Way back in my late teens when I was first exploring the world of music, the usual way I would choose LPs would be browsing the inky music papers and by judging an LP by its cover. Shallow perhaps, but both avenues left me liable to be misled by the general scorched earth policy of punk and post-punk, particularly when informed by the NME. I particularly recall seeing albums by the three bands below in the racks at the Ezy Ryder record exchange in Greyfriars Market.The first of these, by the then London-based Ghanaian/Caribbean band Osibisa, was characterised by a Roger Dean cover, which naturally (if unfairly) led me to think this was some kind of ghastly Yes style prog rock. I say unfairly because, as the Wikipedia page on Osibisa observes, these covers predated Dean's work with Yes. I took advantage of my explorations on Spotify to have a listen to Osibisa's eponymous first album. I think I can safely say my younger self would have hated it (though partly to keep up with the prevailing taste of the era). Now, being a bit more broad-minded I actually quite like the record - at least enough to give it further listens (but probably not enough to buy it).[embed size="compact"]Osibisa – Osibisa (Digitally Remastered Version)[/embed]Van Der Graaf Generator are one of those bands which one definitely couldn't like by the time 1977 rolled round. Unfortunately, one of the things that determines whether or not I like something is the vocal. And I must say I didn't much care for this record too much.[embed size="compact"]Van Der Graaf Generator[/embed]Punishment of Luxury's Laugh Academy is an LP I definitely recall from EzyRyder's racks. Goodness knows why I never gave it a blast at the time. Listening in 2013 (34 years after its original release!), it's definitely a record of its period. But given that's an era I am particularly fond of, it's perhaps no surprise I rather like it. More listens forthcoming.[embed size="compact"]Punilux[/embed]

I caught some of this when it was broadcast live yesterday (at 5am!). Here's the video...[youtube fymChgeO00g]

I have decided to try a 30 day trial of Spotify premium. This is kind of alien to me, really, as my whole music listening past has been focussed on collecting music - mostly in album form - and the concept of merely accessing music from the web is anathema.I've installed the Mac app, the iPad app and the Logitech Media Server plugin.Actually, though, I can see this being an avenue to listen to music before buying it in a higher resolution format (I usually go for flac). I will give Spotify a month (i.e. the trial), then decide whether I'm really going to be getting £9.99 (per month) of value from it. Even the Premium account delivers pretty lo-res music.

Here's a digest of recent music added to my collection.Black Pus - This came across my radar via the music site The Quietus which featured a track (1000 Years) from an upcoming album.[soundcloud id='70726224' color='#ff7700']There area  few Black Pus albums available on Bandcamp - I bought Pus Mortem. I kind of like the stripped down clatter of Black Pus and find it unaccountably invigorating.[bandcamp album=408643617 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=fa1520 size=grande]Cyclopean is a collaboration that includes a couple of founder members of Can. They have a four track EP out on Mute. You can get flac downloads, but not I think from the Mute shop. It's pretty straightforward electronica, but nonetheless enjoyable for that. Here's an edit from one of the four tracks on the EP.[soundcloud id='77259492' color='#ff7700']Fire! Orchestra - Exit! Slightly unusually for me, I added a free jazz album this month - Fire! Orchestra's album of late 2012, Fire! I've kind of been inveigled into Gustafsson sax jazz via Neneh Cherry and The Thing - see their cover of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream. Despite being live, this is quite laid back a lot of the time. Two tracks - here's an edit of one of them[soundcloud id='76288623' color='#ff7700']Merzbow Pandi Gustafsson Cuts A rather noiser outing for Gustafsson, this time in the company of Hungarian drummer Pandi and Japanese noise artist Merzbow. Bought as flac download. Here's a snippet:[soundcloud id='72072638' color='#ff7700']This I rather like. There's a general thread in my listening these days, to include sound textures as much as music, hence my liking for both the introspective analogue bleeps and gurgles of Pan Sonic and wilder noise.My Bloody Valentine mbv.  This caused something of an interweb sensation when released - the website crashed due to all the hits. I'm not a major MBV fan, but I bought it in part to see what the fuss was all about. To be honest, I wouldn't rave about it ... yet, but it's definitely growing on me. It's really a bit of an old-fashioned shoegaze type album, and I'd have to leave it to the MBV fans to identify whether it represents a significant advance over previous MBV offerings.Finally, today's the release date of the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album, Push The Sky Away. Keenly awaited, the download link is still not active - I ordered the super deluxe edition to be released in April, so all I'll get at the moment is an mp3 download. I am sure it will repay the patience. More on that later.

