Freedom of speech within science
Not so much research but a rant. As you may have heard the chief advisor to the government about drugs policy Prof Nutt was told to resign recently after he gave a lecture stating his views on cannabis classification in the UK and how the government (former Home Secretary Jackie Smith) did not listen to their advice on the matter and increased its classification and punishment for taking it. I do not care about the drug’s classification to be honest. I don’t take it and never have but the current Home Secretary (Alan Johnson, tipped to be future Labour leader, among a couple of others) has had a disagreement with the scientist and dismissed him after he gave a lecture stating his opinio

Ig Nobels 2009
For a few years now that I have been following the Ig Nobels as they are awarded. To continue the tradition, here is a post with the list of this year's winners: VETERINARY MEDICINE PRIZE Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless. "Exploring Stock Managers' Perceptions of the Human-Animal Relationship on Dairy Farms and an Association with Milk Production,"

Looking for some science on swine flu
As a medical association in Spain has recently communicated to the press, more than anything there seems to be an epidemic of fear going on. As I am currently living in Portugal, I do not know what the situation is in other countries, but I can tell you how the situation is here. Every news bulletin starts with more news about the flu, even though no one has died here yet. It then finishes with a previously recorded warning on how one should wash hands frequently and keep 1m away from other people while talking to them, quite an ordeal in a country where the common greeting is a couple of kisses in the cheek. In addition, we have ambulances going around with the paramedics dressed as i