t bore you with. Let me know if you spot any bugs in the new release.

We’re now gearing up for some major changes in the Jul/Aug/Sep releases. Coming up…a more rational Groups/Forums system, improved navigation bars, NEW HUBS, new-look local pages and much more. We’ve got a busy summer ahead.

The milestone was passed a few days back, with the golden comment coming from Maxine Clarke.

Ironically, she uses the comment to question the readability of blog posts with too many comments.

So, congratulations, Maxine. You do not win a prize.

While I’m talking about blogs, does anyone have any feedback on the following:

a) Do you want to see more blogs on NN, or is the rate of posting already too high?

b) If you do want more blogs, which areas of science would you like to see tackled?

The ‘Catch Me Who Can’ ran on a circular track at an eminently catchable 12 mph. Here we see it pulling a passenger carriage while Londoners queue to ride the wonder of the age. Some would live to see construction of the great London termini just north of here. But, from the picture, only the hills of Hampstead and Highgate are still around to witness the Catch Me who Can’s successors pulling into St Pancras International.

The site is marked today by a plaque in Gower Street (below), and a temporary exhibition of innovative ideas inspired by this transport milestone can be viewed in UCL cloisters until tomorrow.

Look, coral reefs, made from yarn. Aren’t they beautiful? This is one of a dozen or so troughs of subnauticalia on show at the Hayward Gallery from today.

The ‘hyperbolic crocheted coral reef’ is the creation of the Institute for Figuring, a curiously named sci-art outfit from Los Angeles. They’ve exhibited the reefs in several US cities, and now bring their hyperbolic handicrafts to London.

Why hyperbolic? It’s a curious tale, this. I don’t profess to understand the maths of three-dimensional surfaces, but apparently there are three types of geometry: the good old Euclidian system of planes, angles and parallel lines; spherical geometry; and hyperbolic geometry in which the surface curves away from itself from any given point (kind of the opposite to a sphere where the surface curves in on itself). Or something. Any mathematicians reading this, please correct me.

Such a surface eluded simple physical modelling until 1997, when someone figured out a way to do this, implausibly, through the ancient art of crochet (like knitting, but with a single hooked-needle). Here’s a fuller account of this wonderful yarn, which I don’t quite buy (why not just mold the structures out of wax or something?).

Turns out that nature (not Nature) is an old hand at bypassing Mr Euclid. Corals have grown into hyperbolic structures for millions of years. The new exhibition recreates these glorious geometries from thread, with sparing use of beads, plastic ties and other items of haberdashery. The main display is free to view in the Haywood, but other examples can be found inside the Royal Festival Hall until mid-August. Highly recommended.

Now, on with the listings. As always, wildlife/nature programmes are highlighted in green, whereas science shows are in black.

Monday
3.45 HIGHLIGHT Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Heather cooper moves the series onto Galileo.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE. 8.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4. Carnivores.
9.00 Frontiers, Radio 4. The worldwide decline in amphibians.

Tuesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Newton’s turn under the microscope.
7.30 Extraordinary Animals, FIVE. A cat that plays the piano. Yes, I know, it’s not science. But a cat! That plays the piano! Come on.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.

Wednesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Edmund Halley’s star rises.
6.30 Springwatch, BBC2.
6.30 Double Science, Radio 4. Comedy about two science teaches trapped in a college that specialises in drama.
7.30 Massive Speed, FIVE. Chris Barrie reveals his favourite trains. Gets a listing here as today marks the 200th anniversary of Richard Trevithick’s ‘Catch Me Who Can’ passenger steam train, which ran in a loop where UCL now stands. More on that on Wednesday.
8.00 The Moral Maze, Radio 4. A special edition from the Cheltenham Science Festival.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4.

Thursday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. William Herschel uncovers Uranus.
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. Iodine in seaweed.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
9.00 Leading Edge, Radio 4.

Friday
3.00 Shared Earth, Radio 4.
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. The discovery of the asteroid belt.
9.00 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Omnibus edition.

Saturday
5.30 Wild China, BBC2. Chinese wildlife.

Sunday
9.00 Wild China, BBC2.

Darwin200 is a collaboration of UK scientific and cultural organisations to celebrate the Big Man’s bicentenary next year, plus 150 years since publication of a certain bestseller. Where better to launch procedings than the terra cotta halls of the NHM?

The recently moved statue of Darwin (see if you can spot him in the photo above) sat in pride of place atop the museum’s grand staircase, his marble gaze puzzling over an illuminated brontosaurus. It’s a pity that the sequel to Night at the Museum won’t be set here. Instead of mucking about with model soldiers, Ben Stiller could go on an evolutionary journey of discovery with Mr Darwin as guide.

