No matter how committed you are, sometimes the best thing to do is to walk away.
Continue readingLife at the bench
No regrets (a salute to all my students)
I might be leaving academia, but I’ve no regrets about staying as long as I did.
Continue readingChanging Lanes
So, now it’s public – in January I wrote to my head of department to say I was resigning from all positions I hold at the University of Würzburg – group leader in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology, manager of the Germany-wide research focus network on “Physics of Parasitism”, and designated successor as student coordinator for the Faculty of Biology.
I’m leaving academia.
Continue readingThe 9 types of Horror Lab
A special Hallowe’en posting. Horror movies and PhD/postdoc projects sometimes unfortunately have a lot in common, with naive and idealistic young things being gobbled up by a gallery of nasties. But what exactly are the 9 types of horror lab?
Continue readingWas it really what you wanted? // A change is coming
Did you really “fail” if you didn’t get something that doesn’t exist, or isn’t what you really wanted?
Continue readingWho’s the toughest?
Scientists like to think of themselves as tough…but is it emotional toughness rather than mental toughness that’s being selected for?
Continue readingThe 9 types of Science Lover
We all love science, but what kind of Science Lover are we? Continue reading
A case of the Dorian Grays
What makes dealing with peer review so difficult is that it forces us to confront the worst conception of ourselves. Continue reading
Top, quality?
A small linguistic adjustment could make a big difference to how we view academic performance. Continue reading
No more years of hurt
The capacity to forget past trauma can be an impediment to productive change. Continue reading
Total Internal Reflection 