190
votes
Accepted
I'm afraid of chemicals. How do I handle my required uni biology class?
To further echo one of the comments:
Seek professional help. This may be a trained psychologist, or even just a general medical practitioner, who may be able to direct you to another institution if ...
- 133k
181
votes
Accepted
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
tonysdg asked in a comment
Can you talk to the department head? Or even better, a university ombudsperson (aka a neutral 3rd party who can discuss your options with you)?
and you replied
I don'...
- 2,698
178
votes
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
On the basis of the information you've given, I think you should look for a new supervisor as soon as possible. Regardless of whether you manage to adapt the focus of your work, your current ...
- 12.3k
72
votes
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
You are two years into a four-year PhD, or perhaps you have completed four years out of six. It may seem long, but it's still early in your academic career. It's not too late to quit and restart, and ...
- 41.9k
71
votes
How to by-pass bioethics for a trivial bio-experiment?
First, I'll assume that you don't and can't bypass the statement. The journal isn't going to go along with that.
Second, while this may be an edge case, the line needs to be drawn somewhere and it ...
- 332k
42
votes
How to by-pass bioethics for a trivial bio-experiment?
This is a much bigger deal than you seem to think it is.
What are the proper, canonical, professional way of handling this?
You (or your research group) should seek to partner with someone with ...
- 1,987
41
votes
I'm afraid of chemicals. How do I handle my required uni biology class?
(This answer supposed the OP is an American; which turns out to be true, but they are attending school in Canada, so while the general thrust of the answer remains valid some of the US-specific ...
- 4,668
39
votes
Manuscript was "unsubmitted" because the manuscript was deposited in Arxiv Preprints
Most journals now allow and even encourage the use of preprint servers. Some, however, still prohibit it on the notion that it is competition with their own publication of the article, or even ...
- 186k
39
votes
Is an invitation to 'chat' about a potential PhD position actually an interview? What am I to expect?
Yes, this is an interview. Or at least a part of an interview - depending on your location, there may be a more formal one later. As a rule of thumb, both for academia and industry, whenever you meet ...
- 13.4k
38
votes
Accepted
Can I become a tenure-track prof in one dept (biology) and teach in a different dept (math) with only one PhD?
Can I become a tenure-track prof in one dept (biology) and teach in a different dept (math) with only one PhD?
TL;DR: no.
Long answer:
I was for several years the chair of a mathematics department ...
- 183k
37
votes
Is it appropriate for peer-reviewer to look for possible plagiarism?
I would immediately communicate your findings to the editor and do no further reviewing until you hear back from them.
In the best case, like you say, they forgot to edit it, and can resubmit. ...
- 28.8k
31
votes
Where can I do a research paper or thesis without enrolling in a college or university?
It's not impossible, but in this day and age it is extremely rare for individuals unaffiliated with research institutions (academic or commercial) to successfully publish scientific research papers on ...
- 5,331
31
votes
I'm afraid of chemicals. How do I handle my required uni biology class?
I realize that rational arguments do not help phobias. Dealing with a phobia will require therapy as suggested by the other answers.
Sometimes understanding better the things you fear can help you ...
- 2,944
30
votes
Accepted
Faux pas to send personal email along with letter of reference?
TLDR: not a faux pas, if done with appropriate tact and consideration of the ethical issues underlying this situation.
Long answer:
We should distinguish between sending an informal email outside the ...
- 183k
28
votes
Accepted
What category in my C.V. should I put papers where I've contributed but was not listed as an author, nor in acknowledgments?
I don't think there's any good way to include these papers on your CV.
It's not conventional to list anyone else's papers on your CV, so by default everyone will assume you are one of the authors ...
27
votes
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
I'm going to assume that this question is for real – that important research is being done, and live mice must be killed in order to conduct the research.
(Sorry for that caveat, but there's something ...
- 13.3k
26
votes
How to by-pass bioethics for a trivial bio-experiment?
Your results are not publishable.
I think the others are beating around the bush too much.
You didn't deal with procedures for handling human samples. You didn't document your consent, you didn't ...
- 28.8k
23
votes
Manuscript rejected for no reason after revision. Elsevier
It sounds to me like 1) your original manuscript was rejected, 2) you tried to resubmit anyways, and 3) the journal rejected your resubmission without further consideration.
The result (3) sounds ...
- 98.9k
22
votes
Should I decline unrelated work assigned by PhD advisor?
Very politely notify them your scholarship and RA position (or whatever it is called that requires you to do work in return for money) has ended, and offer a consulting rate to continue. Make sure ...
- 3,204
22
votes
Accepted
What maths knowledge is required for a lab-based (molecular and cell biology) PhD?
The list is something like this:
Reasonable competence at arithmetic. It helps to be able to do math in your head so you don't have to keep looking for the calculator in the middle of pipetting.
...
- 756
22
votes
How to deal with bad undergrad researchers
We all forget too quickly how it felt when we didn't know how to work in the lab. Others treated us like stupid, when just had not yet learned the skills. If you become a professor, you will end up ...
- 10.9k
21
votes
Can I become a tenure-track prof in one dept (biology) and teach in a different dept (math) with only one PhD?
What are your research interests within neuroscience?
Dan Romnik's answer presupposes that you want to keep the two fields completely separate: you'll run a neuroscience wet lab as your day job and ...
- 5,161
19
votes
I don't want to kill any more mice, but my advisor insists that I must in order to get my PhD
This isn't an answer for everyone in this situation, but it seems very much an answer for you.
As you present it, you have skills in bioinformatics and don't like wetlab work (my wife is a ...
- 2,503
18
votes
Accepted
How can I transition into genome editing after a theoretical physics PhD?
At the risk of being blunt, it is probably worth pointing out that there is a difference between "wanting a job in a specific area" because you want to transition into that area, and "...
- 87.3k
17
votes
Rules for notifying co-authors about re-presenting a project at a conference
From what you've said this sounds like a honest mistake made in good faith, and if I was your supervisor I'd accept your apology and move on. At your stage it's to be expected that you're still ...
17
votes
I'm afraid of chemicals. How do I handle my required uni biology class?
Talk to your professor
As the other answers have said, professional help is important for your overall quality of life. But it's also a long term solution, and you also have to deal with your labs ...
- 1,136
17
votes
How to by-pass bioethics for a trivial bio-experiment?
I can think of one (possibly) entirely ethical way to bypass the more onerous demands of the bioethics committee: don't use human blood.
You are working on microscope imagery, rather than immunology ...
- 423
17
votes
Can I become a tenure-track prof in one dept (biology) and teach in a different dept (math) with only one PhD?
Having only one doctorate isn't the problem. But you would find it difficult to find a university that had compatible needs. If you are tenure-track in Biology, that department will want you to do ...
- 332k
16
votes
Accepted
Has the nature of the biological sciences shifted to cell/molecular biology instead of physical science/biochemistry/enzymology?
Yes, this has changed over time, as the number of easily answered open questions in classical biochemistry, enzymology and metabolism is reduced over time. This is much like chemistry itself, where ...
- 35.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible