tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70774743677240540612011-07-31T14:54:58.988+10:00<b>Not just an evolutionary dead end, it's the unofficial postgraduate science blog of the vet faculty!<br><br> | <a href="http://theappendixblog.blogspot.com/search/label/student">Students</a>| | <a href="http://theappendixblog.blogspot.com/search/label/news">News</a> |</b><b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.comBlogger611100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-4932080592480342432011-06-10T19:38:00.000+10:002011-06-10T19:38:49.692+10:00

A program you might find a useful alternative or adjunct to Endnote is Zotero. Use this to gether references on the internet. You have to use Mozilla Firefox as your web browser then download Zotero as an add-in. Zotero will improt references much the same way Endnote does, however you don't have to keep telling it where your Endnote librbary is. When you've finished searching you can download

Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08384428222037885234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-34480703537983768132011-06-10T19:10:00.000+10:002011-06-10T19:10:11.212+10:00

Not the plastic kind, not the kind that earn you money, but useful nonetheless! Share your pearls of wisdom with the appendix ... Thanks to Jo Griffiths for this idea. She suggested we find a forum for sharing our collective post grad experience. Do you have an easy way to format a thesis? A better reference manager than Endnote? A place to order cheap labware? Then we want to hear from you. With

Katherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08384428222037885234noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-91134546896013103942009-08-17T04:52:00.001+10:002010-01-16T08:47:12.334+11:00

In time-honoured fashion, I bring you the final instalment of my list of top-10 time wasters. Now you may have lots more new ideas for great procrastination. No, no, don’t thank me... 7. Part time work. This is a pearler because it gives you the illusion of productivity and it generates an essential output: cash. The

Millnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-23144639986514230012009-08-14T05:00:00.002+10:002010-01-16T08:47:26.318+11:00

As you know, it's a serious issue that every postgraduate (particularly research postgraduates, who have three-plus years of what seems like unlimited unstructured time on their hands) must face. This week I bring you the continued results of my time-wasting by extending my fabulous list of top-10 ways to procrastinate.3. Podcasts (eg. from Nature and Science). Jo likes to download and listen to

Millnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-11574713349944440302009-08-13T23:57:00.001+10:002010-01-16T08:47:49.087+11:00

Greetings from the USA! I made it here safely and have been settling in to my new lab. I could tell you about all of the cool new lab toys that I now have to play with, or the interesting research that I will be doing here to finish off my PhD, but first things first... My apartment that I will call home for the next 8 months or so.After more than 24 hours in transit, I dragged my slightly

Millnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-4026473037133632512009-08-12T04:42:00.003+10:002010-01-16T08:48:17.070+11:00

A big (and, I feel, under-discussed) issue in the lives of postgraduate students. As a sacrifice to you, dear readers, I am now going to air some dirty laundry from postgrads at the Sydney campus and tell you about some of our favourite time-wasting activities. However, I must insert here a disclaimer- have you got an impending deadline? A paper due? A talk to write? Exams to study for? Marking

Millnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-79653336786138955622009-07-30T11:42:00.005+10:002009-07-30T12:41:50.514+10:00

I've just gotten back from the 8th International Horse Genome Workshop, which was held last week in the English countryside north of London. The people that have come to this and previous meetings often call it the Havemeyer Workshop, because it's funded and supported by the horse-friendly Havemeyer Foundation. The workshop spanned one evening and two full days, and had a really full-on social

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-53699197602774751902009-06-11T13:58:00.007+10:002010-01-16T08:48:30.464+11:00

There are many wonderful things about being a postgraduate student. A personal computer! A sandwich toaster! Bakeoffs! Bliss! However, we've thought of a few side effects that we've come across in our efforts to get educated. We're sure you can think of more!1. Judgement based on your subject area. I study platypus venom, which is strange and obscure, so it naturally follows that I am a little

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-12263964616781759612009-06-11T13:48:00.003+10:002009-06-11T13:56:37.179+10:00

We have heard several PhD students over the last few years complain about how a trained monkey could do 95% of their work. Happily, Jo Griffith has pointed us in the direction of this book excerpt, which begs to differ.Extract from Complications – a surgeon’s notes on an imperfect science by Atul Gawande, (2002, Picador: New York) on training surgeons."As one professor of surgery put it to me,

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-28757496440002850502009-05-26T15:49:00.001+10:002009-05-26T15:50:29.591+10:00

