“When I am in the company of scientists,” observed the poet W. H. Auden, “I feel like a shabby curate who has strayed by mistake into a drawing room of dukes.” Continue reading
The LEGO guide to reductionism
Fashions come and go, but one toy seems to outlast all trends – Lego. And enthralling as these coloured bricks are in their own terms, they also offer an instructive means of explaining* one of the most important principles in science – reductionism. Continue reading
Evolution and faith at the dinner table
The outcomes of the Brexit referendum in the UK and the presidential election in the USA have seen plenty of families being divided along political lines, but it’s worth remembering that science too can create schisms around the dinner table – and probably no topic is more divisive in this regard than evolution. Continue reading
The Lumberjack Song…for scientists
Professor: You know, I never wanted to be a head of department.
Lab members appear, wearing white coats and carrying micropipettes. Continue reading
Thinking outside the sphere
A quick tip of the hat from TIR to the American Society for Microbiology’s journal mSphere, for pioneering a new paradigm in the scientific publishing process. Continue reading
Don’t forget – TIR silent auction until Feb 28th!
Dear readers,
Don’t forget that TIR’s silent auction of original artwork runs until the end of the month! Full details on how to bid and what’s on offer can be found in the original post HERE.
Thanks for the support,
Oliver & Brooke
Silent auction – original TIR artworks for Valentine’s Day
To coincide with Valentine’s Day and to mark the first year of TIR, we would like to make a special offer to our readers – a silent auction of some of Oliver’s unforgettable and iconic science illustrations! Continue reading
The best scientist on TV
What’s the best portrayal of a scientist on TV? (Hint: it’s not who you think). Continue reading
Apprentice yourself (a short guide to choosing a PhD in academia)
TIR‘s guides to writing scientific papers, writing scientific English, and asking questions in seminars remain some of its most popular posts. But there’s one really important decision that comes before any of those things can happen – choosing a PhD. The choice of a PhD is one of the hardest decisions a young scientist has to make, partly because it’s very difficult to know what the relevant parameters are. Continue reading
Pop science
Research nowadays is fixated with the notion of generating “high impact” work. “High impact” work is published in “high impact” journals and funding bodies are looking for “high impact” proposals to support. An appealing comparison can be drawn with the world of music, which has its own synonym for the phrase.
It’s “mainstream”.
Total Internal Reflection 