The Futile Cycle

The internet allows people to produce some amazing things. Go see! Twitter as it was meant to be seen.

Every two weeks, I look forward to my copy of Cell (yes, I’m a big dork that way). This week, I found Cell had a really surreal cover: a drawing of a phoenix.

Curious, I turned to look at the cover description. It was, to say the least, quite cheesy:

Cover art…depicts CASK kinase as the Phoenix, presumed dead in the fires of evolution, resurrecting in an unanticipated active form.

A little purple much? It was apparently drawn by the second author of the corresponding paper. A good drawing…but “cheeserific” symbolism (to quote a friend of mine).

Another cheesy cover I saw a while ago was this Nature cover, hearkening back to pulp science fiction:

Awesome retro-nerd-ness!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but alas, science (especially biology) does not wait, and things die when neglected.

Meanwhile, I have around three weeks left in my final laboratory rotation before I have to choose my thesis lab, and I’m having a hard time deciding. Coincidentally, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology just published a two-part article called “How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists.”. There are some interesting tidbits in here, and it gives an interesting, biology-centric perspective on how to look on one’s career. Part I is focused on choosing a field and a lab for graduate school and post-doctoral work. Part II focuses mostly on how to generate ideas and make discoveries. I thought both were excellent reads.

I also recently found Dent Cartoons, which is the home of the famous Nine Types cartoon trilogy. Check it out; very amazingly true!

Ah, Ph.D. comics, how true it all is.

I remember my father once telling me about a time in his lab, in which the lab members were sitting around talking, disappointed that they didn’t have anything to submit to a conference. Suddenly, one of them had a great idea! He checked the time: 12 hours to go until the submissions deadline! All the lab members got together and cranked out some preliminary data. Someone rushed out, sat down, plugged out a poster abstract based on the preliminary data, and emailed it to the conference with 30 minutes left! And it was accepted!