Food Photography III: Takumi Tokyo Restaurant, Keppel Bay, Singapore

Here are some astonishing examples of high-end Japanese cousine from the selection available at Takumi Tokyo, a fashionable restaurant of traditional Japanese ambience, elegantly decorated in Chanto style, overlooking Singapore’s Keppel Bay. The restaurant specializes in Teppanyaki (iron plate), Robatayaki (charcoal grill) and sashimi. All fresh ingredients are flown regularly from Japan; fish and sea food twice a week straight from Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market.

The photographs were taken with Canon EOS 7D and the EF 24mm f/1.4 L II lens using available light. They attempt to capture the freshness of the ingredients as well as the subtleties of composition and presentation of the dishes. Read more...

Making science (part IV): Good science, good writing

Can a good scientist be a bad writer? The answer, in my opinion, is nope. Here is the story.

The registrator office at the Karolinska Institute has recently received a request to release the full texts of several of their successful grant applications to the European Research Council (ERC) as well as the texts of their respective evaluations and referee comments. ERC grants are both generous and prestigious awards that have come symbolize the success of the European scientific elite. Under Swedish freedom of information legislation, the Karolinska Institute -which is ultimately under state jurisdiction- is obliged to release these documents, as astonishing as this may sound. (A topic that surely deserves a post of its own.) Needless to say, such a request has come down as nothing short of controversial among the scientists involved, since grant applications contain unpublished data and detailed confidential information about their future research programs. Who could have made such a preposterous request? Read more...