A couple of recent blog posts I helped write for The Institute of Cancer Research

Sometimes I forget that I have this blog and I can use it to link to other blog posts that I’ve written! In the last month I’ve helped with a couple of Science Talk blog posts at the ICR.

At the start of December I co-wrote a blog post, with Sam Dick, to mark the end of the 100,000 Genomes Project:

• The 100,000 Genomes Project has finished: what were the challenges and what comes next?

And then today, with Rose Wu, I helped put together a new blog post that looks back at some of the exciting things that have happened — in and out of the lab — at the ICR this year:

• Buckingham Palace and Blue Plaques: ICR’s 2018 year in review

It’s probably not every year that I’ll get to reference ‘Buckingham Palace’ in a blog post title!

Helping support the first ever LGBT+ STEM Day

Yesterday was LGBT+ STEM Day — the first ever day to celebrate and highlight the role of LGBT+ people working in the field of science, technology, engineering, and medicine (STEM).

In my role as Digital Strategy Manager at The Institute of Cancer Research, it was great to be able to focus all of our social media output on this topic. I'm proud that the ICR is really committed to equality in the workplace.

It was particularly fun to be able to rebrand our social media avatars and banners:

I really enjoyed the opportunity to make a 'videographics' which played around a little more with the ICR's logo. The five coloured bars in the ICR's logo are spaced according to the Fibonacci series. There are, of course, six colours in the Pride rainbow…

At the ICR we are committed to equality and as a @stonewalluk Equality Champion, we are working to ensure a fully inclusive workplace. 🏳️‍🌈#LGBT #LGBTSTEMDay #LondonPride pic.twitter.com/9ogvzERUqp

— The ICR (@ICR_London) July 5, 2018

New blog — Feeling engaged? — for matters relating to website metrics and social media

As I am now a professional science communicator and as I spend a lot of my time looking at trends and developments in website metrics and social media, I thought that maybe I should have a separate blog for any ideas I have.

There are only two posts so far, and I can't guarantee that I will post here very frequently:

1. How not to use Twitter #1: The Labour Party
2. How to identify Apple News traffic in Google Analytics

Interviewed by Front Line Genomics for 'The Short Read' →

For the second time in my life I am flattered to say that I have been interviewed by Front Line Genomics. The last time this happened was when I was a scientist…this time I feature in their 'The Short Read' segment where I provide some answers about what I'm up to now at the The Institute of Cancer Research. 

Read the interview online:

• “Developing a Questioning Mind is a Useful Skill”

I've finally written a blog post for the ICR! →

I'm not quite sure why it has taken me just over a year at The Institute of Cancer Research before writing a post for the Science Talk blog, but that's what happened.

This blog post is all about my experiences at the recent Festival of Genomics conference in London, organised by Front Line Genomics — who once featured me in their magazine. It felt fitting to write about something so closely aligned to my previous life as a genomics researcher.

Anyway, here is my blog post if you are interested…I hope it won't take me a year before writing another one!

• The genomics revolution: opportunities and challenges for 21st century healthcare

Thanksgiving quiz 3

When I lived in Davis and when we were entertaining friends and family at Thanksgiving I would always try to entertain our guests with a postprandial quiz of my own devising. I would wait until the guests had eaten their fill in order to ensure their near-comatose state forbids them an easy escape.

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Scroll down for answers…

Round 1: Is it a turkey?

The Latin name for Turkey is Meleagris gallopavo, and turkeys belong to the family of birds called Phasianidae, (Face-ee-ann-i-die). So which of the following birds are also in the same family and hence closely related to turkeys?

1. Pigeon
2. Partridge
3. Turkey Vulture
4. Peacock
5. Quail
6. Flamingo

Round 2: Is it in Turkey?

1. Pune
2. Bochum
3. Bodrum
4. Ankara
5. Hemet
6. Ephesus

Round 3: Stuffing

A turducken is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. But this is not the only example of food items being stuffed inside other food items. The name for this culinary technique is engastration.

You will see five dishes listed below; four of these dishes involve meat, but one of them is a dessert dish. 1 point for each of the correct blank spaces that you fill in. Order of stuffing not important

1. Gurducken/Gooducken
2. Fowl de cochon
3. Pandora's cushion
4. Hotchken
5. Cherpumple

Round 4: True or false:

1. The Turkish word for Turkey (the animal) is Turkey (i.e. it's the same)
2. The Republic of Turkey was founded in 1897
3. Turkey has a higher population than Argentina and Malaysia combined
4. An adult wild turkey is covered by approximately 1,100 feathers
5. Romania is one of 8 different countries that shares a border with Turkey
6. Wild turkeys can fly at up to 55 mph
7. Turkey is the world's largest producer of hazelnuts
8. There are Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and Turkey is home to two of them
9. The weight of the largest turkey ever recorded was 86 lbs / 39 Kg
10. Internationally, Turkey is more popular to tourists than the United Kingdom

Answers

Round 1: Is it a turkey?

The Latin name for Turkey is Meleagris gallopavo, and turkeys belong to the family of birds called Phasianidae, (Face-ee-ann-i-die). So which of the following birds are also in the same family and hence closely related to turkeys?

1. Pigeon
2. Partridge (Y)
3. Turkey Vulture
4. Peacock (Y)
5. Quail (Y)
6. Flamingo

Round 2: Is it in Turkey?

1. No. It's in India, 27th largest city in the world.
2. No. It's in Germany (16th largest city)
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Noo. It's in Riverside county, California
6. Yes

Round 3: Stuffing

1. Gurducken/Gooducken: goose <- duck <- chicken
2. Fowl de cochon: pig <- turkey <- duck <- chicken
3. Pandora's cushion: goose <- chicken <- quail
4. Hotchken: chicken <- hot dogs
5. Cherpumple: Cake <- cherry pie + pumpkin pie + apple pie

Round 4: True or false:

1. False
2. False: it was founded in 1923 after the fall of the Ottoman Empire in WW1
3. True: 77m vs 43m + 30m, 18th most populous in the world
4. False: it's 5,500 feathers
5. False: Bulgaria, Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Syria
6. True
7. True
8. True: Mausoleum at Halicarnassus and Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
9. True
10. True: 37.8 tourist arrivals vs 31.2 in 2013