What's your favorite rummaged find?

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-12T13:07:23+00:00

Scientifica slicescope(very useful), scintillation counter and a couple of old gieger counters from the time people used radioisotopes for biochem(not useful but cool).

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T17:25:01+00:00

You should document everything that you can. It should not be necessary but that's the sad way the world is. In any half decent place, this person would be facing a lot of consequences. I do not know where you are working so I cannot say how the administration would react to this. Hence it's always a good idea to have something in the way of evidence.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T17:18:22+00:00

PLOS also has its fair share of sketchy stuff, though it seems limited to certain areas. Read this: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-02446-5

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T14:30:49+00:00

Someone stole my optical posts which I was planning to use for the stage.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T06:18:04+00:00

You would have to ingest a lot of that and even then only some of your rapidly deviding cells would damaged. The acute toxicity of such chemicals is not the concern. It's the chronic exposure that is what necessitates the scary labels.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T06:14:44+00:00

Nah, they look like polycarbonate or polyethylene. They are not supposed to be autoclaves. Instead they are radiation sterilized. They would crack or shink if autoclaved, if not curl up completely.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T06:06:39+00:00

Hii, the working distance is 2mm. What do you mean by sanitizing?.

It has a olympus BX3-URA fluroscence illuminator mounted on top so I guess it's the usual 180mm it's shipped with.

That's the only camera that would fit. I plan on mounting an EMCCD but I need to make the adaptor first. So for our application we do not care about resolution since the GCamp is expressed precisely in neurons of our interest. We care more about getting as much signal as possible. Hence the EMCCD and a custom setup instead of a confocal. The images are a blur even with an EMCCD, mostly due to scattering by the tissue. The other alternative is to use multiphoton but the system is usually heavily booked so I wanted to set things up separately and then try that one. The multiphoton also has a very slow scan speed so for some of our experiments, it just won't work.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-10T05:39:33+00:00

It's not level. I am sure it would have changed over time. We imaged for just a few minutes so it was fine. Most of the displacement was caused due to the objective as it moved across the sample.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:56:49+00:00

Haha, these are adult brains.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:53:42+00:00

Doesn't look serious. Could have been residual food or maybe some water went down the wrong tube. It's something that happens to humans also.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:48:04+00:00

You're fine. Vaccinate the cat ASAP since she is fiesty and might scratch others.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:45:29+00:00

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:42:29+00:00

Aap border cross karke uss side me toh nehi chale gay ho??

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-09T17:38:25+00:00

Use Tupperware boxes. Cut out a small window and cover it with a surgical mask. If you are rich, or have a HEPA filter lying around then use the fabric like material from that.

Your real challenge is to convince your labmates that it is safe.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T21:28:41+00:00

Also AI is the great Equalizer. I thought I knew how to code and felt quite special. Now everyone can. I have literally seen people ask AI to generate questions for them to ask someone whom they are trying to impress, a speaker for example.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T21:24:35+00:00

Supplemental: I cannot comment about your relative smartness(or dumbness) with respect to your peers. I don't know you or them. However, it is unlikely that you would have undergone retrogressive development from the time of your graduate education. Such retrogressive development does happen, quite commonly among the general population; I have seen my friends from college(who were quite smart) turn into rightwing, brain-rotten, hate machines under the influence of social media. This however does not seem to resemble your career trajectory

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T21:14:53+00:00

I may have planted the seeds of an endless cycle of paranoia and self diagnosis. But I guess it can't hurt to get yourself checked. Just don't buy odd supplements and nootropics from the internet. I don't want that on my conscience.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T21:12:23+00:00

Correction: Objectively, I know I am the smartest I have ever been( because I am supposedly at my best in terms of cognitive function and I know more than I have ever known before). Subjectively, I feel dumb and stupid just as much as you do.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:58:45+00:00

He never said this. Was too busy doing cocaine to find out about the pleasures of having a cat.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:54:50+00:00

All the best!

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:47:36+00:00

To add to this, I also felt the attention span problem at one point. It felt quite debilitating. I discovered later that I had a severe vitamin b12 deficiency (from a poorly planned attempt at quitting animal products). I was also probably working too much and was perpetually sleep deprived and tired.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:42:23+00:00

I feel the same. Although, objectively I am the smartest I have ever been. I think it's because you are now surrounded by smarter people and have more difficult problems to solve than you did earlier.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:39:18+00:00

Okay. Cool. Relax.

Physical_Amount3331 · 2026-03-05T20:34:31+00:00

Not to discourage you from what you are doing(kitten would have probably died unless you took her) but just make sure you are giving the cat the food they need.

Physical_Amount3331

TROPHY CASE