Category Archives: science

Random sampling and ambush mentoring

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

The teacher I had when I was seven or eight had a great approach to teaching us our multiplication tables. Sure, we did some rote learning and some whole-class recitals of the tables, but her favourite method was to surprise … Continue reading →

Posted in education, science | 19 Comments

Project management: go with the flow

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Both grants have been submitted, my desk and email inbox have been tidied, and sanity has been (partially) restored. That was one crazy round of CIHR grant applications, even more so than usual, but – as always – we pulled … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, grant wrangling, science, whining | 17 Comments

More on dating

Posted on February 15, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Places where I used to write the date: On cheques At the top of letters Lesson / lecture notes Lab books Travel journals Places where I now write type the date: Computer file names Percentage of times I try to … Continue reading →

Posted in education, science, silliness, technology | 28 Comments

Why a three-year PhD is not necessarily shite

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A couple of weeks ago I was chatting to a student in my department who’s just starting to write her thesis, and I mentioned that I wrote mine in three months, from start to finish. Several heads in the vicinity … Continue reading →

Posted in Canada, career, education, personal, science, UK | 44 Comments

How to impress your friendly local manuscript editor

Posted on February 2, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Treat them as an inferior until you need something from them. This will make them incredibly grateful for your sudden interest in them when you… …hand over a “close to final” manuscript that MUST be proofed and edited BY TOMORROW, … Continue reading →

Posted in career, English language, publishing, science | 30 Comments

In teh Grauniad

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

When I was about 15, our local paper ran a special schools edition. They approached English teachers around the city, asking them to contribute pieces written by local students, and my teacher picked an essay I’d written. The essay was … Continue reading →

Posted in blog buddies, education, family, original research, personal, publishing, science, the media, UK | 13 Comments

Nascent tweet sequences visualise peer review at LOLcat resolution

Posted on January 19, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

There’s never a dull moment. Earlier today, I read a paper from Nature titled “Nascent transcript sequencing visualizes transcription at nucleotide resolution*”. The paper describes a very cool new technique that allows you to see gene transcript sequences as they … Continue reading →

Posted in communication, furry friends, original research, publishing, science, silliness, technology | 56 Comments

Fear o’moans

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of the publication in Science this week of a study suggesting that pheromones in women’s tears reduce testosterone levels and sexual arousal in men (summarised by Ed Yong here). This is definitely not … Continue reading →

Posted in education, original research, science, silliness, TMI | 14 Comments

Instant karma

Posted on January 6, 2011 by Cath@VWXYNot?

An acquaintance at a funding agency emailed me today, asking if I had contact information for a researcher I’d never heard of. I didn’t, obviously, so I Googled the person’s name from the search box on my browser toolbar. The … Continue reading →

Posted in career, science, silliness, technology, TMI | 8 Comments

Do The Art, Man!

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I’m a big fan of the visual abstracts that many journals have introduced recently (even if they do make scrolling through TOCs in Google Reader like wading through treacle at times); I’m a very visual person, and I find it … Continue reading →

Posted in art, original research, publishing, science, silliness | 24 Comments