Stolen moments (Vol 2)
28 May 2022
I’m in the process of designing a brand new lab course for Semester 2, and the next series of blog entries will be my attempt to “think out loud” and steal some time away from the pressure of looming deadlines... Last time we talked about recombinant DNA technology and how molecular cloning of specific genes can be adapted for citizen science projects. Following on from cloning novel plasmids that encode genes of interest, students can work with their own plasmids, or characterise existing plasmid libraries generated by your research labs to express and purify novel proteins of interest.
Apples and Oranges
2 March 2022
The Scientific Method is (rightly) obsessed with fair comparisons. Every experimental condition need to be carefully controlled, otherwise any comparisons will be thrown out of the proverbial window. What is often overlooked are the “apples to oranges” comparisons scientists routinely make when communicating our work to the general public. In spite of our best scientific analogies and metaphors, the chasm between the complexity of science and the general public’s understanding can’t be easily bridged.