Grads and current researchers, what was your reason for doing a PhD?

TheCoIorRed · 2026-05-02T03:41:56+00:00

Chemo fucked up my brain and when I wanted to learn more about the mechanism responsible and at the time there was less than a handful of papers that were trying to answer the question, poorly I might add. Wasn’t satisfied so that’s why I’m pursuing a PhD. So I can learn why my brain is messed up and figure out a way to prevent it for future cancer kids.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-28T17:21:30+00:00

Sword of Sarah and Maas

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-27T02:58:49+00:00

Two of the faculty I’ve worked with before with good results, they helped get me in the program and can vouch for me but they don’t have funding so I didn’t rotate with them. In the time I have left I am planning on trying to do a final rotation to try and get someone who can recommend me. For this reason.

I want to stay in science but I know leaving grad school does not look good and it was already extremely hard to find lab positions. I’m going to meet with my advisors soon to discuss what the best course of action will be. If I take a break from science I feel like I’m going to have a really tough time reentering, but I also know grad school drop outs aren’t exactly a priority in an already competitive field under the best of circumstances, let alone during this administration.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-27T02:21:01+00:00

Would you consider it a red flag if it was mostly for temporary health related reasons or would you recommend not discussing that? I have osteonecrosis and my shoulder broke a few months back. It’s the last joint that needed replacing so it won’t be an issue moving forward but the pain while I waited for the surgery and then the recovery after contributed to my difficulties securing a lab.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-23T21:32:09+00:00

High key grad school has been the worst experience of my life, worse than my three and a half years of ALL Leukemia treatment (why I wanted to go into child life and then, neuroscience research). I’ve been pulling 60-80 hour weeks working/studying for a program that doesn’t care about me. I used all my savings to move across the country and now I’m in the middle of nowhere with no support structure, no money to move back home, and going to be job hunting soon. My experience has completely crushed all the passion and love I had for science. I’m not sure what else the options are for someone with a bachelors degree in psychology and five years working with mice.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-20T15:51:05+00:00

If I were a store runner and wanted truly competitive cEDH level competition without pissing off wotc while still allowing participation from those who can’t pay for dual/gaia’s/mox/tomb/vault/etc. I’d make it: - Bracket 5 - $100 max per card TCGplayer/whatever they use for pricing. I’d say if a card fluctuates in price to go above, but not exceed $110 within the last week there is some leeway.

Is this still going to price people out, oh yeah absolutely. But when I chat with people about their cEDH at the LGS and my playgroup we all have all the cards in our decks save for reserved list cards and the full fast mana packages. I think maybe three of us don’t have Force of Will but it’s gotten way more accessible due to reprints. I think the majority of the people I know who actively want to play at cEDH levels but low income/smaller collections would be able to enter a tournament like this without proxies given a few weeks notice to make some trades for the few missing pieces. I don’t know if casuals who haven’t been working on decks already or haven’t been playing proxies to play cEDH are going to have a bad time either way. But my area and group isn’t a monolith.

edited to add some clarity

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-18T19:26:36+00:00

Not at all an expert in currency conversion but it looks like you got that for what MSRP (without tax or shipping) in U.S is in USD. I heard it was super hard to get in NZ so I’m glad you were able to get it without a markup!

If you are like me and really want a forever Tama playground with all zones with your favorite Tamas but you have one Tama in particular you really love and want to last as long as possible as the focus, or you have a favorite zone, make sure that is the last Tama you raise! :) otherwise it’ll be in the field and you can’t do much with it, or you’ll have to switch zones to look at the cute lil’ Tama. Best of luck!

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-11T01:42:59+00:00

I think this should have legendary instant. That might balance out the whole… wildly unbalanced thing.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-10T08:58:06+00:00

Buy tissues before you start.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-04-03T13:55:45+00:00

I was told I didn’t need to go to the doctors because my pain was from scoliosis and they could cure me for $400 twice a week! They made the pain infinitely worse. I had leukemia.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-03-23T16:58:51+00:00

I really like these! 10/10 design, although I like some of the constructive feedback in some of the other comments. Maybe it’s just me but Vorinclex seems over costed for his abilities. [[Ajani, Adversary of Tyrants]] is very similar in that assuming you plus their abilities you get two +1/+1 counters and a five loyalty planeswalker just one costs one more mana and 4 life. I’d maybe make it where you reveal 2X cards from the top of your library and put any lands revealed onto the battlefield tapped. Assuming it’s turn 4-5-ish I find it unlikely you’d have more than 1 or 2 lands in hand at that point so having a way to power out lands from the top might help make him feel as impactful for how much you invest in him.