This has quite frankly been the worst start to a cycling year since I took up cycling seriously about 20 years ago. In the last instalment of My month in cycling, for December, I noted that I'd been quite ill over Christmas. I don't know what that was that afflicted me so badly for a few weeks with heavy coughing and fevers, but it left me with persistent fatigue. My resting pulse rate has risen and fallen from day to day, and on some days the slightest exertion causes my heart rate to rocket.So, it's not been good. Having lost weight over Xmas, I'm now piling the pounds on as I was unable to take serious exercise for 5 weeks.From about 26th January, this began to change, and I have not only begun training again, but I have started cycling to work again. Turbo training has never seemed to attractive! I use a Polar power meter on the turbo - it may be at the less sophisticated end of the power meter market, but at least it can give me a useful estimate of where my fitness is at. And it's rather clear that this extended illness has cost me dear. It will be interesting to see if I bounce back, or grovel back.

Pere Ubu - Lady from Shanghai. (Bought as flac download) David Thomas and Co are still at it, with another good album. From the website, it would seem that an accompanying paperback book is available outlining the way the album was constructed. This may seem a bit over the top, but note the extra special limited edition of Nick Cave's new album - perhaps this is a trend!The Haxan Cloak - I bought the eponymous first Haxan Cloak album, again as a flac download), after hearing one of the tracks (The Mirror Reflecting (Part 2)) from the forthcoming second album on Soundcloud, which I found via Cosey Fanni Tutti's Twitter. I suspect the new album, due in April, is likely to present a more atmospheric sound.Todd Snow - Emergence - This is something I also noted from Cosey's tweets. Quite atmospheric and almost ambient, it's available on Bandcamp in any format (of course, I chose flac).Magazine - Live and Intermittent - Bought on CD via the wire-sound website. Bit of a nostalgia trip for me. Magazine always were one of my favourite bands of the late 70s/early 80s. Their post-reform album No Thyself (it's on sale at the moment, good value at £5) is better than I expected and a worthy addition to their discography. Anyway, back to the live Magazine CD - it's a bit lo-fi in places, but if you were there back in the day a nice reminder. I also picked up Dave Formula's CD Satellite Sweetheart, but haven't  had a chance to listen to it much so far.

My last post, on the first records I bought, reminded me of the days in which I used to spend time rootling through racks of LPs. I was something of a late starter in music buying, not acquiring any kind of record player until I left home for university. In my case, this was a 'music centre' - it was several years before I obtained components that might reasonably be termed 'HiFi'.  In any case, I enthusiastically explored many genres of rock and pop before moving off down a direction informed by punk and its sequelae of post-punk and industrial genres.Anyway, in those days record buying was a far more satisfying business. One hung on the words of the inky music papers, alerted to upcoming releases, deciding whether to believe Paul Morley's review which seemed to feature his grey socks, picking out what one should be seen to like, etc. Of course, the inky rag of choice both reflected and directed one's taste - in my case I favoured the NME. Down in the record shops, we leafed with great dedication through the racks of greasy plastic covered sleeves trying to divine from the graphic design what might be within.But back to record shops. It's always seemed to me, looking back, that we've moved from smaller local shops (staffed by people with a real interest) to a more supermarket approach (Virgin Megastore, HMV), and now to a general disappearance of record shops from the high street (presumably as we move to online shopping and buying music via downloads). I did a quick google search for one or two of the shops I frequented and came across this serious nostalgia-fest: Record Shops (at the Edinburgh Gig Guide website).Thing is, I can recall both the circumstances of the purchase, and the shop in which I bought almost all of the vinyl LPs in my collection. These LPs are really a series of hooks into the memories I have of being a student.  Also I have a better memory for individual tracks on these LPs than those bought on CD or as download. I think this is at least partly due to the punctuation of turning the record over halfway, but also to the element of scrutinising the record sleeve and I suppose the sheer dedication of my listening in those days. There are very few CD sleeves I've ever spent much time with, and of course the lack of decent artwork and sleeve notes is a major let-down of download purchases.I find myself in an era where - probably as a result of my age and lifestyle - music listening and discovery has become a very solitary activity, though much, much easier. I'm not a luddite: the majority of my music these days is obtained online, and I enjoy Last.fm, Soundcloud and Bandcamp as avenues to find music, but I have to confess to moments of nostalgia for the days of leafing endlessly and greasily through racks. 