Discussed here in the Scientific American.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-73433024517017075372009-05-23T18:26:00.002+10:002009-05-23T18:43:45.668+10:00

Postgrads are people that have gone back to uni to do an advanced degree. We're not paid much, and we're nerds. Outside of our work at Uni, I like to think that we all have friends and family that aren't academics... or know one or two non-scientists, at the very least. Despite this, we show an amazing divorce from mainstream culture, and especially from the way most people communicate with one

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-55960564304244000432009-05-19T21:10:00.005+10:002009-05-19T21:33:03.799+10:00

What they say:"The Personal Genome Project is an open-ended research study that aims to improve our understanding of genetic and environmental contributions to human traits. We are enrolling members of the public who are willing to share their genome sequence and other personal information with the scientific community and the general public."Although I know some people will leap to point out the

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-1874642217446213172009-05-15T11:40:00.003+10:002009-05-15T11:56:21.936+10:00

No, we're not advocating gettin' jiggy with it, instead we're talking about a new competition that is being run in conjunction with Evolution - The Festival, which is being held to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin.Join project Gene Pool, where you can creatively explore what evolution means to you either in any medium or by attempting to "mutate the ABC archives".

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-83069740258072183052009-05-15T11:31:00.003+10:002009-05-15T11:36:42.454+10:00

A piece this week in The Age newspaper has revealed that this year's budget has done little to alleviate the financial woes of PhD students:http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/clever-country-our-brightest-are-kept-dirt-poor-20090513-b3bz.html?page=-1

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-52290035613868250222009-05-07T20:21:00.007+10:002009-05-19T21:27:29.816+10:00

Remember last year we posted about the "Dance your PhD competition"? How about going one better and adding some catchy lyrics to give you this year's hottest dance song? Ok that's an exaggeration but it really is a giggle... see it here. Turn up the volume and get grooving, labtastic people!If you come across any other great youtube videos we'd love to see them. What's one more item for

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-76199521132577309812009-04-16T09:08:00.002+10:002009-04-16T09:14:42.825+10:00

Do you have an innovative idea that will boost Australia's rural industries?Do you need up to $50,000 for make your idea reality?Do you want to kick start your career and build professional networks?Do you want media training to help promote your ideas?For more information and to download an application form, visit www.daff.gov.au/scienceawards or the Science Awards Manager on 02 6272 5039.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-7342420390355846762009-04-14T16:20:00.006+10:002009-04-14T16:30:53.793+10:00

New regular segment, as inspired by Garbutt et al (2007) “100 animals to see before they die”.Aliases:• Myrmecobius fasciatus• Walpurti• Banded AnteaterUnder 25 words:A colourful 20-30cm marsupial found in Western Australia with a pointed muzzle and bushy tail, their days are synchronised with their main food source termites.To see a Numbat …By car…1) Drive 12 hr 33 min (1150km) from Usyd

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-21679917874536527692009-03-20T14:21:00.015+11:002009-03-20T14:40:54.436+11:00

Come on, admit it, it's a skill you've always wanted to learn. Bridget Murphy is a PhD student studying the reproductive physiology of Eastern water skinks. She first learnt to catch lizards in her backyard as a kid when her mum squirted them with the hose to slow them down! Here she shows us how it's done sans hoses.Step 1: Decide what type of lizard you want to catch and figure out where to

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-51915633592928327082009-02-24T17:53:00.011+11:002010-01-16T08:48:40.949+11:00

... But I bet Lewis Carroll didn't have these zany creatures in mind when he said this. This month, we have not one but two freaky new fish facts.Up first is the recently discovered four-eyed spookfish. Despite the name and its appearance, this fish only really has two eyes, but each one has two parts (an upwards-looking one and a downwards-facing one). It uses a lens to focus light (from the

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-34873056252014828532009-02-20T13:58:00.004+11:002009-02-20T14:06:45.751+11:00

Big props to the postgrads who baked and sold cupcakes, cookies, rocky road, muffins and mars bar slice on Thursday to raise money for wildlife injured in the Victorian bushfires. We raised over $300, which will go to Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary to help with animal care and recovery. Who would have thunk postgrads were such great bakers?! Further donations to Healesville can be made here.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-50892035695156554982009-02-10T16:40:00.006+11:002010-11-11T21:06:56.457+11:00