Back to reality, and Sir Martin Rees, head of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, gave a memorable speech. Despite being a physicist, he said, he would rather celebrate Darwin’s achievements than those of that other ‘Great’ of English science, Isaac Newton—mostly because Darwin was a lot more affable. I also got a sneak preview of the Darwin’s Canopy entries, and listened to a poet pretending to be Darwin’s notebook.

Speaking of which, make sure you get hold of one of these:

The Charles Darwin diary 2009 is a work of beauty, crammed with illustrations and information. I don’t think they’re available yet, but keep an eye on the Natural History Museum shop.

Although a facsimile Darwin wandered around in a fake beard, I sadly didn’t get to meet the genuine article.

This weekend, 173 of them are opening their gates to the general public as part of the annual Open Garden Squares event. From verdant enclaves to lofty roof gardens, this is your chance to sip Pimms, discuss herbaceous borders and be thoroughly British.

More than a few of the participating gardens have sciency connections. Here’s a roundup (partly cribbed from last year ).

Royal College of Physicians’ Medicinal Garden. Nestling near the south-east corner of regents Park, this series of eight small gardens contains nearly 1000 medicinal plants, plus ‘quincunx parterres containing plants from Pharmacopeia Londiniensis of 1618’. If you want to know what quincunx parterres are, either pop along or ask Henry Gee. I bet he knows.

Park Crescent and Square. Not scientific per se, but these normally off-limits areas are surrounded by important organisations such as the MRC and Institute of Physics.

South London Botanical Institute. Another medicinal garden, this time down in Tulse Hill. A collection of Tudor medicinal plants grows alongside sources of modern pharmaceuticals. And feed introduce the kids to the carnivorous plants.

Brunel Museum Gardens. Fans of engineering should check out this small green space near the Brunel Museum. Benches in the shape of famous bridges, and a tour of the Thames foreshore—what more could you want?

Chelsea Physic Garden. We’ve been here before. London’s premier destination for medical botany.

NHM Wildlife Garden. The Natural History Museum’s ‘living exhibition’ contains over 2000 British plants and animals. See if you can spot them all. Scientists will be on hand to discuss the various fauna and flora.
Camley Street Natural Park. Learn about conservation at this unexpected island of green in the railway lands behind Kings Cross. Talks, pond-dipping and other activities for children. Pop along on a week day lunchtime to see Nature employees eating their sandwiches.

The complete list can be viewed here.

The discussion continues over in the News and Opinion forum. One commenter, wishing to remain anonymous, believes age discrimination is not limited to Europe.

My wife is a bit older than me, and only got a job because she very carefully eliminated any reference to her age on her CV. Before she did, she got no job offers; afterwards she got four in quick succession. The change was immediate. There IS age discrimination in academia in the USA, and I am VERY angry about it.

Others feel that mandatory retirement is justified:

Being a PhD student at a respected university, surrounded by an aging faculty that is no longer on the cutting edge of their fields of study leaves me with a longing for mandatory retirement. Faculty positions are rare, and those that hold tenured positions later into their lives are holding back a younger, more current, and more excited generation of researchers.

Clearly a controversial area. Please head on over to the forum and add your own opinions, whatever your age.

Questions copyright Mike Ward and John Hodgson, reproduced with permission.

Taken from a recent quiz organised by College Hill Life Sciences.

Monday
3.45 HIGHLIGHT Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Heather cooper begins a new series with a look at the astronomy of the ancient Greeks.
7.30 The Sky at Night, BBC4. The giant moons of Europa and Titan.
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. The Airbus A380 is examined.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE. A bit of science sneaks in this week, with a look at green gadgets.
8.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4. Rodents.
9.00 Frontiers, Radio 4. The problems with medicine for children.

Tuesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Ptolemaic astronomy.
7.30 Extraordinary Animals, FIVE. A clever pig. It can’t fly, though.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
9.00 All in the Mind, Radio 4. Virtual reality ride on the London Underground tests paranoid thoughts.

Wednesday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Islamic astronomy during the European Dark Ages.
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
4.30 All in the Mind, Radio 4. Repeat.
6.30 Double Science, Radio 4. Comedy about two science teaches trapped in a college that specialises in drama.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4.

Thursday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. The Copernican revolution.
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. Biomaterials in dentistry.
8.00 Springwatch, BBC2.
8.00 Carbon Trading, Radio 4. Is the UN scheme to cut carbon emissions working?
9.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4.
9.30 HIGHLIGHT In Our Time, Radio 4. Melvyn Bragg continues a run of science-based discussions, this week looking at the flawed theories of Trofim Lysenko.

Friday
3.45 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Kepler and Brahe (does anyone know how Brahe is pronounced? I’ve always wondered.)
7.00 Wildlife On Two, BBC2. Giant otters.
9.00 Cosmic Quest, Radio 4. Omnibus edition.

