Tom Stafford

“What can you do with 1,000 neurons?” That’s the challenge driving a competition launched in July by computational neuroscientist Nicolas Rougier. Competitors score points by designing model brains to solve a series of simple tasks inside a maze; the chal... See more

Our time with Benjamin finished in a three-way tie for my favorite memory of Christmas 2025. A snowman of many faces A second involved our two grandsons, the younger of whom was exasperated with grandma and grandpa for the tardiness we showed in decking o... See more

Knowing, as I do, that a judicial order to walk and chew gum while using my phone would be a form of capital punishment, I left the gum in the car last week while attempting something else I’m borderline incapable of: Buying children’s clothes without on-... See more

Research quality is the dark matter of the university sector. It is hard enough to assess research after it has been done, research funders must find some way to evaluate proposals for projects which don’t exist yet. The established model for this is exte... See more

But the truth is, yanking that thing out with a pair of tweezers was the last thing that came to mind when I spotted Tom Stafford across waiting room of our dentist’s office. I just laughed and said “Hey” as though he were a long lost, well, relative. Des... See more