chrisdellavedova.com

One of my favorite parts of my job is the teaching that I get to do every year around this time. One of Oxford’s many charming idiosyncracies is the tutorial system they use for undergraduate teaching. In addition to lectures and labs, each student gets one-on-one or small group tutorials in their fields of study. […]

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“The tears on my shoulder
Freeze then boil
I wouldn’t be here
If not for your snake oil…”
-Kristin Hersh - “Snake Oil”
One side-effect of the global warming era is that if you can sell a concept or products as “green” it can go a long way. There is a green alternative for nearly every product that you use […]

 

 Kristin Hersh - "Snake Oil" [3:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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A group of German scientists published in this week’s Science their discovery of fungus preserved in Cretaceous Period amber that used a unique means of trapping its prey. This fungus used what essentially looks like a hyphal lasso to rope in its prey of choice, a species of roundworm (see the image to the right). […]

 

 Boys Don't Cry - "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" [3:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“You didn’t know how rock-n-roll looked
Until you caught your sister with the guys from the group
Halfway home in the parking lot
By the look in her eye she was giving what she got
My my my, once bitten, twice shy babe…”
Great White - “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”
Somewhere, a science reporter is missing a lead: “Scientists discover the […]

 

 Great White - "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" [5:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“All I ask for when I pray,
Steady rollin woman gonna come my way.
Need a woman gonna hold my hand
And tell me no lies, make me a happy man.”
- Led Zeppelin - “Black Dog”
I knew as soon as I saw this paper in Science this week that I wouldn’t be able to resist.

 

 Led Zeppelin - "Black Dog" [4:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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“Early one mornin’ while makin’ the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down
I went right home and I went to bed
I stuck that lovin’ .44 beneath my head…”
-Johnny Cash - “Cocaine Blues”
Johnny Cash’s “I Walk the Line” was one of Zach’s favorite antenatal songs. I knew that he could […]

 

 Johny Cash - "Cocaine Blues" [3:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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My friend and fellow scientist Jason has been hassling me to write a post about the recent stem cell breakthroughs that have been all over the news for the last week. Two research groups, one led by Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University and the other by James Thomson at the University of Wisconsin, have published […]

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This week in Science Tuesday we’ll focus on research with implications on the beginnings and the ends of human life. First, a study from Yale looking at the morality of infants and second, a paper from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Seattle suggesting that a certain class of anti-depressant can increase the lifespan of […]

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When things get nasty in a particular environment, organisms that call it home have got to come up with ways to cope. Animals are mobile and tend to migrate to an environment where the proverbial grass is greener. However, if you are a sedentary organism - a plant for example - you must […]

 

 The Beatles - "Mother Nature's Son" [2:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) now causes more deaths per year in the U.S. than AIDS. MRSA’s tendency to resist treatment by common antibiotics has predictably earned it the nickname “Superbug” in the lay press. But beyond the press hype is the foundation of a true epidemic. Staphylococcus species of bacteria are fairly benign and are […]

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