Systematic approaches to make your best choice. Updated 03.03.2021 Even if people are dealt the same cards, this does not mean they will play them in the same way. While cannot control outcomes, we can control the efforts we apply and the strategies we use. The trajectories of our lives…

Big fish in a small pond? Small fish in a big pond? Or is something else even better? Stillness works for the satisfied person, but an ambitious person may find stillness turning to stagnation. Being a big fish in a small pond means that the pond will eventually limit the…

Hello, Amit! I am wondering how this project went/how it is going. In the neuroscience space, there are widely required jurisdictions around regulations for what research can be done. Research studies must go through internal review board (IRB) review with an informed consent process, except for experiments a person does on themselves.

Thanks for your perspective, AJ! This is a good question and considerations on motivation. But what if the answer to motivation is neither primarily consequences nor identity, but mostly about finding the processes (rather than just the results) rewarding? I greatly enjoy the process of writing even if there are no ways of explicitly creating a cost/benefit analysis. This has been the case even if I do not really ask myself if I identify as a writer: I have naturally gravitated towards reading and writing a lot throughout life.

I agree that the best companies tend to design whole systems: that way, they are able to integrate all components rather than developing lopsided layers in the stack. Lately, I have been thinking about how incentive structures for such integrations can be encouraged, as many talented young neuroscientists would be terrific at architecting systems yet find the engineering requirements a high barrier to entry if they studied neuroscience. In neuroscience, they may not have learned to engineer like an electrical or mechanical engineer, to program like a software developer, or to manage projects like a project manager, yet they may the the broadest specialists. Excited for the future of the field, whether local, peripheral, or both!

Get the most out of lectures with meta-learning strategies — “We jumped from zero to a hundred, and I was lost.” This is the common sentiment I noticed even among some of the brightest students taking their first programming course. They show up to class, but much of the material goes over their heads unless they came in with prior knowledge of programming. Staying lost means that the time they spend…

Stop banging your head against a textbook. Four chapters into “MATLAB for Neuroscientists”, my friend asked me for advice. Her knowledge of psychology and neuroscience helped her a lot as an experimentalist, but with little background in mathematics or programming, my friend found herself slogging through the textbook. Feeling stuck…

Neural underpinnings of spatial navigation, with many illustrations and wordplays. Summary: The brain contains mechanisms that allow its owner to keep track of their position and movement through spaces. One way of navigating is by counting the number of steps taken. Another way is by creating internal maps of the…

What mindset would be helpful for a person adopt when they train as a scientist? What will help them find happiness and fulfillment in this process? “You’re going to become jaded over time. It happens to everyone.” This is the gist of several conversations I had with graduate students before…