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The Azolla Event: when is a fern not a fern?

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Betelgeuse, Gamow, and a Big Red Horse

There has been a lot of talk recently of Betelgeuse possibly going supernova this century or not...

Climate Change, the Walrus and the Carpenter

I have recently watched two videos on climate change by Sabine Hossenfelder.  The first one...

A Very Large Hadron Collider?

Frontpage image: Illustration of spherical explosion (kilonova) of two neutron stars (AT2017gfo/GW170817)...

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Robert H OlleyRSS Feed of this column.

Until recently, I worked in the Polymer Physics Group of the Physics Department at the University of Reading.

I would describe myself as a Polymer Morphologist. I am not an astronaut,

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Alfred Russel Wallace And The Inselaffen

Alfred Russel Wallace And The Inselaffen

May 14 2013 | comment(s)

School Chemistry, then and now

School Chemistry, then and now

May 06 2013 | comment(s)

Alerted by a link on Real Clear Science, I turned to an article on Slate.com, namely

Felony Science


Sixteen-year-old Kiera Wilmot’s curiosity was apparently piqued when a friend told her that if you mixed hydrochloric acid and aluminum, an exciting reaction happened. . . . . . She was expelled from school and now faces felony charges.

Damage To DNA From A Traditional Herbal Medicine

Damage To DNA From A Traditional Herbal Medicine

Apr 30 2013 | comment(s)

First, Second Mouth ...?

First, Second Mouth ...?

Apr 12 2013 | comment(s)

Recently, there was found in Spain a shelled Pre-Cambrian Critter which showed distinct evidence of a gut.  This got me thinking about the distinction between the deuterostomes and protostomes, interest in which was sparked again by the even more recent article from National Geographic:

Empty Viruses For Control Of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Empty Viruses For Control Of Foot-and-Mouth Disease

Apr 10 2013 | comment(s)

In 2001 there was a massive outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in the United Kingdom.  This caused, in terms of prices at that time £8bn / $13–16bn of loss to the UK economy, and much distress in agricultural communities.

 One of the most memorable things of that time was images of cattle and other carcasses being burned.


The Lid’s Tale

The Lid’s Tale

Feb 22 2013 | comment(s)

Not long ago, we acquired a range of inexpensive storage vessels, ideal for keeping leftovers in the fridge before they go into yours truly, the family dustbin. 

Here is an example: the steel dish is covered by a tight-fitting plastic (presumably polyethylene) lid.  Or it was tight-fitting when we bought it, but some of these lids are now so tight-fitting that they won’t even go on at all, and one or two have split in the attempt to force them on.