Friday Funnies: Venn Diagram Edition

1) Nerds vs. Geeks (credit--Yamamoto Lab, UCSF)

2) University Websites (credit-xkcd)

3) Mathematics meets Rap (credit-SMBC)

                                  

4) Explaining my life (credit-f*** no grad school)

Happy Friday!

Friday Funnies: Explaining Academia

Friday Funnies: Holiday Vacation Edition

Happy Holidays from C2C!
For your enjoyment, one of my favorite PHD Comics:

Parasite Tales for Every Occasion

My friend Louise G. was published on The Toast!  You can read her column on parasites here.

Friday Funnies: Fail Edition

Friday Funnies: Fail edition!

1) That's not how you pipette
A collection of amusing movie and television scenes with some rather creative pipetting styles.  My favorite is the guy trying to pipette without a tip.

2) Fail Lab
Scientists dissect the best of the 'epic fail' videos and reveal hidden lessons on science topics such as evolution, pyrotechnics, or electricity. Episode one is below.

3) #Overlyhonestmethods

The equivalent of PostSecret for scientists. The hashtag lets you report less-than-stellar lab practices that would never, under any circumstances, end up in a publication. Some are weird, some are scary, but almost all of them are amusing. 

Friday Funnies

When I think I can explain my results...

...and then a new experiment crushes my theory.

Science Education Fail

Reason #836 why America needs to get-it-together regarding science education.  Nobody wants their breakfast cereal to be an excellent source of Iridium*



*Thanks to Izzy T. for the heads-up photography. 
Although most iridium compounds are insoluble, and therefore difficult for the body to absorb, finely divided iridium powder may ignite in the air. 

Friday Funnies

When I attempt to explain my assay results to my PI:

Friday Funnies: A Handy Guide to the Oral Qualifying Exam

The first-year of grad school was good...

...but now it's your second year of the program. Know what that means?

It's time for Oral Qualifying Exams*!!

It's time to hit the books...

...and try to make sense of it all.

And don't forget the most important part: typing the research proposal...

...getting feedback from your advisor on your latest draft...

...and then writing some more.

Most days you finishing studying and just want to relax.

Your advisor is constantly asking if you are ready...

...but your classmates know the real response.

The morning of your exam arrives.

They start you off with something easy, like a derivation.

Sometimes you get a question right...

...and sometimes the questions are really off-topic.

Before you know it two hours have passed and the committee must deliberate.

The deliberation goes on for what feels like hours.

They call you back in, and you're trying to keep it cool.

Your initial reaction to "You passed!"

...which quickly transitions into a desire to hug the committee.

And when your labmates ask how you want to celebrate:

Congratulations!

(Just think, only another 3-4 years until you face the firing squad again.)**

* The Oral Qualifying Exam (aka orals/comps/quals/prelims) is an exam taken in either your second or third year (depending on the university) that determines if you are ready to conduct independent research. Though the specifics vary between schools, typically the exam consists of writing and defending an original research proposal before a committee of faculty members. Passing the exam allows a student to "advance to candidacy" or enter the research and thesis writing phase of a doctoral program.

**For those schools that have a thesis defense. 

Special thanks to creative consultant louiseg @ jeezlouiseg

Friday Funnies

Once again, humor in honor of the last Friday of the month. More serious posts to follow over the weekend!

3:37 pm: Scrounging through my desk for soda money

Friday Funnies

It's the last Friday of the month! To celebrate, I thought I would supply some humor.

When I Read An Article Outside Of My Discipline