Daisy Bateman

Big Dumb Movie Goes Boom

Last night I went to see “Live Free Or Die Hard”, possibly the best movie ever to be adapted from the New Hampshire state motto. A refreshingly retro movie-going experience, entirely free of people flying through the air, or morphing into something else, or having long conversations with characters who weren’t added until post-production. There … Read more

What To Say

Situation: Your friend has just told you that she is engaged. Correct response: “Congratulations! I’m so happy for you.”Incorrect response: “WHAT?” Live and learn. (Potential, even worse responses:“So, when’s the baby due?”“Is he mental or something?”“That’s what you think.”)

Public Notice

Attn: Everybody Please be advised that, should you be employed as a summer intern at a biotech company, and should you decide that, as you are in possession of a pleasant singing voice, you would like to spend your days wandering about the lab singing (quote) “lalaladeladela” (or, alternatively, “dadadanananaah”), the people around you are … Read more

Good Morning

Sometime around four this morning I woke up. “Bad dream,” I thought.“Rumblerumblerumble,” went a sound in the distance.“Earthquake?” I thought.“WHUMP,” went the Earth.“Yep. Earthquake.”And then I went back to sleep.

Well, Good

“We can categorically state that we have not released man-eating badgers into the area.”UK military spokesman Major Mike Shearer denies rumours that British forces had sowed panic in Basra, Iraq, by unleashing ferocious honey badgers (pictured). The badgers, slightly larger and scarier than the British woodland version, are in fact indigenous to the Middle East. … Read more

The Politics of Walking

Right, so here’s my question: You know how when you go out for a walk around the office park, because it’s a nice day and you could use the exercise, wearing the sneakers you keep under the desk (because you have become the kind of person who keeps sneakers under her desk, even though you … Read more

Good Trailer, Bad Trailer

Recently, I went to see Ratatouille (excellent movie, by the way) and, of course, there were plenty of trailers to watch before the feature. This one made me very happy: I think I’m already in love with that robot. And then there was this one, which made me question my sanity: Because, to me, making … Read more

Science: Marching Ever Onward

I was reading the news roundup in Nature today when I came across this little item, and I just had to share. From the latest issue of Cellular Microbiology: Scientists may have identified a step in the evolutionary path that produced the bubonic plague. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which is … Read more