The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

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genetics

Scientific illustration of RNA and mRNA doing stuff inside a cell.

Science Art:Vergleich der Aufnahme von RNA und modR in der Zelle, 2018

27 October 2025 grant 0

A diagram of two kinds of RNA doing their thing inside a cell (which is converting instructions from DNA into some kind of protein that a cell uses to do something.

Since this illustration … Read the rest “Science Art:Vergleich der Aufnahme von RNA und modR in der Zelle, 2018”

SONG: What To Do (On mRNA Immune Checkpoint Blockade)

25 October 2025 grant 0

SONG: “What To Do (On mRNA Immune Checkpoint Blockade)”. (OGG version here.)

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: Based on “People with some cancers live longer after a COVID vaccine”… Read the rest “SONG: What To Do (On mRNA Immune Checkpoint Blockade)”

Making embryos from human skin

22 October 2025 grant 0

BBC recently reported on scientists taking DNA from human skin cells and fertilizing it with sperm to create a non-egg embryo – or at least an embryo with someone else’s DNA… Read the rest “Making embryos from human skin”

Ghost sharks have teeth on their foreheads because it’s sexy.

8 September 2025 grant 0

PhysOrg redefines what “attractive” is for the deep-sea set, thanks to a study that has found male ghost sharks grow a retractable, tooth-covered rod out of their foreheads… Read the rest “Ghost sharks have teeth on their foreheads because it’s sexy.”

DNA reveals Africans in medieval England.

15 August 2025 grant 0

Anthropology.net looks at two 7th-century graves from different parts of England — Kent and Dorset — that prove African-descended people were living in England practically… Read the rest “DNA reveals Africans in medieval England.”

Looking Denisovans in the face for the first time.

10 July 2025 grant 0

Cell reconstructs a prehistoric face, thanks to DNA analysis of an unusual skull that proved to be the first-known skull of a Denisovan, the other prehistoric human besides Neanderthals… Read the rest “Looking Denisovans in the face for the first time.”

Our butts used to be sperm dispensers.

25 April 2025 grant 0

Science Alert reports on an evolutionary study that has found our butts (from which everybody, as the children’s book tells us, poops) were originally a little bit more risque. The… Read the rest “Our butts used to be sperm dispensers.”

Tricking the immune system into attacking tumors.

18 January 2025 grant 0

Nature reports on Chinese researchers who found a way to make the body get rid of cancer — by disguising tumors as transplanted pig organs, so the body rejects them:

Immunologist and

… Read the rest “Tricking the immune system into attacking tumors.”

You are what your great-grandparents didn’t eat

10 January 2025 grant 0

Nautilus looks at the long-term effects of famine — and finds that extreme hunger can affect the bodies of future generations:

To conduct their research, [Tulane pediatric nephrologist

… Read the rest “You are what your great-grandparents didn’t eat”

Four people can see clearly thanks to stem-cell transplants

28 November 2024 grant 0

Science Alert reports on a successful experiment that has restored vision to multiple people with cornea damage by using a new stem-cell transplant technique:

Four participants were

… Read the rest “Four people can see clearly thanks to stem-cell transplants”

Why did some folks never get covid, and others *always* got it?

18 July 2024 grant 0

The Conversation finds a scientific reason for an often-observed phenomenon – that some people seemed strangely immune to COVID-19, while others would come down with it more than… Read the rest “Why did some folks never get covid, and others *always* got it?”

A drug to regrow teeth.

4 June 2024 grant 0

Endgadget (via Yahoo! News) has bad news for the Tooth Fairy coming out of Kyoto University, where researchers have a drug for regrowing lost teeth that’s about to enter human trials… Read the rest “A drug to regrow teeth.”

Mouth bacteria linked to colon cancer

15 April 2024 grant 0

Scientific American has new research that finds a connection between one subspecies of a bacterium commonly found in our mouths, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and the growth colon cancer,… Read the rest “Mouth bacteria linked to colon cancer”

Glowing petunias.

9 April 2024 grant 0

NPR greets springtime with flowers that show their brightest color (a fluorescent green) after the sun goes down, thanks to genetic modification that makes these petunias glow in the dark… Read the rest “Glowing petunias.”

Ancient viruses gave us our brains.

15 March 2024 grant 0

“Language is a virus,” said William S. Burroughs. Now, Science Daily reports that researchers at Altos Labs-Cambridge Institute of Science have found that intelligence… Read the rest “Ancient viruses gave us our brains.”

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Something to Believe In

GRANT: something to believe in

You could write a review of this album here on iTunes.

That would be generous.

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RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP): Junior Group Leader Positions at the IMP (Vienna, Austria)
  • Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago: Assistant Professor – Quantum Science & Engineering (Theoretical)
  • Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago: Assistant Professor – Quantum Science & Engineering (Experimental)
  • Mohammed VI Polytechnic University: GCZSC - Professor in Greenhouse Gases
  • Mohammed VI Polytechnic University: GCZSC - Professor in Isotope Geochemistry
  • Yale University - : Director of Operations Yale Center for Genome Analysis
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
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"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

grant balfour made this website.

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