tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83244005855133965372024-02-06T19:27:19.590-08:00karen's mouthKaren's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-32925573154684009552009-05-20T08:32:00.000-07:002009-05-20T08:54:07.032-07:00"Now... where was I?"The last film being shown as part of the <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/neuroscience/seminars/films">Movies and the Mind Season </a>is this weekend. The Arnolfini are showing <a href="http://www.bris.ac.uk/neuroscience/seminars/meetings/film_diving-bell">The Diving Bell and the Butterfly</a>. I haven’t seen it but the book is astonishing.<br /><br />Can you get to Bristol? Like films? Like brains? Go!<br /><br />The concept behind Movies and the Mind (kudos to Bristol Festival of Ideas and to the lovely lovely people at Bristol Neuroscience) is to show films relevant to current topics in neuroscience, then have a discussion about the film and wider issues with members of an expert panel (experts on brains, minds or films).<br /><br />Initially lured by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038733/">A Matter of Life and Death </a>paired with the promise of some geeky discussion I ended up seeing <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/">Memento</a> at the Arnolfini. As much as I think A Matter of Life and Death is one of the most amazing films about a neurological condition (or is it?) ever made, I couldn’t make that one.<br /><br />The experts at Memento were <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/neuroscience/research/groups/pidetails/77">Dr Clea Warburton </a>who researches neural and cellular substrates of learning and memory processes, and Dr John Holloway who specialises in the treatment of people who have suffered head injury that affects brain function. The discussion was chaired by Dr Ash Ranpura, a neuroscientist from University College London who promotes talk and public debate around issues in neuroscience.<br /><br />I saw Memento when it first came out but couldn’t remember it very well (ha!). So here is a quick reminder of the plot: Leonard Shelby is a former insurance fraud investigator searching for the man he believes raped and killed his wife during a burglary. During the attack Leonard suffered a severe head trauma which left him with anterogarde amnesia – the inability to make and store new memories. Leonard maintains a system of notes, photographs, and tattoos to record information about himself and others, including his wife's killer.<br /><br />A particular strength of going to see a film in this format is there’s no need to be embarrassed about being a massive geek. We all knew why we were there, for unashamedly nerdy film- and neuro-talk.<br /><br />We watched, we thought for a bit, then we poured out our opinions and questions. The experts were indeed expert, but the atmosphere was informal enough to encourage plenty of discussion from the audience. <br /><br />Clea and John agreed that it was a pretty good portrait of anterograde amnesia, if a little peppered with some artistic licence. There was also some particularly good chat about the way in which the film’s structure reflected the way in which we actually remember our lives, like little episodic fragments rather than the seamless narrative that we’re used to on screen. <br /><br />Another particularly fruitful discussion concerned the fact that there most certainly isn’t a clear black and white distinction between remembering and forgetting. The film addresses this by suggesting a fairly wobbly continuum between drawing a total blank and vivid memories, which features remembering inaccurately, deliberately remembering differently, and deliberately forgetting and everything else in between. Which we are all prone to, brain injury or not. <br /><br />There was also some really interesting stuff about recognition versus memory as such, and whether these are different systems and how they can be specifically affected as in the case of face blindness. But that really deserves a post all of its own.<br /><br />A lot of the stuff the audience wanted to know, just isn’t known yet. But then that in itself is something worth knowing. <br /><br />It is such a great platform for really good discussion - especially as you've all just spent the last 90 minutes sharing the same air, so everyone is quite relaxed with each other. Frankly, all films should be shown like this.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-84659665162662418952009-05-11T13:24:00.000-07:002009-05-11T13:34:39.868-07:00I'll take a DonaldQuite why <a href="http://www.babywigs.co.uk/acatalog/BabyToupee.html">baby wigs</a> aren't listened under 'what you need to buy' section of my 'NHS guide to pregnancy' I simply do not know.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5ka4EUozy4mT_NpuzIpo-A_UK8PrhfpJHf_UpieeV7njEZXjAGjhZm2HsKhXJ8udK1WjAMlAnh6AwZ4fCsreto9MMwDlH5xbZiPPTSCCzshrHJw94M8OvO2SfJB4FITDMlCJDinu-s0/s1600-h/baby_toupee-31.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 286px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip5ka4EUozy4mT_NpuzIpo-A_UK8PrhfpJHf_UpieeV7njEZXjAGjhZm2HsKhXJ8udK1WjAMlAnh6AwZ4fCsreto9MMwDlH5xbZiPPTSCCzshrHJw94M8OvO2SfJB4FITDMlCJDinu-s0/s320/baby_toupee-31.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5334666075055539666" /></a><br /><br />As seen on <a href="http://whythatsdelightful.wordpress.com/">Graham Linehan's blog</a>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-48175176115849118612009-04-21T05:01:00.000-07:002009-04-21T06:04:33.946-07:00Crimes of Passion at the RWATook some time out at the weekend from preparing the house for the arrival of the small monster I am growing to visit the Crimes of Passion street art exhibition at the Royal West of England Academy of Art (<a href="http://www.rwa.org.uk/">RWA</a>). <br /><br />The curators have done an incredible job of making it appear as though the RWA's very grand marbled building has been invaded and covered in all kinds of crazy. <br /><br /><object height="392" width="450"><param name="movie" value="http://backend.deviantart.com/embed/view.swf"><param name="flashvars" value="id=116881934&width=1337"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://backend.deviantart.com/embed/view.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450" flashvars="id=116881934&width=1337" height="392" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/116881934/">b movie in the sun</a> by *<a class="u" href="http://filthyluker.deviantart.com/">FilthyLuker</a> on <a href="http://www.deviantart.com/">deviant</a><a href="http://www.deviantart.com/">ART</a><br /><br />"blown up and octopied all at once" - the inflatables currnetly squatting at the RWA.<br /><br />I loved it. Perhaps because I’m such a rule-abiding freak (see below) I found the sight of graffiti on precious marble slabs/bursting out from the wall all over the period features insanely pleasurable. <br /><br />The video below is off of YouTube and I believe is from opening night. It takes until about 1.02 to really see the stuff that makes the most of using the gallery walls as a canvas. Although it’s street art, so actually it’s just using the gallery walls as walls. It's subversive stuff so it is.<br /><br /><object height="364" width="445"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tQjTQlnVrns&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tQjTQlnVrns&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="445" height="364"></embed></object><br /><br />At 2.31 there’s a brief glimpse of my favourite, The Bristol Montage by Acerone which can better be seen on his blog <a href="http://acer1.blogspot.com/2009/03/bristol-montage-clifton-suspension.html">here</a>. Somewhere in there are three canvases that seem to have been completely obscured by the paint. Just ace.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8kyUsO0CmcE_mR0UMYfdQnu4tWQ2b4G4OkjSnV-a-7mpd15RG9m4026HPUVc6rqMb48WFH_L5CtBHouesQSiyTaQ9kb2MTYcoow_hPhbGAfFZKOvXxPS8e1SQPeJ7Kz1-uyHbcVd6rA/s1600-h/crimes_passion043_copy.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR8kyUsO0CmcE_mR0UMYfdQnu4tWQ2b4G4OkjSnV-a-7mpd15RG9m4026HPUVc6rqMb48WFH_L5CtBHouesQSiyTaQ9kb2MTYcoow_hPhbGAfFZKOvXxPS8e1SQPeJ7Kz1-uyHbcVd6rA/s320/crimes_passion043_copy.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5327128026309993234" /></a>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-17540277775834854482009-03-11T05:02:00.000-07:002009-03-11T08:51:53.385-07:00F*ck you I won't do what you tell meExcept I probably will because I am pathologically afraid of "getting into trouble", whatever that may mean at any given time.<br /><br />So if the following, purely hypothetical, situation were to happen to me I'd be absolutely beside myself. But it wasn’t me it was a friend. And of course it was hypothetical so it didn’t even really happen to her*<br /><br />This friend woke up at 3am one morning last week, heart racing at the sudden realisation that HER <a href="http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicle/HowToTaxYourVehicle/DG_10021514">TAX DISC </a>HAD EXPIRED. According to her report, she initially wanted to violently shake her husband awake and scream "I don't have a valid tax disc" in his face, such was her gut churning panic. <br /><br />She resisted. At 5am the sound of a car engine woke her. She vaulted out of bed and ripped the curtains open expecting to find the DVLA laughing manically as they clamped her little car. It wasn't them. Back to sleep until proper morning, to dream of various scenarios involving bankruptcy and/or jail.<br /><br />She made it through toast and coffee without bursting into tears, and went and sorted herself out with a nice new tax disc. <br /><br />Honestly if this highly unlikely situation were to happen to me I’d think myself a complete tool.<br /> <br />*just so as you know, nice representative of any relevant authority that happens to be readingKaren's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-60317155988542556862009-03-02T12:51:00.000-08:002009-03-02T14:25:34.379-08:00We'll send him a red cap and a Speedo.Whenever people ask me, and they often do, which Wes Anderson film best evokes what it’s like to be a scientist, I say “Why, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou of course”.<br /><br />If I thought I could fund my research by making exciting and colourful popular films about my findings, I absolutely would. The crucial difference here is that Steve Zissou et al.’s data look like this (Fig. 1).<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYycUtnHhghg3ZoMDmxCUPnbxLDj4FJdDeD1iSGSLMIJnuT1B4FAgMBJPyB1ce2qUlicjRsVIMQ5E599U0fqZLsZcpw-WbaP44oVCzXa8o9T92wQV-u4y7Fj1-J9oY4JwF7KitD6NomJE/s1600-h/lifeaqua3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 192px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYycUtnHhghg3ZoMDmxCUPnbxLDj4FJdDeD1iSGSLMIJnuT1B4FAgMBJPyB1ce2qUlicjRsVIMQ5E599U0fqZLsZcpw-WbaP44oVCzXa8o9T92wQV-u4y7Fj1-J9oY4JwF7KitD6NomJE/s320/lifeaqua3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308716142022594002" /></a><br /><br />Fig. 1 Crayon Pony Fish<br /><br />Any samples I deal with are either pus or blood. Apparently the film-going public just aren’t that interested. I had assumed that this was the case for most other scientists. Then I see THIS…<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWah1PKwQUnNBsX4ELmo7hTcIq2auWYllpPC1HM2JpdeQ-FrOS7taZDZW8F9LIMXWS-cJKmRdFDMuiZVv5bURlgrSWYRnLlkrNmYbsWlrymPgkz-Om3czFSBzFuV_yLNxedv5ibm6AqAg/s1600-h/20090223_pid47498_aid47496_frogfishface_w300.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWah1PKwQUnNBsX4ELmo7hTcIq2auWYllpPC1HM2JpdeQ-FrOS7taZDZW8F9LIMXWS-cJKmRdFDMuiZVv5bURlgrSWYRnLlkrNmYbsWlrymPgkz-Om3czFSBzFuV_yLNxedv5ibm6AqAg/s320/20090223_pid47498_aid47496_frogfishface_w300.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5308716351987823506" /></a><br /><br />Fig. 2 “Oh hai!”<br /><br />Meet “Psychedelica”, a new species of fish reported by Ted Pietsch and colleagues in the journal of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists.<br /><br />Isn’t it wonderful? Clearly the creature’s name was inspired by its migraine-inducing good looks but, as the <a href="http://uwnews.org/article.asp?articleID=47496">press release</a> points out, “Psychedelica is perhaps even more apt given the cockamamie way the fish swim”.<br /><br />Members of Histiophryne psychedelica, or H. psychedelica, propel their crazy selves along by pushing off from the sea floor with their fins and expelling water from tiny grill openings on their side to jet themselves forward. They don’t seem to concern themselves with steering too much. Fortunately, they have “gelatinous bodies covered with thick folds of skin” to protect them as they bumble along looking for food.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/12517.php">video</a> is well worth a look. Little beast made my day.<br /><br />Psychedelica image ©David Hall/seaphotos.comKaren's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-77312012417079994772009-02-19T14:39:00.000-08:002009-02-20T03:19:08.902-08:00Adventures in fancy filmNow hear ye hear ye. I am very much in love with my <a href="http://www.lomography.com/smena/smenasymbol/">Smena Symbol</a> 35mm camera. It always gives me really interesting pictures and such amazing colours. Can such cameratastic perfection be improved on? Apparently so.<br /><br />I'm spreading the word: if you have any kind of film camera - start loading your films upside down!!!! I foolishly went and spent hard earned cash on 'red scale' film, but I'm reliably informed that it's just normal film loaded the wrong way round. Which makes sense as it does NOT want to be loaded into the camera and reduced me to tears with its refusal to curl round the spool.<br /><br />But it was worth it. It's spectacular. It's a bit hit and miss, some things look total rubbish but when things look good they look amazing. Depending on the exposure you use* colours range from muted and tinged with red (Fig. 1) to red red red red red (Fig. 2).<br /><br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZG5GNueMZz5NFxXTodYecBUE0jGA5VeIXub-dlygVzF6wAiB_297BmLpvw2cdOv2cTKEc_Y_j5gFUkyRmQolNatIu4Gd4yjvkKMF6cdcGXxd_NhflSpopVE2QqAWxxrvd41l6rukcuE/s1600-h/3192370210_1c84a8db2b.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304645352094444130" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZG5GNueMZz5NFxXTodYecBUE0jGA5VeIXub-dlygVzF6wAiB_297BmLpvw2cdOv2cTKEc_Y_j5gFUkyRmQolNatIu4Gd4yjvkKMF6cdcGXxd_NhflSpopVE2QqAWxxrvd41l6rukcuE/s320/3192370210_1c84a8db2b.jpg" border="0" /></a>Fig. 1 Sunset </p><p><br /></p><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-nrpFk8ZT7VefuA4D0EPq1-e4L4_LuCtRiANmkI3M7wc-v-aSkyIeM7fbB4vTaYmidYFO-ZYJxP_uNVS-Yf45-GiwvDC7HsPn9mWXx6kUI4h_jpThKxPt00kUQiGzZdn4r8U10Zdl_M/s1600-h/3191527125_b2fd7f6b6c.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304644297277486562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI-nrpFk8ZT7VefuA4D0EPq1-e4L4_LuCtRiANmkI3M7wc-v-aSkyIeM7fbB4vTaYmidYFO-ZYJxP_uNVS-Yf45-GiwvDC7HsPn9mWXx6kUI4h_jpThKxPt00kUQiGzZdn4r8U10Zdl_M/s320/3191527125_b2fd7f6b6c.jpg" border="0" /></a> Fig. 2 Moonrise</p><p>Do it. Or go <a href="http://shop.lomography.com/shop/">here</a> and buy some red scale. Whatever.</p><p>* <span style="font-size:85%;">I ain't no photographer - the Smena Symbol is so named because of its little weather symbols to help people who don't know any better with which exposure to use. So all I need do is say "hmmmm white cloud with cheeky sun poking out today I think". Bingo.