I am spending my vacations in the beautiful island of Leukada, in the Ionian sea. Consequently, my posting rate here has dropped significantly in the last few days. I will return in August; in the…

When I received the message from Frau Christian Plachta an associate  at the Institute   yesterday “Pflanzenernährung mitgeteilt, dass Herr Konrad Mengel am 12.07.2012 im Alter von 82…

A recent blog on an Australian news site on inspiration porn has had me taking notice of the images that come across my facebook feed, had me looking at the content and the messages that…

Given all the Higgsmania, I thought it appropriate to draw attention to another topic on which much energy [excuse the pun] had been spent previously; Fukushima.  The English version of the…

The so called “Free Thought Blogs” (FTB) has kicked out blogger Greg Laden and some other godless chap: “Thunderfoot”. Ed Brayton, the FTB high priest, writes that: it was intended to be very “loosy-…

Who hasn't thought about Chasing UFOs?   When I saw "Independence Day" in 1996 I first thought, "A Mac can bring down an entire alien civilization? Their users really are creative!" but then I…

"It takes more work to communicate with someone whose native language isn't the same as yours. And autism goes deeper than language and culture; autistic people are "foreigners" in any society. You'…

We all say hurtful things to the ones we love. Some things we mean, and others we're just using the other person as a punching bag. Sometimes the damage we do with those words can't be undone and can…

Having come across this article, "Sleepy medical staff run increased risks of accidents driving home after a night shift", I couldn't help but be struck by two obvious questions. (1).  Since…

Change is a heartless bitch at times and a welcome friend at others--guess it depends on what the change is and whether you saw it coming and welcomed it. Part of being a teacher is accepting a…