It's nice on fish fingers too, as a sort of smooth tartar sauce [I have re-discovered fish fingers thanks to my 3yr old nephew, have to be the fillet ones though]

Many happy returns!

Fantastic news! Congratulations

FF, so very sorry to hear about this When you are feeling a bit stronger, please complain to the hospital. It's absolutely disgusting that you have had such a distressing experience. There is no easy way to have a miscarriage but it sounds like it was made even harder for you by the hospital's lack of care. To suggest or to act in such a way that you felt that they thought your pregnancy didn't matter because it was unplanned is appalling. Take care and very best wishes x

I agree with Golfpro. To be brutally honest, anything is 'publishable' if you don't care where you publish it! It's only helpful to your career when it's published (or at least accepted for publication) in a credible journal. Good luck.

Hello everyone

Last biology lesson - re: the 'do you turn into a bloke when on the pill as during the menopause?'

No! On the contrary, being on the pill (combined pill) exposes a woman to much higher concentrations of oestrogen which is a 'feminising' hormone. This explains the common side-effect of breast growth! It also explains why certain contraceptive pills (e.g. Dianette) are used as a treatment for acne or unwanted hair growth (i.e. reversing or controlling the effects of a hormonal imbalance).

I'm sure you realise that egg release only occurs from menarche (first period and beginning of reproductive life), so if you were on the pill until you were 30, then (if average age at menarche is 12), you'd 'bank' 18 years of eggs, not 30 . Also, not all contraceptive pills prevent ovulation; low dose progesterone-only pills inconsistantly prevent ovulation and their main mechanism of action is via thickening of cervical mucus to prevent sperm entry (possibly too much info for you there...)

Richmond, people have speculated that being on the pill might be helpful in terms of preserving fertility but AFAIK, there is little or no evidence for this. As you correctly say, a female is born with all the eggs she will ever produce so time is the real factor (tick tock goes the biological clock). Recent research suggests that for women, the age of your mother at the time you were born will impact on your future fertility (with the older the mother, the more likely that the daughter will have fertility problems) - not good news when the average age for a first baby is increasing all the time.

Richmond, the female human body is so NOT well designed for childbirth (more strong evidence against 'intelligent design')! Juno is right, the modern female body has a relatively narrow pelvis and newborn human babies have disproportionately large heads - go figure! It all went wrong when we became bipedal If and when, it will be an epidural for me (and an elective Caesar doesn't sound like a bad option either!). That said, splinters are damn painful too!

Hiya Wickid, I recommend evening primrose oil and complex carbs to keep your serotonin levels up.

All year round, as SixKitten says, check out jobs.ac.uk and also look at University websites (in the jobs sections).

You can (and should!) include a covering letter with an application form.

I would say start to write up as soon as you can and if you have a couple of 'easy' chapters to start with then that's even better! It's very motivating to be able to tick off completed chapters on your list. Writing up ALWAYS takes longer than you think it will so don't delay, start today!! Good luck

If you want a research career (in either academia or industry) or if you want an academic career, then a PhD is pretty much essential. If not, you are wise to think carefully about whether a PhD is a good move for you. I suggest talking about this with someone from your Uni careers service. Good luck.