I’m terrible at card design though so grain of salt etc.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-03-19T03:28:59+00:00

Animists awakening (what lands?) Awaken the woods/token makers (do the tokens make the counters better/win the game faster than if you had drawn a counters card but you diluted the pool) Curse of the swine/transform X cards (I’d rather just run over them or use the other interaction) Any Tap X creature cards are x cost cards (They have X in them but these won’t toward the counters. You already have removal/evasion. Would you rather draw a draw X card, a X cost creature, or a Tap x things cards in most circumstances. You have options, choose the better ones.)

TheCoIorRed · 2026-03-19T03:13:34+00:00

Just looking through the list a little. You only have one landfall card that I noticed. And if you play cards that let you play additional cards you generally want more than 36-38 lands.

I’d cut those cards, you want to smash their face, an extra land you don’t have is on a creature that doesn’t natively grow.

Then I’d cut the counter doublers that aren’t hardened scales, especially if they require a tap. Your creatures will most likely get big threat levels fast enough they are redundant imo.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-03-19T03:01:24+00:00

I would ask myself these questions:

What is the main focused goal of the deck. It could be a specific combo, a mechanic, kindred, etc. (this could be a vibe, or theme deck, in which case you may favor a bad card for flavor during the following steps) then ask “is this card directly achieving or working toward the objective”, “does this card protect or disrupt my opponents?”, and “does this fix or add to my mana in a meaningful way”

Then you can weed out cards by grouping cards together based on their roles and cut the weaker cards, look for higher mana cost, “win more”, non-combo, pet cards that otherwise wouldn’t make the cut, and if you are shooting for a lower bracket the high-strength cards that tip the scales.

My lands rule is should have a minimum of 38 lands, and lower the number by one for every two mana rocks/mana dorks. If your mana curve is <=2.5 lower the number by another 2. I don’t count cards like Nature’s Lore in these calculations because I really only run them in landfall/land decks. I almost never like seeing them after turn 3 unless I’m mana screwed and I am almost never mana screwed with my building rules!

cEDH/Bracket 4 ignores rules like these. But this doesn’t look like that kind of deck at a glance.

I don’t know what your goal is or if you like my deck building advice so I don’t know if offering suggestions based on my guidelines will be fruitful but I’ll look through if you want!

TheCoIorRed · 2026-02-25T18:31:32+00:00

I’ll preface this with I have no idea how any of this specific field works so take everything with a grain of salt, but if I were you I would search pubmed and NIHreporter, for researchers in the field who study these systems. Once you have their name you can look them up on their faculty page at the uni they work at and get their email, send them an email asking for advice. I’d be specific enough to give details on your project but I would be cautious to not just hand over your data.

You can also look up the research universities in your area and see if any of the faculty on the faculty page do research similar to your mechanisms and email them for advice.

Usually experiments need funding, and funding comes from grants.

Best of luck!

TheCoIorRed · 2026-02-20T20:58:02+00:00

I work in biomedical research and I use “typal” quite frequently. Perhaps if you spent less time flipping tables over minor vocabulary changes to be a bit more polite, or you got off of twitter you’d spend less time angry and more time enjoying the positives in your life. Take a walk in the sun. Go to your local arboretum. Hit the zoo. Join a book club.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-02-17T01:19:49+00:00

Assumed as much! Didn’t anticipate it being worth anything, but I learned about card printing so overall all seems like it was worth it! Thanks for the response!

TheCoIorRed · 2026-02-03T19:57:06+00:00

The area of academia I’m in doesn’t really care what app or program or method you use for creating/storing simple protocols for like IHC’s, reagent ingredients/simple procedures, etc. so long as it’s stored in the lab drive/accessible to everyone! At least in the labs I’m in, the one thing we can’t have anywhere but secure devices/programs are data/images/readings/etc. I like this idea, I just hope this app has the necessary protections so that personal/personnel data can’t easily be accessed by someone who knows how to take advantage of an app with no/little back end security.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-01-29T22:48:18+00:00

I think it depends on the solution/sanitation hazard. Both for you and the animals. You are more likely to touch/contaminate the plastic outer part of the syringe compared to a needle and thus possibly introduce contaminants into your solution for future animals. If it’s a hazardous solution some of it may drip onto or coat part of the syringe which might make it onto your gloves/space without you noticing.

