h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

[Amy P]

Organizing is not something I'm drawn to, but there are skills I do have, and ways I can help. So I commit to do this or that for one group, and some other small favour for someone else, and then nothing happens for quite a while, and then I suddenly have twenty deadlines in two days.

I really must find a way to break this cycle.

TRiG.

I wasn't looking forward to this afternoon, I had a lot of work on and I thought that going to an afternoon event to celebrate the launch of the new University Imaging department was going to take up valuable time. But Prof Boss is the Head of the New Department, so I duly trekked across the City to the other teaching hospital, I was expecting an afternoon of physics. I'm not a physicist.

The afternoon consisted of presentations from some eminent Professors of various departments, describing the work of the departments, and a display of posters of the work in more detail.

And I'm surprised to say that it was fantastic. The presentations were interesting and engaging consisting of anything but physics. The Veterinary School showed how they could image all sorts of species including Tortoises and horses(awhh), the psychiatrists were demonstrating the neurology basis of certain mental illnesses and the obstetricians were finding out what makes a placenta fail.

We then had a break where there were posters displayed which demonstrated the work of the imaging departments around the University. This could be sub-titled 'bizarre things that I have put in a scanner', in my eyes the prize should have gone to the Tarantula, and the harp.

So not a wasted afternoon after all however I still have a lot of work to-do, which is why I'm drinking coffee at this time of night.

I envy you, Z. That sounds like a really fascinating day you had.

That does sound like an afternoon well spent!

[Amy P]

Dmitri - thank you. It's easy to forget how it exciting it is to be surrounded by this sort of environment. Yesterday I went to a seminar on the genetic basis of intelligence, (yes there is some).

Today I found out I've had a talk accepted for our Christmas Lecture in the teaching hospital. This is a big deal in this hospital, though not a great big deal in most other hospitals. It's in a couple of weeks time and I have to have 25 minutes ready. This boss sent me a nice congratulatory e mail, which makes me more nervous.

Right I have an outline and I have done the research, just to get on and do the talk now.

Congrats on the talk! Go go go! I wonder if the ability to give good presentations, which you obviously do, is starting to count for more than it did in this day and age. Comparatively to publishing papers, I mean. Perhaps not in our rather written word obsessed culture.

Genetic basis for intelligence, hmmmmm? I had someone telling me not that long ago that it's mostly environmental, and we are all born with equal potential. Not that he was an expert, you understand, but I understood there was research to back that up somnewhere, so I am intrigued.

>>the genetic basis of intelligence, (yes there is some)<<

Well, yes. If you're born with the genes of, say, a potato, you're likely to be less intelligent than a pig...

[Amy P]

I still find the thought unsettling, especially if they start fiddling with the intelligence of potatoes. Can it be put to some useful purpose - I dunno, like alleviating mental disabilities or something

I think that you have to be able to do both, you need to be able to write papers to get anywhere in science, but you also need to be abel to do good presentations. I'm feeling more positive about my writing skills, the last paper I wrote had no punctuation errors in, and I'm getting better and structuring the scientific paper and planning. I'm actually looking forward to my next chuck of writing, which is going to be editing a paper I'm the second author on, the first author doesn't speak english as the first language. I've got a new book about writing research papers, which is excellent, but all the examples are animal experiments and the book tells you to how to graphically describe what you did to the animals.

"In the methods section you should create a powerful mental image in your readers mind, say 'sheep' or 'rat' rather than 'animal'..' Presumably so the reader can come around and firebomb your laboratory.

I do think animal work is necessary and more acceptable than eating meat I just don't like it, and I'm glad I can experiment on people instead.

The rough evidence seems to be that about 50% of our cognitive abilities are genetic and 50% are environmental, though the environment is more important in early life, in later life it's the genetic factors. I haven't read the literature and the seminar I was unpublished data, so I can't discuss it fully at this stage.

I tend to think its up to science to discover the truth and society to do what it wants with that knowledge.