To: Peroneus Longus (right), Associate Ankle Stabilizer, Right Leg Dept. From: The Brain, Director of Whole Body, Inc. Date: April 28, 2015 Subject: Your Communication Regarding 04-06-2015 Trail Run It has come to my attention that you were dissatisfied with our 4-mile run through the woods on April 6, 2015. I understand that you felt…
Boston In Springtime, Home To The Happiest People On Earth For Three Weeks Of The Year
You all know the guy (I don’t mean to be sexist here, but usually it’s a guy): the one who has an opinion about everything, and whose opinion is always right. I have a low tolerance for this guy. And by “this guy” I’m talking about one guy among all of “those guys” out there…
How to Choose a Protein: A Comprehensive Guide For Future Biology Graduate Students (Or A Dating Guide For The Rest Of Us)
So, you want to do a PhD in biology? Well, there are several major decisions that you’ll have to make along the way. This guide attempts to explain each one in terms everyone can understand. What University Should I Choose? The first decision you’ll have to make is where you want to do your PhD.…
What’s In A Face?
I recently received the news that I do not quite have prosopagnosia. This is a bit disappointing, since it means I am not quite eligible to take part in a study that pays $20/hour. Prosopagnosia literally translates as face-blindness. This simply means that a person (who has no other memory problems) has difficulty remembering faces.…
The True Realist
As a self-proclaimed realist, few things are more irritating to me than when people tell me to “just be positive.” It’s not that I don’t want to be happy, but “just being positive,” to me looks like ignoring the pain and unpredictability of life. Since I consider myself to be a rigidly scientific and realistic…
Kings’ Feet
“Kings’ feet? Well, kings’ feet are no bigger than anyone else’s feet.” That was the fragment of conversation I caught as I walked past a woman speaking to a boy of about six years. I wish I could have heard the rest of this conversation. Mostly, I want to know how they came to be…
New Year’s Resolution: Try To Be Less Realistic
I pride myself on being a realist. It is one of the reasons I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions: I know it is unlikely that I will make significant changes in my life simply by brute force. After all, it takes me all of January just to write the correct date. Last year, I wrote…
Keep Climbing And Stay Away From The Windows: Making Sense Of Grad School After You’ve Ignored All The Warning Signs
“Don’t do it” was the response of a 4th-year graduate student when asked by one of my fellow recruits what advice she had about grad school. We were mingling with current PhD students at Harvard’s recruitment weekend, trying our hardest to look like we knew what we were talking about. I excused this woman’s bitter…
Come Out Fighting: How Coming Out As A Boxer Is Like (And Unlike) Coming Out As Gay
I’m always surprised by the array of responses I get when I tell people that I am a boxer. My admission might evoke reactions ranging from horror to awe to excitement. I suppose that after three decades here on earth I should no longer be shocked that people have such strong opinions about something that…
News That Isn’t News: You Probably Look Like Your Dog
There is new evidence suggesting we were right all along: dogs do, in fact, resemble their owners. Let’s put it to the test with a little game: each dog below is owned by the person either to his right or to his left (A or B). Try to identify the correct owner. Answers: 1=A, 2=B,…