</span><br /><br /></p>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-88070823505815587802009-02-11T14:25:00.000-08:002009-02-11T14:39:00.680-08:00And how does that make you feel?I’ve calmed right down now. I think I was alarmed at the speed with which all my projects were rearranged the SAME BLOOMIN’ DAY as I made my little announcement. <br /><br />But I did end up feeling a little on the totally useless side. So it was nice when, the next day, someone asked me if I could do a bit of teaching while I’m on maternity leave. God when will these people leave me alone?<br /><br />Also I’m on a training course all this week. Of course this makes me in no way useful but still. It’s exciting. <br /><br />We’re learning how to do in-depth interviews and focus groups. A lot of the stuff I do is with NHS patients. Increasingly, NHS ethics applications require that the research has been developed in collaboration with the patient population being investigated. <br /><br />Ethically this is a very worthy aim: among other things, patients feel like they’re actually being listened to and that the research they pay for as a tax payer is actually relevant to them. But in terms of the science, it tends to mean that the research question being asked is not only much more focused, but also one that is likely to be worth answering (and therefore published). <br /><br />And to be honest my last job involved growing cells in dishes then messing about with them - no interpersonal skills required whatsoever. So I looked forward to blossoming into a confident and friendly researcher, highly trained in the art of interviewing and people management.<br /><br />Plus I thought it might make me feel like a policeman.<br /><br />Through the self-reflection that is part of the process I have learnt that...<br /><br />I am bad at interviewing people<br />I am good at role-playing the following characters in a mock focus group:<br /><br />1. Dominant expert “You feel you know a lot about the topic being discussed and want to let everyone know how much you know”<br />2. Interrupter “You aggressively interrupt with irrelevant topics, or talk over people in a way that makes it difficult for them to finish”<br />3. Angry and belligerent “You have personal experience of the topic in hand, something you are clearly angry about and may have an axe to grind”<br /><br />Great! Behaving appallingly in a small group of lovely people was surprisingly difficult and stressful. And although the characters were assigned randomly (others had to agree with everything, or be shy, or disinterested), y'know, first impressions and all that.<br /><br />Interpersonal skills FAIL.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-43830041136906647052009-02-04T08:06:00.001-08:002009-02-04T10:07:24.420-08:00Here’s the thingWhat a day yesterday was. Started off with a meeting in which the ethics application I’ve been working on for past 4 months was shelved. Which is fine, as apparently the work will go ahead, but in a slightly different format. This decision was made by Boss #1. This prompted Boss #2 to call a strategy meeting. By the end of the day the grant proposal I’d been working on for the past 12 months had also been shelved. Gulp. <br /><br />It all makes sense in the long run. I’m just desperately trying not to think about the hours and hours I spent on it. Plus, it does seem that someone will do the project I proposed, it just probably won’t be me, as it seems that in around 28 weeks time I will be producing a small baby that I will be expected to look after.<br /><br />Which got me to thinking about this blog. The idea was to write about science and what life is like as a researcher. However I have lived the past 3 months through a fog of mind-numbing nausea. Far from life being a whirlwind of stimulating lectures and academic meetings, I’ve either been laid on the sofa eating water biscuits or in the bathroom with my head down the toilet. <br /><br />So maybe I’ll shelve this little project too. Don’t know. Or entirely limit its content to ‘stuff off the telly’. There’s been a lot of telly watching lately! Either way changes are afoot. Watch this space eh?Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-41461895286749813302009-02-03T05:22:00.000-08:002009-02-03T05:25:15.634-08:00I expect it'll be a bit like Dead Poets SocietyI’m currently grappling with writing my first lecture. I’ve given other people’s lectures, and I’ve written presentations on my own stuff, but this is something a bit different. <br /><br />I anticipate it will go something like this:<br /><br />1. Decide what I’m going to talk about<br />2. Get all the info<br />3. Structure it<br />4. Spend hours on google finding ‘hilarious’ pictures for it<br />5. Make a nice powerpoint for it<br />6. Rehearse it<br />7. Decide it’s boring<br />8. Add more bits to make it more interesting<br />9. Cut bits out to make it less long<br />10. Wrestle with self doubt about ability to give lectures and general suitability for academia<br />11. Spend days paralysed by fear and nightmares as lecture approaches<br />12. Give lecture<br /><br />One thing I have learnt from my own experiences of <em>listening</em> to lectures, is never ever mention a related topic then say “But I’ll go into more detail on that later” because those words make me throw myself back in my chair wailing “What? How much later? Aren’t we nearly done yet?”<br /><br />Any other tips/suggestions/pitfalls very gratefully received.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-77526760418860883892009-01-30T03:33:00.000-08:002009-01-31T01:35:12.393-08:00"You'll never be better than a spider"<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Public lecture time. Very cool format – a ‘conversation’ between <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wentworth">Richard Wentworth</a> (artist, curator and teacher based at the Ruskin School of Fine Art in Oxford) and <a href="http://www.mlythgoe.com/">Mark Lythgoe</a> (Director of the Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging at University College London and prolific science communicator). <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The audience were distinguished looking folk and I immediately felt like a scruffy pleb. I was sat next to a very smart looking woman who I promptly elbowed while taking off my coat. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">We were in an enormous hall usually reserved for graduation ceremonies. Right at the front, dead casual like (this was a conversation after all), were some brown leather arm chairs and a tiny projector screen.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Richard Wentworth kicked off by showing some photos. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">I would have said “this projector screen is too small for this room”. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Richard Wentworth said, “we are defeated by the combination of pre-war confidence and modern technology”. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">This is why I am not an Oxford Professor of Fine Art. That and a few other reasons like being shit at art.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The conversation was about images like this one:<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96KW9S-1DSevYskWc6XyEGSy5CGKXtcldL72Flfo8RMwqvpcm_QaDyHDZ-LVo5l1daMspgai6ujX5h_1sR5wzjd70yANtPM3uQHUtsERLkN3OhhsrExp4Z5C2q7DG0n5sXOzReIjM_as/s1600-h/FudgeAlarm.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 218px; height: 320px; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96KW9S-1DSevYskWc6XyEGSy5CGKXtcldL72Flfo8RMwqvpcm_QaDyHDZ-LVo5l1daMspgai6ujX5h_1sR5wzjd70yANtPM3uQHUtsERLkN3OhhsrExp4Z5C2q7DG0n5sXOzReIjM_as/s320/FudgeAlarm.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297224014558267586" /></a><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">Since the mid 70s Richard Wentworth has been making a photographic documentary of aspects of everyday life that interest him in an ongoing project called ‘Making Do and Getting By’. