Field of Science

J Endless Excuses, v1(1):1

My blogging style apparently asks for a new category label: "Excuses". How long before this becomes the largest category, overtaking the "Protists"?

Just spent a week writing a research paper for my protistology course... for some inexplicable insane reason, epigenetics of new MAC formation in ciliates seemed like a wonderful idea at the time. I knew absolutely nothing about epigenetics, other than that histones and miRNAs were involved. And for those who don't know, epigenetics, histone modification, miRNA pathways... are chaos of unimaginable magnitude. The sheer complexity of it all is overwhelming, as well as how much is still unknown. Non-coding RNAs are a relatively recent major discovery (early 90's, I believe), and the field has been growing at an incredible rate. And of course, there was no better way to introduce the stuff to myself than via ciliates, possibly the strangest eukaryotes on earth. It's kinda like going to a foreign country to study quantum physics in a language you know nothing about.

Then I spent a whole two nights pondering about the evolution of nuclear dimorphism, and wrote a couple pages of 'conjecture' (ie. pulling shit out of one's ass in a scientific manner). I was considering editing the essay and posting stuff here (in a less condensed manner)... anyone care about ciliate epigenetics here?

Anyway, with exams around the corner, I don't know how much I can redeem myself. There's about five exams patiently waiting to devour my brains and my non-existant soul...

I'll just cuddle up with Denial and watch a few anime series instead. Denial is so warm and fuzzy and comfy! =D

NO, BACK OFF, DENIAL... I told you we can't continue our relationship any longer! I've started seeing others... I only come to you when I'm troubled... we shouldn't be together anymore! <_<

Now that we've established that the author has imaginary conversations with an abstract noun, have a good weekend!


  1. Hmm... I know practically nothing at all about the epigenetics of nuclear dimorphism in ciliates, and it sounds like a fantastic topic. I knew practically nothing at all about "early-branching" eukaryotes when I stuck my hand up and offered to do my talk in a class on Microbial Diversity ("Microbial" here in its usual context meaning "Prokaryotic") on exactly that, and it turned out to be my introduction to the research that I am now continuing with my Ph.D. So the idea of sticking one's hands up on these topics is not a bad one... assuming that one does not already have other directions in mind....

    I would say "Enjoy the anime!" but I am not that cruel. I would say "Have a miserable time with the anime!" but I am not that cruel, either. I will say "Good luck and enjoy writing your paper!" and hope that you do not think that that is also being cruel.

    So, good luck, and enjoy writing your paper!

  2. Well, the paper's written. And submitted. Still full of typos though... spell check fails at protistology. 'Protist' gets autocorrected to 'protest'... WTF!

    I'll post some stuff on ciliate nuclear dimorphism after I slash through this wave of finals. I'm so fucked it's not even funny... attending molecular genetics may have been a mildly beneficial behavioural pattern.

    I snapped myself out of anime, which is good. Also got temporarily driven out of research by some particularly weird data. Stuff makes no sense, so I'm just not gonna even start thinking about it, else I'll end up spending another entire week on nothing but research. Not good during finals season...

    Luckily, my first final is protistology... so I'll actually be able to focus on the stuff that follows. Protistology is a wonderful way to procrastinate with...real life... <_<


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