wax on, wax off
April 9th, 2009 by Ψ*ΨThe cover art for this recent issue of Chem Eur J might look somewhat familiar to fans of PhD Comics:[1]
I think some people might find it easier to get through reading journal articles if they included comics. Sadly, they don’t.
If PhD Comics fails to hold your attention, perhaps this will work:
Oh HELL yes! It’s a follow-up to the much-loved PCR song. These videos almost make me wish I were still doing molecular biology…[3]
If you’d like to discuss something useful in the comment thread, here’s a question: what’s the best way to study for the ACS entrance exams (inorganic, organic, physical, biocrap)? I’d, um, like to pass them.
[1] Hat tip: Rhenium. (Thanks!)
[2] Thanks, Mothy!
[3] But then I remember how much cooler it is to be working on printable electronics. Seriously, though, for about a year of my life I was intimately involved with a Bio-Rad thermocycler.[3a]
[3a] …when I wasn’t stuffing pipet tip boxes. Oh, the joys of providing cheap and easily exploited undergrad labor…
So when does Bio-Rad’s debut album come out? I’d buy that in a heartbeat.
I was just thinking something along the same lines: Who shall be the Weird Al Yankovic of science?
me
Once, at a research conference, a senior corporate scientist gave his entire talk in the form of a song, with timed powerpoint slides accompanying.
So when you say “fans of PhD comics” what you really mean is “everyone reading this post”. Bravo to them for snagging Jorge for some cover art. Does he have an editorial in there or something?
As for the song, wow, most excellent.
And as for the ACS exams, I went through the Princeton Review chemistry book a few times, but mostly focused on skimming textbooks and class notes.
I’m not sure how it works wherever you ended up deciding on, but we had 5 exams; inorg, org, pchem, analyt, and biochem, and had to pass 4/5. Never having taken biochem I just studied for the other 4.
Need to high pass 2 and low pass the other 2. ( suspect bio will be a low pass, if it is a pass at all…)
It’s actually too bad they don’t have an analytical exam…I’d like to think I’d rock that one out.
PCR, when you need to know who your daddy is…
[...] posted this over at CBC, but I just can’t help it. I was getting ready to go to bed after a hard day’s work, [...]
One word. Win.
(although it took 3 words to day that)
I am so utterly jealous of that cover… I’ll ask Stu if we can have an entire issue where the papers are in the form of PHD comics!
[...] posted this over at CBC, but I just can’t help it. I was getting ready to go to bed after a hard day’s work, [...]
Sorry, Chem. Eur. J., I still won’t read you. But nice try!
There’s nothing like a comic on the cover to remove what little credibility they had. I hope they include a color by number section or something. Maybe a connect the dots. Fun.
As for the ACS exams, don’t bother studying. You’ll do fine.
We only took two ACS entrance exams: p-chem and organic. There were low standards for the p-chem (you got half right? pass) and ridiculously high standards for the organic (you only got a 90%? Take it again). All schools are different but the exams are the same: study for the subjects you sucked at. It’s all undergrad stuff.
I don’t know what the ACS entry exams look like. I took the GREs and used the review book our department had and it worked OK. I don’t know if it’s relevant though.
I remember how much fun I had refilling pipette tip boxes when i worked in a biologics lab for a year.. yay!
A single failed reaction is a setback, a million failed reactions are a combinatorial library. Organikers’ facial hair warehouses nucleation seeds for xtallizing products. One might imagine organikettes suffer a functional disadvantage. Curiously, they don’t.
two words: cat hair
LOL.
And it’s weird that PhD Comics are about grads in *physics*.
I particularly liked the interesting use of hand gestures as described at Eur. J. Chem.
“The professor is shown as a Buddha-like image and is gesturing down with one hand and making the Buddhist gesture for method and wisdom with the other. Dice tumbling from his hand represent the organocatalytic Michael-Knoevenagel condensation domino reaction discussed in the paper, with the front die representing the cyclohexenone center of the molecule being formed. The two students standing by are making Buddhist gestures for accomplishment and meditation.”
As for the new PCR song, I just about spat my morning muffin across the room it was so hilarious.
I wish I had someone here to stuff *my* pipet box.
Oh, wait… you’re talking about lab stuff?
win!