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">It’s about the fact that we are not really very suited to our surroundings, but we ‘make do’. We innovate with whatever materials we have to hand, and we're really quite good at knowing exactly which chocolate bar will best silence an alarm, for example. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">If you grinned a bit at the alarm bell image, then that’s the bit that Mark Lythgoe is interested in. He wants to know what happens in the brain when people experience that warm satisfaction from seeing a piece of improvisation or ingenuity, an elegant bit of engineering. Just generally the recognition of brilliance in others.<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">He believes that it’s a form of reward, and there is growing evidence to suggest that in the same way memory consolidation is improved during stress (so we get better at avoiding those situations in future) it is also improved during reward and may be enhanced by positive emotion (so we are better at learning nice solutions to tricky problems). <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">What Richard Wentworth does is record the things that make us feel like that; capturing a problem and a solution simultaneously. <br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:'trebuchet ms';">The way they were talking about coming at the same concept from completely different angles was ace. Especially as it developed into an in-depth discussion on the nature of creativity in which they both agreed that "maintaining awareness of the periphery is essential". Which I took to mean “it’s ok to fart about on the internet instead of doing actual work as it will somehow lead to increased flowing of creative juices”. I’m pretty sure that’s what they meant</span>.<br /></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-78107361078797996702009-01-20T03:00:00.000-08:002009-01-20T05:31:39.240-08:00"I only went to get a piece of cake..."Found another one to add to the (frankly very short) list of Reality TV Shows I Quite Like: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00gthhq">Million Dollar Traders</a><br /><br />In Spring 2008 (well before Sterling became more useful as kindling) hedge fund manager Lex van Dam gave eight ordinary people a million dollars, a fortnight of intensive training and two months on the trading floor in the City (with a capital 'C').<br /><br />I'd avoided it because I assumed it would be confusing, loud and stressful. And depressing. I watched it last night and it's fascinating. The whole process had previously been a TOTAL mystery to me.<br /><br />I think I had in my head that traders were telepathically linked to the market and need only to shout "BUY!" or "SELL!" and it would be so.<br /><br />But they actually pick up a phone and go <br /><br />"Alright? It's Karen"<br /><br />"Alright mate?"<br /><br />"Yep. I'm looking at Titanium Industries, that's TIT, 'T' 'I' 'T'"<br /><br /><em>pause</em><br /><br />"Yep. Currently 343.6"<br /><br />"Yep. I'll buy 100"<br /><br /><em>pause</em><br /><br />"Ok you've bought 100 at 343.6"<br /><br />"Alright cheers bye"<br /><br /><br /><br />Done. Actually now I've written it down I realise it's a process that's absolutely no clearer.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-88680199055531128292009-01-14T07:33:00.000-08:002009-01-15T05:11:42.863-08:00Big DealThe annual parade of fragile egos that is <a href="http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/">Celebrity Big Brother </a>is on at the moment, along with shouty ads asking for auditionees for Big Brother 2009. <div><br /></div><div>With each year that passes I am more and more frustrated by Big Brother. I was a big fan. But now it's just a big summer-long audition for people desperate for 'fame' at whatever price. <div><br /></div><div>I really liked <a href="http://www.e4.com/deadset/">Dead Set</a>, and many of the parallels were so spot on I found myself nodding at the telly like a loon. A few inaccuracies, which were necessary for the story, included the intelligence and common sense level of the housemates, which was too high. And also the nasty producer chap. </div><div><br /></div><div>I really don't think the producers are nasty or deliberately exploitative. I think they don't have enough confidence in the format, or the fact that the relationships of the average person are endlessly fascinating to other average people. They don't have even nearly average people as housemates, and feel in order for it to be good telly they need to torture, starve and upset the housemates. It's boring. It's just so obvious. It's like human emotions by numbers. Make housemate A do something devious and nasty to housemate B and see if a negative reaction occurs. BORING.</div><div><br /></div><div>Proof that the viewing public just like watching normal relationships form between normal(ish) people on the telly, as if it were needed, is provided in the form of both <a href="http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/come-dine-with-me/">Come Dine With Me</a> and <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/deal-or-no-deal">Deal Or No Deal</a>. Both of which I adore. </div><div><br /></div><div>Come Dine With Me is probably a closer relative of BB, as total strangers very quickly find themselves in quite intimate company, that is, throwing little dinner parties for each other. Grudges that develop as a result of refusal to eat the pastry of a Beef Wellington ("It's just not civilised") are far more interesting than those that develop as the result of being forced to pick the housemate with the biggest ego (as recently occurred with Terry Christian) then having it aired in front of said ego (Ulrika).</div><div><br /></div><div>Come Dine With Me triumphs by exposing the subtle differences that crop up when seemingly innocuous domestic routines collide. And it's just as good when people unexpectedly form wonderful friendships. And all this with absolute minimal manipulation from the producers. People get comfortable. Big Brother tries really really hard to make people feel uncomfortable, so they end up doing crazy things like shoving a wine bottle up their chuff just to get some attention. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've been thinking about this a lot lately, what with Celeb BB on in place of Everybody Loves Raymond of a morning. And I used to think that Deal Or No Deal presented a similar argument. It's fashionable to turn your nose up at Deal Or No Deal but I think it is a work of bearded genius. Yes it's exactly the same every single damn day. BUT it's the people that make it what it is. Just normal people but, crucially, the SAME people. </div><div><br /></div><div>They get put up in a hotel in Bristol, all together, and often end up spending several weeks in very close quarters, filming every day. There are characters, relationships between characters, and Noel makes sure the audience knows this. He plays it up, he amplifies aspects of people's personalities, creates a mythology around certain players if they have a history of always having a box with a high number. He makes it his business to know the players really well because really he knows that's why people love it.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's overly sentimental, as are the relationships, with incredibly intense bestest bestest ever friends forming within weeks. Mascots and photos with accompanying nauseating stories are encouraged. I used to think it wouldn't work without this. That Noel and his 22 boxes (just one question) was further proof that relationships between people can make even the dullest format interesting and therefore BB should a) leave well alone and stop engineering upset and b) use normal people.