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January 1st, 2013 | Category: miscellaneousI graduated a couple of weeks ago! Now the proud owner of a (legitimate) bit of paper that says I have a degree, and the legal right to put “B.Sc.” after my name.
My Dad and I, taking the concept of a “graduation photo” very seriously.
Yep, I’ve got a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Genetics (and also Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, but you’ll never see it on my transcript)! I’m starting a Master of Science (Genetics) at the University of Melbourne and the Bio21 Molecular [...]
» Continue reading “Oh, and I may have forgotten to mention…”
September 21st, 2012 | Category: scienceI said I’d tell you when it was published – and it’s been published! Somewhat surprisingly, I was asked by my friend Khalil to write up my thoughts on the whole ENCODE project/junk DNA/the-human-genome-is-80%-functional fiasco for the Student Voices blog, but from the perspective of what intelligent design proponents were taking from it all. If you’ve been following pro-ID blogs Evolution News and Views and Uncommon Descent lately, there’s been little end to the victorious proclamations – because, as we all know, the more functional the genome is, [...]
» Continue reading ““The Designer’s Detritus” – my latest Nature Education post on ENCODE, junk DNA and intelligent design”
July 25th, 2012 | Category: biologyLast week, I was lucky enough to attend the Genetics Society of AustralAsia 2012 conference as an undergraduate volunteer. One of the fascinating presentations I had the pleasure of sitting in on was given by mammalian geneticist Jenny Graves, on the evolution of genetic sex determination in vertebrates – and, like many a talk at GSA2012, I livetweeted it. Somehow, that got back to the fine folk at COSMOS, a well-respected Australian science magazine, and I was asked if I would like to write a news piece [...]
» Continue reading “My first professional piece of science writing – sex determination genetics and evolution for COSMOS!”
June 30th, 2012 | Category: podcast
The Pseudo Scientists – Episode 50
In this episode of The Pseudo Scientists, the official podcast of the Young Australian Skeptics, I host discussions with Belinda and Richard about the illegality of infant circumcision in Germany, equations vs. publication impact in biology, the death of the giant tortoise Lonesome George, and “Science: It’s A Girl Thing!” Plus, we announce the details of a very special caption contest to celebrate our 50th episode! You just know you want to caption my [...]
» Continue reading “Episode 50 of The Pseudo Scientists: Circumcision, “Science: It’s A Girl Thing”, the death of Lonesome George, and a special caption contest”
June 7th, 2012 | Category: podcast
The Pseudo Scientists – Episode 47
In this episode of The Pseudo Scientists, the official podcast of the Young Australian Skeptics, Jason, Richard and I discuss a mysterious burst of cosmic radiation in the 8th century, the genetics of ultra-conserved elements in animal and plant genomes, and a billboard campaign arguing against Richard Dawkins. Plus, Jason has some unfortunate news…
This week’s “Houston, We Have A Problem” clip is a lesson in “seeing energy”. Don’t hurt your eyes, guys, I [...]
» Continue reading “Episode 47 of The Pseudo Scientists: Ultra-conserved genomic elements, mysterious cosmic radiation, and Christian billboard hilarity”
September 27th, 2010 | Category: scienceToday’s science link is The Human Genre Project.
When it comes to science communication, sometimes a good way to get a general audience interested in science is to mix it in with other things that they respond positively to. Mythbusters mixes physics and chemistry with cool explosions and behind-the-scenes special effects knowledge, David Attenborough’s nature documentaries mix biology with stunning cinematography and the soothing voice of an elderly British man, and The Human Genre Project mixes genetics with literature and poetry.
Science inspiring artistic and expressive [...]
» Continue reading “Monday Science Link – The Human Genre Project”
April 1st, 2010 | Category: intelligent designSure, a vast majority of the posts at Evolution News & Views and Uncommon Descent are full of scientific and philosophical errors, but you have to admit that they at least make some superficial sense, even if that surface layer of sense-making is brushed away by even the slightest touch. Well, Denyse O’Leary, a “good friend” of mine, noticed that trend and clearly sought to even things out a little – you know, put the concept of intelligent design in an intellectual environment that [...]
» Continue reading “O’Leary – Argh, my brain! You’ve melted my brain!”
February 24th, 2010 | Category: biologyIt’s currently O-Week (Orientation Week) at my university, and I start classes on Monday. I’ve been doing a lot of timetable planning these past couple of days, removing clashes and making sure I know what prac groups I’m in – and this has lead naturally to me planning my, er, entire Bachelor of Science out. Yeah, technically you’re not supposed to do that yet, but I thought, “What the hell, I know what I want to do – why not structure my course completely now on paper so I don’t [...]
» Continue reading “My Science Degree: A Preliminary Plan”
January 1st, 2010 | Category: tabletop transitionals
xkcd is always right about everything. Everything. And if it’s right about everything, then surely it’s right about science montages.
But you don’t have to take just xkcd‘s excellent word for it: take it for me that you can’t wait around for five minutes for a paternity test like in the Will Farrell movie Elf – using PCR (polymerase chain reaction), an integral part of paternity testing, takes at least a couple of hours. [...]
» Continue reading “Tabletop Transitional – “Movie” vs. “Actual” Science Montages”
November 8th, 2009 | Category: tabletop transitionals
The following poem was sent to me by Dr. Rachael Dunlop (of Skeptic Zone fame) via Twitter. It was published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics in 2003, and here, I share it with you:
The Genome Poem
Our genome is known from A to T, With filling in by G and C Amazing how these letters four can color eyes and so much more But what of the rest of the alphabet? Is there more [...]
» Continue reading “Tabletop Transitional – The Genome Poem”
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Homologous Legs is the personal blog of Jack Scanlan, an Australian science communicator and biology student.
Topics of interest here include the intelligent design/evolution "war", biology, philosophy, religion, music, and mostly coherent thoughts from a scattered brain. Contact
homologouslegs(at)gmail(dot)com
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