Working as a researcher is a job that requires a lot of adaptability. This is understandable given that the core of the scientific method could be loosely described as “I recon this might happen but let’s find out” which obviously leads to some variation in outcomes (e.g. oops that explodes Read more…
Today whilst reading twitter I read an advert by a newly graduated PhD student offering tutorship to current PhD students. Their advert was based on that they had finished their PhD early, had written a bunch of papers and got a follow up post-doc job. All very impressive. I only Read more…
Given the exotic and exciting things that scientist play with and produce you’d think that waste disposal would be staggeringly complicated. Special buckets for certain kinds of goo, shredders for tentacles and mops specifically for flaming puddles would seem to be the bare minimum an average lab would need. Actually Read more…
Contemplating the potential for personal redundancy as a result of too much daydreaming, Dr Matthew Partridge risks another few hours musing over the benefits and limits of laboratory processes run entirely by super-efficient, highly focused AI and robotics…
To an outside observer research has a great air of focus, planning and careful consideration. From vaccine research to Nobel prize winning physics, research looks well organised and planned. To anyone that has ever worked in research then the reality is often confusion and a lot of eye rolling. But, Read more…
Humans are an inventive bunch. We’re not long out of the trees and our brains have already given us literature, art and the sciences. We are a creative species that constantly seeks to invent, create and problem solve. However, as smart as we are Nature is often one of the Read more…
There have been many changes since the start of the COVID crisis. For one the frequency of articles that start “something something COVID crisis” have sky rocketed and I’ve never started so many emails with “I hope you are well” and meant it with genuine concern. But one change was Read more…
Experiments are complicated and difficult things. Experiments are amazing sources of unpredictable chaos no matter how simple they seem. In some ways, this unpredictable complexity is a good thing. Many of those researchers and scientists reading this article have based entire careers on the fact that what they do is complicated Read more…
Coffee shops are the place to do work. I can say with the certainty of someone making up a fact that every Costa an Starbucks right now has at least one author writing a novella about a troubled young teenager trying to understand their place in a society that hates Read more…
Starting a new job is an exciting, terrifying and exhausting experience. You’ll almost certainly have a giant volume of new scientific material to absorb as well as countless names to fail at remembering and office fridge etiquette to understand. But before you get to any of those problems you still Read more…