studying, maybe

Botanical illustrations taken from ‘Hortus Medicus’ by John Davie Morries, George Graves.

Published 1834 by Longman.

Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.

go down a wikipedia research hole by clicking the first term you don’t understand

binge a crashcourse series end to end (personal recs: world history, history of science, big history, philosophy)

find free books on project gutenberg

download some western classics for free

borrow books and audiobooks from the libby app or borrowbox

start a commonplace book

take a khan academy course

browse MIT’s free online course materials

teach yourself to code

go on a google scholar essay dive

try the open access button to avoid some paywalls for academic media, or install unpaywall that does a similar thing

research the history of the place you where you live

tempt the wrath of the duolingo owl and learn a language

search for online streams of the local tv in your target language’s country and use as background noise for immersion points

print and scrapbook favourite poetry and literature quotes

improve your handwriting by doing handwriting exercises

learn philosophy with the philosophize this! podcast. actually just check out all the educational spotify podcasts there are many good ones

start a weekly club with friends to share new and interesting things you’ve learnt that week

clean and reorganise your study space, physical or digital

check out online museums

fave educational youtube channels that I adore: vsauce, crashcourse, smarter every day, kurzgesagt, school of life, tom scott, r. c. waldun, vsauce3, primer, mark rober, veritasium, asapSCIENCE, scishow, TED-ed

The Denier:

The Enabler Who Then Tried to Distract Me with 90′s Nostalgia:

And, The Soulmate:

Which phytoplankton are you? 👀

And for a closer look at each phytoplankton group and the real traits that correspond to the characteristics listed:

by Ewen Callaway (Nature)

Graphics: Nik Spencer/Nature

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: a variety of approaches

All vaccines aim to expose the body to an antigen that won’t cause disease, but will provoke an immune response that can block or kill the virus if a person becomes infected. There are at least eight types being tried against the coronavirus, and they rely on different viruses or viral parts.

Sources: Nature analysis based on: WHO COVID-19 Vaccine Landscape/Milken Institute COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker/T. Thanh Le et al. Nature Rev. Drug. Disc. http://doi.org/ggrnbr (2020)/F. Amanat & F. Krammer Immunity 52, 583–589 (2020)/W. Shang et al. npj Vaccines 5, 18 (2020).

Virus vaccines

At least seven teams are developing vaccines using the virus itself, in a weakened or inactivated form. Many existing vaccines are made in this way, such as those against measles and polio, but they require extensive safety testing. Sinovac Biotech in Beijing has started to test an inactivated version of SARS-CoV-2 in humans.

Viral-vector vaccines

Around 25 groups say they are working on viral-vector vaccines. A virus such as measles or adenovirus is genetically engineered so that it can produce coronavirus proteins in the body. These viruses are weakened so they cannot cause disease. There are two types: those that can still replicate within cells and those that cannot because key genes have been disabled.

Nucleic-acid vaccines

At least 20 teams are aiming to use genetic instructions (in the form of DNA or RNA) for a coronavirus protein that prompts an immune response. The nucleic acid is inserted into human cells, which then churn out copies of the virus protein; most of these vaccines encode the virus’s spike protein.

Protein-based vaccines

Many researchers want to inject coronavirus proteins directly into the body. Fragments of proteins or protein shells that mimic the coronavirus’s outer coat can also be used.

Industry trials

More than 70% of the groups leading vaccine research efforts are from industrial or private firms. Clinical trials start with small safety studies in animals and people, followed by much larger trials to determine whether a vaccine generates an immune response. Researchers are accelerating these steps and hope to have a vaccine ready in 18 months.

Source: Fig. 2 in T. Thanh Le et al. Nature Rev. Drug. Disc. http://doi.org/ggrnbr (2020).

And remember it’s not limited to your area of study. It is perfectly legal for you to do a bit of research into the various textbooks that are most in demand, and those which are most expensive, and find out if you have free access to them. 

Of course it would be illegal for you to remove the DRM and upload it to libgen, despite the fact that it’s a tangible, effective way of extending solidarity and breaking down the absurd barriers that capitalism puts on knowledge. 

So yes, don’t be tempted by this particular illegal action, which costs you nothing, and is the right thing to do.

