Comics about mathematics, science, and the student life.

Questions and Confusion

A graph of two curves as a function of time. The first one increases exponentially with time has the label "Time required to clear up confusion", while the second one decreases linearly with time and has the label "Time left to answer questions". The caption under the whole comic is "Most presentations".

“We have time for two questions.” Pauses and checks the time. “Make that two quick questions.”

15 Aug 2022

Time Management

Two friends walk together. The first one says, "I really learned a lot about time management during my PhD." The friend says, "Oh yeah? So you're more efficient now?" The first one replies, "Not at all, but I now keep expectations super low."

“I also learned that research is super-duper hard. Maybe I should have realized that going in.”

12 Aug 2022

Reach

On the left is a person standing, and above them is a dotted line representing their height, with the label, "Research conclusions". On the right is a person standing with their arm extended high into the air, pushing the dotted line higher. The label is, "The hyped-up version in a paper".

You wanted a study with a lot of reach, right?

10 Aug 2022

Experience

A graph of "Frequency" versus "Time". The relationship is linear, and the label for the line says, "Unique errors and wisdom".

As long as you keep accumulating those unique errors, you’re growing.

08 Aug 2022

Academic Emergency Kit

A collection of items in the academic emergency kit: A USB drive with impromptu presentations, an ideas notebook, papers to read when bored, and many different writing implements, including chalk, a pencil, and a whiteboard marker.

What do you carry in your kit?

05 Aug 2022

Professor Exposure

A graph of "Desire to be an academic" versus "Exposure only to professors". The relationship is linear. The linear curve has a label, "Why grad students forget there are other careers."

When I was young, nobody I knew was in academia, so I didn’t even know this was a possibility. It seems like I’ve hit the other extreme in higher education.

03 Aug 2022

Bundle

First panel: A person approaches the Careers booth and says, "I'll take a career in science, please!" "Here you go," the clerk answers, offering a package. Second panel: The person inspects the "Science" package and notices something sticking to it. They say, "Wait. Something's stuck on the bottom." The clerk shrugs and says, "Oh, that's academia. It's part of the bundle."

Like all bundles, there are advantages and disadvantages to this setup. And of course, there are science careers which aren’t in academia.

01 Aug 2022

Nonchalant

Two friends are talking. The first one asks, "Aren't you worried about missing the deadline?" The other replies to her, "People may call them deadlines, but I haven't been killed by one yet."

It’s a skill to know which deadlines are actual deadlines.

29 Jul 2022

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