Hair-pulling
I thought I'll write anyway, because my brain's not functioning very well now anyway, so a short break writing this isn't going to affect my productivity very much!
I'm almost done with one of my projects, so all I really need to do now is tie up some loose ends and compile them into a paper. Draft number I-have-given-up-counting-coz-there-are-so-many. Ha ha. I'll be glad to put this one down, finally.
This reminds me of what one of my friend apparently commented: that labs are created so they publish papers, after which there is a major overhaul in the quest for the next paper. This is seriously paraphrased, and I haven't even heard him say this to me himself - I got this second hand. But I think I caught the gist.
It'll be sad if everyone thought that - that we're so wanton in our actions. Science is costly, yes, but we don't do major overhauls, unless it's necessary. Besides, the equipments we use are usually similar, so we don't throw good existing machines away just because we've finished a paper!
In any case, science sometimes doesn't advance as quickly as people imagine. At least, I don't think so. It is a truly tedious process, especially when you want to cover every loophole. At the end of the day, sometimes, you end up only contributing a little bit to the overall research in an area, which can be desperately frustrating.
So that's a bit of scientific research for you!
Last week I had the privilege of interviewing some students for an award. I've only really been on the other end of an interview panel, so it was eye-opening. I came out telling myself I should hang out with the younger people more often because they had that degree of idealism which I seem to have lost with age and failures! It's difficult to keep going on a research project when you stumble and fall along the way, so it helps when you hear from the younger ones how your work actually has an impact. Although and impact you might not see at the moment!
Phew, I sound like I'm whining. Oh well, maybe I am!
I'm almost done with one of my projects, so all I really need to do now is tie up some loose ends and compile them into a paper. Draft number I-have-given-up-counting-coz-there-are-so-many. Ha ha. I'll be glad to put this one down, finally.
This reminds me of what one of my friend apparently commented: that labs are created so they publish papers, after which there is a major overhaul in the quest for the next paper. This is seriously paraphrased, and I haven't even heard him say this to me himself - I got this second hand. But I think I caught the gist.
It'll be sad if everyone thought that - that we're so wanton in our actions. Science is costly, yes, but we don't do major overhauls, unless it's necessary. Besides, the equipments we use are usually similar, so we don't throw good existing machines away just because we've finished a paper!
In any case, science sometimes doesn't advance as quickly as people imagine. At least, I don't think so. It is a truly tedious process, especially when you want to cover every loophole. At the end of the day, sometimes, you end up only contributing a little bit to the overall research in an area, which can be desperately frustrating.
So that's a bit of scientific research for you!
Last week I had the privilege of interviewing some students for an award. I've only really been on the other end of an interview panel, so it was eye-opening. I came out telling myself I should hang out with the younger people more often because they had that degree of idealism which I seem to have lost with age and failures! It's difficult to keep going on a research project when you stumble and fall along the way, so it helps when you hear from the younger ones how your work actually has an impact. Although and impact you might not see at the moment!
Phew, I sound like I'm whining. Oh well, maybe I am!
posted by Female Fizzicist at 12:46 AM
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