Articles from January 2011



Scientists not people shock and other science fictions!

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not taking it anymore!” The thing is you see: science ain’t necessarily easy (sorry). A mad, or slightly cross, scientist writes. It was the BBC continuity announcer that did it. I think they’re getting a bit above their station, overwriting their parts as it were. Anyway he said: “coming up [...]

Harmaline, psychoactive drugs, chocolate and Dangerous Half-remembered Facts

Warning: this was written under the influence of theobromine (doesnoharmaline). Harmaline: I mean, what’s in a name and all that I know, but honestly you’re not really going to want to have anything to do with something called harm-a-line, are you? Especially as it’s found in any number of psychoactive infusions and preparations, where time [...]

Telling a book by its cover on Silent Witness

Trust me I have a white coat!   I’ve been thinking a lot about lab coats recently; too much to be honest. It was Emelia Fox that did it – or rather her TV alter-ego, forensic scientist, Dr Nikki Alexander from the BBC’s ‘Silent Witness’. If you haven’t seen this programme, I’m sure you know the [...]

An everyday story of pregnant country folk

Q: What’s the biggest drip you’ve had come off your roof this Christmas? A: Nigel Pargetter Now that is a joke that will mean nothing to anybody outside the UK – and very little to most people in it. Unless, of course, they belong to that most vocal component of the silent majority – the [...]

England’s Secret revealed!

Bloghazard Dewarworld exclusive!

Pick of the Year

Dr Tel’s 2010 Highlights – Paleoanthropology Tops the Charts! Did the best come last? Hard to say, but in an exciting year for science the December ‘Nature’ paper that announced the discovery in the Siberian Denisova caves of evidence for a new extinct WHOLE NEW BRANCH of humanity took some beating. Certainly it has helped [...]

The Natural History of Middle-earth

The Paleoanthropological relationships that exist in the Hominini lines of Middle-earth. The current resurgence of interest in the early history of Fairyland, or Middle Earth as it is now more popularly known by the general public, has come at a time when academic research into the field has also never been more fertile. Perhaps the [...]