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Category Archives: howto
In the pipeline – Part 1: ‘Plan, plan, and plan some more’
So you’ve decided it’s time to finally get around to starting that sequencing project. But before you aimlessly leap into it and generate terabytes of sequencing data, just STOP. It’s far too tempting to rush into sequencing projects for a … Continue reading
Posted in bioinformatics, evolution, genomics, howto, methods, population genetics, Uncategorized
Tagged assembly, bioinformatics, genetics, genomics, In the pipeline, population genetics, Sequencing
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Simple rules for organizing data in a spreadsheet
Most scientists collect and organize at least some data in spreadsheets, usually Excel or Google Sheets, despite the potential pitfalls of using such products (there are even archives of spreadsheet horror stories). The most commonly bemoaned problem in Biology, that … Continue reading
Posted in data archiving, howto, methods
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The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: What do you look for in a journal?
A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, we turn to a question that every academic scientist has to answer at some point: How do you choose a scientific journal to receive your paper? Kelle … Continue reading
The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: Rivers and rabbit resistance
A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, Sarah Shainker tells us about how population genetic structure works differently in river drainages; Kelle Freel recaps her reading on the history of rabbits and rabbit-killing viruses … Continue reading
Posted in Action Item, career, community ecology, conservation, howto, microbiology, TME Podcast
Tagged invasion, rabbits, Rivers, sourdough
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The Molecular Ecologist Podcast: Color me viral edition
A new episode of The Molecular Ecologist Podcast is now out on Anchor.fm. In this episode, Patrícia Chrzanová Pečnerová discusses resources for using color to make scientific figures clear and appealing; Stacy Krueger-Hadfield tells us about the complex considerations surrounding tracking and controlling … Continue reading
Posted in career, howto, microbiology, TME Podcast
Tagged colors, invasion, NewPI, viruses
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Simple tools for mastering color in scientific figures
Call me a procrastinator but I strongly believe that spending time to select a good color scheme can work miracles with a plot, paper, or presentation. In science, it’s generally not expected that you invest time into a thought process … Continue reading
Posted in howto, methods, Science Communication, science publishing
Tagged colors, data visualization, design, Figures, graphics, how to, palettes, presentation, R, schemes, tools
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Applying for a faculty job is a full-time job – the financial burden
Last week I talked about the ‘workload’ of applying for a tenure-track faculty job (let’s call them TT jobs). This week, I want to talk about a different load – the financial one. This burden was a surprise to me, … Continue reading
Posted in career, howto, Uncategorized
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Applying for faculty jobs is a full-time job – The 'workload'
As a postdoc in the last year of her funding, I’ve spent the last year applying for tenure-track faculty jobs. I’m not ready to talk about the outcome yet, but I do want to talk about the process and what … Continue reading
#StudentSciComm
I just submitted my four year review and in so doing listed out the students that had published blogs on The Molecular Ecologist. Seventeen students have not only received course credit, but also have a non-peer reviewed publication on their … Continue reading
Posted in blogging, career, chat, community, ecology, evolution, howto, methods, Molecular Ecology, the journal, Science Communication, science publishing
Tagged Blogging, ecology, Evolution, scicomm, student, StudentSciComm
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Simple Gantt charts in R with ggplot2 … and Microsoft Excel
making Gantt charts is a form of self-care — Colin J. Carlson (@ColinJCarlson) November 26, 2018 If you’ve ever had to explain how all the elements of a big, multi-part project come together, you’ve probably at least considered making something … Continue reading