2012: A Killer Year Impossible Without You…and You…and You

As 2012 winds down and people start hiding their pipetman stash in anticipation of heading home for the holidays, we wanted to take a minute to reflect on the year and say thanks to those who helped make it a great success.

It’s hard to believe our fourth year is in the books. Since we consider our relationship with science to be more like marriage, 2012 marks the fruit or flowers anniversary. So, science, we’ll keep our eye out for that Florida citrus basket I’m sure you’re sending…

Along the road, we’ve been very fortunate to have worked with a number of very talented contributors who have shared their expertise in everything from lab management to fashion trends. Their enthusiasm and support is inspiring and fuels our passion for helping scientists every day.

This year we welcomed new columns by Yevgeniy Grigoryev, Kristy Meyer, @27andaphd, and FlyGirl. We also saw the continuation of the popular Dear Dora, Mind the Gap, and Enzyme Corner columns by Dora Farkas, Katie Pratt, and Christopher Dieni, respectively.

Articles by Food Lab and Adrian Dunn provided tips on how to work in a delicious meal or rigorous workout without the time or money we assumed we needed. I’m sure Pfizer was excited by the workout article as well since the sales of Advil saw an unusually large bump shortly after I started the regimen. It’s normal for your quads to shake for two hours after doing simple lunges, right?

One of our favorite scientists and authors–and now TV hosts–Mark Changizi helped us understand how how music evolved to fit our brains, as he hypothesizes in his new book, Harnessed. He also shared the popular 7 requirements of all effective scientists. Fellow scientist-turned-author Katharine Sanderson revealed how she went from bench chemist to freelance science writer illustrating that with determination and guts, anyone can create the career opportunities they desire. Of course, any career these days—at the bench or otherwise—depends on a computer, so as Mauricio Prinzlau cautions, back it up. Hard drives die every day and their failure is often accompanied by a failure of bowel control as well. For the sake of your data–and your desk chair–consider an online solution.

Yuly Fuentes-Medel and Jennifer Pirri inspired us with their tale of developing an amazing training program to train the next generation of Latin American scientists. We were also fortunate to interview Tom Barton and Luis Echgoyen, both of whom sought to impact the future of science as the American Chemical Society President. Congratulations to Dr. Barton—we look forward to an exciting 2013 under his stewardship at the ACS.

And of course, thanks to You. Fellow scientist, reader, commentor, sharer, advocate. We started BenchFly in 2009 with the goal of supporting scientists in and out of the lab. Your feedback, comments, contributions, and suggestions have helped BenchFly evolve in ways we couldn’t have imagined in 2009. Tolstoy reminds us “each person’s task in life is to become an increasingly better person.” We’ve taken that to heart and have dedicated ourselves to looking forward—not just to 2013, but beyond. Not just “where is BenchFly going”, but “where is science going”? And how can we continue to fulfill our mission and best serve scientists.

This is our goal.

2013 will bring with it a number of exciting changes to both BenchFly and the profession we all love. We will work hard to earn your continued support. In the meantime, have a safe and wonderful holiday season and we’ll see you in the New Year!

— Alan

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