Tip-of-the day. Anticipating an unpleasant conversation? Trapped by the guy in next lab who just won't shut up about his latest publication in Science when you have just been rejected by JBC? Just keep a lab timer in your lab coat pocket and set it off when you need to escape! "Oops! gotta go incubation is up".

Anybody can talk the talk but do you walk the walk? Bernie Bio-Nerd demonstrated his pride with the license plate shown to the left. He kindly sent us this plate when it was no longer valid. We send our thanks to Bernie for his generosity, the plate is now proudly hanging on our office wall. How do you show your biogeek pride?

For Arts Sake

From time to time we get inquiries about sources of fine art in the area of biology or biotechnology. We have found a couple of places to look, starting with gene-sis.net which hosts a variety of biology inspired artists and their works.

If that doesn't do it for you then try surfing over to Genetic art to create your own art masterpiece using the "genetic" algorithm that generates new images based on the previous image. Its a fun but possibly addictive diversion.

Gimme

Secret biogeek man....what's your favorite give away toy? Doubletwist has come and gone but I will always have this wonderful momento, as well as a nice backpack, to remember them by. Of course some aqusitions require planning.When the visiting vendor displays set up outside our cafeteria the often have candy in a dishor other toys to lure the unwitting scientist into conversation about their products. I avoid getting caught in the trap, by encouraging a colleague to talk to, and distract the salesperson so that I can escape with the goodies.

Mating Dance

Where are you going to find someone else that will tolerate your biogeek behavior? If you don't already have a significant other to inflict your geekness on, check out sciconnect, a web site for scientist seeking other scientists. If that works out for you, the next thing you will face is the classic "two body" problem, that is how do you both find jobs in more or less the same geographical area and possibly in the same profession field? For a still relevant discussion of some of the problems faced by the dual biogeek couple, see this article from the ASCB newsletter from the Women in Cell Biology section. Lastly, see how an employer can take a proactive approach to the situation by visiting the Dual Career Network at Ohio University