Code for life

Reproducible research and computational biology

Grant Jacobs • Jan 24, 2010

A concern raised, which I have some sympathies with, is how to make computational science reproducible. Modern science is largely grounded on the notion that findings can be repeated independently by others to verify them, or to extend them. In practice this can be easier said that done. You'd think that for computational sciences, like computational … Read More

Light Sunday reading, viewing and thoughts.

Grant Jacobs • Jan 24, 2010

A potpourri of bits and bobs for some light Sunday entertainment. (I have several more "serious" posts lined up, but they are held up for a variety of reasons.) Some time ago I write about silly or humorous scientific research article titles or content: Craziest research paper titles, awards and authors. I'd completely forgotten about the … Read More

British homeopathy sceptics group aims for sugar high (with Dawkins video)

Grant Jacobs • Jan 20, 2010

At 10:23 am, January 30th, 45 1023, whose byline is "Homeopathy: there's nothing in it", will stage a protest against long-established pharmacy company Boots "continued endorsement and sale of homeopathic remedies, and to raise public awareness about the fact that homeopathic remedies have nothing in them". Actually they have something in them, obviously. Apparently, … Read More

Your cameras has 15 mega-pixels? Bah! Mine has 570 mega-pixels.

Grant Jacobs • Jan 18, 2010

Some engineers at Fermilab are having fun! [caption id="attachment_1126" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Prototype 570 Mp camera. Source: Symmetry magazine."][/caption] They're building a super-sized digital camera using CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices) that are particularly sensitive to near-infrared light to measure, among other things, redshifts of remote galaxies. The longer-term aim is to study the dark energy of … Read More

Live broadcasts from ScienceOnline2010

Grant Jacobs • Jan 16, 2010

Go to this link. UPDATE: Most talks are going to be streamed via this URL, so just tune in. (If the screen goes “blue”, there’s a chance that it’s at their end, so don’t panic! The internet isn’t flawless…) (HT: @Kubke, via twitter.) There is also a concurrent chat stream you can sign into. Sound bites so … Read More