If you’ve been reading “Mind the Gap” for a while now, you are probably aware of the fact that I am a fair-skinned lass from England. You will therefore understand my excitement when I saw the headline “Wine consumption can help prevent sunburn”. Not only am I fond of a corked cocktail every now and then, but I burn in the sun like an over-achieving moth in a flame.
Flyceum: Your Science. Your Career.
We’re following in the tradition of open discussions among scientists that has resulted in important advances in both science and society.
On Wine, Sunburn, and the Tendency of Headlines to Mislead…
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Lab Safety Inspections: Passing the Torch to an Irresponsible Labmate
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Dear Dora,
Since she has been hired, my fellow research assistant has not showed up for or helped to prepare for a single lab safety inspection or audit. She is especially sloppy, and always leaves an un-kosher mess which if I do not have time to clean up before inspections, the lab suffers for. Her standard excuse is “I haven’t been feeling well” or “my memory has been bad lately”, and she has never responded to any of my requests or reminders. While I do care about her and empathize with her medical struggles, I have my own and even when I am not well it falls on me to pick up her slack, or take the heat when I forget to. I am leaving the lab in a few months to enter graduate school and am worried about who will pick up after her when I am gone so that my boss doesn’t have to take the heat. I have spoken to my boss, but he has not done anything. What more can I do to convince her to improve her habits?
–concerned technician
Which Came First: The Opossum or The Snake?
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The other day I was idly perusing the science and nature section on Netflix, trying to decide between people, animals, or dramatic landscapes. I settled on National Geographic’s Australia’s Deadly Dozen, and less than an hour later was utterly terrified of the continent. There are a gajillion venomous beasties there! Spiders, octopuses, fish, in the water, on land, in the wood shed, in your laundry, everywhere. And these things don’t mess around; their venoms usually kill within hours unless you get your bitten self to the ER in time to receive anti-venom (N.B. not available all colors or sizes).
Enzymes and the Problem with Cosmo Kramer’s Levels
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If I were to ask you- yes, all of you out there- what you thought was the cornerstone method for assessing changes in metabolism, and metabolic regulation as a whole, what would your answer be?
Sensational Science: Memory Expansion and the Purpose of Happiness
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Maybe it’s the summer heat getting to reporters’ heads. Or maybe not. Below I’ve outlined a couple of other recent examples of how the headlines that the popular press shares with the public don’t always match up with what the scientific press actually reports. Or, as in most cases, how the report is twisted in such a way to make for a good “story”.
Pigeons Know a Crazy Woman When They See One
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I have a vivid memory of one of my more humiliating college experiences, and it involved a pigeon. I was walking home past the law library, not really paying attention as my brain had just be fried to a crisp by a six-hour biochem lab, when a dirty great pigeon flew at my face. I shrieked and ducked and generally made quite a scene. After the evil creature had flown away I took stock of my surroundings and realized I had a sizeable audience. These days I probably would’ve taken a bow, but instead I turned the color of a ripe plum, buried my face in my scarf, and fled.
Stuck Sharing a Project With a Lazy Labmate?
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Dear Dora,
My advisor assigned me and another grad student a big project. It was implied from the start that we would have equal contributions. I do all the literature reading, planning, designing, and problem solving while actually performing a larger portion of experiments. My lab partner did help me with doing experiments but nothing else. She only does what I tell her to, never takes any initiative and relies on me to solve problems. He’s basically just a lazy labmate. But when we present our work at groups meetings, it looks like we have the same contribution while we do not. What should I do?
– Fed up, Grad student
To Boldly Go Where No Worm Has Gone Before
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Actually the first nematode worm was blasted into space on April 16th, 1972, aboard Apollo 16. But the most recent celestial trip made by Caenorhabditis elegans was on a mission: To find out if RNA interference (RNAi) works in space.
Sensational Science: Why It’s a Great Time to be in Science
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At a regional Post-Doc Association meeting last week a speaker announced that this is an amazing time to be in science- a terrible time to try to get into academia- but an amazing time for science. So, this month for Sensational Science I’d like to do a little something different. Instead of pointing out the comical headlines (“Super-Small Transistor Created: Artificial Atom Powered by Single Electrons” – what, exactly, is an “artificial atom?”) I wanted to draw your attention to a handful of really interesting – if not sensational – true, accurate, science discoveries.
Repetitive Strain Injury: The Hidden Lab Hazard
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Dear Dora,
What was the most difficult part of *your* graduate school career and how did you overcome it?
– Sabine, graduate student
