Returning home from Lablit this evening at about 11 pm I scanned the clear sky in the south-east and noticed a small bright speck to the left of and slightly higher than the glowing moon. A quick perusal of Starmap on the iPhone told me that this was likely to be Saturn. At last! I dashed into the house, had a quick comfort-break (at the Americans so delicately put it), grabbed my telescope and set up shop on our front pathway.

Roll up! Roll up! Lay-deeeez and Genne-men! Step right in! We have here today for your delectation and amazement a veritable cornucopia of comeliness, a festival of fecundity, a very large bucket of sciency bits, in all their wondrous and freakish varieties. We present Scientia Pro Publica Number Twenty-Two! Like a barnacle’s penis, this edition of Scientia Pro Publica is long and strange and packed with seeds–for thought.

Yesterday morning I made my way to the Royal Courts of Justice in London’s Strand to attend the Court of Appeal hearing in the libel case brought by the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) against Simon Singh.

Grrlscientist and Bob caught me napping the other day and before I knew it, I had agreed to host the next Scientia Pro Publica, which will be published here on Monday 1st March .

I have little to say this evening apart from reporting that I came home tonight and caught the new moon before it dipped behind the trees. Thought some of you might want to have a look. Moon over Kent And my daughter and I espied the Orion Nebula; unfortunately my photographic equipment is not up to recording that. But this astronomy lark is the business .

Updated at 10:30 am Following my brief and angry post last week about Simon Jenkins’ wayward accusations against scientists in The Guardian , Bill Hanage and I have written a more temperate but no less strongly felt response that has appeared in today’s paper (page 33 if you have a copy). The article has now appeared online (thanks to Richard for spotting it – see comments) but here below is the copy that we submitted

I just wanted to clamber up onto my pedestal for a moment (it’s rented – I don’t actually possess one) and shout at the very top of my voice that Simon Jenkins has written an article in The Guardian that has made me VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY, VERY CROSS!!! I’ve already commented there (as scww) and have nothing more to say on the matter tonight.

Thought that some of you might like to know that the latest (Feb 2010) issue of The Biochemist is running a special series of articles on Science and the Media; science communication if you will.

This morning I attended a my first ever publicity stunt. The 10 ²³ overdose event, initiated by the Merseyside Skeptics, was held in cities around the UK and the rest of the world. Our particular group assembled in the lightly frosted but thoroughly freezing Red Lion Square in Holborn, London. I was more than happy to hand over £5 for the 10 ²³ t-shirt—glad of the extra layer of clothing!

After a slight delay, I had an idea for a blog post and I’m going to run with it. Hope you can keep up. I have started to run. I have known for a long time that I needed to do this but it took a build-up of pressure to get me moving. It is for my own good. I am feeling the pain but also, still somewhat to my surprise, the benefit. So far I am managing to go running about three times a week.

Tonight I attended a science policy debate organised by CaSE at the Institution of Engineering and Technology on London’s Embankment.