A scientist's life Latest Blog Posts

Another team building exercise in the pub, and I'm liking it. It's good to meet the new people in a more relaxed setting, and I love going out for a drink because I feel more relaxed myself.However, I do feel like I'm pretty old. Not because I am actually old (which I am), but I'm getting tired ...

My published posts are closing to numero 1000, and this blog is almost 6 years old. I started this all at the end of January in 2004 (that was a while ago...), and now it's almost the end of 2009.Amazing.Thinking back, the friend who inspired me to start this blog has since changed jobs (and ...

...like you're trying to look for something different, when everything looks the same?I'm feeling like that now, looking at my results. They look so similar to each other, but I'm trying to find the difference. And statistics doesn't work in this case.Ugh...

JaneB's comments on the previous post made me think about the money side of a grant.See, I work for someone who is adept at ignoring a problem until he is rudely awakened by the Department Head breathing down his neck regarding overspending (also known as the head in sand method of dealing with ...

So this panic about money has prompted me to take a peek at my (grant) accounts. Lo and behold, it is overspent - both my equipment allowance and consumables are over by a good few '000 (total overspend was around 10k). Which is funny when you consider that I hadn't done any mega experiments in ...

How common is it to overspend your grant money, and how difficult is your Institution towards you when you do?I'm wondering, since BigBoss has been on his "money panic mode" recently as he has found out that one grant was overspent. By a few tens of k's.He has other panic modes, like "grant ...

Somehow, this year, I've been hearing a lot of problems with bullying in the workplace. I'm not involved, and it doesn't really happen in our group, but other groups? God, I'm glad I am not there.A couple of people I know have been specifically targeted by bully PIs this last couple of years. ...

So last week I went for a drink with some people I share a lab with. It was pretty cool, I enjoyed it, and got to know them a bit better - including some obscure "six degrees of Kevin Bacon" like bizarre acquaintance with one of the postdocs.Anyway, I had a little talk with a Medical student ...

I love this "Hard Men" season promo from FiveUSA...

Imagine a conversation in our office. A newbie Ph.D. student is writing his first (evah!) abstract, and getting a lot of (maybe unwanted) input from postdocs loitering around him.Postdoc 1 (PD1): "Ok, you have to write it so that they (i.e. organizers) would want to see the poster or hear you ...

So now that Belle De Jour has been revealed as being a research scientist, what do us scientists think? Do you care? Is it bad for science and scientists? Do the public care?

Dear George,Even as I am the intelligent, experienced, mature, organized, mostly reasonable postdoc that I am, I still have not mastered the art of reading other people's minds. So I really find it helpful if people actually would write down their reserved slot in the ...

[quote from Sgt. Colbert, "Generation Kill"]Apart from being disgruntled by the students/situation around me, I have basically been sitting on my arse doing nothing... in the lab (i.e. writing papers, project reports, filing invoices, getting info on invoices not paid, yadda yadda yadda).So it ...

For those of you reading around the David Nutt affair (Drug Tsar sacked by Home Secretary), here's something suggesting that Alan Johnson misled the HoC.It's pretty interesting for me, since you know, David Nutt didn't get paid as an advisor but was paid by his University to do research. And, ...

They sell Red Bull in the cafe in our building.Unfortunately, the cafe closes at 4pm.Um, so what's the point then, of selling an energy drink if the shop closes early??

I had a brilliant idea for a post this afternoon.But alas, it has escaped my tiny brain.I can't remember what it was about now.Oh crap.

There was a mini-exhibition in the foyer of our building recently. I knew the Sales Rep - with him we organized a loan of a qPCR machine (which we bought subsequently), and have spoken to him a good few times regarding the equipment and reagents (i.e. price quotes).He wasn't busy, so I wandered ...

I was watching "Master Chef - The Professionals" the other day, and noticed something about Michel Roux Jr.'s way of motivating people. It's the same as Gordon Ramsay in "Hell's Kitchen". And in a way, it is similar to the tactic seen in "Generation Kill".Basically, it's to push push push the ...

This may be of interest to those of you, like myself, has visions going further than a lectureship in an academic setting. If only to highlight that the road that is illuminated is not the only one.

Really, there is no need to put my name in it if you only followed my protocol. Seriously. I mean, I'm not even flattered. More like..........indifferent? Embarrassed (not for myself, mind, for the abstract author)?