Saturday
5.35 Wild China, BBC2. Chinese wildlife.

Sunday
6.20 Natural World, BBC2. Mooses.
9.00 Wild China, BBC2.

This one’s eminently Googleable, but do have a guess, or flaunt your knowledge, without looking up the answers.

Questions copyright Mike Ward and John Hodgson, reproduced with permission.

Taken from a recent quiz organised by College Hill Life Sciences.

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mni d deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Interesting, huh? To answer my titular question though, spelling is still very important, especially when communicating online. Just think what happens to Google searches if your keywords are poorly spelled. And my tags will be forever useless in catagorising the post.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending a science-themed quiz hosted by communications consultancy College Hill Life Sciences.

And, my, the questions were fiendish. The photo shows perhaps the easiest round. Despite holding degrees in chemistry and molecular biology, working for a time in a crystallography lab, and editing a text book on protein structure, I struggled on a few of these. See how many you can get—and let me know if you can’t read any of the text.

Questions copyright Mike Ward and John Hodgson, reproduced with permission.

Later this year, we’ll be altering the layout and content of our existing local hubs (Boston and London) and launching many new ones. But where? We need data. We need to know where you all come from. So we’ve built a bit on your personal profile, where you can state the city you work in, and then choose from a selection of potential local hubs that might be meaningful to you.

Why should you do this? Well, whichever hubs are most popular are likely to be the next to launch. This will bring with it a local events calendar, local meetups, local news and jobs information. Basically, a one-stop shop for all your local science needs.

To select your hub, just do this:
• Log in, head to your profile page and click ‘edit your profile’.
• At the top, click ‘change your location’.
• Enter the city or town in which you work. This will set your location.
• Nature Network will then suggest three potential ‘hubs’—regions (not necessarily cities) that may become full-fledged hubs like Boston and London once enough people from that area sign up. Click the one that you belong to.

Simple.

I can reveal that, after 24 hours, Berlin and Toronto are in the lead. Go and put a vote in for your city now.

If you were wondering why I’ve been so quiet today (probably not, but I like to imagine I’m missed), it’s because I’ve been at the Innovation Edge conference organised by NESTA (a UK body that funds innovation).

A celebrity line-up included Bob Geldof (using technology to help developing countries), Tim Berners-Lee (general musings on the future of the web) and a surprise appearance from Prime Minister Gordon Brown himself. Indeed, a rather impressive performance from my namesake, flourishing anecdotes about Einstein and General Montgomery and somehow (I forget how) linking them to innovation.

(I’ll stop putting comments in parentheses now. Sorry.)

The main attraction for me was a session entitled ‘Are online social networks the new cities?’. Chaired by NESTA Fellow Charlie Leadbetter, the panel comprised Michael Birch, the CEO and founder of Bebo; Sir Richard Leese, the head of Manchester City Council; and John Gisby, director of new media and technology at Channel 4.

The talk covered the role of social networks in society, ranging from education to business. Leese argued the need for both organic and institutional innovation in social networks, saying that government must know when to step in with legislation, but also when to step out. He also admitted to lurking on certain networks to learn about sections of the community that, as a politician, he’d never normally get close access to. His council are experimenting with new web technologies. He cited a recent You Tube video manifesto as an example. “Few people watched it,” he confessed, “but it brought us much more media attention than a paper manifesto.”

Bringing the conversation round to the global versus local debate, the Chair asked British-born Michael Birch why he’d decided to set up Bebo in San Francisco rather than his home nation. “Because my wife lived there,” quipped Birch, “But they also happen to have a thriving internet community. It’s a good job she didn’t live in Utah.”

Birch discussed how he models Bebo on a city, drawing analogies with real-world communities and conversations in bars. “When we first set Bebo up, there was no growth for two months. It’s like being the first in the bar. No one wants to be in that bar until it gets a busier. But nucleuses began to appear. They told their friends, and they told their friends, and the site began to grow.” (I’m paraphrasing here, by the way, as I’ve never installed shorthand into my abilities folder.)

This rang true with what we’re seeing on Nature Network. The first few months were pretty slow, but nuclei are now appearing—that’s you guys—and the site is growing. We’ll shortly be launching new local hubs (I know, we’ve been saying this for months!), which we hope will act as regional nuclei.

Despite lots of to-ing and fro-ing, the titular question was never adequately answered, despite plenty of opinionated insight. One audience member compared the challenge to traditional media as “like the dissolution of the monasteries”, another claimed the new landscape lowered the barriers for both altruism and hatred. One chap bemoaned this excess of anecdote and called for more evidence-based debate when it comes to the development of social networking. And there were the usual concerns about the digital divide, and the health of a society that spends all available hours chatting on the web.

