Since our department claims we are doing the "Systems Biology", not surprising there are many non-biology people hanging with us for cross-discipline sparks. I found it is really interesting talking to those theory guys; sometimes they are just like coming from another planet.
Here is a classic example just happened minutes ago in our kitchen.
An engineering-background postdoc said he felt a little bit frustrtaed because cell biology experiments is hard.
A graduate student in Applied Mathematics was there too; asked "what's wrong?"
The engineering postdoc joked: "I want to do experimental work because theory is only for smart people just like you guys."
The mathmetics student said: "It's okay. If you do more thinking everyday, you will have your chance."
All other people "........................."
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Reminds me of a dinner party I hosted a while back when one of the guests we had is a theory guy in computer science. He looked at the cubed carrots and said "hmmmm, square roots" : )
ha-ha.
It is kind of difficult to change the way seeing the world once your brain got "fixed" by PhD training.
Somehow I envy people who have that kind of insight on biology questions... I tried hard to make myself not a pure biologist but found it's difficult.
But as I said, these years probably is my best and last chance to transform myself before my brain got "fixed".
you should give your brain a bit more credits --it can be incredibly plastic, especially given that you have made it this far : ) I think being a biologist is not as bad as being fixed as seeing biological problems only from the perpective that one had been trained to see. I've met system neuroscientists who refuse to think in molecular terms, and biochemists cannot grasp how things work at the system level. Anyway, don't worry, plenty of time in your postdoc to "unfix" your brain--I had never imagined in my wildest dream that I had to read B.F.Skinner for my current work...
Feel nice to hear you say so. I still remembered the day I was shocked.
When Dan, a physics postdoc in my lab, excitedly came to show me his first timelapse movies on GFP-labeled centrosomes during the regular cell division. I felt the movie is good but nothing special just like hundreds of other similar centrosome movies I have seen before.
Dan was extremely excited and said "there are tons of information in the movie, can't you see that?" Well, sadly I had to tell him "no, I can't see it at all."
Then Dan told me the oscillation of centrosome movements might somehow reflects the force on centrosomes and it could be a very good tool to measure the actual pulling/pushing force for centrosome positioning.
Hmm, that kind of insight is difficult to be learnt from books. It just needs time, sadly.
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