I want to be an octopus!

So, on Wednesday, I snuck into a lecture at King's (dont tell anyone!) in order to see Sydney Brenner speak.  In general, all I really wanted out of it was just that, to see Sydney Brenner, and I definitely got what I wanted, which was neat.

First though, funny story.  So, in the old uptight colleges you aren't allow to walk on the grass.  They put up scary signs in like, 9 languages, to make sure that you know it is forbidden, and if you do it, you get royally yelled at.

But, there is one exception: fellows of the college can walk on the grass.  And I, luckily enough, was not only with one of my lab mates (a graduate student at King's) but also with her friend, who was a fellow.  So I can say I've had an experience that few others have enjoyed: I walked on the grass at Kings.  The whole time I felt like I was breaking the rules, and many of you will think I'm paranoid.  Except that, immediately after we stepped off the grass, a porter came up ready to yell at us for walking on it.  He was pacified by the fact that we were with a fellow, but it shows you just how seriously they take it!

Anyways, the lecture was fun, but a bit all over the place.  I expected it to be about worm genetics (the work he won the nobel prize for), but I guess once you win the nobel prize, you can kind of do whatever you want, and Dr. Brenner has now moved into studying the evolution of the human genome, which is fine, but not something I understand all that much.  I will say that I was disappointed that the worm was never mentioned!  But he did talk about lampreys and sharks, so i guess it's cool.

He also said something that I found hilarious.  He goes "you know the old story of the hedgehog and the fox?  The hedgehog knows a lot about one thing and the fox knows a little about everything... I'm an octapus, I know a lot about everything."  Here's hopin' that's what happens to you at Cambridge!