There's a news story over at the BBC website, First records, and where you bought them, which made me think. So, confession time.My first single was Roadrunner, by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers.The first LP I bought was Dark Side of the Moon, by Pink Floyd.Both were, I think bought on the same shopping trip in late 1977 at a rather ace record shop in Edinburgh called Phoenix Records. Located on the High Street, it is sadly no more. These were the days when browsing for LPs was a process of leafing through racks of sleeves covered with clear plastic jackets, all greasy from other people's  fingers. It may be that my ageing memory is at fault, but I am sure I recall the LPs being arranged by Record Label rather than artist.Shortly after, I got caught up in the Year Zero of punk/post-punk (you can see my current tastes in this graphic representation of my last.fm scrobbles). The Pink Floyd disappeared, but more mysteriously (given the cultural circumstances), so did Roadrunner. Both are now present in my digital and digitised collection. Here's a YouTube video:

Here's a nice video of John Cale performing Venus in Furs - it's a TV broadcast from 10th January this year. h/t Here Comes The Flood

It seems that December has proceeded pretty much as the whole of the 2013 season has done: appallingly.My training has gone pretty well in fits and starts through the month, and monitoring the Critical Power estimates (obtained by the budget Polar power meter fitted to the turbo bike and analysed by Golden Cheetah) has indicated my training has not been completely ineffective!As I write, I've woken early yet again at the behest of my persistent chesty cough, which is showing no signs of shifting after about 5 days. So my last training was on 22nd December, a day before I left for a brief Christmas break. That turbo session went pretty well, and I was somewhat encouraged. Unfortunately, I've been so ill that it's looking unlikely that I will be able to ride the New Years Day '10'. I have decided to adhere to Team Grumpy's Rule #5:

Team Grumpy Rules

Over the years, Grumpy Bob and 'Grumpy' Art have developed a set of rules.  These are of course intended to be implemented at all times, however exactly.  Originally posted at the Team Grumpy blog.Rule #1. Remember to make your excuses before the race, not after. Otherwise it will just sound pathetic.Rule #2. Don't tinker with your bike the evening before the event. It will break, either then or, worse still, during the event.Rule #3. If all else fails, buy some new bike kit.Rule #4. And if rule #3 fails, new skinsuits are probably a good option.Rule #5. Never train or race with a bad cough - it will destroy your entire season.Rule #6. Tantrums are appropriate if provoked (e.g. by mechanical problems), but try to avoid damage to equipment.Rule #7. Team Grumpy riders are allowed to use whatever equipment they wish (and their wallets permit). However, the official team energy drink is always pop belge.

Well, this album was really a little out of the ordinary for me. The only other record I have featuring Scott Walker is a Walker Brothers collection of some of their 60s output.I bought this as a flac download  several weeks ago, on its release date, and I've been listening since. I don't actually buy into this godlike genius thing - I think a genius might release more records - but after a few plays of samples via the web, I decided to buy it. And I'm not disappointed, though on the other hand I'm not overwhelmed. The record has an interesting juxtaposition of Walker's voice with a odd array of sounds and aural textures, which on the whole I really like. My reservations are more that I haven't really got to the bottom of the lyrics, and with an album like this, it's difficult to really form an opinion too quickly. Many of the songs seem to be making quirky connections between widely disparate people and events. It's safe to say this one's going to take a bit of concentration.

This is a Rouleur publication (under the Bloomsbury imprint), and in common with that magazine, it's chock full of photographs, printed on high quality paper. In his introduction, Sykes admits he'd always promised that he wouldn't write a biography of Fausto Coppi (there are quite afe of those around). What this book represents is a collection of photographs from Coppi's career, punctuated with interviews with some of Coppi's contemporaries. Sykes' intention is to preserve the memories of these veterans.In this, the books succeeds admirably. It's not a book that provides a detailed biography of Coppi - you have to look elsewhere for that - but for all that it's delightful to read and to savour the often superb photography, with some of the often painful eyewitness testimony.The design of the book is lovely, with excellent reproductions of the photos on heavy paper. Unfortunately the photos are not captioned, so relating them to thw interviews is not always easy. As a nice touch, the text pages are tinted in what appears to a pale Bianchi celeste.Coppi: Inside the legend of the Campionissimo, by Herbie SykesPublished by Rouleur via Bloomsbury Sport £27-ishISBN 1408181665

