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Diverse Geekity
biomass Started conversation Mar 27, 2004
Well you certainly have achieved your aim. Your interests are both diverse and geeky. Well done - mission accomplished. Crisis over.
PS Everyone has a geek lurking inside, and you know you've hit cool when you don't make an effort to hide it anymore. Geek on!
Diverse Geekity
orchidgirl Posted Mar 27, 2004
Why, thank you Biomass. It's always nice to have ones acheivements acknowledged.
Microbiology then? I remember that. I was almost comically bad at it. Although if you ever have the need for accidental creation of very nasty looking orange-coloured cultures then look no further. And yet I was still given a job in a lab. The fools!!
Good luck with the pesky little microbes!!
Diverse Geekity
biomass Posted Mar 28, 2004
At what level were you studying Microbiology, and what job were you doing in what sort of lab?
Never, ever turn your back on those orange cultures. I've heard of researchers disappearing from labs without a trace in very mysterious circumstances. No known suspects, but the one thing in common in all of these cases - yep, uncovered agar plates containing orange cultures were found on the bench every time. I'm starting to scare myself so I'd better go and find my "happy place". Hope to hear from you soon.
Diverse Geekity
orchidgirl Posted Mar 28, 2004
Have you seen the Far Side cartoon that has a scientist working late and stumbling across a bad patch of the petri dish? Seems somehow appropriate!
I did some microbiology as part of an undergrad degree (it was a genetics degree but I had to do some courses from the other biology fields in the first couple of years). My classic moment was the first ever lab session of my degree which was a microbiology class. There was a small incident involving a bunsen, a small container of ethanol and an apple resulting in a flaming apple scenario. Left my (scorch) mark on that lab bench.
Labs - molecular cytogenetics/genetics/pharmacogenetics. Apparently I'm all about DNA, which is a bit of a shock as I always wanted to be a roadie.
Are you doing a microbiology degree? How much longer to go?
Diverse Geekity
biomass Posted Mar 28, 2004
Finished my BSc (Biological Sciences) in Noevember with a double major in Microbiology and Genetics (our acedemic years run from Feb-Nov). Was offered one of 8 Honours positions in the microbiology department, so that's what I'm doing now, my Honours year. Your scenario couldn't happen here as the first lab of your degree wouldn't be micro - it can't be studied until 2nd year here, they want you to have a good grounding in science overall before they introduce you to the little fellas. If I do well enough in my Honours year I stand a chance of winning 1 of 3 sholarships to pay for a PhD (don't have to do a Masters then either), but that looks unlikely at the moment. Early days yet, so let's not give up.
Diverse Geekity
orchidgirl Posted Mar 28, 2004
Never give up! You never know what could happen - the nasty-looking orange cultures could wipe the competition! Science can be extremely frustrating. And that was the understatement of the week. But there comes a point in time when you've invested so much into your course/PhD/job that you have to be ridiculously stubborn and fight your way through it. Even if it means re-running that stupid PCR AGAIN.
So how does a PhD work down under? I did mine in the UK so no course work thankfully and a mere 3-4 years of pain and despair. The US system seems to take much longer and they have to take classes and yet more exams. I know the Dutch system can take as long as necessary to get a specific number of publications (6 I think). I'm just intrigued (on account of being a geek and all) how different countries work.
Diverse Geekity
biomass Posted Mar 28, 2004
I wonder about the differences in countries as well, the Brits on h2g2 say they have never heard of an honours year, and one bloke had an Honours degree in Maths! OK here goes. It depends on what your studying, but as far as I know, in the sciences there is no course work, you do a research project culminating in a thesis that has to be judged to have contributed something new to what you were researching. It's supposed to be 3 years, but often stretches another year apparently. However, that may not hold true for all sciences because a mate of mine is doing Honours in Physics, and he has lectures to attend, so does Chemistry, so their PhD's may also involve course work, I don't know. Honours in Micro is a year of research, with a thesis of 10,000 words at the end (I'm doing mitochondrial RNA transcript processing. Nobody knows quite how it works, but it causes many, many diseases, including various forms of blindess and deafness, so I would love to smash it open to allow just one kid to go to the beach and hear the surf or see the sky). I have just done a 3,000 word essay, and there is a 5,000 word literature review, plus a presentation of my research proposal, and one at the end on what I've done and what I've found. Plus I have to give a 30 minute lecture on a subject they give you, mine is on "Recent advances in petroleum microbiology". My mate in Physics doesn't have to do a thesis, but he still has to sit exams, which I no longer have to do. So, you see, it varies not only between nations but even between disciplines.
Diverse Geekity
orchidgirl Posted Mar 28, 2004
Honours degrees: In the UK (at least, in 1993 in Genetics!) the final year was an honours year, you were automatically put onto an honours degree unless you mess up the previous years in which case you can continue for an "ordinary" degree without the "honours" so it's sort of assuming the best of everyone until they prove them wrong. This is probably why most of the UK doesn't seem to know what an honours year is.
So for my final (honours) year I had some course work and had to do a research project with a thesis and do a lit review. Plus some exams on the coursework.
Your PhD programme (at least in micro) sounds similar to the UK system -3 years but there is a 4th year grace period where they don't hassle you (or pay you) so you can finish up and write up. You have to defend the thesis in an oral exam (viva) with one person from outside of the university (but vaguely in your field) and one person within the university (but not in your lab). It can last many hours, the average seems to be 3. It hurts. In the US they do coursework (with exams) and rotations in various labs before starting an actual project. The thesis defense is an open forum (at least in biological sciences as far as I can tell) which means technically your mum could turn up and ask questions. Scary stuff.
Good luck with your research, mtDNA and RNA is still very much an open book. Keep me posted on how it's going (and remember all your results will inevitably come in the last month, science can be a real drama queen).
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