Neuroscience avout
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
PI working hours
One of my colleagues made the following statement today: the PI, they said, should serve as an example to the lab. And thus the PI, at least theoretically, should be the first person to come to the lab in the morning, and the last person to leave it in the evening, thus making students/postdocs stressed, and encouraging them to work better.
It's hard to convey how much I disagree.
First of all, such a PI would not have any normal life outside the lab. And as a person aspiring (maybe delusionally, but that's a separate topic) becoming a PI one day, I don't want to live in the lab. Working a lot, and working after hours is fine. But not too obsessively, you see; not in a robotic fashion. Not just staring into the screen 24/7.
But maybe even more importantly, such a workaholic PI would not be a good example for the younger scientists. When I worked in P&G, the young managers were explicitly told that working long hours is fine, but one should be always aware of the fact that the employees will look at you, and benchmark, and feel bad for leaving the workplace before you. And that they'll just stay there unproductively, for the sake of not making you see them leaving; and they would suffer, and burn out, and start hating their job. Which is not something you want your team members to feel.
So we were told that if we need to regularly work till midnight for some reason or another, it is advisable to find a conference room, and to hide there. Also switching the work instant messenger off. So that no one of your direct reports would know that you are still working.
Because that's the point: while for some people working long hours is a result of their passion, for most of us working long hours is a consequence of bad organization, and bad time-management. The self-perpetuating vicious circle of procrastination. Which is even more painful in science than it is in those more predictable jobs I used to have: it is easier to procrastinate in science, for so many reasons. Because the things you're supposed to do are so much more vague; and because the results are that slow to come; and because you're supposed to think every now and then, which may look superficially similar to day-dreaming...
Anyway. In my opinion, the ideal PI should go home exactly at 5 (or whenever the working hours happen to end). And then secretively work at home if they wish to. And still be productive and successful. Being productive in 8 hours of work per day, weekends excluded, - that's the inspiration, and the model behavior I'd like to see. I really want to believe that it is possible, and I need somebody to demonstrate it to me on a daily basis!
It's hard to convey how much I disagree.
First of all, such a PI would not have any normal life outside the lab. And as a person aspiring (maybe delusionally, but that's a separate topic) becoming a PI one day, I don't want to live in the lab. Working a lot, and working after hours is fine. But not too obsessively, you see; not in a robotic fashion. Not just staring into the screen 24/7.
But maybe even more importantly, such a workaholic PI would not be a good example for the younger scientists. When I worked in P&G, the young managers were explicitly told that working long hours is fine, but one should be always aware of the fact that the employees will look at you, and benchmark, and feel bad for leaving the workplace before you. And that they'll just stay there unproductively, for the sake of not making you see them leaving; and they would suffer, and burn out, and start hating their job. Which is not something you want your team members to feel.
So we were told that if we need to regularly work till midnight for some reason or another, it is advisable to find a conference room, and to hide there. Also switching the work instant messenger off. So that no one of your direct reports would know that you are still working.
Because that's the point: while for some people working long hours is a result of their passion, for most of us working long hours is a consequence of bad organization, and bad time-management. The self-perpetuating vicious circle of procrastination. Which is even more painful in science than it is in those more predictable jobs I used to have: it is easier to procrastinate in science, for so many reasons. Because the things you're supposed to do are so much more vague; and because the results are that slow to come; and because you're supposed to think every now and then, which may look superficially similar to day-dreaming...
Anyway. In my opinion, the ideal PI should go home exactly at 5 (or whenever the working hours happen to end). And then secretively work at home if they wish to. And still be productive and successful. Being productive in 8 hours of work per day, weekends excluded, - that's the inspiration, and the model behavior I'd like to see. I really want to believe that it is possible, and I need somebody to demonstrate it to me on a daily basis!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
On blogging
Suddenly I realized that writing here (and also writing comments to other people's blogs) is mighty hard for me exactly because I blogged for so long in Russian. And not even because of the language (it's a problem, but an unrelated one). It's because of the difference in cultural biases and assumptions.
In Russian I am habitually controversial and provocative. But I can afford that exactly because I know what the assumptions of my readers are (on average at least), and what they are taking for granted, and what they can tolerate, and what they can't. Every now and then I make a mistake in one direction or another, but overall I know where we are, and where I'd like to lean, so I do it.
But when I try to write in English, suddenly I find that all my "default cultural settings" are wrong! I'm not even sure if what I say is acceptable at all. Because I can never be sure people would understand me. Let me give you one example: I'm really interested in human population genetics, and in human evolution is accelerating over last several thousands years, in ever increasing speeds. And how weird and unpredictable our evolution has become, with all these cities, diseases, personal choices, economical considerations, etc. It's fun, it's interesting, and I think it is a good topic (even if provocative) that can be discussed.