Online conversation and connection is indeed ubiquitous, as we found out at the end of the discussion. The Chair read a few snippets from Twitter, which audience members had written during the talking—”Michael looks bored”, “No way, he’s just relaxed”, etc. While discussion was taking place, a whole separate conversation about the discussion was happening that most of the audience were oblivious to. Now that’s what I call a digital divide.

Monday
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
8.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4.
9.00 100 Years of Wildlife Films, BBC4.
9.00 Frontiers, Radio 4. The British Antarctic Survey.

Tuesday
7.30 Extraordinary Animals, FIVE. Can dogs count?
9.00 Case Notes, Radio 4. Robot surgery.

Wednesday
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
4.30 Case Notes, Radio 4. Repeat.
6.30 Double Science, Radio 4. Comedy about two science teaches trapped in a college that specialises in drama.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Satellite-linked geese migrate across the Arctic.

Thursday
4.30 Material World, Radio 4.
9.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4. All those gadgets we love are killing the planet.
10.30 The Big Bang Theory, C4. Neverending comedy series about physics nerds.

Friday
3.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4. Repeat.

Saturday and Sunday

London’s Royal Institution is perhaps the most august scientific site on the planet. If buildings had CVs, the Ri would boast the discovery of 10 chemical elements among its previous roles, list 14 Nobel Prizes in its achievements, and cite Michael Faraday, Humphry Davy and William Bragg as referees.

The building has been closed for two years for major rebuilding. I took a hardhat tour a few days back to see how the refit is progressing. Apart from the lecture theatre, the Ri is still very much a building site. The new atrium, cafe, bar, exhibition space and public-facing laboratory are filled with dust, drills and plywood. The paintings are in plastic sheeting. Yet in just two week Queen Elizabeth II will reopen the building.

Fortunately, many areas are nearing completion. The classical external façade has been preserved and restored in a tasteful cream colour. On top, a special plank for the rooftop equivalent of defenestration seems to have been installed. Bad lecturers be warned.

Inside, the Faraday theatre looks stunning in purple and blue. This is the space where the main lectures will take place during our blogging conference. Speakers will be treading the boards once occupied by these prestigious scientists.

At the conference, we’ll also have access to a number of smaller rooms, including a pair of libraries and several anterooms. Those who want to can also explore the exhibition spaces, where you can talk to a holographic Michael Faraday and learn more about all those Nobel Prizes and chemical elements.

More details on the venue can be found in my previous site tour, and read the inside story of the lecture hall from the Royal Institution’s own historian.

When scientists talk about demonstrating, we’re usually referring to pedagogical lab sessions. Yesterday, scientists traded lab coats for loudspeakers during a political demonstration outside the UK Houses of Parliament.

The rally saw ‘several dozen’ researchers, politicians and patient group reps supporting the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which would modernise UK embryology laws (Nature News has the full details).

Protests over biological research are normally associated with restricting or barring new technologies, so its refreshing to hear the researchers and patients speaking up. Member of Parliament Evan Harris explained why the bill is important:

“The rights of patients to access the potential therapies coming from this research should not be denied because of the dogmatic religious views, however sincerely held, of individuals or religious leaders.”

The House of Commons later endorsed the new legislation, which would, among other things, allow the creation of animal–human embryos. MPs later supported the new laws by 340 votes to 78. After closer scrutiny of the bill, its individual components will be voted on next week.

The Science Update blog states three aims: clarifying often contradictory media coverage of cancer stories; highlighting the work of CRUK’s 4000+ scientists; and flagging up other cool cancer research from around the globe—stuff not currently making it into mainstream news.

Nature Networker Ed Yong fronts the new site with co-bloggers (that word really needs a hyphen, lest they become cob-loggers) Kat Arney and Henry Scowcroft. And check out their podcast too, while you’re at it.

Monday
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. Fireproofing sofas and other goods.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
8.00 Dispatches, C4. Analysing the dubious claims of beauty creams.
8.00 The Life of Mammals, BBC4.
9.00 The Dinosaur Mummy, C4. An exceptionally well preserved fossil is found in North Dakota.
9.00 Frontiers, Radio 4. The potential of microgeneration of energy from unlikely power sources.

Tuesday
7.30 Jaguar Adventure With Nigel Marven, FIVE. The cat, not the car.
9.00 Case Notes, Radio 4.

Wednesday
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
4.30 Case Notes, Radio 4. The benefits versus the risks of sunshine.
6.30 Double Science, Radio 4. Comedy about two science teaches trapped in a college that specialises in drama.
8.00 Natural World, BBC2. Superfish, whatever they are.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Satellite-linked geese migrate across the Arctic.

Thursday
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. The evolution of TB.
9.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4. Why ‘ecotourism’ is bad, bad, bad.
10.30 The Big Bang Theory, C4. Neverending comedy series about physics nerds.

