In many other forms of text-based media, there are often a good mix of single vs multi authors; TV shows, movies, academic articles, non-fiction books, etc. Yet novels are almost exclusively written by a single author. Why is that? Some of the best fictional movies/TV come from a pair or team of strong writers that bring different strengths. Why doesn’t this apply to novels?
This shift has been quick and dramatic. As some background, I was my PI's first student and we've worked closely together for over 6 years. I've helped build this lab from the ground up (and have been the most senior student the entire time), having trained every new student and technician, established each new research direction, designed and optimized almost every assay, led every collaboration, etc. I've been deeply invested in this lab and the people in it.
After defending though... it's like the switch flipped off and I don't care anymore. I don't care about my field, I don't care about the papers I have left to finish, I don't care about the new projects being started. I am finishing up everything I promised I would, and still doing the best work I can, but I don't have any attachment to the results, what they mean, or their impact on the field. It's just work to me now.
It's also kind of nice not having to worry about the long term issues of each project. I'm helping set up a few projects right now for newer students, and keep butting heads on certain experimental design choices that I *know* will cause them trouble (because I spent years troubleshooting them). They are insistent on doing things a certain way despite my data showing otherwise. In the past, I would've kept pushing until I got my way, because I know it would eventually fall to me to solve it. Now, it's not my problem. If they don't listen despite my multiple warnings, they can go ahead.
It's quite freeing in a way. I've spent 6 years *constantly* worrying about these projects and shouldering every problem that's arisen along the way. It's nice to just let go.
My partner has POTS and can't stand for too long without getting dizzy/nauseous. We've planned around this for most things (brief ceremony, family pictures with us seated, lots of chairs around, etc.). One thing I don't know how to deal with is how we're going to see everyone.
I know most couples will go around and make sure to talk to every guest for at least a minute or so, but she definitely can't do that. And it would seem a bit weird for us to sit and have a line up of people coming to us instead. Any ideas on how to approach this?
I’m in a situation that most people here would kill to be in. I have been clear since the beginning of my PhD that I wanted a career in industry, but still pushed myself to develop a strong academic profile. Since I am my advisor‘s first student, she was heavily involved in getting our work off the ground and set up many collaborations along the way. I have built a strong skillset and track record that is valuable to both industry and academia.
I’ve been applying to jobs for almost a year now and haven’t even gotten an interview, with how terrible the job market is. However… I’ve had 5 professors in different institutions/countries reach out to me asking if I am looking to do a post doc; a couple of them top of our field. I could very easily land any of these positions if I wanted, but I simply can’t because of financial/personal reasons (partner has a chronic illness and can’t work, and we need money).
I feel guilty being in such a privileged position and not doing anything with it. Then I’m seeing posts on here of the opposite, where people are frustrated about not getting into PhD/postdoc positions while having high paying jobs lined up. I‘d gladly trade positions if that were possible.
I hear that most PhDs get 40-60 minutes to present their work at the defence. I get 20 minutes. This is especially brutal since my work is very data heavy and multidisciplinary (large scale genomics research with lab and computational work). I have presented the individual studies many times, usually 10-20 minute talks on their own, and even then it's difficult to describe the multiple methods, walk through complex figures, and then connect the findings to a logical conclusion (given that I have to skim quickly through the data).
Doing it with all 3 studies together is **brutal**. I'm spending about 5 minutes on the intro, less than 5 on the first 2 studies together, 8 minutes on the third study (which is a massive piece of work that I have presented for 30 minutes before), and a very quick summary. It almost makes me sad to gloss over so much work that I've poured years into. Some figures and data that I'm super proud of and spent months learning how to do don't even make the cut because it would take too long to describe.
I’m so done with this dogshit company. This is the second controller that has broken from regular use. One was from the cable bending too much until the port became loose; no crazy use either, just playing on the couch. And now this… it was working fine, one small fall, absolutely no damage, and it can’t connect anymore.
