One of my fellow-PhD students is of the opinion that when applying for postdoc positions you don't need to worry about whether the academic has lots of funding (which is a big concern for me - I want the 'richest' supervisor out there!) because they wouldn't be able to afford a postdoc if they were poor. BUT I have come across situations which seem to contradict this - how is it possible that an academic can afford to always have a postdoc without having a current research grant? Have the postdocs applied for their own funding (for their wages, not research materials)? I feel a bit ignorant asking this, but I really want to know where research money comes from and how to get it.

new (I'm wearing my new shoes today)

It's okay - the answer is that they're NOT full papers but meeting abstracts. Couldn't find them when searching on the site so I looked a bit more closely at the WOK results. Disappointed though :(

I've just found a new author of interest, so looked them up on WOK, but the vast majority of their papers for the last 10 years are listed as "ABSTRACTS of Papers of the American Chemical Society". I've come across this before, but ignored it. Can't afford to with this one - are these full journal papers and if so where are they???

...and there's always the strong possibility that there is more than one thing wrong! We have to follow the rule of changing one variable at a time, so we're fighting a losing battle. Just because a certain modification didn't fix the problem a week ago doesn't mean it won't this week - do you know what I mean?

... do you have any kind of criteria for deciding when to give up on failed lab ideas? I know there are some things that WILL work given huge amounts of time and energy, and with these you have to decide whether it's worth it, but for me it seems like the last two years have been one long string of obstacles which I've been trying to overcome. I'm so gullible - every time I make a modification to my experiment I think 'that'll do it', but it never does... I wish someone could just tell me 'on the three-hundredth modification your experiment will work', but the way things are there's no end in sight!!!

(roll on) lunch

All you vegans/veggies - did you stop eating meat and animal products over a period of time or was it an instant decision? Were any of you brought up vegetarian? Any 'opposition' from your families? I guess it's easier when you're not living at home...

I haven't been taught any German for 7 years now but some bits I'll have a guess at just for fun - the Kissen is the gel warmer I think, kochen is 'cook' so heat the water, "GroBe bitte je nach WarmekissengroBe und Anzahl wahlen" is probably a warning to be careful with hot water, "Der Inhalt wird wieder klar und flussig" -the contents (of the gel warmer) will go clear and ?, "Nehmen Sie das Kissen aus dem Wasser" - take the gelwarmer out of the water, "Sollten sich noch feste Partikel im Kissen befinden oder nach kurzer Zeit die Flussigkeit wieder fester werden, dann schutteln Sie das Kissen etwas und legen Sie es nach einmal fur wenige Minuten in das kachende Wasser" - if the gel warmer is still lumpy put it in for a bit longer?

4) lst in der Anwendung eine sichere Desinfizierung notwendig, so muss das Warmekissen vorher zur Reaktivierung 30 Minuten gekocht werden.

They do that at our uni too - I guess that's what I have to look forward to on Monday. The last few weeks of September (just before the start of term) can be quite chilly - that's when I really miss the undergrads!

star*

or you could look for a thesis which outlines how to do it - on the web or inter-library loan

I don't know anything about mashing insects up, but just curious - is the DNA/RNA extraction from whole insects an established technique? Why are you having difficulty finding out how to do it? I guess I probably know the answer to this already - I've found myself in this kind of situation where there are things that 'everybody' knows how to do, but you don't happen to have any of them at your uni! You should try e-mailing the author of a recent, relevant paper. I've done this quite a few times in the past and most people are really helpful (I tell myself 'that's what the corresponding author e-mail address is for'). There's no need to feel ashamed about something you don't know if you've made genuine efforts to find out about it.

Does everyone have the google ads at the left hand side of the page? Degrees delivered to your door in five days, we'll write your thesis etc... I don't know why I didn't notice them before - just thought it was a bit funny that they're on a legitimate postgrad site! I guess you can't specify a topic when you pay them to write the thesis?!

CAN'T do any work because I'm waiting on stuff from people who have a week full of Christmas lunches to go to!