tags: Using Science to Create the Ultimate Chocolate Bar, Theo Chocolate Company, Seattle, organic chocolate, fair-trade chocolate,

O.K. It's been a while since I last posted, but I do have a good excuse. I've been on the road with my family for the past 5 weeks, and have just settled in London. I'm here because I am about to start a half year sabbatical, and to give you a sense of where I'm working, here are a few picture hints (note that it's not, as my Son thought for a while, Hogwarts).

Here's the "foyer" (img link):

You will probably have noticed by now, DearReader, that the NIH grant game is not exactly a distasteful part of my job. Don't get me wrong. I'd be much happier if I had landed in some hard-salary situation with exceptional institutional support, local funding sources procured by the philanthropy side of the institution and just generally had fewer concerns about actually funding my laboratory.

That didn't happen, however. I landed in a job which requires me to be at least minimally competent at acquiring major research funding. I was not particularly prepared for this.

tags: I'm a Scientist, Get me out of Here!, internet chatrooms, online program, technology, public outreach,

In the midst of the ongoing conversation about managing career and housework and who knows what else (happening here, here, here, here,

(Well, actually 6 since the first ad below is just a bit of fun...)

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JOB POSTING: "IT'S ONLY A MATTER OF TIME"

This is a call for outstanding candidates to apply for a tenure track assistant professor position within the context of the Michael Smith Laboratories at the University of British Columbia. The successful applicant is expected to work in areas of interest to current faculty members, to interact with related groups within our network and to have demonstrated ability in producing research material of excellent quality and interest.

Here at Thoughtful Animal headquarters, we're starting a new series of seven-question interviews with people who are doing or have done animal research of all kinds - biomedical, behavioral, cognitive, and so forth. Interested in how animal research is conducted, or why animal research is important? Think you might want to do some animal research of your own someday? This is the interview series for you.

Last week, I asked on twitter, and then on the blog, about peoples' preferences for listening to music while doing various types of sciencey work, and conducted an informal survey.

That all said, as a woman in science, it is sometimes disheartening to almost never hear an article suggest that a woman in science discuss household duties with her partner and split them evenly. The author of your article makes the statement that women bear the burden of household labor, but until scientists begin to tell other scientists that this isn't right, women are going to continue to leave academic science for fear of not being able to "balance" work and family.

You can be right and be practical at the same time. These need not be mutually exclusive.