From Stars to Stalagmites - How everything connectsWorld Scientific 2012 ISBN 13 978 981 4324 97 7Paul S. Braterman*I am a pretty avid reader of popular science books, but generally speaking I've mostly read books with a general emphasis on biology, particularly evolutionary biology. From Stars to Stalagmites is therefore a bit different from my usual reading fare, taking a chemist's view on the world. In essence, the book spends 16 chapters explaining how we know stuff. Stuff ranging from the age of the Earth to how CFCs were incriminated as the cause of the ozone holes. Many of these accounts are told with specific reference to the people who shaped the theories and the science. I don't mean just the scientists - policy-makers and politicians also feature highly - a good example being the chapters on figuring out the cause of the ozone hole and on global warming.I could summarise this book as "a collection of stories about stuff", but that would ignore the central theme that comes across as one read through the book: how we know how natural processes work, and how we can use this understanding to probe the deep history of our planet, figure out how to rescue our planet from anthropogenic destruction and so forth.On reflection some, if not all, of the chapters come across as excellent material for presentations. Whether such has been the origins of the work or not, I do believe that the book itself would have benefited from a bit more in the way of illustration...For me, stand out chapters include the opening chapter on the age of the Earth (Chapter 1), that on Fritz Haber, the First World War and explosives (Chapter 6), and the 14th Chapter on why water is weird. But I guess those preferences reflect my interests; the book is consistently interesting and clearly written.In dealing with the evolution of ideas about the Earth's antiquity, Braterman effectively sets the stage for all the controversies manufactured by the biblical literalists who insist in (mis)interpreting the bible to deduce that the Earth is a mere 6000 years (give or take a little). The chapter takes the reader on a journey in the changing scientific understanding of earth science, which neatly encapsulates the nature of scientific discovery. I think this example illustrates the value of this book. It's not necessarily in its factual content, but in the way rational and thoughtful investigation of the world and its material phenomena can lead to clearer understanding of the world around us. And more than this, several chapters describe how current understanding can and does change as science advances, both in terms of techniques and in the application of knowledge from disparate areas of investigation.To conclude, From Stars to Stalagmites is a valued addition to my bookshelf and a fine example of popular science writing.*Disclosure: Paul Braterman is a BCSE committee member, as am I.[cross-posted from Wonderful Life]

Amazingly, the after-effects* of September's crash has lasted through most of this month (despite managing the Duo Normand about three weeks after the crash). This, together with a brief bout of illness and a trip to Scotland has continued the general derailment of my training.On the bright side, analysis of the metrics collected via my turbo trainer and using the rather excellent Golden Cheetah does seem to indicate some pick-up in form. Hopefully I'll get the ball rolling through December and beyond, with the New Year '10' as an intermediate test of fitness. In all likelihood, the first real race of 2013 will be the Port Talbot Wheelers 2-up '25', which is usually in early March.In the meantime, I've got a clear idea of what training I need to do, which is not to say I have actually been doing it. We have had a couple of decent tandem rides on days when the elements have not been so set against outdoors activity, but apart from that, road riding has largely been confined to commuting to work (by tandem).It's about this time of year that we start thinking about next year's cycling holiday. We have a few ideas for 2013, most of which revolve around either renting a house for the holiday (rather than touring), or visiting Wales as a change from Scotland. Maybe we'll decide before Hogmanay. The timing is a bit more complicated this year due to academic calendar changes at work.* These effects have been rather odd: for two weeks I was mainly in graze healing mode: after this, the pain started! Firstly, a painful shoulder, replaced after the Duo with lower back pain. Since I cleared that away, I've had pain in hip joints, another bout of back pain, twitching leg muscles, calf pain and numbness in the foot. All of this affecting my right side, upon which I made abrupt and painful contact with the tarmac at 26mph. On the bright side, no bones have actually been broken. Indeed I must be heavy boned, as in all the scrapes, crashes and car-collisions I've suffered in my cycling career I have never broken a bone. Touch wood.

