We're on QVC!

Last month we had a visit from the QVC team to come and shoot our very own Kit Heath in his natural habitat. Being a quintessential British summer day it was pouring, how delightful!

Kit running away from the sea

QVC assured us they can do great things with wizardry cinematography and were unconcerned about the grizzly day, so in true British tradition we donned our macs and ventured out into the changeable conditions! 

Kits holiday home

True to form, it didn't stop Kit from showing QVC what it was that has inspired him to become one of the UK's leading jewellery designers.

Kit in his garden

Is that Sun as well as surf?!

It was all shot in a few different locations, Kits back garden as well as the stunningly dramatic Saunton Sands, which was also the location for the Robbie Williams video for Angels...

Tune in on Tuesday 13th September at 9pm Freeview 16, Virgin TV 740 or Freesat 800 for an opportunity to meet our Creative Director Yasmin Moss live. Yasmin will be giving a further insights and will be showing a few special pieces of jewellery from our collection.

yes, to lots of light.
yes, to lucite shelving.
yes, to vintage chandeliers.

Mountain Trails

Ok, the only reason I have added this picture, was because so many people complained that the bear attack photo was so graphic and disturbing. So since I don't have pictures of kittens and puppies playing with little children, please gaze at the above photo.

While doing the mountain skills course this was what it looked like from the top of Heart Mountain looking west toward Canmore.

Now get out there and train for the Vulture Bait Trail Races, its only weeks away and you should pre-register now. Looks like another early sell out year.

Hyperinsulinemia: Cause or Effect of Obesity?

Is Elevated Insulin the Cause or Effect of Obesity?

The carbohydrate hypothesis, in its most popular current incarnation, states that elevated insulin acts on fat cells to cause fat storage, leading to obesity.  This is due to its ability to increase the activity of lipoprotein lipase and decrease the activity of hormone-sensitive lipase, thus creating a net flux of fat into fat cells.  I'm still not sure why this would be the case, considering that fat tissue becomes more insulin resistant as body fat accumulates, therefore insulin action on it is not necessarily increased.  Total fat release from fat tissue increases with total fat mass (1), demonstrating that insulin is not able to do its job of suppressing fat release as effectively in people who carry excess fat.  But let's put that problem aside for the moment and keep trucking.

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My view on "safe" research

What's that old proverb that everyone used to forward around in the 90s?

Work like you don't need the money; dance like no one is watching; sing like no one is listening; love like you've never been hurt; and live life every day as if it were your last.

I basically view my research program this way now. I met with a senior colleague recently who started to dispense the "play it safe until you're tenured" advice, then stopped themselves midstream and said, "Actually, if you play it safe you probably won't get tenure."

I think the game is all about finding exciting problems to work on and having the motivation to work on them (and getting students excited about working on them). It's also about aligning yourself to what people want to fund. We certainly seem to be in an era of applied research being popular - which is great for most computer scientists, though I do feel bad for my colleagues in theoretical fields.

Still, I think it's possible to be well-aligned with the desires of funding agencies and administrators while also pursuing dangerous ideas. It's all about spin.