Candide
roman catholic by birth; scientific atheist by choice; sinner by merit. blogging on brains, evolution and language. gaidhlig-speaking neuroscience student at oxford. likes to Question Everything!
Here are some pretty pictures I made using immunostaining and fluorescence microscopy!
I like to keep up to date with the Neuroscience literature. What I’ve found, however, is that I just read the papers without really taking them in. So I’ve started this new blog to post short Neuroscience articles, distilling any interesting discoveries I’ve come across recently into manageable chunks, and briefly analyzing their significance for science and medicine. I’m going to keep jargon to a minimum and (hopefully) write like a good, critical science journalist ala Mo Costandi.
Obviously, I am still learning, so there are bound to be some mistakes. But if you are interested in Neuroscience, here is the link again.
Note: The drawings above were done by Thomas Willis, Oxford neuroscientist in the 17th century, after whom the Circle of Willis is named and who coined the term Neurology…
Just been for a meeting with my project advisor for the summer. Really interesting and I learnt a lot looking around the lab (including how fast-cyclic voltametry works…woo!). However, when I came out I realized I had asked no questions and had just mumbled “um, yes, yes” to everything she said. She probably now thinks I am a moron and completely regrets taking me on…
Just met Richard Dawkins! I know hero-worshipping is anathema to reason and science, but seriously the Selfish Gene was what got me into Biology. He said he was pleased to hear it…
Also, I can’t put this on facebook because Oxford is a hotbed of reactionary Christianity (more so even than Uist).
Most horrible exam of my life. Argh!
Will be lucky to get 50%.
Guns don’t kill people, neither do (just) the mentally-ill.
Click read more if you want to see my opinion piece on the links between mental health and violent crime. I’ve put it under read more because it deals with the Newtown Tragedy and the media’s portrayal of Adam Lanza. Criticism would be much appreciated, as this is a delicate issue, and I want to handle it as sensitively as possible as this will likely end up in my uni newspaper.
My Molecular Biology Tutor:
So tell me how the process of transcription is terminated in eukaryotes?
Student:
I don't know, the textbook says its a mystery, no one really knows yet.
My Molecular Biology Tutor [shaking head]:
I do, I discovered it!
The crazy thing was she wasn't joking...
http:
//www.nature.com/nature/journal/v432/n7016/full/nature03035.html
So I spent today playing with human brains. The first time you hold someone’s loves, hopes and fears between your hands is really quite a numinous moment. It is just amazing to reflect that a person’s entire memory, their desires and hates, their quirks and oddities, are all written as a pattern of neural connections onto that orange-sized chunk of porridgy stuff. It makes me remember why I’m here, that in spite of how heavy and difficult the work load is, I really am in the privileged position of learning how our biology, our brains, our behavior, really works.
Just thought I’d like to share…