</div><div><br /></div><div>Until I was in America a few months back and saw this...</div><div><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6RabJLK91Q13c-ki9c2OrtgX9Ji_XOvG3ZawA4yE6oNxIgF9TOvBNYL_MGn0RM6h76YnJIQ6J9RRzMoaFs4VALEO0NuUjAoUCyAh7CDQRLqML2ZrwtXlqJpE3QtYnpfyAhKuMvlXvLc/s1600-h/dondmodels4.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290814261516602962" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6RabJLK91Q13c-ki9c2OrtgX9Ji_XOvG3ZawA4yE6oNxIgF9TOvBNYL_MGn0RM6h76YnJIQ6J9RRzMoaFs4VALEO0NuUjAoUCyAh7CDQRLqML2ZrwtXlqJpE3QtYnpfyAhKuMvlXvLc/s320/dondmodels4.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />That is how they open boxes American style. Beautiful ladies. This is one of the most popular Deal Or No Deal ladies...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0UL60Lkh2oZtsvHnISQFOrCSpX0QtmdtL9AG5sccuESXg8nZdMLi5cSUbKfSKO96oB_zgiRgDp9gTD_mnpS_8tHCzFbVj-fsVpUEVLcLtdLXRkss3hIYQWZe_7087zWryFitXbtsz9A/s1600-h/brooke_box15.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5290814712579624642" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 319px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 294px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY0UL60Lkh2oZtsvHnISQFOrCSpX0QtmdtL9AG5sccuESXg8nZdMLi5cSUbKfSKO96oB_zgiRgDp9gTD_mnpS_8tHCzFbVj-fsVpUEVLcLtdLXRkss3hIYQWZe_7087zWryFitXbtsz9A/s320/brooke_box15.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is Brooke. Brooke opens box 15.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Can someone please explain this to me? Why does anyone give a shiny shite? Every other game show on the planet relies on our interest in other people's skill, or knowledge, or problem solving abilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>I just don't get it. And it kind of suggests that I'm completley wrong about why people like Come Dine With Me and Deal Or No Deal, and that I will in fact just watch any old crap. </div></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-44275728007023681132008-12-15T03:56:00.001-08:002008-12-16T07:01:44.413-08:00Beautiful brain #1I always appreciate a good artistic rendering of a nice brain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8AE-Vb0CN8hj8JQ8WCEwW_bPYm9iSy_Qmjijk4gVWOqIxxRJvBIURTUa99DneBsk22hybGwMhv37tEeLHguMsei494gYb2f2D8Yya1GLZMvs-L_rtkTIgz06sy7-QNDKExBNw5i7VcI/s1600-h/album_cover_small.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5279985060448269810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo8AE-Vb0CN8hj8JQ8WCEwW_bPYm9iSy_Qmjijk4gVWOqIxxRJvBIURTUa99DneBsk22hybGwMhv37tEeLHguMsei494gYb2f2D8Yya1GLZMvs-L_rtkTIgz06sy7-QNDKExBNw5i7VcI/s320/album_cover_small.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This one is off the album cover of Canadian producer/engineer/performer <a href="http://www.myspace.com/extildepo">Dean Marino's (aka EX~PO)</a> newest release "Central Meaner Street" recently reviewed by Barb (ex-science type sensibly converted to freelance writer) <a href="http://badtemperedzombie.blogspot.com/2008/12/another-canadian-musician-you-should.html">here</a><br /><br />The thing is, brains are intrinsically beautiful. Complex and intricate with curves and crinkly bits and layers and shapes within shapes within shapes that fit perfectly snugly together to produce a sculpture that is really something to behold.<br /><br />Problem: They're made out of really gross vomit-pink slimy custard-like stuff.<br /><br />So anyone who makes one out of something altogether more appealing gets my vote. In this case the brain is a small village with lines of houses to represent the creases in the cortex, and even rows of what look like vegetables to represent the ridges of the cerebellum (the cauliflower looking thing at the back) - what's not to like?<br /><br />Apparently the album is also good.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-59974711000822056642008-12-09T08:18:00.000-08:002008-12-09T08:22:29.976-08:00And all this time I should've been dancingIn a blatant attempt at being down-with-the-kids, the American Association for the Advancement of Science launched <a href="http://gonzolabs.org/dance/">this science dance contest </a>in which entrants posted their offerings on YouTube.<br /><br />Quote from the AAAS "the human body is an excellent medium for communicating science--perhaps not as data-rich as a peer-reviewed article, but far more exciting".<br /><br />In the video, Miriam Sach from the University of Dusseldorf communicates "Cerebral activation patterns induced by inflection of regular and irregular verbs with positron emission tomography. A comparison between single subject and group analysis" via the medium of dance.<br /><br />The research showed that irregular and regular verbs are processed in the same parts of the brain rather than by specialised cortical areas.<br /><br />As if it wasn't obvious, here is a guide to how Miriam's research findings are represented within the dance...<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This piece is subdivided into 3 sections: 1.) Introduction of regular verbs, 2.) Introduction of irregular verbs, 3.) Common neural network of regular and irregular verb inflection.<br />1.) Regular verbs are represented by the walking at the very beginning of this piece.<br />The walking is simple, straight forward and without irregularities. It is accompanied by the sound of crackling fire a metaphor for the firing neurons.<br />2.) In contrast, irregular verbs are represented by a huge variety of different movements: jumps, slides, turns, rolls, level changes. Irregularities are also displayed musically by using syncopes and off-beat emphasis in percussion as well as further changes in instruments.<br />3.) The sound of the falling rain is a cleansing moment with no movements to introduce the final section of the dance: the common neural network of regular and irregular verb processing. It is the first time that symmetrical movements occur to emphasize the common network for both verb forms. In addition, both regular and irregular movements are shown to elucidate the presence of both entities in this network.<br />Overall, fiber connections in the brain representing the connections between regular and irregular verbs are shown by wavy arm movements.<br /></span><br /><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bRLoP3gOUM4&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bRLoP3gOUM4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />I like this because everybody loves a good dance, and yet so often, as a medium, it is wasted on the communication of simple concepts* such as "OMG I totally love this song", "I want to sex you up" or "I'm a jet and you're a shark, let's have a bloody good fight".<br /><br />More of this please.<br /><br /><br /><br />*<span style="font-size:85%;">Although bees have got the right idea - wiggling their stripey little asses to communicate the precise location of particularly juicy flowers.</span> <span style="font-size:85%;">10 points to the bees.</span>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-48020659596292660482008-12-05T06:18:00.001-08:002008-12-05T07:09:06.664-08:00Parisians are officially the most humourous criminals non?Word is, the hunt is on in Paris for armed robbers - SOME DRESSED IN DRAG – who relieved Harry Winston jewellers of some €80 million-worth of diamonds, precious stones and other sparkly goodness. That makes it the biggest jewellery-heist-carried-out-by-gender-ambiguous-criminals France has ever seen. They good as emptied the shop.<br /><br />So there are wanted men, in drag, with guns, covered in an appalling amount of bling, in Paris - capital of elegance and style. They will surely be banged up before tea time won’t they?<br /><br />It reminded me of that story about the illegal restoration of an antique clock housed in the Panthéon. Remember that?