An essay in today’s issue of Nature struck a contentious cord at the intersection of modern science and politics: that of the ethical regulation of science. The context of ethics and science was succinctly summed up: When in 1978 the first baby was born by in vitro fertilization (IVF) it was inevitable that there would [...]

For something a bit more on the fun side, at least if you enjoy a pint of beer now and then – a genomic-based study has reconstructed the origins by hybridization of the lager yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, published in the journal Genome Research [Press release]. For thousands of years, ale-type beers have been brewed with [...]

Well, after much anticipation, we finally got the Bitesize Bio seminars off the ground with a rip-roaring presentation from SYBR Green I and Lightcycler inventor, Carl Wittwer. Carl’s talk took us from the early days of rapid cycle PCR to the development of the Lightcycler through to the diversification of real time PCR  into different [...]

Everyone knows that today’s job market is challenging. While there are fewer jobs, and stiff competition from other job-seekers, opportunity is still out there. My name is Travis Medley, President of Simply Biotech, a San Diego County-based recruitment and staffing company specializing in the biotech industry. Over the coming weeks I will be providing you [...]

Please read and pass this life-saving information on to your friends. A chemical that all of us use in the lab has turned out to be highly dangerous. It is an asphyxiant, can cause severe burns and is a contributor to the greenhouse effect. Medical organizations all over the world confirm it to be responsible [...]

After quite a long hiatus (which included a conference in Hawaii, whoo hoo!), I’m back to highlight a cool and relatively new search engine for scientific literature that is going to make you squeal with glee (ok, it made me squeal at least). I’m assuming that you’re very familiar with how to identify relevant research [...]

It’s funny (or maybe sad) how we spend a lot of time planning experiments, thinking about our next paper or preparing for a lab meeting, yet we don’t take time our to plan our lives, to think about what we really want. Most of us think that what we really want is to be successful. [...]

It’s Friday again, so nothing too heavy from me today, just a little light entertainment to ease you into the weekend. Here are three (somewhat) entertaining molecular biology-related movies from you tube.

A major hurdle to getting an industry job in a new country is that many companies will only interview local candidates. Many job seekers think that if they are willing to pay to move themselves, this ceases to be a hurdle but, unfortunately, this is not true. Even if you are willing to pay their [...]

Attending the 2009 American Society of Microbiology meeting this week in Philadelphia, I decided to take my own advice and visit the exhibits to see whether any of the exhibiting companies had any really innovative and unique products on display. I focused mainly on products I might use in my own lab, such as PCR [...]