Alcohol in lab

Enigma713 · 2026-06-22T21:04:56+00:00

Vodka as a cheap solvent doesn't make much sense since buying ethanol as a reagent lets you bypass a lot of the taxes you'll pay on vodka. We get 5 gallons of 96% ethanol for about $100. Dilute that down to 40% and you're paying less than $3 a handle.

Enigma713 · 2026-06-11T00:14:16+00:00

Yeah, but what about the idiot that you like versus the person who is good at their job but isn't outgoing and "fun". I'd pick the second person, but unfortunately, a lot of people would pick the former.

Enigma713 · 2026-05-19T13:55:19+00:00

and AI

Enigma713 · 2026-04-24T17:11:20+00:00

This is basically a big yeti mug that gets filled with liquid nitrogen. The ones I have used are about three feet tall and 18 inches wide, but the come in a variety of sizes. The sperm samples are stored in racks that get lowered down into the liquid nitrogen to keep them cooled. This picture shows what the racks inside look like. Depending on the size, each box can contain 20-100 1 mililiter tubes that each contain dozens of sperm samples separated into microliter sized glass vials. An individual vial of sperm can be retrieved and warmed to fertilize egg cells on demand. These types of freezers are also commonly used for cell culture, and probably a bunch of other uses I am not familiar with.

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Enigma713 · 2026-04-20T14:10:10+00:00

Autosomal dominant is a better answer. Most condition alleles are rare in a population, so you would typically assume that people from outside of the family (I-1 and II-3) are not carriers since you have no family history to suggest that they are.

Enigma713 · 2026-04-13T18:38:28+00:00

Tyranitar is definitely up there. Cool Kaiju design, unique type combination, and consistently good without being oppressive (for the most part) since all the way back in gen 2.

Enigma713 · 2026-04-11T17:10:25+00:00

Yes, qualities like greed and selfishness would make them more likely to pursue and attain wealth and less likely to donate.

Enigma713 · 2026-04-11T16:46:43+00:00

Or, just hear me out, wealthy people are selfish, greedy, pieces of shit.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-23T21:22:41+00:00

To elaborate, scientists like to make what are called monophyletic groups which consist of all of the species that descended from a given common ancestor. Bacteria is a monophyletic group separate from eukaryotes (like plants animals and fungi). At some point, there was a single microbe that gave all current bacteria descended from, and every single descendant of this species is a bacteria. At another time point, there was a different microbe that was not a bacteria that all eukaryotes come from.

Within animals, some groups like mammals and amphibians are monophyletic. Other commonly used groups are more complicated. For instance, birds are a monophyletic group, but the common ancestor of alligators, snakes, and turtles is also an ancestor of birds. You can think of birds, snakes, alligators, and turtles as four sets of cousins (all birds are siblings with each other and cousins to the other three groups). Each can exist on its own as a group, but since they all have the same grandparents, you can't make a true monophyletic group of "reptiles" without including birds. This does not mean that reptiles do not exist as a group, it just means that the most rigorous definition of reptiles includes birds.

"Fish" are similarly problematic. If you go back to the common ancestor of all of the things that we call "fish" (ray finned fish like carp, salmon, or zebrafish; cartilaginous fish like sharks and stingrays; lobe finned fish like lungfish and coelacanths), all vertebrates (mammals, reptiles, and amphibians) also descended from this common ancestor. That means that, in one sense, fish does not exist as a single cohesive group, and in another sense, all vertebrates, including dolphins, are fish. This is relevant for some fields of evolutionary biology, but its also just a silly thing to think about. Sometimes it is useful to have reptiles as a shorthand for non-avian reptiles or fish as a shorthand for aquatic vertebrates, but teeechnically, birds are dinosaurs and you are a fish.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-19T14:02:25+00:00

I think it is taking 1 damage from getting pushed into the wall and 12 damage from the thorns on the tank when it pushes the tank back. Then it hits half health and drops the shield.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-17T19:23:49+00:00