Stuck with your writing? Forget nailing your feet to the floor or bribing yourself with chocolate, Dr Wicked has a better idea. Why not replace your fear of writing with a fear of not writing?! Write or Die- Putting the 'prod' back in productivity!The concept is fairly simple- you go to the website and set yourself a time and a word count as goals, and then you start writing. But the moment your

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-25071439547880915322009-02-03T15:46:00.009+11:002009-02-03T16:09:19.245+11:00

I caught a glimpse of one of those countdown shows last week about weird animals and I thought I’ll share with you their number one wackiest animal ever (!). And it is the deep sea anglerfish. This animal has a face which would easily scare a child...(Much of this article comes from http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ww0701.htm#Angler)The deep sea anglerfish has huge jaws which are well adapted to

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-63537200351406355162009-02-02T20:59:00.011+11:002009-02-03T16:12:35.390+11:00

If ever you catch me walking in the corridors of power, ahem, the McMaster, across the quad, or Gunn, you will see usually see me plugged into my ipod. Now you might be thinking I’m listening to music, but actually I’m “doing my reading” or at least that’s what I tell my supervisors. It is partially true. I am listening to podcasts and many of them are science based. This means I have large

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-3714622813237278232009-01-15T17:41:00.010+11:002010-01-16T08:49:06.449+11:00

How come you can hypnotise a chicken?Many of you who grew up with chickens (I mean chickens as pets/egg factories of course; I am not suggesting that anyone here was raised by actual chickens...) will be familiar with the interesting phenomenon of hen hypnosis, by which one may reduce a flapping fowl to a quiescent and glassy-eyed Gallus gallus. I have heard of varying techiniques, including

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-90045807455708147132009-01-07T12:50:00.008+11:002009-01-15T18:31:36.250+11:00

Each year, a number of Labrador and Golden Retriever pups enter the guide dog training program. At around 14-16 months of age the hard work starts, when a 5 month intensive training regime begins. During this time each dog has their health and temperament assessed, and this is where my work begins. Not all dogs entering this training program are suitable to become guide dogs, and through the use

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-65594786492693142008-12-18T15:13:00.004+11:002008-12-18T16:11:57.937+11:00

According to one first year chemistry lecturer who shall remain nameless (both to protect his identity and to avoid admitting I never knew the man's name) the discovery of phosphorus was a perverse and twisted affair.It seems that the scientist in question inadvertently manufactured phosphorus by filling a bath tub with urine and leaving it to evaporate off for several weeks. He observed 2

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-78625785066042016252008-12-18T12:07:00.006+11:002008-12-18T16:13:01.538+11:00

Yesterday I was broadening my mind by reading stuff on the webby-net. One particularly mind-broadening web site that delighted me, dear readers, was one addressing those aspects of sartorial elegance that had allowed particular individuals to, as we would say in the biological sciences, "find a mate".Maybe it was wishful thinking, but when I clicked through to this site, I thought I saw a

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-33018379631596342312008-12-17T11:31:00.004+11:002010-01-16T08:49:17.816+11:00

This was brought on by a revelation from one of the postgrads, who claims that he has a friend who is allergic to fresh fruit and vegetables. Yes, large-hive-inducing allergic. Weird (and unfortunate). This of course leads on to the obvious question:Can you be allergic to water?Apparently yes. It's called aquagenous urticaria. And it sounds rather unpleasant. Contact of water with mucous

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-29188719021523038572008-12-17T08:45:00.013+11:002010-11-11T21:09:09.546+11:00

Seeing as the header of this blog is a picture of a mammoth, we thought we'd better cover the sequencing of the woolly mammoth genome, published last month in Nature. Clearly one obstacle to sequencing the genome of an extinct animal is obtaining a nice DNA sample. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University overcame this problem in an unusual way- by trawling ebay for hair samples (see picture)

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-56109408742193624112008-12-11T22:05:00.003+11:002008-12-12T10:30:38.587+11:00

And now for another semi-regular segment, inspired by Gareth Keenan (The Office), who famously wondered not if he'd be able to kill a tiger armed only with a biro, but instead "Will there ever be a boy born who can swim faster than a shark?". Some readers may know that one of the Eds has a penchant for asking similarly bizarro hypothetical questions, including this corker this week, so we've

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-42059601338300990452008-12-11T22:00:00.005+11:002010-01-16T08:49:43.791+11:00

