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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · 2d

Wonderful talk by author @lamornaash.bsky.social on Sat @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social about her new book - courageous, honest & uplifting. Thanks not just for signing copy for my son but also for unpacking what ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ is all about - after reading your book I finally get it! (at last!)

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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Aug 29

And everyone legged it on arrival of a deer. Best nights TV viewing I’ve seen in years!

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Aug 29

Mind you - fox made itself scarce when the badgers pals showed up…

Wildlife camera on cottage in Northumberland, UK captures three badgers feeding

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Aug 29

Have spent the week in remote #Northumberland where #foxandbadger captured on cottage wildlife camera show that nature need not always be so brutally ‘red in tooth and claw’. Surely a pub name in there somewhere, if not an example of harmonious co-existence from which we would do well to learn...

Wildlife camera on cottage in Northumberland, UK captures fox and badger eating together

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 25

And having written a book that contains both science - thanks to Astbury & Bell’s work on DNA - and cricket thanks to the legendary 1981 Headingley Ashes, I was delighted to have been there myself yesterday - right over the road from Astbury’s former home on Kirkstall Lane! #ENGvsIND

Plaque commemorating scientist and pioneer of molecular biology, William Astbury (1898-1961) on his former home in Headingley, Leeds,UK

Public art commemorating England's legendary win in the 1981 Ashes at Headingley, Leeds

Portrait of physicist Florence Bell (1913-2000) who first showed that X-rays could be used to reveal the regular, ordered structure of DNA

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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 25

And a MASSIVE thanks also to Butlers & Boundary Hotel on Cardigan Road, Headingley Leeds who helped save the day (along with England’s batting!) by kindly providing secure laptop storage for those of us who'd come along hoping to sneak some work in during lunch & tea! www.boundaryhotel.co.uk

The Boundary Hotel | Headingley, Leeds

When you need a place to stay, get in touch with the friendly team at The Boundary Hotel in Headingley, Leeds. We’re close to the stadium complex and the town centre.

www.boundaryhotel.co.uk

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 25

Had they still been around, am sure that, as keen cricket fans, Leeds based scientists #WilliamAstbury & #FlorenceBell would have taken a break from work on #DNA structure & wool to be at #Headingley yesterday for victory in #ENGvsIND Test Match...

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 22

Apple crumble or pie? 50 years of Jaws. Am loving Test Match Special commentary! Here’s hoping history can be made in Headingley once again! (Although thanks to cricket-loving 1930s DNA scientists William Astbury & Florence Bell commemorated right opposite Len Hutton gates…it already has…)

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 21

Enjoyed this luxury 5-star accommodation last night in order to be up in time for live stream of summer Solstice sunrise over Stonehenge. Well worth it! A big thanks to #englishheritage for this!

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 20

And finally let's not forget father & son science team, William & Lawrence Bragg who lived on Grosvenor Rd, Headingley & jointly won 1915 Nobel in Physics. So good luck England in #cricket, but even if things don’t work out - plenty still for #Headingley to be proud of! #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch

Plaque on former home of Nobel prize winning physicist Sir William Bragg in Headingley, Leeds, UK

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 20

Don’t know whether scientists Archer Martin & Richard Synge were #cricket fans meanwhile, but their 1952 Nobel Prize awarded for work done in lab only 5 mins walk from #testmatch ground another reason for #Headingley to be on the map today! One for the crowds at #EnglandvsIndia to look out for!

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 20

And as she was reputed to be a bit handy with a #cricket bat (as well as X-ray crystallography), I reckon that physicist #FlorenceBell who made first X-ray studies of DNA structure in Astbury’s lab in 1938 might well have joined him at #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch in #Headingley today

Portrait of physicist Florence Bell (1913-2000) who first showed that X-rays could be used to reveal regular, ordered structure of DNA

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jun 20

If he were still around today, am sure that keen #cricket fan & physicist William Astbury would have taken a break from trailblazing science to stroll through Len Hutton gates opposite his home on Kirkstall Lane #Headingley and watch #England vs #India #Testmatch

Commemorative blue plaque in Headingley, Leeds,UK for physicist and pioneer of molecular biology, William Astbury

Len Hutton gates at Headingley Test Cricket ground, Leeds,UK - right opposite William Astbury's former home

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · May 9

After telling story last week to #ClothworkersCompany of acrimony that erupted over who should get credit for insulin discovery, big thanks to Emilie Lucchesi who interviewed me about this very same subject for her great article in ‘Discover’ magazine www.discovermagazine.com/health/insul...