Friday
7.00 Wildlife On Two, BBC2. Giant otters.

Saturday
7.00 Wild China, BBC2. Chinese wildlife.
10.15 HIGHLIGHT Embryology: The Science and Ethics, Radio 4. Colin Blakemore and Archbishop Peter Smith, in a timely debate.

Sunday
7.00 Wild China, BBC2.

The first thing to change will be the local forums. These are used very rarely, so we’re going to scrap them—the existing forums won’t be deleted, but will become available on the global forums.

One local forum to rule them all
Instead of a jungle of little-used local forums, we’re going to have just one—the London Forum—where you can discuss local events, research news, gossip, new facilities and anything else.

Please join in
That forum already exists. I’d urge anyone in London interested in following local science news to sign up to the RSS or e-alerts and join in the discussion there. And don’t be shy of starting new topics, perhaps about your own institutions.

The Webby Awards are the online equivalent of the Oscars Nobel Prize, with an A–Y of categories, from ‘Activism’ to ‘Youth’. Nature.com beat two Nasa sites, Exploratorium’s Microscope Imaging Station, and the American Museum of Natural History’s Water site to scoop the science award.

So, laurels gained, but not to be rested upon. Next year, maybe Nature Network itself could be a contender.

That’s when the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill gets its second reading in the House of Commons. The Bill updates existing legislation on embryo research, tightening regulation without inhibiting promising research avenues.

Naturally, the Bill has drawn strong criticism from so-called pro-life groups. But scientists and other proponents of this research are encouraged to make their voices heard.

On Monday 12th May 2008 outside the Houses of Parliament we will seek to represent the breadth of the support for the Bill just before the debate begins by bringing representatives from the hundreds of patient groups together with scientists who support the Bill.

A YouGov poll in August 2005 showed that 77% of people accept embryo research for life-threatening diseases. But For far too long the only public shows of feeling on this issue have come from those who wish to vote down these much needed and progressive measures permitting carefully regulated embryo research and important and ethical clinical interventions like pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. So for the first time science and medicine is going to show its support for the bill.

Don’t forget your white coat!

• Sudden oak death tackled by researchers.

King’s College London
• Genetic markers for osteoporosis discovered.

• Asthma research, without using animals.

Royal Institution
• Prof Quentin Pankhurst is new Director of the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, moving from the London Centre for Nanotechnology.

UCL
• Emotional inflation causes stock market analysts to get carried away and make mistakes, say researchers.

• After last week’s ‘bionic eye’ story, workers at Moorfields and UCL report gene therapy for inherited blindness.

Monday
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. Keeping the Thames free of rubbish.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE. Robotic mops? The mind boggles.
9.00 Am I Normal?, BBC2. A scientific look at religious experiences.

Tuesday
7.30 Jaguar Adventure With Nigel Marven, FIVE. The cat, not the car.
8.00 Life in Cold Blood, BBC4. Yet another repeat.
9.00 Case Notes, Radio 4.

Wednesday
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
4.30 Case Notes, Radio 4.
8.00 Life in Cold Blood, BBC4. Yet another repeat.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Animal migrations.

Thursday
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. The post-war boom in UK science and technology – ties in with the Science Museum’s new Dan Dare exhibition.
9.00 Should I Smoke Dope?, BBC3. Medical investigation into the maligned weed.
9.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4. Will we meet targets for energy-efficient homes?

Friday
3.00 Costing the Earth, Radio 4. Repeat.
8.00 The Sharkman, FIVE. A man who pets great white sharks.

Saturday

Sunday
8.05 Flood, ITV1. Drama about a breach in the Thames Barrier.

I wanted to alert readers to this week’s Nature podcast, which features an interview with Randi from our recent drinks night.

Here’s a transcript of the interview by Charlotte Stoddart. For comments from Bad Astronomer Phil Plait, and much more besides, go get the podcast.

Charlotte Stoddart: Every couple of months Nature Network, the social networking forum for scientists, holds a drinks event in a London pub. This evening we’re in the Rugby Tavern and we are honoured to welcome a very special guest, well-known magician and investigator of pseudoscientific claims, James Randi. Hello James!

James Randi: Hello there! We are sitting outside the pub let’s say and we’re freezing, but the noise level inside is a little bit of a competition to us.

Charlotte Stoddart: Well, that’s right. There are lots of people here tonight inside and enjoying themselves. Now James, you are normally based over in Florida.

James Randi: That’s correct, yes.

Charlotte Stoddart: So what are you doing here, this side of the Atlantic, in the UK?

James Randi: Well, I had been invited over here to consult contracts, possible contracts to do a series about the Million Dollar Challenge that the James Randi Educational Foundation offers and brining it to the UK, liable liable so to speak, it should be very interesting.