<br /><br />I went and found the website of the group responsible - ‘The Untergunther’. They proclaim themselves to be “a clandestine group with a mission to restore the neglected heritage in Paris”. Fabulous. It makes me really badly want to be a member of a clandestine group. Perhaps our mission could be to hold guerrilla roller discos across the UK or something.<br /><br />Anyway. Basically, these Untergunther geniuses, in a time-honoured fashion, got themselves locked into the Panthéon one night and set about sorting out a secret workshop in the Panthéon’s dome (furnished, and with views over Paris, naturally).<br /><br />They spent a year piecing apart and repairing a clock that had been sat rusting since the 1960s. When finished they decided to tell the folks at the Panthéon, primarily so they would know to wind the clock up.<br /><br />So the officials took legal action and tried to have the cultural crims prosecuted. But of course all stories that involve getting locked in museums overnight have happy endings and the judge ruled in favour of the Untergunther.<br /><br />Their website is <a href="http://www.ugwk.eu/">here</a>, some really amazing photos of the clock, the workshop and the hugely desirable seating is <a href="http://www.urban-resources.net/untergunther.html">here</a>. Get some Wiki action with more details of the sorts of thrilling things the French get up to underground <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_UX">here</a>.<br /><br />Probably those gun-totting diamond thieves in dresses don’t have a website. Maybe they’re on facebook though.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-38657980114740189582008-12-02T10:26:00.000-08:002008-12-03T12:04:17.746-08:00Conference chic<div align="left">Huzzah! I am recently returned from a Brain Research conference in Washington U.S.A. (hence the Americanised header). If forced at gunpoint (admittedly unlikely) I would have to say that fannying around chatting about sciencey things with exotic people all over the globe is possibly my favourite thing about research.<br /><br />I have proof I have been in the U.S. - See Fig. 1 which depicts a pedestrian crossing. Note the helpful and considerate count-down informing people exactly how long they have left to dither about in the middle of the road (taking pictures and whatnot).<br /><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCqMc_di1FaCejD6faOCrcDklKv3v7PM7UXcO5R9qMfHGKoDBvXH_6dSsNHlEBSJkb1N5c50MtEq6QE-OfEJiFXeoC25Jnzft8JkA5obFJc65Y_33WyxaJcNhOtKGZ87diHx70WA03i4/s1600-h/Xing.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275546839842278242" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 213px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCqMc_di1FaCejD6faOCrcDklKv3v7PM7UXcO5R9qMfHGKoDBvXH_6dSsNHlEBSJkb1N5c50MtEq6QE-OfEJiFXeoC25Jnzft8JkA5obFJc65Y_33WyxaJcNhOtKGZ87diHx70WA03i4/s320/Xing.jpg" border="0" /> </a><br /><p align="left"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#ffcc33;">Fig. 1 Crossing the road Washington style<br /></span><br />Here in the U.K. it is conventional for drivers to signal to pedestrians that their road-crossing time frame is coming to an end by revving their engines and creeping slowly forward. It's not as precise but it seems to work ok.<br /><br />As you can imagine, much of the discussion at the conference was given over to this year's trends in conference fashion. While trying to figure out if I could subsist entirely on free conference pastries and cakes for the rest of my stay (apparently there's some sort of economic problem happening at the moment and my credit card was shivering at the prospect of check-out), I was interrupted by an enthusiastic Italian epigeneticist (don't ask) who wanted desperately to impress upon me that a) she owned the same dress as the one I was wearing and b)I look almost as fabulous in it as she does.<br /><br />She told me I should come to an epigenetics meeting in Lille. <em>But I don't know anything about epigenetics. It makes my head hurt.</em> So? Lille is beautiful and the food is amazing. </p><br /><p align="left">Is this what they call networking? If so I love it. She cooed some more about the other dress I'd worn the previous day and I decided that I totally rock at networking.</p><br /><p align="left">I'd also like to give a special mention to the conference bags which, at every other conference I've ever been to, have always looked like this or a variation thereof...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2ef6VA-6rF1yaMonr99OS3ZJx1ogBHhyphenhyphencJxJCwoi-P1AR44TvCoZpgMaECC3RtsGpYSF821wW1anm2FqYSGihh8Z0L4aIz9aS2v9m0BolhLYZykaYMMi8O6MAY4GQDlOeyMSURHzkQs/s1600-h/bag2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275261334735604770" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 246px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI2ef6VA-6rF1yaMonr99OS3ZJx1ogBHhyphenhyphencJxJCwoi-P1AR44TvCoZpgMaECC3RtsGpYSF821wW1anm2FqYSGihh8Z0L4aIz9aS2v9m0BolhLYZykaYMMi8O6MAY4GQDlOeyMSURHzkQs/s320/bag2.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Not at this, the best-dressed conference of 2008. Oh no. Behold eco-friendly and bang on trend, the Nexus conference bag made from jute canvas, complete with a clasp made from finest coconut shell. Biodegradable and sustainable. Round of applause please...<br /><br /></p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ssF5FsC_YfAWsLYv83gj7eIU64SGh0BvjbdLKbF1vNyuKj6KGu8PoEctZSx6OmLKRqfcASOSGWXKud1kkEVzEKvhBUjZs6VwAlZFxKQGDAAdpmoCQxxI0V2FQw9EQCB7D0m4vYUfwEM/s1600-h/bag.html"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275261548143395106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 309px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_ssF5FsC_YfAWsLYv83gj7eIU64SGh0BvjbdLKbF1vNyuKj6KGu8PoEctZSx6OmLKRqfcASOSGWXKud1kkEVzEKvhBUjZs6VwAlZFxKQGDAAdpmoCQxxI0V2FQw9EQCB7D0m4vYUfwEM/s320/bag.html" border="0" /></a>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-8903904772815247972008-11-26T01:35:00.000-08:002008-11-26T01:55:39.798-08:00OMG I totally love thisThis is from <a href="http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/theatre/article5233132.ece">The Times</a>. Such a lovely story. So to get anywhere near David Tennant all I have to do is die, donate bits of myself, and wait patiently for 26 years. Brilliant. <div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">‘A concert pianist’s dying wish to appear on stage in Hamlet has been realised 26 years after his death.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />André Tchaikowsky, a Polish Jew who escaped the Holocaust and settled in Britain, bequeathed his skull to the Royal Shakespeare Company to be used as a macabre prop.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />From soon after his death in 1982 from cancer at the age of 46, Tchaikowsky’s final bequest has been kept in a box in a costume store. The relic finally emerged to take its place centre stage when David Tennant took on the role of Hamlet in Stratford-upon-Avon.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />Tchaikowsky starred in 22 performances of the “Alas, poor Yorick” scene in which Hamlet holds aloft the skull of the court jester unearthed by a gravedigger.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />The decision to use the skull was kept secret from the audience and many in the production crew for fear of distracting from Tennant’s performance…</span></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MuwCBMXoEizFYoOrbCSGDf70JcVGYjvnS88wS0O0weZeEi7UULYGuKSScHKFgs9kvqoczHWByqfPGhxuTTRGw69VOIj_Q_H5nLZObp1QJaTaBAaTuZIpDX69BZXDzFj2fPvqdmKe-PE/s1600-h/skull.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 154px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8MuwCBMXoEizFYoOrbCSGDf70JcVGYjvnS88wS0O0weZeEi7UULYGuKSScHKFgs9kvqoczHWByqfPGhxuTTRGw69VOIj_Q_H5nLZObp1QJaTaBAaTuZIpDX69BZXDzFj2fPvqdmKe-PE/s320/skull.