Looking back my undergrad education, and equipped with some new knowledge, I started wondering if I was actually educated to be a scientist after all. Some background is needed here: I studied a bachelor’s and master’s in chemical biology, at a quite decent university in Germany. Chemical biology is basically a sub-discipline of biochemistry, so […]
How is a biomolecule different from any other molecule? Are there artificial chemicals and natural chemicals? Should scientists be trying to make their work sound more “natural”, “organic” or “biological”? In this episode we talk about this self-identification and how it may be harming science as a whole. Listen on Spotify: Or many other […]
This time, we brought some random topics that we found interesting and worth chatting about. Chris’ first topic went out of hand quite quickly. It was a humble list of the 5 biggest discoveries of the 2010s. In no way was this objective at all of course, so we took a bit of a stand […]
Even though most scientists agree, there are significant flaws in the publishing system (and related to that: funding distribution, reproducibility and peer review) change is slow. We need open access to the literature for both scientists and the public, we need to overcome this obsession with impact factors and we need a peer review system […]
Let’s dive deep into biochemistry! Chris and I discuss our beloved biological marcromolecules, and how they are all synthesised in a linear fashion, as a chain of monomers. I was wondering why this is, since especially proteins function through their 3D structure and the linear nature of the chain can be a drawback. For example, […]
What a ridiculous and utterly obsolete question. It is the exact opposite! That’s what you would here from most people. At closer look however, the habits in the scientific community resemble those in religious circles more than they would like. Ashley, Chris and I take on that question and discuss in which aspects the scientific […]
Unlike myself, Chris is a proper chemist. He enlightens me about the chemistry involved in waste treatment and the physical laws that make it so difficult to separate different substances from one another. One of the most concerning issues on our planet, how to deal with all the garbage, ultimately comes down to entropy, and […]
Chris and I chat about some features of RNA that are generally not so prominent in biochemistry textbooks, but I find them really fascinating. Along these thoughts, we trash some ribozymes, take a stand on RNA’s role in the origin of life and discuss a few issues and developments of the recently emerging RNA-based drugs. […]
One of the great things about academia is the freedom in terms of defining our own working hours. Together with the almost obligatory tradition of Swedish fika (coffee breaks) and a research building with many friends around, this resulted in many, many discussions about science, the community and implications of our work. At some point, […]
When we think of chemistry, we usually think of something modern. Of laboratories with glassware, bubbling liquids, steam, smoke and a nasty smell. This might not be completely off, at least not from the labs I have seen. But chemistry can be more than that. Chemistry is about changing matter, right? About making certain compounds […]