How long would it take to cook a roast inside a nuclear reactor?Apparently this is a strange question to ask.Firstly, I guess I need to know how hot it gets inside a nuclear reactor, which is surprisingly difficult to google (am now hoping that I'm not being electronically monitored because I am searching for all things nuclear!). Anyway, apparently in a Generation IV nuclear reactor, which has

Camilla Wnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-82953663638357503132008-12-11T20:03:00.008+11:002008-12-18T15:23:42.051+11:00

I come downstairs to get something, I can't remember what. J my nurse is crouched over a puppy lying on the floor.I work with J regularly on a Saturday. She's a top nurse who is currently undertaking a critical care course. She genuinely cares for the animals and takes initiative, especially when critical care cases come in. She's very capable of dripping, bleeding and xraying. This means I am

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-54377270096419438092008-12-10T14:45:00.006+11:002008-12-10T14:53:03.157+11:00

I was born... months after the first International Islamic Games held in Izmir, Turkey. It was quite a historical event and my parents decided to name me after the beautiful city... hence Izmira!At school I... was very timid and quiet, I became talkative when I joined the debate team in UniversityMy first relationship was... with my highschool sweetheart at 14, whom I am now happily married to :)

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-82837202735981240762008-12-05T10:11:00.006+11:002008-12-05T10:26:10.555+11:00

Mysteriously nicknamed 'Big Bad' for reasons unknown to the Eds, this second year PhD student has been busy jetting off around the globe in his quest to improve the reproductive performance of sows during seasonal infertility.I was born... 1/1/1984Friends say I'm... a d**kIf I wasn't me I'd like to be... dunnoAt the moment I'm reading... The Costello MemoirsMy worst job was... Kitchen HandAt the

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-61920443241989636132008-12-04T16:21:00.004+11:002008-12-05T10:10:46.989+11:00

As requested by the bakeoff crew... oh yes, and don't watch it if you're offended by the word "sht".

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-61717173655287084222008-12-04T15:10:00.006+11:002008-12-04T15:23:55.509+11:00

On Wednesday a cake competition was held in the Shute building- a new excuse to eat cake and bake cake for those so inclined! The morning was very successful as members of the Shute building rallied in the tea room to sample the 14 cakes, slices, muffins and biscuits created by some of the very finest cooks in the Vet faculty. Each baked good was judged on its appearance, texture and flavour by

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-15281491214152068172008-12-01T12:35:00.003+11:002008-12-01T13:28:39.176+11:00

A kleptomaniac sea-slug brutally assaults a plant, assimilating parts of it into its own body to become a hybrid plant-animal intent on world domination. Sounds like science fiction, right?Well, ok, I made up the world domination part. But the rest is true- see the video below! Thanks to Jerry for tipping us off about this.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-61519943716079869522008-11-28T10:33:00.007+11:002008-11-28T10:46:51.300+11:00

In the spirit of every procrastinating PhD student that Hugh Kearns (speaker at our postgrad conference) was talking about, here is a new semi-regular segment! So, #1 is... enter an international dance contest in which PhD students must dance their thesis. Yes, this really exists!Sue Lynn Lau, a University of Sydney PhD student has won this competition ("Dance your PhD"). Her entry was entitled “

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-2995635152285412852008-11-27T09:27:00.012+11:002008-11-27T12:07:33.042+11:00

Over the past few months, New Scientist has been running a poll asking readers to vote for the best science fiction book and movie of all time. The winners are revealed here. All you scifi fans out there- do you agree? If you're not a fan and want to be (who doesn't want to join the glamorous world of SF fandom?!), here are some suggestions.Top five films1. Blade Runner2. 2001: A Space Odyssey3.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-56190524770303603312008-11-21T12:20:00.007+11:002010-11-11T21:47:17.499+11:00

You know lemmings. The small furry rodents that supposedly arrive in plague proportions and then suicide en masse as the food runs out. Incidentally, does anyone else remember the game “Lemmings”, which was released in the 1990s? The obsession of a generation of kids, you can play it here if you are in the market for some time wasting or nostalgia… But I digress! Some new research has revealed

Camilla Wnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-75816728426858395762008-11-10T12:51:00.023+11:002008-11-11T13:38:23.607+11:00

Meg is a second year PhD student investigating the immune responses to vaccination against an intestinal disease in pigs. If she can find immune cells in the pig that are linked to vaccine protection then it might be possible to use these in the pig industry to determine whether vaccinated pigs are protected against future infection.I was born... in the baby factory in Melbourne- that's right,

