Ten simple rules for effective computational research

With the increasing use of computational techniques in the life sciences, a wide range of scientists are finding that software development plays an increasing role in their day-to-day research. In this post Dr Alexander Fletcher discusses a forthcoming article on best practice when developing and using software for scientific research.

Mid-term update

We're halfway through term here in Oxford, and at the WCMB we've had a busy week with excellent talks by Zhuoyi Song and Luca Cardelli. Next week Frits Veerman and Adam McLean are speaking at Monday's group meeting, while Friday's research seminar will be given by David Smith.

Our blog admins have been hit by scheduling delays this week, so there's no new post from us. But why not check out some of our group's very successful individual blogs, The Laughing Mathematician and Cancer Connector.

We've got some exciting posts in the pipeline for the rest of this and next month, and will be back for you all next Sunday.

Hamilton’s haplodiploidy hypothesis and the females who do all the work

In this post Nick Davies, who is doing his DPhil between the WCMB and the Foster lab in Zoology, provides some history on the long-standing question of why worker castes in social colonies of wasps, bees, and ants are exclusively female.

Blabbing about blebbing: Oxford University’s Mathematical Institute conference on membrane dynamics and blebbing, September, 2013.

In this post Dr Thomas Woolley reviews a recent conference he organised in Oxford. Bringing together experimentalists and theoreticians from around the world they had one focus: blebbing cells!