women in leadership.

I attended the 12th Annual Women in Leadership Conference at the Jones Business School this Friday. I was inspired by the strong women who were navigating these paths not only for themselves but for the women after them. In addition to the speakers and panelists, I met many empowered women who gave me advice and encouragement to lead a balanced, worthwhile and happy life. Couple of practical tips that resonated with me:

1. Negotiate your pay on your first job and every job that follows. (Women's pay gap widens from 6.5k at entry to 31k at executive levels.)
2. Find good sponsors at several steps above you. And become a sponsor for someone else.
From Martha Feeback of Catalyst

A rainy Friday

3. Take lateral moves if there are no promotion opportunities available.
4. If you can't participate in an event at the moment, tell them to ask again next week. (In male-dominated industries, sometimes you don't want to show your vulnerable side when/if asked to join in on golf, shooting, hunting.)
From Joan T. Eischen, author of Energy and the City

5. "The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." Home is anywhere you go.
6.  Don't limit yourself. Look around. Remember this quote by Robert Browning: "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Or what's a heaven for?"
7. Remember that regardless of your chosen career, the world needs public service.
8. You are not alone in your endeavors. Consider the "unseen hands". Believe in the power of prayer.
From Ambassador Cynthia Shepard Perry

Love this notepad: better than "Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes"

This conference came at a perfect time in my life when I was able to take these advice to heart. This and a ridiculously funny department banquet, and an evening discussing languages and literature back in the college dorm.

schizophrenia-parasite connection.

"Own me, to control me
Come closer, come closer."

I finally figured out where this line is from! Such a catchy song, bring it back to the radio. This particular line came to me in class this Tuesday while listening to a group's presentation.

But first, I want to gush about the idea of college courses. You sign up to learn about whatever topic interests you, and professors put in their blood and sweat into teaching you the material and testing you to make sure you've actually learned something. What an idea.

Last Tuesday during our presentations one group talked about microbiology & behavior. It is amazing to hear about how bacteria can "hijack" an insect and manipulate it to optimize its own survival. The bacteria use the poor bug just enough to keep it alive then kills it when it is most convenient & beneficial to do so. This idea is fascinating to me, and just like the last time I heard about this on the radio, I probably made this face:

Picture Source

But this really blew my mind: scientists have found that there is a mild correlation between schizophrenia and a infection of microbial parasite called Toxoplasma gondii which is transmitted to humans mainly through cat feces. In rats, Toxoplasma infection causes the rats to "develop an actual attraction to the pheromones" in cat urine, making them more likely to be eaten by a cat. The Stanley Medical Research Institute hosts a variety of research on this schizophrenia-Toxoplasma correlation; T. gondii infection may cause changes in personality (a "really" maybe), lower cognitive function, and a poor reaction time. Specifically for schizophrenia, T. gondii has been shown to produce excess dopamine, which suggests a mode of mechanism for this infection causing schizophrenia. A 2011 study of 45,609 mothers suggested that a high level of T. gondii-specific antibodies correlates to a higher probability of being diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Is this real life? Source

Remind me to never get a cat.

conveying excitement: the radio voice.

Something I think about frequently is science education for the public. Is science anyone's hobby? "Oh, I am a science-lover/collector," the way civil war buffs, modern poetry lovers, Baroque music fans are?

I'll admit that the Lawrence M. Krauss books are better at putting me to sleep than teaching me about the fifth dimension, but why is science so sterile? So unsexy? Clinical trials, neuroscience, and cancer research are fascinating, but don't forget about the basic sciences.

An obvious sad fact is that there are limited resources in this world. Orders and priorities have to be set, and often times human-relevant topics place at the top. Many research proposals bring their experiments into a human-relevant application context (human pathogens, energy source, natural disasters) even if far-fetched and unlikely.

My co-worker noted that it's critical to focus on what is important rather than what is useful or interesting. I didn't think there was much of a distinction until he mentioned that there is an over-representation of paleontology in many science journals, simply because it is considered cool.

But if you apply this logic to the other disciplines, we do lots of "useless" things. The arts. Poetry. History. Science is simply not that interesting to those who are not studying it in the first place. A fundamental change in perception of science and scientists may be the answer here.

Red = Wolbachia in fruit fly Picture

And I found a solution of sorts in class Tuesday. The two guys who presented our group's research blew me out of the water with their enthusiasm. It was like listening to talk show radio. If you ever listen to Marketplace Morning Report, guests often talk about economics and finance like there is nothing quite so fascinating in this world. Tune this in for a non-English speaker and she may think he's talking about his latest sports car or something.

I am not sure if those two truly found the stuff fascinating or were simply kick-ass presenters, but... do people give standing ovations to class presentations? Our findings on Wolbachia transformed into something fascinating: they can make insects more pesticide-resistant!!! When they die, the adult worm cells apoptose too!!!

The Shirt by Jane Kenyon

The shirt touches his neck
and smooths over his back.
It slides down his sides.
It even goes down below his belt—
down into his pants.
Lucky shirt.

My literary friend sent me a couple of poems including this one by Jane Kenyon: "The first one is, I think, relevant to your feelings." (I love the way she phrased this sentence.) An ordinary object becoming an ingenious metaphor portraying a sense of longing. My first reaction was to laugh. Then I decided that I should give up writing since I would never write anything as subtle and beautiful.

lab meetings= laughter sessions

Heard at our lab meeting this afternoon:

"That sounds like a Dr. Seuss line."
"Wait, were we actually serious about that?"
"Do we want real data or a real... drawing?"

Bookshelf- thank you T!

In mosi news, I have a bookshelf thanks to T who is moving away to start her job, so I have stacked my science textbooks for easy reference. As happy as I am about my latest furniture, I am sad to see her go.

My friend B sent me this article Top 10 Worst Things About Working in a Lab:

#7. Sometimes experiments fail for a reason. Sometimes experiments fail for no reason. Or sometimes when you finally make it work, you learn that someone else has published a paper with much better established techniques.

#2. You have to dress like a scientist. You can try to look schmexy with those brand-new sharp lab goggles but it really doesn't work. 

Here's my Friday night with the most handsome boys in town-

Building caves and racing cars on Friday night