Charlotte Stoddart: So tell me a bit more about your foundation and this million-dollar challenge.

James Randi: Well, the foundation is an educational foundation and we are devoted not to debunking, no, just investigating so called things of the paranormal, occult and supernatural and we tried to bring a little bit of enlightenment to the public in general and information about what these things really are or not. There is a widespread belief all around the world that there is a supernatural world, a paranormal and occult world. I rather doubt that and I’m willing to be shown—I’m a million dollars worth of willing to be shown, because we offer this prize.

Charlotte Stoddart: And has anyone come close to winning the prize money yet.

James Randi: Well, it’s like being pregnant. You can’t come close to it. You either are or you are not. So, we designed the rules and the protocol in such a way, with the agreement of the person who is answering the challenge, we designed it in such a way that it’s extended up, at the end of the test you will know yes or no, whether they succeeded or failed. And so far they all get exactly what would be a chance of expectation.

Charlotte Stoddart: Now James, I hope you don’t mind me mentioning your age, because you are in your 80th year now.

James Randi: Right!

Charlotte Stoddart: So I’m just wondering what it is that keeps you going, keeps you travelling and talking about science?

James Randi: Well, it’s not the expectation, as some people have thought that I’m going to find a genuine psychic. My expectation after 80 years of into this is that there probably isn’t such a thing as a psychic power. Now I don’t say there isn’t and I never claim there is not such a power. I am really saying I am an investigator and I am willing to be shown, but it is a very active field and I find that people all over the world are either being deceived or deceiving themselves about belief in the paranormal.

Charlotte Stoddart: You started off life as a magician, so how did you become more interested in the paranormal and pseudoscience and investigating these areas.

James Randi: Well, as a magician, that is a conjurer more correctly. As a conjurer, travelling all over the world, I find that the so called psychics are using exactly the same tricks that we magicians use, mis-directions and the half statements and what not. It’s rather distressing to see this sort of thing done because they are in effect vultures working on the gullibility and the need and the sensitivity of these people who need some answers, are not going to get them from the psychics in my opinions.

Charlotte Stoddart: Now you’ve come along to these drinks tonight with Sid Rodriguez and you are both part of a sort of growing band of people who are investigating paranormal claims and homeopathy and that kind of thing. Could you just tell me a little more about this sceptic community?

James Randi: Well, its rather surprising that you know, I travel to foreign countries all the time and not too long ago in Denmark, I was walking on the street and I heard a shout from across the street, “Mr. Randi!” and a fellow came running through traffic and shook my hands, smiled at me. He said I am sceptic too and I looked him up and down, I said, “I doubt that,” just to keep in character, you see. But there is a sceptical community all around the world now which is growing bit by bit and there are sceptical organizations. Now scepticism is not cynicism. Cynicism is a different thing altogether. We are honestly sceptical and I think justifiably sceptical about claims that we encounter. Homeopathy is one of the silliest claims that you can possibly entertain as possibly being real. People are taking homeopathic medicines and they don’t know unless they study it that they are getting zero dosage. A friend of mine actually calculated the effect that with the sleeping pills that I take at every one of my performances. I always swallow a huge handful of sleeping capsules and I always survived, as you may have noticed. He calculated one time, that in order to get at least one molecule of caffeine because that is the active ingredient in a sleeping capsule and don’t ask me how that is, I would have to eat 16 average swimming pools, full of pills, that’s a big dose.

Charlotte Stoddart: It is. So, it’s not going to be a homeopath, who wins your prize.

James Randi: No, I very much doubt it.

Charlotte Stoddart: James, thank you very much. I know there are lots of people, upstairs in the pub, who would like to talk to you. So we’ll go back to the drinks now.

James Randi: Thank you so much and I am frozen! So get me into the warm.

Charlotte Stoddart: Let’s get into the warm. Thank you.

James Randi: Thank you. Bye Bye!

• …and it’s being used to diagnose sleeping sickness.

King’s College London
• Four winners of translational research grants announced.

• Dermatology and Molecular Medicine laboratories opened.

London School of Economics
• Philanthropists splash out £12 million on new climate change research institute.

Medical Research Council
• The proposed UKCMRI facility at St Pancras draws more flak rebuffed by MRC investigated by the guardian.

Moorfields Eye Hospital
• Breakthrough in sight – bionic eyes.

Queen Mary University of London
• New fast-track cancer treatment centre.

• Getting cosy with robots.

University College London
• Treating heart attack victims with stem cells – will it work?

Inspired by Jenny hitting the big 1-0-0, I decided to see which blog posts have attracted the most comments since the NatNetiverse began. Five of the Top 11 (I like to be nonconformist in my stats) are either by Jenny or about her (Richard Grant’s Damsel in Distress). Sorry, Jenny, hope I haven’t made you blush, but you empirically rock.

