Friday Roundup

Here are a few odds and ends that have caught my eye over the last day or two to finish the week with.

The 523Mb draft genome for banana, Musa acuminata, has been released (more on that later) in a paper in Nature by D’Hont et al  and with it this awesome Venn Diagram comparing the genes that are homologous between banana and some other important plants. (Arabidopsis is the model species for all plants – the equivalent of a lab mouse; Brachypodium is the model for grasses; Oryza is rice).

Today I caught up on some Upturned Microscope and laughed out loud at how apt this is (I can regularly be heard to offer undergraduate blood sacrifices to the gods of PCR…)

The Independent have started a new Women in Science column looking at the research of various female academics. So far, I’m really enjoying it. This is A Good Thing, especially in light of the announcements about this year’s Royal Society Premier Award recipients and Medallists (none of whom are women).

Talk has been hotting up about science communication (woo!) and whether we need some kind of kitemark to certify good science writers (erm…) This piece by Chris Chambers and Petroc Summers in the Grauniad and this one by the Science Punk, Frank Swain are both worth reading.

And finally, via Gawker, this is what happens when you throw a bag of rubbish into a volcano.