Author Archives: Rachel

Monolingual

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Rachel

I just realized I had never posted this, which I wrote last month during the Cartilage workshop in Montreal. So here it is at last! This workshop has 35 participants from all over the world. There are several from Montreal, … Continue reading →

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From the inside: the NIH review process

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Rachel

I love writing grants. I love planning the experiments, sorting out all the details, talking to tons of people and getting their ideas and improvements, looking up products and catalog numbers, dreaming big. Building hopes. Then the grant is submitted, … Continue reading →

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The environmental impact of scientists

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Rachel

Scientific conferences are great. Brilliant minds collide and supernova ideas erupt. Networks net, collaborators collude, progress proceeds. Getting scientists together from all over the world helps science everywhere. But they are horrible for the environment. Tons of jet fuel are … Continue reading →

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Paleo diet

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Rachel

I was recently reading about the Paleo diet. The Paleo diet is supposedly what our ancient ancestors living in caves ate. Leaving aside how “genuine” the modern Paleo diet might be, one argument was that the dietary diseases which kill … Continue reading →

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Changing my mind

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Rachel

A good scientist is willing to change her opinion in response to evidence and logic. Recently my opinion has changed on a couple of points regarding Academia. Everyone agrees that academia is broken. I don’t know how to fix it. … Continue reading →

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Starve and feast

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Rachel

We have an internal grant of $40,000 near the end of its one-year extension and we hadn’t yet spent any of it. That was because the same proposal had been submitted to external funding and both the external and the … Continue reading →

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Optimism

Posted on May 2, 2011 by Rachel

Herbal medicine, manipulation, meditation, yoga, shark cartilage, acupuncture: Why don’t we know with any degree of certainty that any of these do or don’t work? We can do rigorous studies on pharmaceutical chemicals and surgical techniques and we are convinced … Continue reading →

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Manuscript horror stories

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Rachel

Everyone has a few manuscript horror stories, but when we start sharing them, I seem to win hands-down. Generally the conversation goes like this: “My paper has been on his desk for 2 months!” And I reply, “I had given … Continue reading →

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It’s not about ethics

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Rachel

My daughter has always been uncomfortable with the fact that my job includes experimenting on animals. Her main objection is that she is not sure that humans are worth saving. Recently she changed her mind, not about whether humans are … Continue reading →

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Heart of an athlete

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Rachel

I attended the Annual Meeting of the National Postdoctoral Association two weeks ago (and then immediately got so swamped I can hardly breathe). The highlight of the meeting for me was meeting people who walked away from their research careers … Continue reading →

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