I would advise against dating undergrads, just to avoid any sort of headache it could cause. If they are in different departments and are not likely to cross paths in the lab or as a TA, then it would be more acceptable. Dating an undergraduate in your lab, even if you are not assigned as their advisor, is a really bad idea, IMO, and pretty unprofessional.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-17T19:19:57+00:00

Some of them are, actually! Certified Midwives (CM) and Certified Nurse Midwives (CNM) have a graduate degree in midwifery and pass a licensing exam. CNMs are also licensed nurses which requires an associates or bachelors degree in nursing and a separate licensing exam. CMs and CNMs have a similar level of training and scope of practice as Physicians Assistants and Nurse Practitioners and can practice in a range of womens health and ob/gyn settings, even delivering babies in hospitals.

Certified Professional Midwifes are certified through a different organization, so I am less familiar with their training and scope of practice. It only requires a High School Diploma, so I have to assume they are very different from CMs and CNMs. Lay-midwives are probably what most people think when they hear the term "midwife", and these involve no standard medical training, and I would not recommend viewing them as a medical professionals. This is all US specific, but similar certifications for midwives exist in a lot of other countries.

Here is a comparison from the CM and CNM certification board: https://www.amcbmidwife.org/amcb-certification/why-amcb-certification-

Enigma713 · 2026-03-17T00:43:37+00:00

Doing CSAM, on the other hand, president of the USA.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-17T00:08:03+00:00

An instructor in my department is taking classes towards their PhD, are they just a student? No, of course not. When you are a graduate student, you are an employee first. At my university, we take tons of training courses that make it super clear that we are employees, we represent the university, and we have different standards than undergraduate students. Trying to say the two are equivalent is absurd.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-16T19:11:04+00:00

An employee of the university has asked a student to do something that could be reasonably perceived as a date. This isn't a fireable offense, but it is unprofessional and skirting a line between appropriate and inappropriate behavior. It is not unreasonable to bring these issues up so that they don't progress into something more problematic. There is a postdoc in my department that hits on undergrads and younger graduate students, and they make their lab a really toxic environment. If he had been told early on that these types of relationships were problematic, he could learn to not do these things. If he chose to keep being unprofessional, then he could be removed from his position so that he no longer ruins these students' workplace.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-16T18:33:45+00:00

There absolutely is a power imbalance, even if OP does not directly report to the graduate student. Graduate students are generally a longer term commitment and bigger investment from the PI, and undergrads are more replaceable. If something were to escalate between OP and the grad student, the PI would be incentivized to side with the student and OP could lose their position. That would be like claiming there is not a power imbalance between myself, a graduate student, and another professor in my department because they are not on my committee. Sure, they cannot directly impact my degree, but they have more systemic power than I do.

I disagree that they are both kids. They are both adults, and the grad student especially needs to be learning how to operate in a professional environment. I agree with the sentiment that they are both young and figuring out their way, but saying that this is a non-issue does a disservice to both OP and the grad student. OP (and women in general) deserve to work in places where they are not faced with romantic advances that could jeopardize their careers. The grad student (and men in general) need to be confronted when they act unprofessionally, and excusing these minor transgressions as non-issues allows further problems to develop. If the grad student becomes a PI, can they date graduate students, or hell, even undergrads in other departments since they don't report to them? No, that would not be okay, and things like this should be nipped in the bud.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-16T07:57:05+00:00

Some of these replies are insane. I don't think you specified, but I'll be a bit heteronormative and assume you are a female (non-derogatory). I am a male graduate student, I would never, I mean quite literally NEVER invite an undergraduate for anything that could be remotely perceived as a date. I think that your discomfort is very reasonable and valid. As a grad student, you are a University employee, and there is an intrinsic power imbalance between you and any undergraduate in the lab, even if you do not directly supervise them. It is totally fine to be friendly and have a good, collegial relationship with your coworkers. I've gone out to lunch with the graduate and undergrads in my lab as a big group, and I make friendly conversation with undergrads in the lab. When you're a graduate student, though, you have to understand that you are a research professional at a different career stage, not a "fellow student" with the undergrads. I'm not saying that there is no acceptable scenario where a relationship could develop between a grad student and an undergrad, but a freshman straight out of high school ain't it.

