Hello? Is this thing on?

It's been a while. I blame doing a masters degree. Turns out it's quite a lot of work really.

But it's done now, and I find myself temporarily unemployed. So perhaps time to crank up the ol' blog. Watch this space for some more thrilling insights from the odder corners of my brain. Or not.

If you're voting tomorrow...

... something to think about.

All things ginger #7: Famous ginger sighting win!

Double post today to celebrate the fact that as I was going into a central London tube station tonight I walked past Dan Wright who made a programme called F*** off, I'm ginger a while back. I was tempted to say hi or something but I'm not sure if merely being a fellow redhead gives you permission to approach ginger people who are vaguely famous without coming across as a weirdo.

Anyhoo, he had a wonderful crop of vibrant hair which he was making no attempt to hide. Good man.

All things ginger #6: The Rise and Fall of the Ginger Lizards

While there are many examples of red-haired creatures in the animal world, the revelation that even dinosaurs could be ginger is something of a surprise.

Ginger and scaly and feathery? I normally stick up for my kind, but that's just weird.

COP out

On the one hand, the Copenhagen talks were a gross disappointment and a horribly missed opportunity.

On the other, had they been successful, we might have been deprived of this Seussian work of genius by Marcus Brigstocke:


Every cloud, eh?

All things ginger #5: Santa loves ya....

Apparently there was an element of doubt as to whether Father Christmas included ginger kids in his list of 'good children'.

Nice of Tescos to clarify things.

Still advancing gingerly, in absentia

I realise I've been a bit quiet lately. I have various excuses for your consideration:

• I've started a Masters degree
• I've moved
• I've been spending my net time promoting my online shop selling knitted hats
  
• I am currently reliant on a netbook and mobile broadband, neither of which are conducive to intense blogging
• My brain has been replaced by a jellyfish
• Goblins kidnapped me and forced me to dye my hair blonde, thus rendering me ineligible to be an author on this blog until it had all washed out.
  

Some, none or all of the above are true. You are welcome to speculate as to which is which.

Thank you for your patience.

Biology lesson

This makes me want to go on a date with a fellow biomedical scientist, just to see if it happens:

It would also be nice to feel that the years studying genetics weren't wasted.

(From xkcd)

All Things Ginger #4: Redhead day hits the mainstream media

It seems that this year's Redhead Day has got a lot more media coverage in the UK than before. I first became aware that it must have made the news when two of my colleagues separately told me about this 'red hair day thing' they'd heard about. I'm not sure whether they believed me when I told them it was my intention to go to the Dutch festival at some point in the future. Today there was a decent length feature on the BBC magazine pages, with some great pictures here. Nice to see 'my people' getting some positive coverage.

I should point out, of course, that Advancing Gingerly was talking about this event last year. About time the press caught up!

Before I sign off, just cos I still find it bloomin' funny, here's Tim Minchin again with what I presume would become the national anthem when the Gingers finally take over:

Women in science

In the same week that Athena SWAN commended university departments which it considers are making positive steps in encourgaing women working in science, engineering and technology, I stumbled across a new governement website called 'Science: [so what?]'. I shan't let the overly 'cool and edgy' use of punctuation detract from the fact that I am delighted to see a site aimed at engaging non-scientist members of the general public with the science that underpins both the natural world and human innovation around them. But why, you might be asking, am I mentioning these two things in the same paragraph?

Well maybe it's because, of the scientists featured, the biomed people were female while the engineers were almost exclusively male. Maybe it's that they made a point of mentioning that Rachel Riley, co-presenter of Countdown, was "the only girl to read mathematics" at her Oxford College (shame on you, Oriel!) And that she beat beat 1000 other women to the job. Were men debarred from applying? Is she the maths brain, or eye candy? Oh, and let's chuck in "she was bullied at school for being clever."

The site may well provide some answers to how things work (although the content seems a bit thin on the ground at the moment). But if it harbours any desire to inspire people to go into science careers (and this page would suggest it does), then it's awful. In summary, I have learnt:
1. Biomedicine is for women, engineering for men
2. Girls studying maths at uni are a unusual
3. If you're smart and sciencey, you risk getting picked on.
4. Their suggested link for careers advice does not recognise the scientific field I work in when you search their site for it.

Helpful. Thanks for that.