Click through this link i’m losing my mind its gorgeous

the style is called “orsi” and is unique to iran

yes, these are real places! it’s a different mosque in the same city as the first picture (the shah cheragh mosque in shiraz)

2.10.2020

My first two days as a grad student started out with meetings. One with my supervisor yesterday and a general lab meeting and journal club earlier this morning. I also baked a cake yesterday simply because it’s been two weeks since I baked/made anything. I’ll still be working from home at the moment, and my main task right now is to prepare a lit review on galanin receptors.

I had a moment of epiphany, where I linked and hypothesised on my project, figuring out what ifs and building up from them. It started with a gap in my readings and I poured through the reviews and articles but couldn’t find an answer. It felt good and kept me wide awake (normally, that’s good, but it was 12am, so). When I asked my supervisor about it, she just smiled and said, “Well, that’s what you’ll be looking into.” It felt nice hearing it from her.

Happy spooky season! I'm going to try to take part in "The studyblr community challenge" that @myhoneststudyblr designed for October.

Day 1 - Introduce yourself and tell us what you study!

Hey! My name is Alicia, originally from Spain but I'm moving to Germany at the end of October. The reason? I'm going to study my a master's degree in molecular biology there. On the side I'm also studying a second bachelor's degree in English literature and linguistics with a distance university - I'll be busy this year!

(I covered this more in depth in my intro post, check it out if you're interested!)

Doridoidea is a superfamily of medium to large shelless sea slugs. The word "Doridoidea" comes from the generic name Doris, which was in turn copied from the name of the sea nymph in Greek mythology.

hello hello!

so! this is an introductory post for this blog, as I hope to be active in posting/blogging under the studyblr community. I’ve been wanting to do this for years and technically did manage a blog (read: tryingtostudyreally), however I decided to start fresh with a new one! and with a main blog! I will still probably be active on that one with random reblogs so feel free to follow!

so about me

I’m Arie. disclaimer: not my real name nor is it a nickname. well. it might as well be a nickname now.

born and raised in Malaysia! the hot hot tropical country where our food is a delight but oily and heavy and is our pride!

I’m 21 in the cursed year of 2020.

fluent in Malay and English

currently pursuing a phd! I’ve just started. seriously. today is my enrolment date.

I’m a Muslim and Malay

my focus is neuroscience (hence the blog name)

the other reason for the blog name is because I focused on immunofluorescence during my fyp and will most likely do more in the future. idk I really didn’t have much going on when deciding the name but I think it’s cute.

I did a bsc in biomedical sciences, and was part of the class of 2020 (again, cursed year). I did my degree in both Malaysia and the UK. I got back from the UK in March (right before the lockdown phew)

I’m doing my phd here in Malaysia

and hopefully! I get to continue research in the future! that is my goal, to be a researcher!

I have no aesthetic, whatever looks pretty in my eyes, it will get posted. this comes from a non-professional, no-experience-nor-talent-in-art person. so please have low expectations. (like the photo header thing of this post is weird but eh)

I’m an anime, manga, Kpop fan! and these are the things that really occupy my life so a lot of recommendations will be from these. Ah, occasionally, Assassin’s Creed and the Percy Jackson series occupy my brain as well. 

but I’m interested in loads of things (that it kinda gets overwhelming) like history, astrophysics, microbiology, marine biology (!!!), and so much more tbh I just like reading random things (but they never stick in my head)

I tend to have coffee/chocolate drinks/tea with me while studying. occasionally, buns and cakes (I bake sometimes).

my one fear right now is to drive. I can drive. I have a license. but man, driving is scary.

my only goal with this blog is to be more productive. I hope, because of managing this blog, I’d be more aware, be more disciplined in terms of my work. (I was particularly bad at this as a degree student)

but really, seeing so many good posts by the community has made me more motivated (which may not equal productivity)

I will probably be pretty candid with what I post and say. things may not be pretty. I struggle a lot because of my procrastination and difficulty to focus, so yeah, let’s see where this goes!

I’d like to make friends too!

and so forth to my inspirations

I truly appreciate and adore these blogs below and because of them I get more motivated in pursuing my goals to become a researcher. Plus, I learn random things from them too!