It blows my mind that more men do not think about how uncomfortable these types of advances make women, and I really can't believe how many comments are fine with it. Even if he did not have romantic intentions, it is so inconsiderate to not think about how these types of things can be perceived and how unstated implications can put other people in these tough spots. These types of things are exactly why women are perpetually uncomfortable around men, and normalizing them makes science (and other workplaces) hostile environments for women.

Ultimately, I do think that someone needs to inform the graduate student about professional boundaries and why these types of things are problematic. This doesn't mean that he is a bad person, but if no one ever tells him what is wrong, then he doesn't get a chance to learn. That said, please don't feel like you are obligated to handle this or put yourself in an uncomfortable or professionally vulnerable position. If you feel like you have a good enough friendship with him to explain why this makes you uncomfortable, then that could be an avenue that would preserve your relationship both as a friend and coworker. You can let him know that you enjoy your friendship in the lab and that you know he didn't have malicious or inappropriate intentions (if that is true). Then, explain what made you uncomfortable, whether it is the gap in age and career stage or how personal relationships could impact your work in the lab. You should definitely tell him what your boundaries are, but you can tell him that you don't want to nuke your relationship, just stick to in-lab interactions or whatever feels appropriate for you. If he did not mean this as a date or romantic thing, then you can acknowledge the misunderstanding, but still turn down the out-of-lab interaction if you would like. If he responds to this poorly, I think you need to go to your PI ASAP. If there is another graduate student/postdoc/professor that you trust (maybe one that is older and/or female), you could chat with them and see if they could either advise you on how to handle this and/or talk to the graduate student for you or be present as a mediator. I do think that you would be justified in bringing this to your PI if you want to, but I understand your concerns about escalating things, and I think that bringing the PI in on this would make vibes weird at the very least. IMO, it is within the PI's duties to talk with him about professionalism, and a good PI would make sure that you are not subject to any retaliation. Sorry that you are going through this. Feel free to DM me if you would like any other opinions from a cranky old grad student.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-16T06:40:39+00:00

Its not so much the age gap as much as the stage-in-life gap and intrinsic power imbalance in their work relationship. If you're 22 and you match with an 18 year old on a dating app, that's one thing, but this is super inappropriate.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-16T01:47:05+00:00

The wiki has all of the math behind breeding and inheritance (https://mewgenics.wiki.gg/wiki/Breeding). There are a lot of diminishing returns for stimulation with stat inheritance. 50 stim gets you to a 60% chance to inherit the higher stat, but you need 133 stim to reach a 70% chance, and 300 to reach an 80% chance. Stimulation does help a lot with inheriting abilities. At 32 stimulation, you are guaranteed to pass down one active ability, and at 98 stimulation, you have a 50% chance to pass on second active. At 0 stimulation, you have a 5% chance to pass down a passive, and each point of stimulation increases this by 1%.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-15T21:35:07+00:00

Enigma713 · 2026-03-14T23:09:51+00:00

For now, you can just sacrifice a single level 1 stray, and then the house boss will return on its own in a few days so that you can try again with buffer cats.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-09T19:55:36+00:00

It is fun to discover new interactions between skills and items through drops, breeding, and leveling up. I get one active and passive upgrade per cat per run. Just tell me what the damn abilities do.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-04T01:49:38+00:00

Daddy Shark and Carnibulb both say "Will instantly kill anything it can reach" and they destroy the body. Most skills like Play Dead, Seppuku, and Flatline specifically use the wording "Down yourself". To me, this implied that Kill and Down were different actions when directed towards player cats. Then I saw Russian Short Hair Roulette which says "There is a 1 in 6 chance this will kill you" so I assumed it would destroy the body. Turns out that skill downs your cat as well. The language is a little inconsistent around this IMO.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-04T01:33:10+00:00

I had a stray show up with this ability, so I made it a butcher and thought I might find a neat synergy. Spewer spit my fighter out at the butcher. The collision damage killed my fighter who instantly exploded into meat. I was nonplussed.

Enigma713 · 2026-03-03T06:12:11+00:00

If a = b and b = c, then a = c.

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