friendly funding

Many congratulations go out to a friend who has just secured external funding for a very cool (non-biological) research project. I'm exceedingly happy for him!!! Since the funding is coming from the Space Vehicles Directorate, this makes him, at least temporarily, a rocket scientist.



At least some of the grants we're all writing are getting funded... it brings me hope.

science fit for a princess

I've known there are journals that have some air of royalty, such as those published by the British Royal Society, or the scientific journal of King Faisal University, but I may have just discovered my new favorite obscure journal title, the Princess Takamatsu Symposia.

Princess Takamatsu's mother died of cancer, and she founded a cancer research fund that sponsored these symposia and other lectureships, which continue to this day. She also spoke out against male-only royal succession in Japan. She sounds like she was a scientifically-literate, civic-minded feminist. Her journal seems moribund since the last volume was published in 1995... and that combined with my not doing cancer research seems to assure that I'll never be able to add this title to my CV.


Princess Takamatsu of Japan, born Tokugawa Kikuko, 1911-2004