My advice for those just beginning * Many, many things may be the way they are because of department/campus/regional politics. (And that's not always bad.) * Your advisor is probably making it up as he/she goes along, just like you are. * Your students (particularly freshmen) think you
* In the pop sci world, facts are frequently treated as solid, immovable things. When commonly known theories change, lay people can get up in arms over the changing of 'facts.' * We teach students facts as if they were eternal, but few ideas are unchanging. * Every scientific theory was
Why do people (myself often included) feel the need to make excuses or ask forgiveness for our e-mails? If I take a day or two to reply[1], or if my message is short, what is there to forgive? Would an immediate, hair-trigger response really be preferable? Would
The definition of insanity [1] is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. I hate that saying. I much prefer: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Why? Because things rarely work the first time, and because “the same thing”
I just read "Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students," from a recent edition of PNAS. They make a decent case for their conclusion that science faculty are biased against women (despite the title, the conclusion is not pro male, but anti female). They sent
A friend of mine started her sentence this way as we discussed the Akin "legitimate rape" debacle. I wanted to laugh and ask her just what she thought a feminist was. I didn't, we kept talking, and she sounded about as feminist as I am, which
A watched pot never boils, and in a staring contest with a finicky printer, the printer is near guaranteed to win.
Our Epson printer (a two-year old Epson Stylus NX420) is a printer-scanner combo. It's been a very useful flatbed scanner, but its track record as a printer is mediocre. It's quite the thirsty little beast, drinking up ink and howling for more. This afternoon
Every time I want to mail a small package, I check the USPS website for the cost, in the hopes that I can use stamps already on hand, and not have to spend my lunch break standing in line at the post office. I purchase Forever Stamps fairly regularly, but
Awards for Women Psh. That was my response. Something between a derisive snort and a laugh. Highlighting mine: Programme aims to boost scientific participation for women from 81 developing nations. Five early-career female researchers from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean are to be honoured
Colleges Struggle to Respond I think they (both the colleges and the author) missed a key point here. All of these suggested responses are reactions to existing stresses, but a number of the "major concerns" listed at the end of the article could be prevented (or diminished through
Yellowstone National Park has quite a challenging garbage problem. A garbage can at Yellowstone needs to be complex enough that bears and raccoons can't get into it, yet simple enough that pictographic instructions can clearly explain its use to any given visitor, no matter what language he or