Category Archives: science

Dr. Strangehabits, or: how I learned to stop procrastinating and write my thesis

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Athene’s recent post about how students write their PhD theses (plus frequent keyword search hits to my blog on the same subject) served as a long-overdue reminder that I’d promised to share my own thesis writing experiences. Some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in career, education, personal, science | 30 Comments

SOP: Sadly Opaque Protocol

Posted on September 19, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Heard in a recent(ish) meeting to define a tumour xenografting SOP to be used by three different labs: PI 1 (Xenografting Expert): “The first thing you need to do when you get a new tumour is to determine if it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, science, silliness | 12 Comments

Feeding the Science Tamagotchi

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

It started during my undergrad research project. “I have to go into the lab tomorrow morning to feed all my cells, so I can’t stay out too late tonight or have a hangover tomorrow”, I’d say. After comments along the … Continue reading →

Posted in career, drunkenness, education, grant wrangling, personal, rants, science, travel, whining | 31 Comments

Remember remember…

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

July through November, Abstracts and budgets and pain. I see no reason Why grant deadline season Should ever leave you sane. So, I’ve managed to extend the usual season (which started August 15th, when I submitted one full grant as … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, science, silliness, sport | 3 Comments

Portable document FAIL

Posted on August 31, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Provisional PDF of a paper in press from my postdoc lab: Are they editing papers with marker pens now?! Pretty damn foolish…

Posted in original research, publishing, science, technology | 7 Comments

A week in grant wrangling

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Following Frank’s excellent example, it seemed like a good week to present a week’s worth of daily bulletins about what I actually do for a living. As I alluded to in my last post it’s the busiest time of year … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, career, current affairs, English language, furry friends, grant wrangling, personal, photos, politics, science, silliness, travel, Uncategorized, whining | 15 Comments

Nota bene

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

“It is disrespectful to the speaker to show up to a lab meeting – especially one at which a student is giving a practice presentation for an upcoming comprehensive exam and has specifically asked for feedback – without a pen, … Continue reading →

Posted in career, grant wrangling, rants, science | 26 Comments

This.

Posted on August 3, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

(“Federal scientist unfairly silenced, union says” – CBC News) I wonder how long this whole social media experiment of direct communication with The People will last… (My favourite comment on the cat photo album: “Please don’t eat this one, Prime … Continue reading →

Posted in bad people, Canada, communication, current affairs, environment, furry friends, politics, science | 13 Comments

On the sauce: reflections.

Posted on July 21, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Mr E Man’s quest to find the best ribs in Vancouver is over: he’s admitted that he’s unlikely to find anywhere that makes them better than Ouisi’s does, and so that’s where we found ourselves when a craving hit him … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, first world problems, food glorious food, freakishness, personal, science, silliness | 28 Comments

Cost to benefit ratios

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

From today’s RSS feeds: 1) Alilain WJ, Horn KP, Hu H, Dick TE, Silver J: “Functional regeneration of respiratory pathways after spinal cord injury“. Nature 2011: 475: 196-200 (This article also showed up in my BBC science feed, with the … Continue reading →

Posted in current affairs, medicine, original research, science, the media | 5 Comments