Apparently recording a cover album of Nico's classic 1970 album Desertshore was something of an obsession of Peter Christopherson (Throbbing Gristle, Coil, X-TG). Sadly this project was incomplete at the time he died. It was however resurrected by his X-TG colleagues Cosey Fanni Tutti and Chris Carter.The result has been an interesting artefact: a two CD release housed in an elegant and understated sleeve, along with a 12 page booklet and a postcard. The first CD consists of the covers of the Desertshore tracks, mostly featuring guest vocalists, including Antony Hegarty, Marc Almond, Blixa Bargeld, as well as Cosey Fanni Tutti. Before listening to this, I was somewhat worried that it might be something of a mismatch of styles: in fact, the individual tracks seem to gel really rather well, and I've found myself listening to the original Nico versions in parallel - enjoying both equally. The second CD is entitled The Final Report. As I understand it, X-TG is (or rather was) the three remaining members of Throbbing Gristle after Genesis P-Orridge left, and this is them signing off after the death of Christpherson. Personally, I find this an appealling set of tracks, but somewhat less marked that those of Desertshore with their characteristic guest vocals.Highly recommended - particularly for the TG and Coil aficionados. I bought my copy from Cargo rather than Amazon, due to the tax evasion situation.

This amended road sign in Scotland has always amused me.[caption id="attachment_2055" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Beware of the elephants!"][/caption]

Along with the website update, I finally got around to sorting out the report of our 2012 Summer Tour (click the Cycling menu item above and select 2012).  I suppose this was almost a Spring tour, as we had to set off quite early due to work commitments. On the other hand, I think this was 9 days of rain-free cycling, and possibly our first tour in which we had no rain. Despite the dates we cycled, we did encounter some midgies - but they weren't really much of an issue.During the nine days, starting and finishing in Oban, we visited Barra, Eriskay, South Uist, Benbecula, North Uist, Harris, Lewis, Skye and Mull. We made nine ferry crossings! Almost every B&B had free WiFi, making this our most connected tour - we took along an iPad to plan routes using Google Maps, to check weather forecasts and on one occasion find out about a road closure. The road closure was suspended because of the Queen's Silver Jubilee.

I bought my first copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico way back in the 1970s, when it was a relatively young thing of around a decade in age. Sadly, though it had the benefits of a gatefold sleeve, it lacked the peelable banana. Since then of course, the already considerable mystique of the Velvet Underground has grown and grown. During the transition from vinyl to CD, I did step up to the 5 CD Peel Slowly and See set, featuring the four 'real' Velvet Underground albums plus a variety of out-takes and demos (most notably the CD of the Ludlow Street demos).[caption id="attachment_2042" align="aligncenter" width="265" caption="The 6 CDs are housed in a large format hardback book"][/caption]So, having not fallen for the 2 CD Deluxe Edition released in 2002, you might think I'd not be that interested in this latest outing for this venerable and influential album. Well, of course I was interested! What were the attractions for me? Mostly the mono version of the album; the Sceptre Studios demos and Factory rehearsal tapes; and of course 2 CDs of the live show recorded in 1966 at the Valleydale Ballroom.CD1 - The album in stereo mix, followed by five alternate takes. Frankly not much needs to be said about this, it's one of the finest albums in my collection. In general, I'd note that the best choice was made on which song versions made the final selection for the album.CD2 - The album in mono mix (this is apparently considered to be the version closest to the sound the band were aiming at), followed by both sides of each of the two singles.CD 3 - Nico's first solo album Chelsea Girl. A bit of an odd choice for inclusion, despite featuring most of the VU on most of the tracks. But, hey, I didn't have this already and despite Nico's unhappiness with the final product, I quite like it - though I prefer other Nico albums.CD 4 - Possibly the main selling point of the set, this CD has the Sceptre Studios sessions, some from tape, some from the Norman Dolph acetate (which famously turned up in a New York flea market). Also on CD 4 are recordings from rehearsals at the Factory. All pretty much of interest in the evolution of the album.CD 5 and 6 comprise the whole of the only 'proper' recording of the Velvet Underground and Nico live. This was at the Valleydale Ballroom, Columbus, Ohio (which still seems to exist 45 years on!). At least parts of this set have circulated in bootleg form over the years. I have rather murky sounding CD of this set (with the two long free-from tracks omitted) entitled Down For You Is Up. I always said that the boot is quite good if you know what the song is before you listen to it! The recordings on these two CDs are definitely not high fidelity, but are definitely better than on the bootleg version.The six CDs are housed in slots in cardboard pages bound at the rear of the lavishly presented hardback book.This is packaging. Fine packaging. Very fine packaging. While I'd seen many of the photos before, many are new to me. The text is not what you'd call lengthy, but it really does set the music and lyrics in the set in their appropriate context.So basically, this is one of the truly great and influential albums from the 1960s. But I guess an expansive (and expensive) set such as this really is for the completist. I cannot believe that someone who doesn't already have a copy of VU&N would even consider this a reasonable purchase!

