Book reviews – Knowledge Translation edition

I realised recently that the “everything I used to blog about is now on Twitter or Goodreads instead” trend of recent years means that I never got around to mentioning my new job! After ten years of grant writing and project management at the BC Cancer Agency, I moved to a new role at UBC and BC Children’s Hospital in November as a Knowledge Translation...

May 2018

“Cracking Cancer” on CBC’s The Nature of Things tonight

Tonight’s episode of CBC documentary series The Nature of Things with David Suzuki features an in-depth look at the BC Cancer Agency’s Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG) project, which is exploring the feasibility of sequencing DNA and RNA from cancer cells to help physicians select the best treatment for each individual patient. Project co-lead Dr....

Feb 2017

Podcath part III: sci-fi audio drama edition

Radio drama is making a big comeback in the form of podcasts, with plenty of high quality science fiction to choose from. Here are some of my favourites. I’ve been a science fiction fan since I first read John Wyndham’s The Chrysalids as a kid. I quickly graduated to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books (I’m proudly sporting a “Vote Zaphod Beeblebrox...

Feb 2017

Brits! You can buy my book now

“Introducing Epigenetics: A Graphic Guide” is out NOW in the UK. It’s also available for pre-order everywhere else, and will be released on March 14th in the USA and on March 20th in Canada and elsewhere. Links to all major vendors are available here – or ask your friendly local independent bookstore! I’ve also set up a Goodreads profile, because I...

Feb 2017

Last Saturday:

  Photo taken outside the Trump building. I borrowed the sign from a lovely group of people I met at the march Up next: March for Science (the Vancouver chapter) What I learned from protesting against Harper and his war on science: Take care of yourself and each other, first and foremost Pace yourself Pick your battles Don’t burn out Hugs...

Jan 2017

I WROTE A BOOK!

This excuses my long absence from this and other blogs, right? And I’m so excited that the cover and the publisher’s page have been finalized so that I can tell you about it at long last! I was approached last year by a commissioning editor from Icon Books, who publish the illustrated Graphic Guides series. My editor (and may I tell you how cool it...

Aug 2016

Voting didn’t feel like enough this time

There’s a federal election in Canada tomorrow. I’ve always been very interested in politics, but this time around I feel more invested than ever before. Specifically, I want Harper out, with extreme prejudice. (If you don’t follow Canadian politics and aren’t sure what a politician could do to inspire such hatred, this recent Guardian article is a great...

Oct 2015

Book reviews!

An inner monologue, recently: “oh! I have a blog! I should write something. But the most exciting thing that happened this year isn’t really bloggable yet; the second-most exciting thing was the wedding in England of a very dear friend who would not want her wedding photos posted on the internet, and also that seems too long ago to write about now;...

Sep 2015

Missed opportunity

From my Facebook feed: It should totally be called a beehemoth! Whoever first called it a wasp moth sucks!

May 2015

Conspiracy deathmatch

I realized recently that, in the best tradition of fighting fire with fire, it’s possible to counter some conspiracy theories by invoking other conspiracy theories. The best two examples I’ve come up with so far are as follows: The anti-vaccination movement is just an Illuminati plot to thin the ranks of the masses via the resurgence of preventable...

Jan 2015