It is becoming more commonplace - every few months we are hearing about a new bacterium or virus that is threatening humanity.  They seem to pop up all the time with scientists appearing on TV looking worried, with politicians deciding to impose restrictions on the movement of humans or food or animals or whatever.
It seems […]

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I have been at a Tree of Life meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia this week.  It is funded (indeed, my travel and accomodation and food is funded by The Leverhulme Trust). Larry Moran is blogging about the meeting on the SandWalk blog.

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I have identified three areas where there is need for structural reform in order for Ireland to prosper in the future - electoral reform, educational reform and entrepreneurial reform.  These are my thoughts on these issues. 

1. Reform the system of election.  There should be at least 10% of the elected officials (Senate and Dail) without […]

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In the world of network mathematics, they have identified a phenomenon known as the ’small world effect’.  Essentially, this is the same as the “six degrees of separation” experiment.  It means that in a network, even one with millions of entities, there is often a very short connection between one entity and another.
The six degrees […]

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This news has stunned me in a way that has surprised me.  I have had lots of dealings with London Zoo.  I have spoken there at evolutionary biology meetings and been for a few beers in the zoo club and it is all very positive and above all scientific.
Today, I find out that Cincinnati zoo, […]

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Karl Popper:
Science must begin with myths, and with the criticism of myths; neither with the collection of observations, nor with the invention of experiments, but with the critical discussion of myths, and of magical techniques and practices. The scientific tradition is distinguished from the pre-scientific tradition in having two layers. Like the latter, it passes […]

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I have been thinking about the Irish educational system and in particular the leaving certificate.  The figures came out last week and it seems that 70% of our students are getting private education as well as public education.  This means that in the evenings and weekends, 70% of the students are going to private tutors […]

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Well, it turns out that a few molecular evolutionists come along to read this blog from time to time, so it’s not entirely inappropriate to write a short review of SMBE 2008.
Overall, the venue (Barcelona) was great as was the conference venue.  The company that were organising the meeting were really professional and I didn’t […]

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An East Carolina University biologist has brought his admiration of Neil Young into a class of its own.
Or species, to be exact.
Jason Bond, an ECU professor of biology, has named a newly discovered trapdoor spider, Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, after the legendary rock star.
“There are rather strict rules about how you name new species,” Bond said. “As […]

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So, I’m back from Colombia, where indeed, I did have a very good time. The meeting went very well and I think there will be a few productive collaborations as a result.
I didn’t do too much of the tourist thing - not really that easy for such a short trip, though I did get […]

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