Archive for July, 2008

Paid to pleasure oneself: nice work if you can get it dept (25/07/08)

I’ve been known to take the piss out of scientists who think people make decisions about sex the way they make decisions about what stocks to invest in, nice and rationally. My published references even include “Sex is fun, remember?”. In my experience, a hard-on (or its female equivalent, a wide-on) tends to disrupt rational […]

Off topic: don’t e-mail when you’ve had too much rosé (24/07/08)

Can I get away with posting this e-mail from restaurant reviewer Giles Coren to the Times on the grounds that it has a blow job in it? Or that its author is a wanker (of which more tomorrow)? Read. Enjoy. Remember never to e-mail your colleagues when you’ve had a few. Even if they have […]

Will Big Pharma get littler in HIV research? (21/07/08)

Last week, Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche said it was giving up on HIV-related research. I expected some cynical “told you so” comments from industry analysts, but the reaction to the announcement was surprisingly muted. Even AIDS activists were mousy. Activists have done a spectacular job in slapping down the price of antiretroviral drugs in the […]

Everyone’s at risk, ¿verdad? (20/07/08)

You don’t need to speak Spanish to get the message of this “AIDS awareness” ad. Will this sort of generalised pap make you use a condom the next time you get lucky with someone you don’t know too well? Perhaps. And perhaps it will stop you smoking or overeating — it’s that specific. Thanks to […]

HIV-friendly genes (and good science writing) (19/07/08)

Our genes are amazing. They win battles for us against some pathogens (malaria), but their victories can leave us exposed to others (HIV). That’s the lesson from a fascinating paper published recently in Cell and Host Microbe. Researchers looking at data from a large group of American servicemen have found that a genetic mutation which […]

← Previous PageNext Page →