One of my biggest pet peeves is “vague-booking”. You know, when people change their Facebook status to read “sigh” or “really?” or “I can’t believe that just happened :(“. Vague with a capital “V”. I know that the author of these atrocities just wants someone to ask them what happened, or express concern that they had a tough day, but my response is the exact opposite. To put it gently, I start to dislike the vague-booker.
Many events in life come with defined timetables. It takes 21 years to buy alcohol, four years to avenge an Olympic loss, and 11 seconds to lose your lunch if watching a Real Housewives episode. Yet in our scientific lives the time required to complete our most important milestones are undefined and arbitrary. Is five years just right for grad school, too much for postdocs and not enough for tenure decisions? Catalyzed by numerous conversations with fellow scientists, we’ve decided to examine each phase of our career development pathway to determine whether the phases are truly optimized for our success, or whether it’s time to overhaul the system.
Dear Dora,
What’s the best way to get the conversation going about graduation dates with your PI?
- Henry, grad student
Distilling a lifetime’s body of work down to two words seems slightly unfair. Contemplating our own two-word biography, we hope the words “no-talent” and “ass-clown” don’t make the short list. Ironically, for history’s most accomplished scientists – many of whom started entire fields of scientific knowledge – it seems a word or two is all that’s necessary to conjure up images of their greatness. Even if “ass-clown” was an appropriate phrase for a few of these mental giants, the words “Nobel” and “Prize” usually bump it down the list. See how many of history’s most famous chemists, biologists, physicists and mathematicians you can recall with limited information.
I realize that my audience here at BenchFly probably doesn’t contain a large number of prisoners, but I never claimed to cater to the majority. Also, you never know when you might end up incarcerated (wrongfully, obviously), so having a few science-y tricks up your sleeve is not a bad idea. And while this may not be a recipe for breaking out by dissolving the bars to your cell, it could make life on the inside a little better.
Dear FlyGirl: Throughout the day, I’m constantly taking gloves on and off. Regardless of the material (latex, nitrile), I always wash my hands after taking the gloves off because my hands either have that gross residue on them (powdered gloves) or they’re sweating (no powder). As a result, my hands are always dry and combined with winter weather, it’s unbearable. I’ve tried lotions, but then my hands feel greasy, which I hate when typing or writing in my notebook, so I end up having to wash them again- and the cycle continues… I’m guessing crocodile hands isn’t very stylish- any suggestions?
“In group meeting today, I’d like to welcome a new member to our group, Agent Zero.”
“Agent Zero?!” You whisper, leaning over to a labmate sitting next to you.
“What are you talking about? He said ‘Dr. McIntyre’ – it’s his wife.”
“Then why does she keep turning her head and covertly talking into her shirt sleeve?”
“That’s called covering your mouth when you cough. By the way, take notes on that one.”
“Something’s going on here.”
“Yeah, you need to step away from the solvents before coming to group meeting.”
Dear Dora,
My PIs wife just started working in the lab and it’s made things really awkward since everyone assumes she’s a spy for the boss. Is there anything we can do?
- biokid, graduate student
The lab is our workplace and in many ways it’s similar to any other job in a traditional office environment. We have a desk, a boss and a set of coworkers that on occasion can push our buttons. We even have TPS reports – although they’re more often referred to as “notebook entries” or “manuscript reviews” around the lab. However, when a co-worker steps out of the lab, an entirely different set of circumstances may ensue. Now we’re got an easy way to update the missing with the While You Were Out Notes for Scientists.
Few things are tougher than keeping your New Year’s Lab-olutions for the entire year. Being that this is just the first week back, we’re confident you were able to stay awake during this week’s seminar or group meeting. But alas, 51 weeks of challenge lie ahead and some of those weeks will be filled with seminars in a room that’s a little too warm, group meetings by a lab member that’s a little too boring, or lectures at a conference that are a little too early.
Loading ...With a Free Account You Can:
Just enter your name and
email address to get started