The Holiday Nightmare of the Scientific Mum. Part II. The Microbiologist

This cartoon describes particularly well the paranoia of scientific mums like me. I hate trips to tropical countries due to the above mentioned microbes plus the different parasitic worms. So I fear all those tiny mean organisms, and I am even more afraid that one of my little darlings could get infected with any of them... So, in order to stay relaxed we avoid tropical regions as holiday destinations like hell.

The Holiday Nightmare of the Scientific Mum. Part I. The Ecologist

Going on holidays with kids is in fact a constant nightmare for me as a scientist. This novel series is just representing the kind of paranoia scientific mums have while going on holidays...

Baby names for immunologists

Well, no need for comments this time.

Scientific sex symbols revisited

I guess the post title alone (containing the magic word 'sex') will bring me a lot of pageviews :-), irrespective of the content of the post... Well, this is just a cartoon not that much about science, but about women. It only describes the women types I know... The real sex symbol (Ms Amanda Beauty who knows and uses her weapons of mass destruction), the asexual scientific spinster (Dr. Dorothy Mary Nevermarry, who does not even know what is sex) and the scientific wife with 4 kids (the prehistoric sex symbol with some extra weight due to kids, and simultaenous family life and carreer). Just some self-irony :-).

Homeopathic healing - my opinion about homeopathy

I do not want to comment too much. Many people know very well what is the whole homeopathy vs. science discussion about... I have tried some homeopathic pills ('medicine'?), some have even worked (although I know that of course they could not have acted chemically because they contained nothing except lactose), and I think that I have summed up the secret of homeopathic healing with this cartoon. It is quite an ancient story, for other religions I should have prepared a Buddha, a Shiva, a Vishnu, a Muhammad (well, not really that one), etc. cartoon as well, but anyway, the message is the same: if homeopathic pills have the same efficiency as the PLACEBO than it is basically your own faith that (may) heal(s) you. (If this is possible.) So maybe instead of going to pharmacy to buy and eat pills that do not contain anything you may better go to church (or turn towards spirituality). Homeopathy is something like a hybrid, it offers the illusion of healing yourself with a medicine while in fact it is only your faith that may heal you... Maybe I should call homeopathy the religion of atheists?
P.s.: I do not want to underestimate people's faith, I have seen examples when faith has cured people, maybe this is the reason why homeopathy is still florishing. I know leading scientists who use it and say: I have tried it and it worked, so why not? And of course I am also fully aware of the fact that chemical healing - i.e. medicine - is sometimes (in most cases) essential to get healed. (So it is foolish to refuse medical care and medicine, especially in serious illnesses. At the same time it is not bad if you also want to get healed. Because without your own faith in very serious conditions chemical healing may not work.)

Baby names for opera fans (or scientists loving operas)

Female scientists' last words

I think I put all text into this comic strip, so please just read it carefully... And basically without judgement.