Advocate

So this is why my family and friends look at me in horror and confusion when I insist on explaining them a proof or concept from my research that probably requires huge amounts of background study.

Small Steps

Exercise some self-discipline now, witness some great sights later!

Reading Papers

It’s a minor miracle if I understand a paper on the first read.

Into the Unknown

If we knew we would succeed, it wouldn’t be research!

Osmosis

“We didn’t get any of that when we were younger, and we turned out fine!”

Out of Proportion

“Professor? Could you maybe use a few more equal signs?”

“Oh, the equality is easy. I’ll let you fill in the details after class.”

Easy Answers

Academia is really good at finding the minimum of this function, though I would argue the easy-sounding questions are the ones we want to dig deeper on.

Digging

Fundamental physics: Asking “why” more often than a child since time immemorial.

Lookup

“Yes, I know the transfer is slow. We haven’t figured out a better way to do this yet.”

P.S. Hat tip to John Cook’s blog post that inspired this comic.

Diversity

“Wait, you wanted me to work with scientists who aren’t physicists?!”