I’d use Bluetooth with these, but updating to Windows 11 fucked it up and disconnects the controllers every few minutes. Never buying their controllers again, and I’m going Linux next PC update.
I've been getting more into reading and writing recently, and find that the em dash is super useful in a lot of situations. I have never used them for some reason; I've always opted for semi colons like this (or with brackets). Both of those would arguably be better with em dashes.
I feel like I can't start using them now though. People see an em dash and automatically think the text is AI generated. It would be especially suspicious if I "coincidentally" stared using them right when LLMs are taking over.
I (28M) am getting married soon and definitely need to step up my game for my future wife (27F). She's a big romance fan, while I tend to be more objective; which I really want to change. However, I don't get much out of non-fiction/instructional type books for stuff like this. A list of "ten things you should do to be a better partner" is just a vague checklist to follow. I need to *feel* this, and I only ever get that from fiction.
What I'm looking for: doesn't necessarily need to be a romance novel, and can be from either a man or woman's perspective. I just want something that makes you feel the emotions in your soul and demonstrates something realistic and obtainable (i.e. actions a real person could make).
Were they ever a separate set of animatronics? We see that Scott changes the designs game to game. Like Afton's corpse within Springtrap and Scraptrap in FNAF3 and FFPS is insanely different, despite being the same person. And the kids' drawings on the walls in each game show different features of the animatronics, like Bonnie being blue or purple, sometimes with or without buttons, Chica with/without a bib, etc.
Is there any evidence besides the designs themselves?
I’m currently in a rut where I can’t bring myself to do much. I would love to read a good novel (classics are welcome!) about inaction. I’m not looking for a self help book or the science behind it; I want a novel deep diving into mind of someone plagued by inaction, and the pitfalls and outcomes that occur because of it that help me to understand it better.
I have recently started working with DMSO to dissolve and store different dyes/hormones/compounds, and just ruined an experiment by (presumably) degrading all of our compounds… I‘ve been lucky to have mostly worked with highly stable compounds up until now, so I didn’t take as much caution as I should have. I only made a few aliquots of the stock solutions and after just a few uses (including freeze/thaw cycles), the compounds have lost all activity.
Does anyone have any tips?
Other questions: How should I be storing our DMSO stock (we have a 10mL bottle)? Should all compound stocks be stored in single use aliquots? Do I need a desiccant with the DMSO/stocks? How can I avoid water absorption into the DMSO?
I appreciate any advice!
Up until now I've always worked with very clean data; I haven't had to make many hard decisions since the data looks as expected. However, I'm now working on a bit of a messy single-cell analysis that requires tough decisions. Stuff like removing a couple clusters due to high mt read % (easy to justify) but also one with inexplicably low mt read %. We also have very different library sizes, so there's some nuance to our analysis in what we can/cannot compare.
I'm usually in favour of adding too much to the supplement rather than too little. Is it typical to plot out these QC metrics in the supplement to explain why we made these decisions? Like a before and after removing poor quality clusters, or showing count distributions, etc. I see a lot of papers that just mention something like "after removing low quality cells, we..."
I sometimes go to the literature/english sections to look for books to read (if a prof is using in a course, it’s probably a good book). The ones in the textbook section are way cheaper than the ones in the general bookstore section; like $10-20 cheaper. Is it unethical to buy these? I don’t want students who need these to run out.
I’m defending in a month and I seriously could not care less about my research. I had a great experience with a fantastic supervisor, we published a handful of papers that others have found very useful, but I‘m fully over it. I don’t find any of this interesting anymore. I’ll likely leave the field and go for something adjacent once I’m done.
I’m not the slightest bit nervous about my defense (I’ve presented my work a dozen times and know this field inside and out), I’m just dreading having to read my papers again and justify them in front of people. I know they’re going to drill me on the importance of the work (my committee members are generally skeptical of my lab’s methods) and I’m somehow going to have to pretend it’s all super important and changes the way we approach our research area. When in reality I don’t care if this work never gets cited a single time and nothing ever comes of it.
Anyone else feel this way?