And I know for sure that it is being discussed in some way or another. I know of a great blog on this topic; I know of some books about it. It is possible.
Yet when I feel like saying something, or even worse - try to say something, it turns out quite awkward. Like in these discussions on PhDs having, or opting out of having kids for example:
http://isisthescientist.com/2012/11/14/to-have-or-not-have-children/
http://sciencebysummer.com/2012/11/14/phd-parents-first-to-leave-the-pipeline/
http://rxnm.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/retirement-planning/
I really wonder what the effects of "PhD being the best contraception" could be, in terms of genetic drift. But at the same time I am aware of the long and uneasy history these kinds of questions had in the US, with all this eugenics and other horrible stuff. So can I even muse on the impacts? Or is totally socially unacceptable? On those instances when I talked about human evolution with fellow scientists sometimes I got pretty harsh rebuttals that I feel I did not deserve. And my guess is that mostly it happened because of the different baseline assumptions. It's funny and sad at the same time.
In Russian I am habitually controversial and provocative. But I can afford that exactly because I know what the assumptions of my readers are (on average at least), and what they are taking for granted, and what they can tolerate, and what they can't. Every now and then I make a mistake in one direction or another, but overall I know where we are, and where I'd like to lean, so I do it.
But when I try to write in English, suddenly I find that all my "default cultural settings" are wrong! I'm not even sure if what I say is acceptable at all. Because I can never be sure people would understand me. Let me give you one example: I'm really interested in human population genetics, and in human evolution is accelerating over last several thousands years, in ever increasing speeds. And how weird and unpredictable our evolution has become, with all these cities, diseases, personal choices, economical considerations, etc. It's fun, it's interesting, and I think it is a good topic (even if provocative) that can be discussed.
And I know for sure that it is being discussed in some way or another. I know of a great blog on this topic; I know of some books about it. It is possible.
Yet when I feel like saying something, or even worse - try to say something, it turns out quite awkward. Like in these discussions on PhDs having, or opting out of having kids for example:
http://isisthescientist.com/2012/11/14/to-have-or-not-have-children/
http://sciencebysummer.com/2012/11/14/phd-parents-first-to-leave-the-pipeline/
http://rxnm.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/retirement-planning/
I really wonder what the effects of "PhD being the best contraception" could be, in terms of genetic drift. But at the same time I am aware of the long and uneasy history these kinds of questions had in the US, with all this eugenics and other horrible stuff. So can I even muse on the impacts? Or is totally socially unacceptable? On those instances when I talked about human evolution with fellow scientists sometimes I got pretty harsh rebuttals that I feel I did not deserve. And my guess is that mostly it happened because of the different baseline assumptions. It's funny and sad at the same time.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Should I reference it?
I'm now writing a paper, and in it I'll be using a certain FDR (False Discovery Rate) statistical procedure. It's a clever and not-too-conservative way to adjust for multiple comparisons, and to keep P-values in check. You should absolutely use it in your work if you have not being doing it yet:
But what I don't quite understand here is whether I need to reference the original papers in which the FDR method was described for the first time, or not.
The method is not too old: both papers that justify it were published in 1995 (see 2 first references in the Wikipedia article). At the same time by now this method is kind of known, and used, and based on the Google Scholar statistics the firsts paper of these two has an impressive number of 15582 citations. That's a lot! Does it mean that I can afford not referencing it?
Also would the fact that the Wikipedia article is that nicely written, and comes as the first result in Google Search, affect my decision?
Generally, what are the criteria? When do you stop referencing a methodological paper like this one?
Friday, November 2, 2012
Xenopus laevis tadpole neuroscience art
Here's an animated gif based on my tadpole painting from 2 posts ago. Now I feel pity for not being fully scientifically rigorous about this circuitry thing. It could have become a really funny educational material.
But anyway. Tadpole of Xenopus laevis, with most neural circuitry I care about: projections from the retina to the optic tectum, and then from the tectum to the hindbrain. Reciprocal projections from the hindbrain that pass somatosensory information and that from the lateral-line back to the tectum, for multisensory integration to happen. And then also some downstream projections from the reticulospinal neurons to the spinal cord, and the cycle pattern generators there. And all that - in one animated gif! I'm somewhat proud of it =)
But anyway. Tadpole of Xenopus laevis, with most neural circuitry I care about: projections from the retina to the optic tectum, and then from the tectum to the hindbrain. Reciprocal projections from the hindbrain that pass somatosensory information and that from the lateral-line back to the tectum, for multisensory integration to happen. And then also some downstream projections from the reticulospinal neurons to the spinal cord, and the cycle pattern generators there. And all that - in one animated gif! I'm somewhat proud of it =)
Thursday, November 1, 2012
How to fight procrastination?
