In benchwork, learning from your mistakes is an important, essential, and helpful part of the tuition process. There are so many variables to control in the average molecular biology experiment that those with anything less than the greenest of green fingers will probably need several iterations to get publication-quality data. Ironically though, it’s often best when things don’t go right the first time.
Science is big on collaboration. With such a variety of knowledge and expertise it’s crucial to get advice from, and work alongside, people who are specialists in a particular area. But while that sounds great on paper, it’s surprisingly hard to achieve in practice. Collaborations are actually relationships in a real sense, and like real relationships, they’re very difficult to get right. In fact, many scientific collaborations bear more resemblance to an arranged marriage than a love match.
TIR began in 2016. We’ve had milestone posts to mark our 1,000th and 2,000th visitors, and at the end of May we welcomed our 4,000th visitor.
Then this happened, and we can now greet our 5,000th, 6,000th, 7,000th, 8,000th, 9,000th, and indeed our 10,000th visitors. So it’s not one but two doublings we’re marking today, and we’re well on our way to our next exponential target of 16,000.
A lighthearted post this week. What would the publishing landscape be like, if journals were restaurants instead of publications? TIR offers its own, definitely not Michelin-starred, guide…
Total Internal Reflection 