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I worked for ten years at The Walter and Eliza Institute of Medical Research (WEHI for short). This was the institution at which Macfarlane Burnet was director. I will be writing a piece on Mac's Clonal Selection Theory of immunology, and if my former employers and employees come through, I aim to have images of Mac's actual lab book where he came up with the idea, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of it.

The youthful and handsome Jason Grossman has roped me in to do a dadaist seminar on Feyerabend. Jason and I are the intellectual progeny of Neil Thomason, who was one of PKF's students, so we are his intellectual grandsons, and therefore cousins (I'm the one that never gets invited to the family reunions). I may recount the experience of Jason's experiment and my humiliation. Or not, if the humiliation is too great (but our grandpapa would have revelled in it).

I have a bunch of speciation-related papers to comment on.

I'm preparing an introduction to the evolution of religion. You'll read bits here first (as in, first draft).

I'd like to thank all the kind words from various people about my academic difficulties, including and in particular Stefan Linquist and Craig Miller who in the nicest possible way told me to suck it up and be a mensch. I will repay...

But as I'm still teaching a subject I am barely able to comprehend, bear with me; it may take a small while. And I haven't forgotten the other to-dos either.

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Today I got my manuscript off to the publisher. Heaven knows what the editors will do with it; I expect a sympathetic treatment as the publisher's editorial board are quite keen. But it's like having a ten year boil lanced. And seeing a favourite child graduate. All at once. So it remains for me…
John Wilkins has an excellent essay on Paul Feyerabend up over at Evolving Thoughts. It begins: Paul Feyerabend is famous for attempting to make science subject to democratic revision. How shall we assess this in the light of the present attacks on science? Is he naive, or is he merely wrong? Can…
On Monday night last, Jason Grossman, a philosopher form the Australian National University rang me with an idea. He was coming to my university to give a talk entitled "How to Feyerabend", arguing that Feyerabend was a dadaist rather than an anarchist. I'd tell you more about his talk, but I can'…
A reader recently sent in the following question: Hi Ladies -- I've been reading your blog for most of my graduate career, and am currently beginning my first post-doc position. I've got a question for your readers, and I'm dying to know if anyone's really come up with a good solution for it. How…

Gus gave me a copy, because the ms and graphics were prepared by my department. As I taught him to use PowerPoint, I made him promise to teach me to joust, him being a knight of the realm, but he never did...

Dr Grace, CEO of ActoKine Therapeutics did a PhD with Sir Gus Nossal at WEHI and she bought 30 books (about WEHI written by Sir Gus Nossal). Dr Grace will be happy to send this book to students of all ages in immunology.

Please e-mail alex@pauling.us

from Alex Pauling (for Dr. Grace, ActoKine)