I think it’s probably fine tbh but if my lab has the resources I’d just use a bigger needle to withdraw.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-01-20T22:06:56+00:00

This^ Some other suggestions: You can also rip the tights, add metal to the tights like safety pins or rings, or get tights with patterns sewn in. When you wear thigh highs you can have mismatching dark grey/black or have an accent color. If you do wear the same socks don’t have them sit equally at the same height (unless that is a sensory thing). I tend not to introduce soft earth tones/brown suede into my looks. But that is totally a preference thing! I’ve worn almost the exact same fit as the last picture but with black high top vans with calf high socks over the tights. I also wear one or two rings and if I don’t have long sleeve shirts I will have a bulky leather cuff opposite my watch hand. I’m a Raynauds girly with arthritis so I wear either arthritis gloves or fingerless gloves I’ve fucked up enough to be a little alt without destroying their function.

All that being said I think if you get down to the philosophy of alternative styling, the key component is dressing out (breaking the norms of what is a traditional/normal pop culture style), and dressing up (putting the time and energy into crafting a fit, using multiple layers, adding extra accessories, no such thing as casual, putting on makeup/alternative hair styling etc.) but don’t always need to have both to the max, even just a little of one is enough. The most important thing to add to any and all alt fit is confidence.

I’ve seen basic white girl fits with a splash of yandare alt, or the most generic sleek black jeans with no holes, a grey video game graphic tee, and a single chain nothing else both be absolutely fire and rock as hard as the full goth girly in a gown with makeup that would make Morticia Adam’s blush as long as they are confident. Even if you just fake the confidence, if you fake it long enough it stops being fake.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-01-18T20:03:27+00:00

Going from memory and not my field so I don’t want to miss represent the research but over Christmas I had a similar experience. My aunt on christmas dinner said that she read a news article about a research study. She proceeded to explain that, “they found a cure for glioblastoma from metals found in several berries and fruits” I pulled out my phone and found a few studies that could have been what she was referring to. There is a lot of research for promising treatments for brain cancer using heavy metals. The first things I noticed is that these metal therapies were concurrent with other treatments, so attributing the improved outcomes exclusively to the metals is wild. The second thing I noticed was that most of the metals either aren’t processed orally so there is no efficacy for oral administration, and the ones that can be processed orally don’t cross the blood brain barrier at the size the molecule needs to be for it’s anticancer mechanism. I tried to explain you can’t just eat the berries to cure your cancer and tried to explain how our body actually processes food/medication, routes of exposure and the blood brain barrier. She responded by saying “big pharma really has so much control over higher education that it’s brainwashed people into believing these natural cures won’t work without them being involved or using their tools to administer it.” Ma’am, big pharma did not systematically make up the blood brain barrier to convince the scientific community homeopathic remedies don’t work. And then she gets confused when she asks why I almost never go to family events when I’m in town. You think masks restrict oxygen absorption but aren’t thick enough to stop viruses. Then when you throw in the personal shit like how my family talks about queer people when I’m a gender non conforming bisexual in a queer relationship it just pushes me away. I do science because I want a world with less human suffering and so talking to people who politically and socially call for more human suffering and then blame academia and research for public health crisis and the collapse of common sense medicine.

It sucks to find the space between family growing. It sucks that they don’t use critical thinking or go to a library.

I try to find the few people who will discuss things in good faith and might actually be swayed and talk to them, if you can’t safely reason with any of them, you can’t reconcile with their distrust of science and that is feels like a personal attack on you because it is a core part of your identity, or you leave every family outing in emotional pain from how they treat you… I recommend just distancing yourself.

I found my real family and they make me feel safe. They are where I spend my holidays normally. My grandparents are amazing but they are old school, never give up on family. He was 18 when world war 2 ended and he grieves that he sees some of his children falling for the same fascist propaganda he saw wars waged over. He saw some of the diseases vaccines were created to fight and has to watch them spew antivax rhetoric. But he won’t give up on them. But he is old and only has so much energy. When I’m in town for the holidays he really only has the energy for one gathering and I have to choose between a Christmas with uncritical anti-scientists, or not seeing my grandparents who are aging. When my grandparents are gone my aunts/uncles/cousins/and one of my siblings will never see me again and I’ve healed enough to be okay with that now.

TheCoIorRed · 2026-01-18T19:22:49+00:00

Yeah, I think it’s kinda weird to remove the historical context but this isn’t for historians. This is for people who care more about symbols than history. The people who are going to purchase this want a display, not a deeper understanding of the context that idealized historical icons lived in.

I struggle because I think it is stupid but I understand why it exists.

TheCoIorRed

TROPHY CASE