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-89281794371275395422008-11-06T10:30:00.009+11:002008-11-06T14:33:28.745+11:00

In a world exclusive, The Appendix today uncovers a hoax that will shock the nation. After five years, we reveal the unthinkable… Dolly the sheep is alive and well, and living in the Faculty of Veterinary Science.Dolly, a Finn-Dorset sheep, was catapulted to fame after her birth fifteen years ago as the first animal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell. At first, she enjoyed the attention she

Murgatroyd Fletcher-Jonesnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-57501641782820399392008-10-24T13:13:00.003+11:002008-10-24T13:30:20.579+11:00

No, this isn't the exclusive that you've been hearing all about! That's still coming - but it's so scorchingly hot that we're wrapping the web server in a bit of insulation before we put it up. Just in case, you know...OK, on to the real story. Bear with me a bit here for this MacGyver-type scenario: say you've got an x-ray machine, but picketers at the Lucas Heights reactor have meant that your

Kao Castlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17439875370664675655noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-84631643115636867262008-10-23T11:53:00.001+11:002008-11-05T13:25:44.927+11:00

Don't miss our world-exclusive expose, coming this month. You'll hear it here first!

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-20889096294130352552008-10-03T16:20:00.003+10:002008-10-03T16:25:27.754+10:00

The 2008 Ig Nobel prizes were held on Thursday, October 2. Read about the winners here. In the biology category, Marie-Christine Cadiergues, Christel Joubert and Michel Franc for discovered that fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than fleas that live on a cat.

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-6030528076885373172008-09-29T11:23:00.003+10:002008-10-03T15:55:08.939+10:00

Here at the University of Sydney, we are encouraged to use EndNote citation software to manage our reference material. There isn't much discussion of competitors or alternatives to EndNote, but if you look, you'll find that there are quite a few out there. From a user's point of view, it's important that there are strong competitors to EndNote, because competition will push EndNote to try to make

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-14922762086098269092008-09-24T18:52:00.016+10:002010-01-16T08:50:05.813+11:00

The small cardboard brochure that arrived in the mail belied the spectacle that awaited me in Hanoi, Vietnam, at the 13th AAAP conference. It gathered together 1240 delegates from 36 countries and the aims were sweeping- to increase the quality of life of poor people in rural areas, and to discuss ways to reduce the disadvantage of smallholder farmers in a global economy.The opening ceremony for

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-60574217316044311902008-09-23T12:27:00.008+10:002008-09-23T13:13:34.122+10:00

You'll find Professor John James in Room 513 of the RMC Gunn Building on most Wednesdays and Thursdays. And why would you be looking for him? Well, that bit is easy - he's a retired academic with a background in quantitative genetics, biostatistics, and computing applications, and since statistics in particular is the least favoured discipline of 99.9%* of biologists (*estimated using a thorough

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-14461018955879582142008-09-19T13:01:00.012+10:002008-09-24T19:35:37.295+10:00

Gauthami is one of only a few postgrad students here who has actually worked as a vet! She joined us in February, 2005, and is working on a doctoral research project, entitled "Intra thecal enzyme replacement therapy in canine fucosidosis and investigation of pathophysiology". Before coming to Australia and starting her PhD, Gauthami worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-55013423167568239352008-09-17T13:48:00.012+10:002008-09-17T14:04:08.202+10:00

I was born... in the cowshed nearby a beautiful lake surrounded with thick broad-leaved forest. My late brave mother was alone and while in labour she saw star through the window and named me “Kam Mindu” – meaning Northern Star. Later, my Buddhist teacher changed it to Karma Nidup which means “blessing of the stars”.At school I… was a bit hyperactive (unusual for a northern star)My first

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-41561094619061808172008-09-17T10:40:00.022+10:002008-11-10T14:19:00.738+11:00

Marijuana grows wild in Bhutan and only a few people, mostly poor subsistence farmers, take notice of it. But they don’t consume it- instead this wild weed is fed to the pigs to fatten them, keep them quiet at night, and restrain restless behavior during oestrous.Perhaps this Himalayan Shangri-La Kingdom may be the only country where pigs do ‘fly’. My research involves unveiling the phylogenetics

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-78561973164864940852008-09-15T15:11:00.005+10:002008-09-15T16:15:13.400+10:00

