Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Word Choice

A research paper as a landscape. On it are several duos fighting with swords in different locations. The caption: Coauthors battling over word choice.

I imagine the battlefield for the CERN collaboration is quite intriguing.

27 Jul 2022

Project Vector Field

A one-dimensional vector field. On the left is a point labeled "Start", and on the right is a point labeled "End". The arrows from Start are pointing to the right and getting smaller in magnitude, representing the initial burst of motivation. At a certain point towards End, the arrow direction flips and becomes very large, representing the new difficulty in finishing a project. That point has the label, "Where projects die".

The trick is to find enough momentum to carry you through that point.

25 Jul 2022

Law of Inertia

A balance has items on both of its dishes. On the left, there's a large box labeled, "Cons". On the right, there are two boxes. A smaller one labeled, "Pros", and a larger one labeled "Inertia". Caption: Why we take so long to change.

Tip: Make sure you don’t relabel “Inertia” as a “Pro”.

22 Jul 2022

Background

A scientist stands at the board about to begin her talk. She says, "Thanks for coming to my interdisciplinary talk. You're a smart bunch, so I'll assume you know all of the background I've spent my life studying." Caption: How to kick off a talk.

“I’ll take blank stares as a ‘Yes, we understand’!”

20 Jul 2022

Reliance

A graph of "Reliance on jargon" versus "Time spent with the jargon". It's a linear relationship.

The problem is that those who have the influence and power to switch away from the jargon are those that don’t see it as jargon anymore, but just the usual language.

18 Jul 2022

Goals

A bunch of stacked boxes of various sizes. Some are: Family, parents, one mean peer, school, internet, friends, me. The caption: It was a shock to realize I wasn't the source of most of my goals.

A lot of what is in your brain was not put there by you. (Hat tip to Tim Urban.)

15 Jul 2022

Matching

A group of dots on the top (representing young scientists) and a group of squares on the bottom (representing professor positions). There are many more young scientists than professor positions, so only a few dots connect to a square. On the left is the caption, "Let's remember there are other careers."

This is a note to self.

13 Jul 2022

Outlook

An axis going from the past (on the left) to the future (on the right). A person stands in the centre, with binoculars looking to the future and thinking, "I hope I don't screw up like last time." The caption underneath the person is, "Never in the present".

You only get to experience the present.

11 Jul 2022

Boundaries

A horizontal axis labelled, "Hour of day". During the main hours of the day (separated by dotted lines) there is "Work". A woman stands inside of the boundaries, while a man is pushing the boundary to increase it. The woman says, "What are you doing?!" The man says, "You should love your work enough to always be thinking about it."

Be wary of “Do what you love”.

08 Jul 2022

Reflection

A graph of "Stress" over "How much you see your work as a reflection of yourself." The curve increases exponentially.

The sad part is that it’s very easy to move to the right of the curve.

06 Jul 2022