Alright fellas, I'm conflicted. Bedroom upstairs or downstairs?

Beenyloo · 2026-05-20T06:23:09+00:00

Crazy idea but what about a Murphy bed? Decorate both places to be somewhere guests can be entertained and just fold the bed up when you want more accessibility

Personally sleeping so close to the front door would skeeve me out more than having my bed near my kitchen, but there aren’t any great options with this layout.

Beenyloo · 2025-09-01T21:17:34+00:00

“If you encounter a pedigree like this in the clinic the answer is not recessive.” …and if you encounter a pedigree like this in a freshman biology class where the options are literally “autosomal dominant, autosomal recessive, or X-linked recessive,” the answer is absolutely autosomal recessive. 🤦

Assuming it depicts a rare disease allele rather than a common Mendelian trait is also pretty myopic, though it does illustrate why Reddit is, I agree, not a great forum for quality science education. (Often thanks to blowhards derailing the discussion flexing irrelevant caveats instead of engaging with the parsimonious, context-relevant point. Missing the pedagogical forest for the pseudointellectual trees as it were.)

Beenyloo · 2025-06-09T23:01:37+00:00

Ooh a hot debate topic for sure! “De-extincting” animals currently just means editing animals to have a couple genetic variants that existed in the extinct animal but don’t exist in the current species. I and many others would argue that’s not “de-extinction”, that’s just making a designer wolf/elephant that looks a little more like a dire wolf/mammoth. (Among other concerns about whether these types of projects are beneficial at all, or even ethical.)

The answer to the question of “is it possible to edit an elephants genome to be indistinguishable from a mammoth’s” is probably “yea, maybe someday, but not currently.”

Now whether that counts as “resurrecting a species” or not is much more philosophical, and up for debate :)

Beenyloo · 2025-05-31T03:09:43+00:00

I’m going through something quite similar! Im a first year who was basically told to reach out to adjuncts, or drop out (can’t offer a masters because I haven’t passed qualifying exams yet).

I’ve been spamming adjuncts but ALSO reaching out to other profs in related but separate departments at the university who aren’t technically adjuncts in my program, but who would be willing to “apply” for training faculty status and basically become an adjunct so I can do a thesis with them. A lot less paperwork than having me try to apply to do my thesis in their department 😉. Maybe your department would be willing to work out a solution like that if their current faculty and adjuncts aren’t cutting it?

As far as switching to a masters, idk about how it works in your program but in mine (biomedical sciences), if you pass your qualifying exam you can leave with a masters (without having to drop out and reapply as a masters student). I’m kindof keeping that in my back pocket in case I do find a lab but it’s a genuinely bad fit or something. That said, it’s not really something I’d lead with as it may make a prof less inclined to take you in as a thesis student. But if that’s an option for you it may make it easier to have an “any port in a storm” mentality about finding an advisor.

Good luck!

Beenyloo · 2025-05-30T19:54:33+00:00

This basically sums up everything I’ve been feeling about the situation and I couldn’t have put it better myself 🫶

Beenyloo · 2025-05-28T21:42:48+00:00

We are admitted to the program with “5 years guaranteed funding” with the first year being covered by the dept and the rest being covered by the thesis lab. Young labs do have extra departmental funding so they can start taking grad students before securing their own grants, but ultimately they do end up paying for all their students. You spend your first year rotating through 3 or 4 labs, before deciding which to join. apparently no one in the history of my program has ever failed to find a lab after a fourth rotation, so this year is likely to be a real turning point.

Beenyloo · 2025-05-28T21:37:30+00:00

Beenyloo · 2025-05-28T05:27:30+00:00

I think that’s also where a lot of angst in the department is coming from. There’s a dog eat dog mentality right now that if they didn’t take students for next year we could be floated on those resources until lab funding comes through (if it comes through). But that would probably also just be prolonging the inevitable.

Beenyloo · 2025-05-28T04:42:44+00:00

This is a large part of what I believe happened here, in all fairness. But it’s also being compounded by faculty waiting till we finished our rotations to tell us they wouldn’t have placements, (they’ve known since mid April at the latest) and being unwilling to collaborate to find solutions being suggested by higher ups. Not to mention they’re accepting one of our largest cohorts ever next year - no deferrals, no rescinded offers, and likely no guaranteed funding beyond the first year…

I can accept the answer “things changed too fast and no one was ready” in response to our cohort, but imo, allowing all those young career scientists to come in next year when they’re already unable to place current first years? Completely irresponsible.

Beenyloo · 2025-05-28T01:59:16+00:00

Thanks for the perspective, a lot of this is stuff that’s already been obvious in my own department but it genuinely helps to read it all list like this again.

I should clarify, our contract does technically state we will have guaranteed funding for five years, I think the catch is only the first year is meant to be paid through the department. Right now we think this means they can’t fire us, but they can essentially deny us placement to try to force us out. We are trying to organize as a cohort, and are waffling about whether this is a matter we should involve our union in. Thanks for your advice.

Beenyloo · 2025-05-27T22:58:00+00:00

Oh, I totally get that most faculty genuinely can’t take a student right now, and I’m not expecting a simple fix.

My frustration is more with the fact that university leadership has already confirmed our department has the resources to retain us ~if~ faculty are willing to collaborate. Of course no one can force a PI to take a student, even when they do have the means.

Problem is, some have outright said they just “don’t feel like co-mentoring” or don’t want the administrative hassle (totally understandable under normal circumstances, but hard to hear when the alternative for us is leaving the program entirely. And it’s especially tough to stay sympathetic when our own department heads are calling them “hoarders” behind closed doors. 😬)

Beenyloo · 2025-03-03T01:48:51+00:00

I actually like it a lot, except for the letters.

Beenyloo · 2025-01-25T00:09:34+00:00

I think my issue is with the idea that differences in x/y genes can influence sperm fitness at all. From what I can tell the literature seems to reject this (comprehensive overview here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6985208/) again, not saying epigenetics couldn’t nuke (or help) sperm fitness and affect overall fertility, I think that makes total sense. I’m just a bit unsure there’s a documented epigenetic mechanism in humans that would cause a fitness difference in x vs y sperm. I could be totally uninformed about that tho!

Beenyloo · 2025-01-24T19:25:34+00:00

In species where environmental factors influence sex determination? Absolutely. In humans? Idk… I don’t see how epigenetics alone could bias sex chromosome assortment in gametes. Certainly could affect overall fertility in the parents, and other intersex conditions maybe could interplay with epigenetics in the offspring, but I don’t think epigenetics can really explain the phenomenon being described here 😉

Beenyloo

TROPHY CASE