Last week, we asked everyone what they truly thought of the people they work for. It was our turn to grade our PIs and supervisors. The most popular response revealed that although things could certainly be worse, they could also be better (see Figure 1).
What Do You Want from Your PI?
by
BenchFly’s Football Primer: Science-ized
by
Given the number of rules, American football can be a confusing and intimidating game if you’re new to the sport. As a result, many times the easiest solution is simply not to watch the game – with one exception: The Superbowl.
Five (Plus) Web Resources You Should be Using Right Now
by
Being a scientific researcher has gotten much easier than it was 15 years ago. Literature searches can be performed online, and many times full text for articles retrieved from these searches is also readily available. Electronic database searching has streamlined research and made writing the Background and Introduction sections of manuscripts much easier. Here are some more tools that will help reduce the time you spend on writing, searching the literature and finding methods. They’re all free, too.
DNA Electrophoresis Sample Loading
by
The Video:
The DNA electrophoresis video is in two parts. The first being the overview of electrophoresis and the second being an up close loading of samples in a gel. The reason for the first part is because I needed to fill in time and I wanted to see how well the video would time compress. I like playing around with that stuff, so I just did it. The second part was to take advantage of my new High Definition(HD) camcorder.
How Would You Rate Your Boss?
by
If they ever sent a performance review around in academia for lab members to rate their bosses, I never got it. And of course, we’d all probably lie anyway for fear of the boss finding out who actually said what. A few quick PCR reactions on the skin cells swabbed from our review form could seal our fate…
The Endive Appetizer: It’s So Easy a (Classy) Chimp Could Make It
by
Whether you’re a football fan or not, the Superbowl is just over a week away and chances are, you’ll be watching it with friends. And by “watching” we generally mean stuffing ourselves with food and drink and caring just enough about the game to see if we won the lab pool. Regardless, if we’re invited somewhere, we’d better not show up empty-handed. Don’t worry- we’ve got you covered.
Scientist Turned Comedian: Tim Lee
by
Standing in front of a packed seminar room and sharing your ideas using Powerpoint is an important part of research. In that respect, Tim Lee is like any other scientist. Now, the fact that his seminars start at 10pm on Saturday nights and require a two-drink minimum- well, that’s a bit more unusual…
[Continue Reading…]
Do You Work Weekends?
by
For some of us, Monday represents the start of a new week. For others, Monday might as well be Wednesday or Friday or Saturday, since the days just blend together.
Authorship, Feuding and Career Doubts
by
Thanks for all of the great questions! We’re addressing three questions each month, so If you don’t see your question this time, keep an eye out for our future issues where it will likely show up! Send your questions to [email protected].
Kick Off the New Year with a New Camera!
by
By now it’s safe to assume the New Year’s hangover is safely behind us. Likely, so are half of the resolutions we swore we’d keep… (Why Do Your New Year’s Resolutions Fail?) However, one resolution remains alive – “to upload more videos to BenchFly!” So we’re here to help.