My own humble efforts, despite blogging almost every day, have only racked up a measly maximum of 25. Must try harder, Brown, as my teachers used to say, and probably still do.

1. Jenny Rohn 109
In which I get into a little muddle about archiving

2. Jenny Rohn 84
In which I rhapsodize over my instruments

3. Jenny Rohn 66
In which I smile for the cameras

4. Jenny Rohn 63
In which I utterly fail to conceptualize

5. Richard Grant 47
On the care and training of students, especially the training

6. Henry Gee 46
On the manifestation of excrement

7. Anna Kushnir 41
I am not yelling. Not out loud.

8. Richard Grant 37
Damsel in Distress

9. Cath Ennis 34
Ashtrays and atheists

10. Richard Grant 33
On the difference

11. Bob O’Hara 32
Open Access: Show us the Money!

Archive of previous installments

(Or, see, see, tags can be useful.)

I attended my first ever Skeptics in the Pub event last night. And, by the beard of Randi, it was packed.

Well over 100 people crowded into the basement bar of the Penderel’s Oak to listen to ‘Bad Astronomer’, and Nature Network drinks attendee, Phil Plait talk about Apollo conspiracy theories.

He ran through the usual medley of fallacies trumpeted by those who think Mankind’s Greatest Adventure was all filmed in a Nasa sound stage. You know the stuff—why is the flag waving when there is no atmosphere on the moon?; why are there no stars in the lunar sky?; why, if the sun is the only light source, do the shadows fall in many directions.

Phil denounced each dodgy claim with rational arguments and cutting humour. The flag is creased thanks to weeks of stowage, and moves around through vibration and static electricity. There are no stars in the sky because the sun is shining, just like day time on Earth—in any case, the exposure times would not pick up stars even had the shots been taken back home. And the shadows fall in different directions because of something called PERSPECTIVE, as Phil demonstrated with a photo of his local (non-faked) park.

All logical stuff, but enough people believe in the conspiracies to keep Phil in work for years (he recently gave up research to become a full time skeptic and blogger).

Unfortunately, I was too far back to see most of the show (the photo at the top is as good as it got), and left before Q&A, but I’d highly recommend getting along to one of these events. Meetings are usually monthly, with an eclectic mix of speakers tackling subjects as diverse as homeopathy and holocaust denial.

And sorry to recommend it yet again, but you have to listen to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, which I find unmissable. The SGTTU’s Rebecca Watson recently started a Boston chapter of Skeptics in the Pub.

Footnote: Some claim I never went to this event, and faked the photos (note the dubious halo effect around the lighting). The conspiracy starts here.

Monday
3.45 HIGHLIGHT Hunting the Beagle, Radio 4. Documentary about the search for Darwin’s ship. Continues throughout the week.
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. Making banknotes and the re-emergence of falconry.
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
8.30 Panorama, BBC1. Is our health at risk from low-quality air on aeroplanes?
9.00 Am I Normal?, BBC2. Self-harming, and why people do it.
9.00 How to Build a Cathedral, BBC4. Medieval engineering.
9.00 The Chemistry of Addiction, Radio 4.
10.00 The Doctor Who Hears Voices, C4. A doctor…who hears voices.

Tuesday
3.45 Hunting the Beagle, Radio 4.
7.30 Jaguar Adventure With Nigel Marven, FIVE. The cat, not the car.
9.00 Case Notes, Radio 4.

Wednesday
3.45 Hunting the Beagle, Radio 4.
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
8.00 Natural World, BBC2. Tanzanian hyenas
8.00 Megastructures, FIVE. Engineering behind the Millau Bridge in France.
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Animal migrations.

Thursday
3.45 Hunting the Beagle, Radio 4.
4.30 Material World, Radio 4. Invisibility research, once in the realms of sci-fi, is now a serious military endeavour.
9.00 Catching Up With Cancer, Radio 4.

Friday
3.45 Hunting the Beagle, Radio 4.
8.00 The Man Who Lives With Bears, FIVE. Nutter.
9.00 Stephen Fry and the Guttenberg Press, BBC2.

Saturday

Sunday
5.00 Lemurs of Madagascar, BBC2.
6.00 Natural World, BBC2. Repeat.

Something like 6 billion people gathered in the upstairs of the Rugby Tavern last night for our tenth sciency meet-up.

Naturally, most folk came to network with fellow scientists. But our numbers might, just might, have been swelled by the presence of a celebrity or two.

James ‘The Amazing’ Randi, skeptic and promoter of rational, critical thinking—was the star attraction. This is the guy who offers a $1 million prize to anyone who can prove any paranormal or supernatural powers under test conditions. No one has claimed that prize.

