
Scientist as trucker
Last Wednesday, I drove to Manhattan to pick up an Illumina GAIIx gene sequencing machine (Fig. 1). Arguably, I have never written a sentence less probable. I hardly sequence DNA by the kilo-base, let alone by the giga-base, and driving…

A wee dram of data
What do you call a woman who drinks too much? … … A dram queen. OK ok, sorry, couldn’t resist, on with the tales of lab dram. This week, I slipped the traces of the computer and pulled the lab…

Measure for measure
This week, I have been measuring. This sounds as though I have been holding up a ruler to measure how high my plants have grown, or perhaps putting a dozen leaves on a balance. But no, I am using a…

Literary pursuits
No, I haven’t decided to write a novel. And no, I am not being quaint when I use the word ‘literary’ to refer to the work on manuscripts and proposals that has occupied my fingers since the last post, several…

Kandinsky cells
In which I describe experiments that produced cells looking rather like a Kandinsky print. Is this an Art-ifact?

From pictures to data
Containing the first measurements made with polarized fluoresence. Still 2-D but testing the rudiments of the system.