It’s funny how life goes.  After an embarrassingly short tenure here on SciLogs, I am now the proud owner of a shiny new job in science policy, and will sadly be putting away my netbook for the time being in the name of political neutrality.  But before I sign-off for the last time, I thought I’d share some of the ideas that have been on my “to blog”...

It struck me yesterday, while battling my way around a jam-packed shopping centre in Essex, that anthropologists must really like Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy Christmas too. But for those scientists who get their kicks out of the study of humanity, the prospect of the annual festival of spending must be truly mouth-watering.Because...

Generosity is a rare quality in business, and it’s certainly not the first word that springs to mind when thinking about the drugs industry.  Big Pharma is not widely known for its Big Heartedness.  So, last January, when I heard about AstraZeneca’s plans to give away valuable data on several of its patented compounds, I was curious about what exactly...

“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.” Mark Twain           For my first blog post here on SciLogs, I thought I’d choose a subject that we can all agree on.  Smoking.  It’s bad, right?  I mean, really bad.  Obviously.  But are there any exceptions?  Are all cigarettes really unequivocally,...