Insulin Was a Life-Saving Discovery That Came with a Bit of Controversy

Learn more about the discovery of insulin and the controversy this life-saving medicine sparked.

www.discovermagazine.com

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · May 7

Great article by @bmclain.bsky.social has given me new found respect for trusty workhorse of every molecular biology lab, the centrifuge. Endless DNA preps might have seemed a little less tedious had I known all this stuff back when I was grafting at lab bench…https://www.asimov.press/p/centrifuge

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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · May 7

Bank holiday stroll led me to this historic curiosity in woods near #Garforth east of Leeds - triumphal arch put up by Gascoigne family in 1783 to celebrate victory of American colonists over George III!!! As historian, why they would have done this leaves me most intrigued…

Triumphal arch erected by Gascoigne family on Parlington estate, East Leeds in 1783 to celebrate victory of American colonists in War of Independence

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · May 6

Am sure that similar scenes of jubilation erupted on streets of #Leeds back in 1915 to celebrate Nobel Prize in Physics for X-ray crystallography, & again in 1952 for Nobel in Chemistry - both of which unravelled our understanding of #insulin & #DNA! Well done #LUFC!!!

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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Apr 25

So how did 2 scientists doing wool research in 1940s, in a former stable filled with chloroform fumes help transform insulin from 'thick brown muck' into Wall St gold...??? Delighted to explain all to the #ClothworkersCompany next Wed (30th)...
www.clothworkers.co.uk/history/hist...

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monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Apr 11

From taking X-ray pics of haemoglobin for Nobel laureate Max Perutz, to pioneering computing in biological structures - all with a little help from a Meccano set on the way - a real honour to interview Prof. Tony North for @LeedsPhilandLit earlier this year www.kerstenhall.com/2025/04/04/r...

Rubbing Shoulders With Giants – the Scientific Odyssey of Prof. Tony North – Kersten Hall

www.kerstenhall.com

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Apr 11

Congrats to my colleague @JonTophamHPS for great interview in latest issue of ‘Viewpoint’ @BSHS v much looking forward to his inaugural lecture ‘Science & Religion from the Ground Up’ in which he reveals how this isn't quite the historical punch-up often believed…
www.eventbrite.com/e/science-an...

Science and Religion from the Ground Up

A Professorial Inaugural and Keynote Lecture by Professor Jon Topham

www.eventbrite.com

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Mar 5

Looking 4ward to speaking at #IntelligenceForums Weightmans Law Firm, Leeds Mar 6 on ‘An Unusual Young Man - & a Life-Saving Failure’ - or, how scientist Craig Jordan's story is not just a tale of drug development, but one with lessons for us all…https://www.intelligence-forums.com/upcoming-forums

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Mar 5

Big thanks to Harrogate Medical Society not only for their hospitality when I gave a talk to them last night on story of insulin, but also to Prof. A. Stuart for kind surprise gift of this 1962 book ‘Story of Insulin’ - signed by none other than Charles Best himself!

Cover and inside page of 1962 book 'The Story of Insulin' - signed by Charles Best, one of the four Toronto-based scientists who developed te first medically useable insulin in 1922

Plaque unveiled in Duthie Park, Aberdeen in September 2024 by John J.R.Macleod Memorial Statue Society which commemorates the 'Toronto Four' - Fred Banting, Charles Best, James Collip and John JR Macleod who were all involved in the development of the first medically useable insulin in 1922

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Feb 20

So what has wool ever done for us? (Apart from weave path to unravelling structure of DNA & helping forge molecular biology) Looking forward to Monica Stenzel @hpsleeds explain all this eve in 'Fuzzy Logic: History of Wool Science in Leeds' @thoresbysoc
www.ticketsource.co.uk/thoresby-soc...

www.ticketsource.co.uk

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Feb 15

Inspired by writing about #Sisyphus from Greek mythology for new book on discovery of DNA that I’ve been working on, here’s AI generated tribute to all volunteers in Leeds who take on the truly Sisyphean task of filling #LitterFreeLeeds purple bags with litter they’ve collected #LitterbagSisyphus

Sisyphus from Greek mythology struggling to push a purple LitterFreeLeeds bag bulging with litter up a mountain slope of discarded drinks cans and bottles

monkeynutcoat.bsky.social @monkeynutcoat.bsky.social · Jan 31

A very big thank you to 2022 #GBBO winner Dr. Syabira Yusoff & LoveProductions for kindly allowing use of her double-helical cake as example of #DNA as icon in popular culture. Very much the icing on the cake (oh dear!) for our new book about discovery of DNA geneticsunzipped.com/transcripts/...

Syabira Yusoff: How an edible DNA double helix bake helped to win the Great British Bake Off — Genetics Unzipped

2022 Great British Bakeoff winner Syabira Yusoff shares her love of genetics, and what went into her eye-catching edible DNA sculpture.

geneticsunzipped.com