Normally at this time of year, I write a review of the past season. This year I won't, mostly because my season has been so awful. A combination of the weather, illness, injury, and having trouble fitting training in around my work all contributed to a poor season's racing (in combination with Father Time, it has to be said).I had intended to return from the Duo Normand and get straight into preparations for the 2013 season. By the time I rode the Duo Normand, my scrapes and grazes acquired in the crash on 8th September had pretty much healed up. Unfortunately by then what turned out to be a series of aches and pains had begun. First up was severe shoulder pain, and this was followed by lower back pain, hip joint pain, leg muscle problems and the like, all mostly affecting my right hand side (which had made contact with the road).So, as I write, I've effectively been laid off from cycling (other than a spot of cycle commuting) for the best part of four weeks. Not ideal. I was too crocked to ride the NBRC Hill Climb championship. This is held on the short but steep climb at Bow Brickhill. I am gratified to see that one of my NBRC club mates won the event, though by an excitingly small margin of 0.3 seconds! Personally, I dislike hill climbs - they make me feel unwell! Formally, of course, the final event of the 2012 club event series actually happens in 2013: the New Year '10' on the first of January.The layoff has been pretty useful in the sense that I had the time to follow up on the news coverage of the Armstrong scandal. I had read Tyler Hamilton's book The Secret Race on the Kindle just before heading off to France, so I had some idea of what the USADA dossier would say. But I wasn't prepared for the extent to which USADA savaged Armstrong and colleagues. The fallout has been epic, and I look forward to Bruyneel's appeal hearing to CAS over his sanctions.My bike club, the North Bucks Road Club, has had a bit of a rough year, with declining membership and lower turnouts at our club events. Our recent AGM addressed some of these issues, particularly fired by my revolutionary zeal. This earned me nomination as club Vice Chairman. Or, as I put it, Chairman of Vice. Having ploughed through the USADA report, one might say I am now well-qualified to be Chairman of Vice! But seriously, we do hope to pull the NBRC through the doldrums and capitalise on the upsurge in interest in cycling both locally and nationally. I've begun overhauling the club's website, though at the moment changes are somewhat behind the scenes unless you're a paid-up member of the club. Attendance at our Wednesday club events has been dropping, which probably reflects lower membership but also competition from other clubs' events - particularly those held on the fast Tring course which I think has attracted non-NBRC members particularly.

I was in London on Friday for the latest progress meeting of the SysMIC project. It's a project funded by the BBSRC as a resource for members of its research community: from graduates beginning their career through to established researchers wishing to improve their skills in mathematical and systems biology.Here's the course syllabus. There's also an overview of how SysMIC connects to the BBSRC's new doctoral training programmes (SysMIC briefing for DTP students - Word file).At the moment it's being 'road-tested' by some early adopter PhD students (and by me, the only member of the team with what might be classed as 'rusty' mathematical skills). At the end of our meeting, we wandered over to the computing lab to chat to these students, who all seemed to be engaging really well. It goes live to registered members of the BBSRC research community in January 2013 - the first cohort of students are PhD students in the new Doctoral Training Partnerships.I tend to focus more on the mathematical aspects of SysMIC: partly this reflects applications of this kind of training in the biological sciences, and partly because I perceive a rather changeable definition of 'Systems Biology'. I prefer to think in terms of developing models and using those in a predictive way to design and interpret experiments (my own definition of Systems Biology would be of mathematical modelling that integrates multiple and diverse data sources to model complex systems).I'm working through the material that's been prepared so far, and having fun with MatLab, the mathematics platform we chose for SysMIC, and while I have to say I've yet to move on to anything mathematically serious, I can see how a more mathematical approach could benefit my own research.