Transcript Myths and Musings - Society for Neuroscience

Myths, Musings, and
History
Eve Marder
Brandeis
University
My thanks to my lab, present and past:
Pablo Achard
Hilary Bierman
Ted Brookings
Memet Fisek
Gabrielle Gutierrez
Rachel Grashow
Patricia Lopresti
Kris Rehm
Theresa Szabo
Lamont Tang
Adam Taylor
Anne-Elise Tobin
Cyrus Billimoria
John Birmingham
Dirk Bucher
Mike Casey
Andy Christie
Nelson Cruz
Judith Eisen
J-M. Goaillard
Jorge Golowasch
Scott Hooper
J.C. Jorge-Rivera
Tom Kepler
Valerie Kilman
Erwan LeDoux
Gwen LeMasson
Lingjun Li
Chris Lingle
Jason Luther
Yair Manor
Pierre Meyrand
Bill Miller
Larry Mortin
Farzan Nadim
Mike Nusbaum
Astrid Prinz
Stefan Pulver
Kat Richards
Alice Robie
Dave Schulz
Andy Sharp
David Simon
Petra Skiebe
Frances Skinner
Cristina Soto-Trevino
Andy Swensen
Vatsala Thirumalai
Kurt Thoroughman
Gina Turrigiano
Jim Weimann
Michelle Withers
1956
• My father said, “Don’t worry about
getting married, get your Ph.D. first”.
1963
• Photosynthesis, respiration, neurons and
the mind
1967
Autism, dueling scars and
neuroscience
1969
• UCSD: 13 women in a class of
30….
Myth 1
• The postdoc years are the best
of your scientific career.
Myth 2
• You will never
get a job if
you do a
postdoc
abroad
Myth 3
If you want to
get a job you
have to work
for a famous
person in a
big lab
Myth #4
• Being successful in science requires
giving up “having a normal life” more
than being successful in other careers.
The trap of trying to please
THEM
• THEIR demands are infinite
Picking a scientific problem
• The advantages and
disadvantages of working on
a “consensus” problem
Picking a scientific problem
continued
Follow your heart…science is
too hard to do unless you are
really excited by what you
are doing.
Make your own mistakes
• Your own mistakes will teach
you, THEIR mistakes are the
fastest route to
disillusionment, and to
“bitter and twisted”.
Worms, flies, crabs, lobsters,
rats, eels, and monkeys know
the answers.
Listen to what they are telling
You.