How to avoid procrastination? I don't really know. I've just spent around 2 days looking for a software to build a knowledge base (this search failed; the software of my dream doesn't exist, so the search was essentially vain and counterproductive). And then about 1 more full day (in total) blogging about neuroscience of homosexuality in Russian. (Why? Why? It's not even my topic!)
But introspectively I can list the following reasons (or maybe rather ways) I procrastinate:
1) The first reason is the simplest one: I try to avoid work; try to find distraction. Any kind of distraction!
2) I seek news; any kind of novelty; any kind of information that was generated recently, that is "hot from the press". As if to prove myself that the world is still moving on around me.
3) I seek interaction with other people. To prove that I'm not alone.
4) I seek praise from other people. To feel that I'm useful.
5) And sometimes I'm just too tired to keep working.
Normally I would cover all 5 points by procrastination, and mostly of Internet kind: checking the e-mail, blogs, twitter, facebook, Reddit, wikipedia watch pages etc. And it's bad. It should not be like that.
Some people (theorists and mathematicians) can afford working without a computer, with just a paper notebook. Or at least unplug form the Internet. I usually can't afford it, as I have to check Pubmed, or google for Matlab tips and tricks all the time. So I need to find another solution.
After SfN I successfully (at least so far) quit Reddit, which was by far the worst way of wasting time for me. Reddit is a great tool; I quite successfully used it for conducting science-related polls, advertising some of my work, and I learn(ed) a lot form it. But it's just way too demanding. I can not afford it. I also stopped checking Twitter and Facebook, by consciously making the feed unreadable. I unsubscribed from most of Google+ alerts. In total it should help with Reason #1, at least for a while.
Instead, I subscribed to some "new publications" kind of alerts at WebOfScience and Pubmed. Maybe it will satisfy the craving for the "hot" information (Reason #2).
Reasons #3 and #4 aren't a problem when I'm teaching, or when I am to present, or have recently presented my work outside the lab. I still don't know what to do "in between". Maybe developing this blog can be a solution.
And for the #5 - I will probably try alternating tasks. Can not program any more? Read some papers. Can not read? Reground the rig. Can not work with the rig? Read some science-related (but really science-related!) blogs about giving tenure talks (as if it were relevant) and what not. We'll see how it works.
But introspectively I can list the following reasons (or maybe rather ways) I procrastinate:
1) The first reason is the simplest one: I try to avoid work; try to find distraction. Any kind of distraction!
2) I seek news; any kind of novelty; any kind of information that was generated recently, that is "hot from the press". As if to prove myself that the world is still moving on around me.
3) I seek interaction with other people. To prove that I'm not alone.
4) I seek praise from other people. To feel that I'm useful.
5) And sometimes I'm just too tired to keep working.
Normally I would cover all 5 points by procrastination, and mostly of Internet kind: checking the e-mail, blogs, twitter, facebook, Reddit, wikipedia watch pages etc. And it's bad. It should not be like that.
Some people (theorists and mathematicians) can afford working without a computer, with just a paper notebook. Or at least unplug form the Internet. I usually can't afford it, as I have to check Pubmed, or google for Matlab tips and tricks all the time. So I need to find another solution.
After SfN I successfully (at least so far) quit Reddit, which was by far the worst way of wasting time for me. Reddit is a great tool; I quite successfully used it for conducting science-related polls, advertising some of my work, and I learn(ed) a lot form it. But it's just way too demanding. I can not afford it. I also stopped checking Twitter and Facebook, by consciously making the feed unreadable. I unsubscribed from most of Google+ alerts. In total it should help with Reason #1, at least for a while.
Instead, I subscribed to some "new publications" kind of alerts at WebOfScience and Pubmed. Maybe it will satisfy the craving for the "hot" information (Reason #2).
Reasons #3 and #4 aren't a problem when I'm teaching, or when I am to present, or have recently presented my work outside the lab. I still don't know what to do "in between". Maybe developing this blog can be a solution.
And for the #5 - I will probably try alternating tasks. Can not program any more? Read some papers. Can not read? Reground the rig. Can not work with the rig? Read some science-related (but really science-related!) blogs about giving tenure talks (as if it were relevant) and what not. We'll see how it works.
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