Total Internal Reflection @TIR_scienceblog@qoto.org
Total Internal Reflection (https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) is a blog about the human side of science, written by Brooke Morriswood.
Postings include commentary, and how-to guides for young scientists to improve their soft skills.
Joined Nov 2022
New posting! I’m less than a year into my new scientific career in the #biotech/#pharma sector, and the biggest difference with #academia is already clear: it’s the money.
But not, as you might think, in terms of salary…👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/06/16/follow-the-money/
New posting! You wouldn't think that mandatory company training on policies & procedures would come across as a beacon of enlightenment, but that's how it did for me 😂 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/04/28/from-the-top-down/
New posting! A riff on permanent positions in #science, and how 6 months in #MedComms has already brought more career stability (= permanent position) than 20+ years in #academia. 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/03/17/apotheosis-a-riff-on-permanent-positions-in-science/
New posting! This one contains a few reflections on what I do, and don't, miss about my life in #academia.
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/01/28/only-in-the-abstract/
New posting! Here is the Total Internal Reflection #2023 retrospective: >30,000 page views, nearly 20,000 visitors, and the most shattering decision of my professional life to date.
As always, a massive thanks to all of you out there for reading/favouriting/boosting/commenting on the postings - much appreciated.👏
It's also just over 1 year since arriving here, and it's been fantastic to meet and connect with so many of you. Here's looking forward to many more reflections in 2024!😊
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2024/01/07/2023-tirs-year-in-review/
New posting! This is the annual look at some great #scientists and great #moustaches in honour of #Movember2023. This year's style winner comes from Japan 🤩
A massive thanks to @batroelens for nominating a couple of 2023's style exemplars...😊
New posting! This is a short riff on the importance of scientific supply chains. The departure point is the coronavirus pandemic, and the way it illustrated the vital need to have a domestic supply chain to complement outsourcing. The same lesson, I think, is true to science training. Hope you like it!
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/11/26/scientific-supply-chains/
The outrageously talented
Oliver Hoeller hasn't contributed to TIR in a long while (😢) but he does have a new book out 🤩- now all you budding artists and #sciart fans can learn some tips & tricks if you'd like to try sketching the world around you👇
https://oliverhoeller.com/store/Pack-Your-Sketches-Full-of-Life-p597163060
One week in to #Movember2023 and it's time to celebrate some more great scientists with great #moustaches! Here's Part II of the TIR Movember series. Anybody you'd like to nominate for the 2023 edition?
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2018/11/19/great-scientists-great-moustaches-pt-2-a-movember-posting/
#Movember2023 is under way! For those not in the know, the #Movember foundation raises awareness of #MentalHealth, #ProstateCancer, #TesticularCancer.
To tie in with the event, TIR has an annual posting of "Great scientists, great #moustaches", and 2023 will be no exception!
First though, let's take a look back at previous iterations in the series... Got someone you'd like to nominate? Let me know.😃 👨👇
It's an oldie but a goodie, re-upping it for #Halloween2023 - the #9types of horror lab. Happy Hallowe'en! 🎃 👻
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/10/31/the-9-types-of-horror-lab/
New #posting! This one suggests that good #mentoring offers an escape to the #RedQueen problem faced by many (most? all?) contemporary group leaders in #academia. Hope you like it! 👇
https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/10/29/a-riposte-to-the-red-queens/
"More and more bitter, self-pitying, repetitive" - a regular reader slams TIR's recent content (ouch!). Reminds me of a similar discussion I had nearly a year ago that inspired the following posting (👇)...it's certainly difficult balancing scientific wonder with structural commentary. But point taken; let's see if I can provide a bit more sunshine 🤩
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2022/11/17/a-letter-to-a-friend/
Interested in #mRNA and #trypanosomes? My dear (Tootless) friend Susanne Kramer has a #DFG-funded #PhD position available now in my old home of the University of Würzburg. Full details (including contact email) in the pic below 👇
New posting! This one riffs on a few talking points from my latest (not quite my last!) paper, namely the role of #preprints in accelerating research and providing a "director's cut" of papers, how NOT to do #PeerReview, and the importance of involving #undergraduates in frontline research.
New posting! After #LeavingAcademia at the end of April, my "jobseeker" status lasted exactly 2 weeks in the end. As of Friday I have now started a new career direction in #MedComms - some thoughts on that in the posting 👇
http://totalinternalreflectionblog.com/2023/09/03/a-new-direction-the-switch-to-medcomms/
New posting! It was an honour and an absolute pleasure talking with Bruno Lemaitre about the impact of #narcissism on #science.
Bruno discovered the role of the #Toll pathway in the #Drosophila immune response to fungal infections, but the #Nobel prize went to his postdoc boss, Jules Hoffmann.
Besides the interview, there's also a link for the FREE download of his book on the topic. 👇
I would really like to do a 2nd iteration (& regular series) of this posting concept👇.
I'm looking for #BIPOC/#BAME scientists to share their stories not of what they do, but of what inspired them to follow a career in #STEM. Maybe a teacher? A friend of the family? A TV programme?
Message me/reply if interested. #MySciMoment
New posting! This one is a #HowTo guide on how NOT to start a research group in #academia - in other words, all the things that I wish I'd done differently or that I wish I'd been more aware of when I started back in 2015. I hope that helps anyone else out there taking their first steps in this direction! (And any comments/additions very welcome). 👇
New posting! This addresses the recent controversy at the 2023 Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting, where one of the speakers used his time to complain that he felt discriminated against as a white man.
To my mind, that isn't what's surprising and shocking about the episode.
The surprising thing is that on this occasion, a courageous young female scientist actually called him out on it.
The shocking thing is that despite such sexist, chauvinistic comments still being commonplace, such interventions basically never happen. And they should. #womeninstem
Total Internal Reflection (https://totalinternalreflectionblog.com) is a blog about the human side of science, written by Brooke Morriswood.
Postings include commentary, and how-to guides for young scientists to improve their soft skills.
Joined Nov 2022