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272900947513910690" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">…</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">When the unmarried musician made his will, it stated that he wanted his organs to be donated to science “. . . with the exception of my skull, which shall be offered by the institution receiving my body to the Royal Shakespeare Company for use in theatrical performance”.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br /><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">David Howells, curator of the RSC’s archives, confirmed that this was the skull’s first public outing. “In 1989 Mark Rylance rehearsed with it for quite a while, but he couldn’t get past the fact it wasn’t Yorick’s, it was Tchaikowsky’s,” he said. Other actors also felt uneasy about using it.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><br />The RSC had to obtain a licence from the Human Tissue Authority to use the skull because it is less than 100 years old.’</span><br /><br /></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-72870103114349413662008-11-15T18:43:00.000-08:002008-11-15T19:43:31.454-08:00Seeing red<span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">“It is such a joy when the world of science presents womankind with Something She Has Always Known...”</span><br /><br />...was the opening sentence of <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5033405.ece">this</a> article in The Times. It was an article inspired by a <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18954199?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum">recent study </a>published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, describing a series of experiments on the effects of the naughtiest of the colours, red.<br /><br />I’m not going to go all <a href="http://www.badscience.net/">Ben Goldacre</a>. But not only was it quite a misrepresentation of what was actually written in the journal, but um, excuse me? Womankind? As distinct from the ‘world of science’? I feel compelled to take issue.<br /><br />So, that opening sentence. I really really hate the idea that the world of science and womankind are different entities. Please. For starters the co-author and post-doctoral researcher that carried out the experiments, Daniela Niesta, is a lady.<br /><br />Next, the findings of the paper are summarised:<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">“This week comes the revelation that females of the species who don a red frock are likely to have more money and attention lavished upon them than their less garish sisters. Hmmmn, d’ya think?”</span><br /><br />How rude.<br /><br />If one is going to be quite so disparaging about the scientific endeavours of one of their ‘sisters’ perhaps they should get their facts straight.<br /><br />What the paper actually showed was that when a <span style="font-weight: bold;">black and white</span> photo of the same woman was presented on a red <span style="font-weight: bold;">background</span> rather than a blue background, the subject of the photo was rated as more attractive and more sexually desirable, more likely to be asked out on a date. These findings were replicated in a different set of experiments in which the shirt colour was manipulated.<br /><br />In the actual study the photo of the woman is provocatively described as a “yearbook-like head and upper torso shot of a moderately attractive young adult woman with brown hair. She wore a striped button-down shirt and had a pleasant smile on her face”. What a minx. No red frock then.<br /><br />The argument in The Times' article is that the presence of red carries certain connotations that are associated with sex, and if only they’d asked, the author could have told the <span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">“posse of menfolk”</span> at the University of Rochester that men would rather date Mary Magdalene than the Virgin Mary.<br /><br />Hmmmn, d’ya think?<br /><br />Researchers tend not to be completely stupid. And believe it or not they had considered the possibility that societal associations influence the effect red has on our perceptions.<br /><br />Societal use of red has a long and distinctly raunchy history. It symbolises fertility, passion and lust. We have red light districts, wear red lipstick, red underwear and consider these to be particular indicators of sex. See The Times article for more. If you squint, the article starts to look like a list of Things That Are Red.<br /><br />The point is, why do we see red this way? The argument put forward by these experiments is that our societal use has roots in our biology. Nonhuman female primates display red on their genitals, perineum, chest or face when nearing ovulation.<br /><br />There is a general consensus that in the animal kingdom, displaying red indicates elevated estrogen (which enhances blood flow under the skin) and represents a sexual signal that attracts males.<br /><br />To test which force was greater here, everyday associations with red, or a more fundamental drive, the researchers did several things. First, they asked the participants. After the experiment, they asked the participants what they felt had influence their decision. Colour, the woman’s facial expression, the way the woman was dressed. Colour came bottom.<br /><br />Secondly, they also included women as participants. When the women were making the judgements, there was no effect of red whatsoever. Also the effects of red on men were very specific, and had no influence on judgements of less exciting dimensions such as the woman’s general likeability, kindness or intelligence.<br /><br />Ok, so it’s not a cure for cancer. But it’s an interesting and quite well designed study and I’m not sure articles like that are helpful to either the menfolk in the world of science, or womankind.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MLE0HwYqrVQ3AIdtmwlH47MymwPfnt6oZ7dcVpUA9XFKxaDI1hqpwvyUF5rOPfYfa0Kbu4Wc76_8jIPw6j2aZPfVoehNmF_dlxFlVDln2mofL2Byg_KAqKduXA8zWVcpTNKF2GCReWQ/s1600-h/Laura_Bush_and_Mich_430626a.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 185px; height: 295px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6MLE0HwYqrVQ3AIdtmwlH47MymwPfnt6oZ7dcVpUA9XFKxaDI1hqpwvyUF5rOPfYfa0Kbu4Wc76_8jIPw6j2aZPfVoehNmF_dlxFlVDln2mofL2Byg_KAqKduXA8zWVcpTNKF2GCReWQ/s320/Laura_Bush_and_Mich_430626a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269082794260608482" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 153);font-family:arial;" ><span style="color: rgb(255, 204, 0);">Fig. 1. Michelle Obama looking utterly stunning in a magnificent red dress. Would you want to date this woman?</span></span><br /></div><span style="color: rgb(255, 255, 153);font-family:arial;" ><br /></span><br /></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-33884287526337714262008-11-11T10:13:00.000-08:002008-11-11T10:34:17.554-08:00When song titles and geekery collide (quite literally)Fabulous new book in which popular song titles are expressed through Venn diagrams.<br /><br />Couldn't really be called anything other than <a href="http://www.vennthattune.com/">Venn That Tune</a><br /><br />Perhaps my favourites...<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitg2-Wu1347a7jQUqdjoogsj0ilrZk8FNPCCkbUF-IRiIz-LUhh5HP7DrRsrMR7ck38MboDHWB58oEkIPrLimDgNyya-6rvFKaeMsxwCMBWg5g68Bp-i2MJtdO776_SBFsyBKmFNuMbNc/s1600-h/sample6base.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitg2-Wu1347a7jQUqdjoogsj0ilrZk8FNPCCkbUF-IRiIz-LUhh5HP7DrRsrMR7ck38MboDHWB58oEkIPrLimDgNyya-6rvFKaeMsxwCMBWg5g68Bp-i2MJtdO776_SBFsyBKmFNuMbNc/s320/sample6base.