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Blogs This week, Stephen Curry attends an annual meeting on picornaviruses (Europic) but finds himself distracted by a lady: So I try to stay tuned in all the talks. But this year there has been something different about the conference. It hasn’t happened in every talk but from time to time, after the same visual or audible cue, I am suddenly aware that there is someone new at Europic, someone I hadn’t noticed before. Her name is Henrietta Lacks. Henrietta, of course, was the lady who became the unwitting donor of the first immortal culture of human cells. Her remarkable  … Read more

Blogs Tom Webb asks a question we’ve all considered: I’m pondering the following vexed question: exactly how bad does a paper have to be in order for me to drop what I’m supposed to be doing, fire up the old critical faculties, and spit out a vituperative rebuttal? At what stage does ‘petty complaint’ upgrade to ‘vital corrective response’? Help Tom decide whether he should rise to the bait. Speaking of which, Mark Schrope provides a photographic account of a recent deep-sea fishing trip. Working with a team of marine biologists, he discovers some very strange creatures lurking in the  … Read more

Blogs Top billing must go to Jennifer Rohn this week for starting a movement, nay a rebellion, to counter the proposed cuts to UK science funding. The Science is Vital campaign is concerned about the damage the cuts will inflict on the UK’s research output at a time when other nations are investing money in science, engineering and technology. Her cris de coeur: Sod it. Let’s march on London! No more Doctor Nice Guy, no more hiding behind our work, no more just taking things lying down like we take everything else in our profession — poor job prospects, poor  … Read more

Blogs We say goodbye to one of our most cherished bloggers this week, as Martin Fenner moves on to pastures new: Writing this blog here on Nature Network since August 2007 has been an incredible experience, something that can’t be covered in a single blog post. I simply want to say thank you to all the people I interacted with over the years – both online and in person. He then links to some of his many excellent contributions, which include opinions on publishing technology and interviews with those behind the scenes. Tom Webb takes a critical look at recent  … Read more