Plait and Randi – gagging for a witty caption

Almost as famous is Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer. Phil is another proponent of the skeptical movement, debunking dodgy space and astronomy claims.

And here’s physicist and broadcaster Professor Brian Cox, with his partner Gia Milinovich (film producer and occasional voice of Nature’s podcast), plus geneticist and Skeptics in the Pub host Sid Rodrigues (yet to gain a Wikipedia entry, but he’s working on it).

Thanks to everyone who came along – we’ll try and organise the next one for late May. Stay tuned…

If you’re in London on Thursday night, head over to the Rugby Tavern from 6.30. Full details here.

We’ll be in the UPSTAIRS BAR, having a drink and a chat about science. If you bring along a print out of your Nature Network profile, you can claim a free drink.

See you tomorrow night…

Affiliation networks
Helps you find folk from your institution, and browse other institutions.

You’ll find this on your profile page. Go see.

When you enter an affiliation in your profile, that affiliation is now a link that takes you to a page showing all the other NN members listing the same affiliation (e.g. Imperial College). You’ll find people who have entered it as their current affiliation, as well as alumni of your institution.

Here’s where you come in. To kick things off, we used the affiliation information that NN members had already provided in their profiles.

There are many duplicates, for example ‘Imperial’ or ‘Imperial College’, or ‘Smith Lab, Imperial College’.

To help us consolidate this, please go to your profile and edit your affiliation. Make sure you show the full name (e.g. “University College London”, not “UCL”).

You should enter multiple affiliations separately, and don’t forget previous affiliations, so we can build alumni networks.

This is but a beginning. We will be rolling out more improvements over the coming months.

Your network snapshot
This old friend, found in the blue box on the left when logged in, just got an enhancement. You’ll now find a tabbed view that lets you track conversations you initiated or took part in – both in blogs and forums.

Meet the team
Oh, and you can also find out a bit more about the NN crew by visiting our new team page.

If you have any comments about the new features, you can email us at network at nature.com or post to our feedback forum.

Phew! Our next release will be in around a month, when you should get the first inklings about new local hubs. Stay tuned…

Monday
7.30 How Do They Do It?, FIVE. This week, how ‘do they do’ trees, cars and sweets?
8.00 The Gadget Show, FIVE.
9.00 Am I Normal?, BBC2. Addiction, and treatments for it.
9.00 Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press, BBC4. Remember when people used to read things on paper? Stephen Fry examines the invention that took print to the masses.
9.00 The Chemistry of Addiction, Radio 4.

Tuesday
7.30 Jaguar Adventure With Nigel Marven, FIVE. The cat, not the car.
8.00 Life in Cold Blood, BBC4. Repeat.
8.00 Big, Bigger, Biggest, FIVE. The engineering behind the aircraft carrier.
9.00 Case Notes, Radio 4.

Wednesday
4.00 Thinking Allowed, Radio 4.
8.00 Natural World, BBC2. Moose(s).
9.00 World on the Move, Radio 4. Animal migrations.

Thursday
4.30 Material World, Radio 4.
9.00 Catching Up With Cancer, Radio 4.
9.00 Inside the Medieval Mind, BBC4. Access to knowledge, Aquinas-style.
10.30 The Big Bang Theory, C4. Comedy.

Friday
7.00 Wildlife on 2, BBC2. Crocodiles.

Saturday
11.00 am HIGHLIGHT The Embryo Wars, Radio 4. The battle between religious and scientific lobbies over this touchy issue.

Sunday
4.05 Tiger – Spy in the Jungle, BBC1.

Before we turned to the serious business of getting drunk together, we took a peek inside the nether-parts of the Natural History Museum.

The esteemed institution houses some 70 million specimens. The public can gain access to this pickled Noah’s Ark via the Darwin Centre, a modern annexe to the main building.

Karen James of the botany department took us on a tour of the highlights, which included Archie the giant squid. Archie has a skin problem – it keeps exfoliating, leaving the late cephalopod to stew in a calamari cocktail.

We also beheld fishes collected by Darwin himself, and a number of ‘type specimens’ (a kind of benchmark for a species against which others specimens are compared).

Phase 2 of the Darwin Centre is due to open next year in time for the Darwin bicentenary. It will allow even greater access to the bottled menagerie, and includes a multimedia area to be named after David Attenborough, surely the best candidate for a human type specimen.

And so to the pub, where I got to know a posse of writers from ScienceBlogs (they’re almost as witty, clever and attractive as Nature Network’s bloggers), and a few others.

We all got on famously, and after a raucous meal at the nearby Polish restaurant (sadly, no calamari) we’re planning a karaoke night for science bloggers.

Anyone game? And what would it be appropriate to sing?