Having loved government-issued pens for…well, many years…I was surprised to learn that they were mandated by Congress under the 1938 Wagner-O’Day Act to be bought from firms employing blind Americans.
Thrive. Originally from the Norse language, the word has evolved into the superlative of success. More than just doing well, it means to flourish, prosper, or bloom—words that set the bar very high in any profession, including science.
We believe that to thrive, you need to step outside what you already know and grasp what you don’t yet know—and to help you navigate that path we’ve compiled ten terrific tips for thriving as a scientist.
Academic job interviews are actually pretty fun, but really tiring as most days are very long. The following is a typical schedule to expect for an interview:
Day 1
Morning:
Travel to interview location
Afternoon:
Meetings with Faculty Members
6 – 9 p.m.:
Dinner with faculty members, probably the head of the search committee
As an “I Am Intramural” Blog reader, you likely know that the IRP is comprised of more than 6,000 scientists conducting basic, translational, and clinical research in more than 50 buildings on six different IRP campuses around the U.S.But, do you know the answers to the questions in the following IRP Pop Quiz?
Researchers at the NIH IRP have access to:
a) Laboratory equipment sales, rental, repairs, and maintenance b) Plants and marine organisms for research c) High-throughput DNA sequencing d) A and C e) All of the above
Before flash drives, index cards provided portable information. Dr. Jack Davidson created a set about the NIH Clinical Center’s Nuclear Medicine Department (NMD). This month, we’ll be highlighting a few of the NIH Office of History's more recent accessions.
In Greek mythology, Mentor was the person whom Odysseus left in charge of his son Telemachus before leaving to fight in the Trojan War. According to Homer’s Odyssey, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, disguised herself as Mentor and visited Telemachus several times to advise him while his father was away. Today, the term “mentor” denotes someone who passes his or her knowledge and wisdom to somebody with less experience.
An example of preventive medicine added to the 1951 NIH Clinical Center time capsule was a vial of synthetic folic acid, a B vitamin. Folic acid had first been isolated in crystalline form in 1943, but in 1951, Dr. James Hundley wrote that the “exact chemical form in which folic acid exists as a functional unit in metabolism is still in doubt."
The Intramural Research Programs within 24 NIH Institutes and Centers offer a rich calendar of events highlighting research by people who are often leaders in their fields. One of this year’s great lectures is available to watch in the video linked below—its content very compelling, considering the social science research that many of our IRP scientists conduct.
When it comes to devising new ways to provide state-of-the art medical care to people living in remote areas of the world, smartphones truly are helping scientists get smarter. For example, an NIH-supported team working in Central Africa recently turned an iPhone into a low-cost video microscope capable of quickly testing to see if people infected with a parasitic worm called Loa loa can safely receive a drug intended to protect them from a different, potentially blinding parasitic disease.
