Tag Archives: Science

Secret Life

When we moved to England in 1992, we quickly realized that the British Islands are very distinct in terms of their nature. Nowhere else we have seen before trees full of blossoms in early January. At least till today I was convinced that this must have to do with the rather mild winter in the southern counties of the UK,… (more…)

An angel asked me for a letter of endorsement

No doubt Christmas time is on the verge again, and with it come this very weird species of christmas angels. They are populating the highstreets, department stores and all the media, and depending on where in the world one goes, they are called either kid Jesus Christ (Christkindl), Snowflake (Snegotchka) or End-of-Years-Winged-Puppet (Jahresabschluss-Fluegelpuppe). But recently I received a personal message… (more…)

Superstition

For my colleague from Israel it was a matter of faith, when he warned me that going to the lab on a Saturday wont be favored by God. Yes I know, I said to him, but first of all I am an bloody atheist, and second this super-ambitious student in my group occupies the RealTime PCR machine every day of… (more…)

Just an ordinary day

Came to my lab at 9.30 am, with the firm idea to finish a manuscript and work a bid on my DSc thesis, At 9.40 am my master student arrived, whom a had not seen for the last 3 month after he did his last experiments.  Two weeks ago he called to tell me that all his MSc thesis drafts… (more…)

The way to catch your audience’ interest

At the annual Mouse Molecular Genetics conference at the Sanger Center in Hinxton. Some of the presentations seem to attract more attention by the audience than others, and this not only depends on the originality of the subject or the wealth of novel results. Not completely unexpected, speakers also had quite different presentation styles. Some were giving their presentation while… (more…)

Skandinavia

Dear Michael, next week a scientific workshop on “Epigenetic factors in Radiation Biology” will be held at stockholm University. I am involved in its organistion. I’m wondering if you will attend the meeting ? Some really good speakers were invited, and I think it’ll be fun. Take Care /ghazal ————————————————————— Ghazal Dear, Thanks a lot for the information. I already… (more…)

Messages on Meteorites

Ghazal Dear, You might have already forgotten how scepticial you were about the existence of “Stjaernfallen” or meteorites 3 years ago. But when we were spotting some of them from Persides meteor shower later in August, you agreed that at least it was a great event and that it was worth to spent half of the night out under the… (more…)

The incredible Moon

Ghazal Dear, did you ever wondered why so many people are fascinated by the moon, which in fact has much less an impact on our physical life than the sun? Is it only its position close to the earth and the notion that the movement of the moon is completely depending on the existence of earth? Since unlike the sun,… (more…)

Iranian Nose Jobs and the Value of Genetics

Dear Michael, It is no secret that many Iranian woman do not value their impressive, arian noses very high. In contrast, they tend to follow a very questionable beauty picture that more and more seems to be coined by the Japanese manga figures. For them, a nose is merely anything more than a small ridge to hide the nostrils. The… (more…)

The Moon — one year later, but more than one year elder

Ghazal my dear, What is age, and what is aging, if everyone uses a different measure for this. This came to my mind when I did another picture of the moon tonight. Tonight it was once again the night of the Persides meteor shower. But since nothing could top the spectacular meteor that we saw together with you at the… (more…)