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267469160346290546" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPo9atJXXLF8pRQG9EOVlkfGdDCDQss6t5A34ZKa9P-e8vIebB5T_VTbYc-Nf_K17pVka01PcRjrS_ljEX4gC4QIdg0DgoT7zDWfbIiu26KTz_NQKGhU9fogi6fE7xmZR4hJLLU0-Xp0/s1600-h/sample5base.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPPo9atJXXLF8pRQG9EOVlkfGdDCDQss6t5A34ZKa9P-e8vIebB5T_VTbYc-Nf_K17pVka01PcRjrS_ljEX4gC4QIdg0DgoT7zDWfbIiu26KTz_NQKGhU9fogi6fE7xmZR4hJLLU0-Xp0/s320/sample5base.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5267469144391781314" /></a>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-53403727909746452902008-10-30T17:09:00.000-07:002008-10-31T02:35:50.051-07:00Excited state<div>I have been asked to write a commentary on an article I recently <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: line-through">slagged off </span>reviewed for a journal. </div><div><br /></div><div>This is a bit like an introduction, setting the scene, telling the story so far to explain why the research has been done, then discussing how clever the authors were to spot that these experiments needed doing, thinking a little outside the box to find the missing bit of the puzzle, and generally just being brilliant and doing brilliant experiments so their paper is thoroughly illuminating and inspired and isn't it all just brilliant.<br /><br />This is proper “Oh My God people actually want to hear my clever thoughts and I get to put it on my CV” stuff and I got all excited and a bit sweaty.<br /><br />Then (at about the point I read the word 'expert' in the e-mail) I suddenly remembered there was an <em>actual </em>expert in this field with the same surname and initial as me.<br /><br />Oh the humiliation, having to confess to being the lesser of the two.<br /><br />But I checked, and they already know I'm the lesser Karen. They actually<em> meant</em> to ask me to do it (and it's an automated e-mail so any old nobody gets called 'expert'). </div><div><br /></div><div>So now I'm all excited and a bit sweaty. </div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-13176302292303601832008-10-24T10:02:00.000-07:002008-10-27T10:45:07.889-07:00Big Undead BrotherThe new Charlie Brooker 5-part Big Brother zombie thing starts tonight. Zombies and Big Brother. Genius. Can't wait.<div><br /></div><div>Even better, it inspired someone at The Guardian to write about <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2008/oct/23/zombie-brooker-dead-set-big-brother">how to make a zombie</a> because it turns out the CIA actually had a fair go at making one. </div><div><br /></div><div>Also describes hideous parasitic creatures that turn their hosts into zombies, either to lay eggs in them, or to make them behave in a ridiculous and dangerous manner so they end up inside a cat. </div><div><br /></div><div>I know, very very clever. Bit strange. Can't help thinking there are more efficient ways to colonise a cat. But very clever. </div><div><br /></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-23724902006441759142008-10-17T07:12:00.000-07:002008-10-22T10:16:03.811-07:00Having a wonder-filled week (© Robert Krampf)Last week* I went to a party hosted by the lovely people at New Scientist and The Wellcome Trust. I remember some kind of lychee champagne cocktail, lots of tiny puddings, lots of free wine. <div><br /></div><div>And some stellar networking with some fabulous science types. Of course.<br /><br />The morning after I was sat on the train, nursing a coffee and a hangover. I had been staring out the window in the manner of someone trying really hard not to be sick in public. The train stopped. I stopped. People were alighting.<br /><br />And yet the view from my window just kept on moving. And not just any old moving, but BACKWARDS!!! Blood alcohol level or motion aftereffect?<br /><br />I googled it. Obviously. And I’m really glad I did, otherwise I would not have come across the legend that is Robert Krampf and his demonstration of the waterfall effect in <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=dLBEGPECMpk">this here video</a>**<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">* I know, I know. Tardy blogging. This ain’t Reuters.</span></div><div><span style="font-size:85%;">**All vision lecturers have big white beards. Fact.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:13px;"><br /></span></div>Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8324400585513396537.post-31558265103270074882008-09-02T02:46:00.000-07:002008-10-17T06:49:28.346-07:00Tipu Aziz speaks, a miracle is performed, he twitches his moustache.Things that have never ever happened before, in all the time I've been attending scientific lectures.<br /><br /><br />1. There was a queue, nay <span class="Apple-style-span" style="FONT-STYLE: italic">queues</span>, to get in. The swell of people was such that they had to be subdivided according to the first letter of their surname to create several quite long queues. I know! At a lecture!<br /><br /><br />2. There was a police presence.<br /><br /><br />3. A full 15 minutes before the start of the lecture people were struggling to find seats.<br /><br /><br />4. There were 'reserved' notices on the best seats at the front. Like at a fashion show.<br /><br /><br />And then appeared the small man in spectacles and a bow tie. Behold. Tipu Aziz.<br /><br /><br /><p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258114734499168050" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxhMiUCfWBizfr80KurLIkQb9INU5pGkJFar-sfRLUdZOCvNvRbC0AV1ihj6xswJ-Uu3JFjnnit9Igz3e0W_8awG9dwiXNAsCwK-LeqhfkICoPBSpVF-ej3sLy0g9Ux5jyjtVHPsj5gQ/s320/aziz_tipu.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />Tipu Aziz is a controversial character. He always draws a crowd. But it was very clear that the vast majority of people had actually turned out to see Mike Robins.<br /><br />Tipu Aziz is Professor of Neurosurgery at Oxford and a lecturer at Imperial. He has done pioneering work on Parkinson's Disease and is regarded by some as 'God'.<br /><br />Mike Robins is a retired businessman.<br /><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258114886951364434" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGG3PFncfmq7x8Hb0pgTS3HSRPRCS499faUbMqH-HzI4B0fNgpOaCTPSbd6tb1GMgd83CJmPyrY7j5fjQU_gw5X48Nc5pzojXLaic_b7mA53u62HoZdVWoC8NFTWEs8QUqWBaeJTNYrE/s320/mrobins.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br />But in 1999 Mike had <a href="http://www.mrc.ac.uk/OurResearch/Impact/TheBrain/DeepBrainStimulation/index.htm">Deep Brain Stimulation</a>, a technique developed by Tipu Aziz, and it all but cured the Parkinson's symptoms he been suffering with for six years. Before his treatment he felt like he was going crazy. He started crying spontaneously and stopped going out all together. If someone came to the door he would hide and for most of the time he was just really extremely miserable.<br /><br />Then he had fine electrodes implanted deep in his brain. Controlled a bit like a pacemaker, these electrodes stimulate the cells thought to be involved in Parkinson's Disease. And whenever Mike wants, he can just switch them off.<br /><br />The demonstration was dramatic and extremely touching. A little bit like <a href="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KcGLC_rOaKM">this one </a>but actually more profound. The audience sat in stunned silence. I think we were all a little bit moved. Everyone seemed to have a little something in their eye and there were several sniffles (though not from me, I'm hard as nails, I actually really did just have something in my eye right?).<br /></p><p>Mike explained that, on our way to the lecture, we would have likely passed within a quarter mile of someone with his symptoms. Except we wouldn't have known about it because they don't come out. </p><br />Tipu stroked his moustache.Karen's Mouthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16398621248761437631noreply@blogger.com0