Dr. Gary Muscatello joined the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the University of Sydney in 2008. He completed his BVSc at the University of Melbourne in 1997, after three years in practice he returned to the University of Melbourne to undertake postgraduate studies completing a PhD in Veterinary Microbiology in 2005, investigating the effects of farm management on ecology of virulent Rhodococcus

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-55004196140913840372008-09-15T14:48:00.014+10:002008-09-17T10:56:35.123+10:00

My work on the horse lung disease called 'rattles’ could save hundreds of foals each year and the Thoroughbred industry millions of dollars.Rattles in foal is a huge problem in the Thoroughbred industry in Australia and throughout the world with treatment and management costs alone estimated to be $5 million each year. Given that on some farms, foals that get rattles can have as low as a one in

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-71855289836498841582008-09-10T15:17:00.013+10:002008-09-15T16:16:13.014+10:00

Professor John Prescott gave a lunchtime seminar in the Faculty of Veterinary Science on Wednesday, September 10, 2008. His talk looked at public health and zoonoses, with several attention-grabbing examples from research carried out in Canada by the Centre for Public Health at Zoonoses at the University of Guelph. Professor Prescott is in Australia for a month. This profile was sprung on him

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-39000476935753586542008-09-10T10:38:00.006+10:002010-01-16T08:50:15.328+11:00

Somewhere in Europe, 100 metres underground, sits a supercooled, superbig science experiment ready to recreate the early moments of the Big Bang. No, it’s not the pet project of an evil genius intent on destroying the world- it’s the world’s largest particle accelerator, set to switch on in a few hours.It’s known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a £2.6 billion, 27 kilometre tunnel loop,

Camilla Wnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-88720556644600344412008-09-04T10:54:00.010+10:002008-09-09T14:56:13.481+10:00

I was born... in Townsville in the 70's. My parents lived on Magnetic Island (where compasses don't work properly!).At school I... got comments on my strange sense of humour in every report card (including kindergarten), and didn't pay much attention to my teachers.My first relationship was... with Sam in preschool, when I tried to convince him I could fly.Friends say I... am good at remembering

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-40191440524703723372008-09-03T18:19:00.027+10:002008-09-22T11:08:04.952+10:00

Why is lab wear white, baggy, and supremely unflattering? I suspect it's not the fashion sense of your standard science student at fault in this situation. Instead, I'm placing the blame fair on the shoulders of lab coat manufacturers. What lack of imagination on their part blinds them to the obvious need for an Evil Genius Lab Coat, or simply the Power Lab Coat (discrete shoulder pads and high

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-26919744382012402222008-09-01T13:41:00.021+10:002010-01-16T08:50:23.861+11:00

When you think of a platypus, what words come to mind? I’m thinking ‘cute’, I’m thinking ‘cuddly’, I’m thinking ‘perfect pet for my toddler/niece/nephew if only they would change those darn protected species laws’. If you thought any of those things, well, think again. I’m here to tell you that the platypus has a sting in its tail.By now you know that male platypuses have poisonous spurs on each

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-62326639532449689112008-09-01T11:30:00.002+10:002008-09-04T10:18:34.571+10:00

Both Camilla and Kao have entered essays in the Wellcome Trust New Scientist Essay competition. Unfortunately, neither of them received quite the award they deserved, and as a result they have been driven to publish their wonderful essays themselves.Since they needed a website to publish these essays on, they're going all the way and publishing other things too: articles on science news,

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-29292158308529135002008-08-29T16:28:00.004+10:002010-01-16T08:50:30.717+11:00

Somewhere in Eastern Australia, I stand on a darkened riverbank, huddled against the frigid wind. It is 2am, and I’m holding a small animal in my hands. It is covered with furry, loose skin, makes a growl like an angry cat, and tries to chew my hand with its soft, duck-like bill. The cold and the early hour are causing my mind to wander, and as I hold the squirming platypus, I reflect on the

<b>The Editors</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/15630143417737266853noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7077474367724054061.post-30118681092700788862008-08-29T16:14:00.006+10:002008-09-04T10:20:11.790+10:00

Exceptionally long, slim, and elegant legs are a ticket to a glamorous world of champagne and parades. However, I’m not talking about the world of a supermodel, but rather the world of a Thoroughbred racehorse.The parallels between racehorses and models go beyond the length of their legs. Both groups are thought to live on a mainly herbivorous diet, neither speaks much in public, and both horses

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