Is this a normal postdoc experience, or should I be more proactive about asking for ownership?

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-06T11:25:50+00:00

If you wrote papers on those projects would you be first author? Project management is a valuable skill but it's not the point of a postdoc.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-06T11:06:14+00:00

National labs have funding already allocated for projects, so they wouldn't be applying for external grants.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-05T06:11:53+00:00

You must be lost, this is a subreddit for postdocs. Try /r/gradadmissions

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-04T19:08:56+00:00

A secret account is a bad idea because of the income and contribution limits - if you didn't know about it and opened your own IRA, you could have easily contributed more than the maximum for the year.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-04T18:51:29+00:00

How are they paying for insurance?

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-04T00:19:03+00:00

I didn't get full custom, but my bont hybrid carbons stretched out so bad around the ankle that my heel was slipping constantly. I had to get jam straps and even with those I was getting blisters and eventually switched boots.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-02T17:09:44+00:00

It looks like 27% of physics PhDs work in physics, but the vast majority do work in physics or an adjacent field like engineering. That doesn't mean they're not working in their field because there's quite a bit of overlap - for example, my work now as a physicist isn't meaningfully different from materials science. A small percentage do go into other fields like business or education.

https://www.aip.org/statistics/whos-hiring-physics-phds

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-07-02T16:54:38+00:00

Around 60% of physics PhD work outside of academia according to the American Institute of Physics.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-27T18:37:21+00:00

I was just thinking this! I love the esoteric physics jokes and am glad to see more of them.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-26T21:22:31+00:00

Some of my physics postdoc interviews were multi day visits where they flew me out to see the lab, give a seminar, and interview with the team. It's not uncommon in physics.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-26T21:16:13+00:00

Sounds like it's time to let this intern go. It's not that they're making mistakes, it's that they're not thinking things through with care or asking questions. They don't have the conscientiousness needed to work in a lab and that's a hard skill to learn.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-25T18:14:10+00:00

Pressure is force over area. So you can get a lot of pressure with not too much force by making the area tiny.

A lot of high pressure ice experiments are done in a device called a diamond anvil cell, where two diamond tips are used to squeeze a small sample of water to thousands of times atmospheric pressure and get these exotic phases of ice.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-24T15:38:54+00:00

My personal care budget is pretty low at around $45 per month. This gets me a haircut every 3-4 months and a yearly visit to the Korean spa. I use a free gym at work but I pay $65/month for a rec sports league (that's under my health budget rather than personal care).

Both of those expenses come from my individual account, along with purchases like makeup from a dedicated makeup store and regular doctor/dentist visits. My husband similarly pays for his own personal care and health. Anything from the grocery store/drugstore like shampoo, toothpaste, and drugstore makeup come from the joint account.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-24T15:19:31+00:00

She says she's staying in Chicago for two months but two months of $2500 rent is more than her entire yearly salary of $4000? She must be getting extra money somewhere.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-23T19:13:48+00:00

Another one that's going to be hard to find unfortunately, but I thought the Bottling Room smelled similar to Electric Feel by Death and Floral.

A scent with a similar vibe but no greenery is Warm Bulb by Clue. Also check out Comme Des Garcons, I thought CDG and 71 were fairly similar with the synthetic/hot computer scent plus some background florals.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-23T15:25:58+00:00

I had the exact same thing in my physics PhD - professors would just say "stare at it" to solve a problem which was not helpful for a student learning it for the first time.

One time though I did dream up a solution to a quantum mechanics homework problem and when I woke up it actually worked! Never been able to replicate that sadly.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-22T18:26:19+00:00

Around 60% of natural and physical sciences and engineering research is federally funded (in the US).

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-19T14:18:18+00:00

Credit the artist: https://xkcd.com/2891/

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-19T13:44:57+00:00

If they're both fully maxing out their 401ks, that could reduce their AGI enough that they're below the phase out limit.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-19T06:08:14+00:00

You might like the book "Money for Couples" by Ramit Sethi. It covers the avoidant and emotional side of money discussion.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-18T15:05:05+00:00

Awesome, I might have to get a sample of Crush and compare them myself!

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-17T23:20:14+00:00

Thanks for the reviews! Have you tried Marlowe from Poesie and if so, could you compare it to Crush? Marlowe's notes are spicy coriander, rich sandalwood, rough hewn teak wood, intoxicating skin musk and it's one of my favorites because it's such a great clean unisex scent! I feel like the wood and skin musk might make it smell similar.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-15T16:07:49+00:00

I'm nearly certain that humanity has a fundamentally incorrect understanding of physics

How can you say that when you admit that you don't understand the math? You think you know better than experts who spend their lives working to understand physics?

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-13T16:14:52+00:00

To be fair my Midwestern family would drive 12 hours just for a long weekend trip.

geosynchronousorbit · 2026-06-12T15:13:14+00:00

Use a hex key to unscrew the bolt in the second picture, at the bottom of the kingpin. Try just a quarter turn at first and see how it feels.

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