.

A social media experiment: Can we use twitter to produce an interesting analogy on the subject of viruses?

This may crash and burn, but might also be interesting. Extra coolness, if the tweet mutates somewhere along the line (although it’s also obvious that it would take a lot to reach the necessary “viral load” to see the tweet propagate – maybe instead of a dot, a star would be better?).

Anyway, if it sounds like fun, you can RT by visiting the link of the original tweet.

8 Bit Anatomy.

By Diego B. via Hey Oscar Wilde!

Tiger, Panda commiserate on Facebook. Humans kind of lame.

By Isaac Fresia in Halifax. Via wwf.tumblr.com.

If Zelda had a biology textbook.

By Andrew Kolb via Etsy.

“Angels” by Linda Ortega #song4mixtape

Currently the song my daughter Hannah is digging the most.

“What You Know” by Two Door Cinema Club #song4mixtape

Although the studio version is also pretty good, it’s this acoustic version that I think is especially good.

It’s not you, it’s your valence electrons (a.k.a. geek breakup line)

Via Pearls Before Swine.

AWESOME! The Linnaeus Card!

Tell me this isn’t freakin’ awesome!

Via the Phylo Game. See other cards here.

The Mere Anticipation of an Interaction with a Woman Can Impair Men’s Cognitive Performance.

We needed peer review to tell us this?

(Click on image for pdf of first page)

Pubmed link, via NCBI ROFL.

Do spiders actually have a “spider sense?”

Good point. Via Kate Beaton.

I must check in with my spider colleague

Great graphic from “Oxygen Keeps you Alive.” Who knew a picture about gills could be so pretty?

From VintageChildrenBooksMyKidLoves, hattip to freshphotons.tumblr.com/

Now a tummy television the whole family can get a bellyful of.

In truth, this reminds me a little of how everywhere I look, people are staring into their little phone screens. Maybe you are even doing this right now.

Via Retrospace, hattip to Hey Oscar Wilde!.

Awesome “Four Fundamental Forces” posters

By Jason Permenter, Flickr links 1, 2, 3, 4. Esty store link.

Lab technician Beaker is awesome. This picture of Beaker even more so.

Via Muppabet by David Vordtriede.

“Sperm + Egg = Me” Venn Diagram

By Khang Nguyen Tuan (Hat tip to Hey Oscar Wilde).

Karaoke Venn Diagram

By Tan Nuyen, via Flickr. (Hat tip to Hey Oscar Wilde)

Renewable energy? I’m a big fan! #funny

From reddit.

Advice for potential graduate students. One of the wisest things I’ve read from a supervisor.

(Click on image for pdf version of poster).

Full text by Sönke Johnsen and reprinted below:

“We currently have room in the lab for more graduate students.

But before you apply to this lab or any other, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be realistic about graduate school. Graduate school in biology is not a sure path to success. Many students assume that they will eventually get a job just like their advisor’s. However, the average professor at a research university has three students at a time for about 5 years each. So, over a career of 30 years, this professor has about 18 students. Since the total number of positions has been pretty constant, these 18 people are competing for one spot. So go to grad school assuming that you might not end up at a research university, but instead a teaching college, or a government or industry job. All of these are great jobs, but it’s important to think of all this before you go to school.

Second, choose your advisor wisely. Not only does this person potentially have total control over your graduate career for five or more years, but he/she will also be writing recommendation letters for you for another 5-10 years after that. Also, your advisor will shadow you for the rest of your life. People will always think of you as so-and-so’s student and assume that you two are somewhat alike. Finally, in many ways you will turn into your advisor. Advisors teach very little, but instead provide a role model. Consciously and unconsciously, you will imitate your advisor. You may find this hard to believe now, but fifteen years from now, when you find yourself lining up the tools in your lab cabinets just like your advisor did, you’ll see. My student Alison once said that choosing an advisor is like choosing a spouse after one date. Find out all you can on this date.

Finally, have your fun now. Five years is a long time when you are 23 years old. By the end of graduate school, you will be older, slower, and possibly married and/or a parent. So if you always wanted to walk across Nepal, do it now. Also, do not go to a high-powered lab that you hate assuming that this will promise you long-term happiness. Deferred gratification has its limits. Do something that you have passion for, work in a lab you like, in a place you like, before life starts throwing its many curve balls. Your career will mostly take care of itself, but you can’t get your youth back.

If, after reading this, you want to apply to this lab, we would love to hear from you.”

Get your bomb shelter tickets here!

These are real tickets, back in the 1950’s…

Via Neato Coolville, Flickr link to top and bottom.

This is Cape Canaveral.

Awesome image by Miroslav Sasek:: via flickr.com