When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn’t plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world’s first antibiotic
Alexander Fleming
Why do I get public funding to try something that has no current practical value and might not even work?
I don’t know.
Yet.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein
Bench chemistry = insanity
The Christmas truces of WWI are perhaps the most beautiful things I’ve heard of.
The first truce began on Christmas Eve, 24 December 1914, when German troops began decorating the area around their trenches in the region of Ypres, Belgium, for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas […]
It’s got to be here,
It’s got to be there,
It’s got to be now
Space dementia in your eyes
Peace will arise
and tear us apart
And make us meaningless again
Bury it
I won’t let you bury it
I won’t let you smother it
I won’t let you murder it
Follow through
Make Your dreams come true
Don’t give up the fight
You will be allright
They will […]
Science needs to be transparent. Clear and systematic so that it can be understood by anyone willing to learn. This is a fundamental tenet of the scientific method. It avoids the pseudoscience of mysticism. It’s the difference between chemistry and alchemy.
But science can be very complex, especially when dealing with abstract things like atoms, molecules […]
It’s nobler to never get paid than to bank on shit and dismay.
Movie (Never Made) - A Silver Mt. Zion
I was about to quote an awesome response I saw this morning on the BBC website to a thread asking for people’s opinions on the introduction of ID cards. But it’s gone! (We trust the BBC with too much power, surely!)
Anyhow, it went something along the lines of:
In the first episode of Futurama, Fry is […]
I’m (slowly) beginning to make my way through The Sceptical Chymist by Robert Boyle.
This book essentially dragged chemistry out of alchemy and turned it into a science. The origin of modern chemistry. I feel like I should give it a read.