What, why and when- getting started

Science is not something anyone can escape from anymore- and by science here I mean research, new finds and the general activity of the scientific community rather than science itself because science is everything. Most major newspapers these days have a 'science' column of some sort and the big headlines often feature scientific research, wonder drugs, global warming, the fuel crisis, swine flu, GM crops and many more topics of a scientific nature. The problem is the terms 'mass media' and 'accuracy' don't exactly walk hand in hand into the sunset- in fact the situation is more like a western-style stand-off and accuracy is the cowboy who fired just a fraction too late. Even reputable magazines like the new scientist can be guilty of biased reporting and even without that if you're anything like me, you'll find the New Scientist can be just a little too focused on the cutting edge sometimes and you find yourself flicking through the five page article on the Large Hadron Collider and Yet Another Article on Why the Planet is Doomed to get to the funny bit at the back.
With this blog I want to look less at whats new and more at whats interesting- hence the name: Blonde Science is a self-mocking reference to my hair colour and its associated character traits, but the idea is that the science reported here will largely be 'fluffy'- things that might not be ground-breaking but that are far more likely to interest people and to relate to their daily lives. Despite this, nothing will be made up or over-exaggerated; everything I write about I will have read about first if its within my purvue or will have had carefully explained to me by one of my exceedingly boffin-like science friends if it isn't. In addition a link to at least one relevant scientific article will be posted at the bottom of each entry so you can judge for yourself.
I will most probably update once a week- more if I'm procrastinating, less if my dissertation heats up (its my final year so I need to be indulged :P).
I think I'm going to enjoy writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it- well I hope you read it at all actually.