/sci/ - Science & Math

Let's have a good old fashioned research thread.

Tell us about research and projects you're working on, offer or ask for second opinions on things, suggest new ideas, ask questions about getting involved in research as a student, etc

All scientific fields are welcome from physics to psychology and medicine to materials science.

You are given 1000 scientists and 10 billion dollars. The scientists can be whatever type you want, but you can only pick one field (be as specific as you want to). For the sake of argument, they are not being taken away from anything else, they are new scientists that will just pop into existence. You cannot profit from them directly in anyway, you can only profit from indirectly by whatever they research. Which field / research would you want them to do personally, and what field / research do you think would benefit mankind the most?

If you love science so much, why don't you make a living out of it?

Why are people paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to appraise stupid shit in glass tubes?

I keep seeing "hard science" and "soft science" posted in threads. I always thought I understood the distinction - could you clarify? Is there one? Does it matter?

Why would one hold a field like psychology to the same standard of "proof" as, say, mathematics?

Tl;dr hard sciences and soft sciences? Name them, and why does it matter?

Ask a stem cell researcher anything
>at lab on a Friday night
>doin' experiments
>drinking beer
>getting kinda drunk

Today, I took skin cells and turned them into neuronal cells (transdifferentiation) without altering their genome.

What did you do today /sci/?

Ask someone sitting in lab, on a Saturday, doing lab stuff anything.

Time for a survey /sci/!

>Nationality
>Favorite scientific subfield
>Biggest problem facing you currently

I'll start:
>Nationality
American
>Favorite scientific subfield
Stem cell biology
>Biggest problem facing you currently
I'm trying to make in vitro transcribed mRNA for the directed differentiation and/or reprogramming of cell fate but it's not working so I have to figure out whether it's the kit I'm using that is bad, my custom blend of ribonucleosides, the template (that's what I'm testing now/today), or some other factor.
Also I need to paint my condo

So /sci/ the subject says it all. What kind of research do you do? Or alternatively what type of research do you hope to do in the future?

Me, I do developmental neurobiology with human embryonic stem cells.

I'm a grad student. I'm reading papers and doing powerpoint slides. It's pretty tedious at the moment, so ask me some questions to break up the monotony.

Ok guys I'm applying for a grant and these are my specific aims, tell me what you think. I had to edit out a few parts so I don't give away all my secrets!!

Multicellular organisms begin their development as a single cell, and with few exceptions most cells of the adult organism contains the same genetic compliment. This imposes the question, what are the cellular and molecular mechanisms that allows cells to establish unique identities and perpetuate them throughout the life of the organism? Recent technology permits the altering of cell identity via reprogramming or directed differentiation; this affords the unique opportunity to examine the mechanism of cell fate specification and maintenance. It is my hypothesis that cell fate can be modulated and directed by altering [REDACTED]. I propose to explicate the cellular and molecular mechanism of glial cell fate specification and produce functional glial cell types for use in clinical settings. To achieve this I propose three specific aims:

Aim 1: Reprogramming and Directed Differentiation : The goal of this aim is to (1.1) using [REDACTED] reprogram somatic cells and (1.2) differentiate pluripotent stem cells to defined lineages, specifically neuronal cell fates, with high efficiency by expression of [REDACTED]. For example in 1.1) I will use [REDACTED] to reprogram somatic cells to a more pluripotent state and in 1.2) I will use a combination of: [REDACTED] to direct differentiation of embryonic stem cells to a glial lineage.

It's 7:30pm, I'm still in lab, and starving

how's your night going so far /sci/?

Well I'm back again today in lab waiting on incubations and gels.

Taking more questions.

I'm at lab, on a Saturday afternoon, being bored.

Ask me some questions /sci/

Ok I'm going to be up until the end of the Wisconsin game

So until then.


Ask someone who does research on/with stem cells anything.

It's snowing so hard that it's near white out conditions here. Am I still going to walk in to lab?

Yes, my experiments are more important than my personal safety

ask someone in lab at 7:19 anything.

yes, I am very hungry

Ask someone in lab on a Saturday anything

>>2322609
Some of the world's greatest minds had the same moral integrity, it's no indicator of intelligence as much as we'd like to think otherwise.

Personally I'm against inhumane experiments if they don't somehow save lives or are performed on an involuntary subject. I'd like to extend that kind of morality to experiments on animals but it's not really practical.

This is too broad of a subject for any one answer, really. It just comes down to whether or not the end justifies those means. Can one life save a thousand? Can a hundred lives save a million? Or is it just an immoral experiment for the sake of knowledge?

Lab survey time.

Have you ever worked with or handled:

[ ]Small mammals (rats, mice, rabbits, ect)
[ ] Birds
[ ] Lizards/snakes
[ ] Monkeys/primates
[ ] Insects/arachnids
[ ] Poisonous plants
[ ] Bacteria cultures
[ ] Viruses
[ ] Human cells or tissue
[ ] Combustible or explosive materials
[ ] Radioactive materials
[ ] Volatile chemical reactions
[ ] Chemicals that emit toxic fumes
[ ] Corrosive chemicals
[ ] Lasers
[ ] High voltage or current
[ ] Rockets
[ ] Strong magnets

Feel free to list things that I have not mentioned.

http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

>Eating healthy food means you are batshit insane.
>Discuss

>PhD in Genetics
>Any Job I want
>60000 starting

/sci/ I'm going to be starting grad school soon, so I'm going to let you guys pick one of my rotations. Here are some options for you:


Researcher 1-
Regulation of the length of telomere repeats and their role in cell physiology; Genetic pathways controlling gene
silencing and cell aging.

-lab is pretty full for the summer, but we can talk about other potential rotation times.
-have students (3 and one rotating this summer)
-lab is funded by 2 NIH grants

Researcher 2-
My lab studies: apoptosis in lymphoid cells; intracellular traffikcing of small molecules; energy metabolism in tumor cells.

-have two talented post-docs
-funding from NIH, and two national private agencies

Researcher 3-
Regulation of cytoskeletal force generation; nonmuscle myosin and actin dynamics, cell migration and
cytokinesis; cancer cell migration; skin wound healing

-still in a "maybe" category regarding whether I will have funds
-have another student from a different program who would like to join the lab

Researcher 4
Arginine metabolism, gene regulation, viral receptors and gene therapy

-one 2d year graduate student and one that just graduated
-trained 4 graduate students
-two R01s for 15 years. One goes for renewal this cycle