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#biomedical research jobs near me
sbgridconsortium · 4 months
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Structure of Equity - Jamaine Davis - Meharry Medical College
Sharing some of our #SBGrid member tales from the last year. This one from September 2022.
Numbers speak clearly to Jamaine Davis. As a boy growing up on Long Island, math came so easy to him that one of his family nicknames was "the professor."
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Other numbers have shaped his ambitions at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, where Davis runs one of the few labs in the world that uses structural biology to help explain biological health disparities.
For example, U.S. Black adults are twice as likely to have Alzheimer's disease compared to non-Hispanic Whites. And despite a somewhat lower overall lifetime risk of breast cancer, Black women experience a 40% higher death rate from breast cancer than White women at every age and are more likely to be diagnosed with fast growing and late-stage breast cancer.
"My research program is basically at the intersection of structural biology, genetics and disease, and health disparities," says Davis of the big-picture questions that guide his lab's work. "What are the molecular mechanisms that dictate who develops diseases like cancer or Alzheimer's? And then how do we design effective therapies? How do we target the right pathways for the right treatment for that patient?"
One project in the early stages focuses on a gene (ABACA7) that has a stronger effect on risk of Alzheimer's disease in Blacks than the better known ApoE4 gene risk variant. "It's actually the strongest risk factor for developing Alzheimer's in African Americans known so far," Davis says.
As he explains it, ABACA7 transports lipids out of cells, handing off the lipids directly to ApoE, and also interacts with Tau, another protein that goes awry in Alzheimer's. Two missense variants in ABACA7 confer the risk.
"So we've been studying these mutations to see what impact they have on lipid transport," Davis says. "Once we're done, we can look at the people who particularly carry this mutation or variant, see what downstream processes are altered, and design therapies to rescue that. And these variants so far have only been identified in African Americans."
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In individuals with African ancestry, the phospholipid-transporting ATPase ABCA7 (ABCA7) gene has stronger associations with Alzheimer’s disease risk than in individuals with European ancestry and than the apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 allele. The Davis lab is exploring the structure and function of key ABACA7 mutations and how they contribute to alterations in transporting lipids, which may influence Alzheimer’s in African Americans. Credit: Courtesy of J.Davis.
Davis began his academic training on a different career path. With his early affinity for math and science, he reasoned that chemical engineering made sense as a college major. But near graduation at Drexel University, he realized that the typical next step for someone with a chemical engineering degree was a job at an oil company. He hadn't taken one biology course in college, but he found himself drawn to biomedical research instead.
He seized an opportunity to work in a biophysics lab at a neighboring school, University of Pennsylvania, where his mentor Jacqueline Tanaka gave him a peek at the scientific career he could have in biophysics and opened his eyes to the kind of academic role model he could be. Her excitement for X-ray crystallography and for increasing the proportion of women and minorities in science inspired him to go to graduate school.
"She built her career in structural biology and mentoring, hand in hand," Davis says. "She saw some potential in me, and I was at a crossroads." Davis had also been unaware of the extent of health inequities across the country and of the low representation of minorities in academia.
For his thesis, Davis chose the lab of Harvey Rubin, a dynamic speaker who fostered an immediate interest in infectious disease. In Rubin's lab, Davis characterized an enzyme that enables Mycobacterium tuberculosis to enter (and possibly exit) the dormancy stage in the lungs of people.
When Davis finished his PhD in 2007, he was the first Black to earn a doctorate in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at UPenn. "I had a great time," he says. "They were very supportive. But it is pretty shocking. If you look at Twitter, there are other people posting the same kind of statistic. They're the first Black to graduate from a certain program at a certain institution. It does show there is still some under-representation across different departments."
He followed up with two postdoctoral fellowships at the National Cancer Institute. He first showed that a novel protein in Shigella (bacteria that cause food poisoning) was not a protease, as some suspected. A second project elucidated the binding modes of a protein with multiple domain repeats implicated in the development of cancer.
Then he thought about how best to combine his interests in a distinctive research program. He chose Meharry, one of the oldest and largest historically black U.S. academic health centers. (Davis is also a member of the Vanderbilt University Center for Structural Biology.)
Historically black colleges and universities are powerhouses in educating African Americans who go on to earn doctoral degrees in science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine, as Davis and his co-authors reviewed in a commentary (Cell, 2022). Blacks make up 12% of the U.S. workforce, but only 5% of working physicians and 3.6% of full-time faculty conducting research at medical schools.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Davis found new opportunities for mentorship and community outreach. Soon after the pandemic took hold, a student-driven community formed on Twitter with the handle @BlackInBiophys and a logo designed by Taneisha Gillyard, a former postdoc in the Davis lab. Davis spoke at a virtual meeting held by the group.
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A former postdoc in the Davis lab, Taneisha Gillyard, designed the logo for @BlackInBiophys, a student-driven community that formed on Twitter during the pandemic. Credit: Taneisha Gillyard.
In a short time, a strong sense of community developed among people who may have never met in person, but know a lot more about each other through social media, Davis says. People share grant writing tips, training and job opportunities, and generally celebrate the scientists, their contributions, and career options for the next generation.
The visibility may help change other statistics about Black researchers receiving less NIH funding and being cited less often than their white colleagues, Davis says.
Davis also teamed up with Meharry colleague Jennifer Cunningham-Erves to develop a funded community outreach project to address community concerns about vaccines. He has spoken about the basic science of mRNA at townhall-style community meetings, in person and virtual. The online recordings have reached people from Chicago to New York to Haiti.
The project collaborates with a consortium of more than 90 churches in middle Tennessee and Better Options TN, a community nonprofit organization. To understand concerns, the Meharry team interviewed people in the Southern United States. They developed and organized content on a frequently updated web site, https://yourcovidvaxfacts.com/en.
"We asked about their thoughts about the vaccine and the virus," Davis says. "The biggest one, particularly for Black Americans, was the distrust with government and healthcare. But I was very impressed with some of the questions that the public had. They weren't getting answers, and they wanted answers. If you remember, one of the major issues with people not getting a vaccine was that they thought it would affect their DNA. They just weren't familiar with mRNA."
Davis felt their concerns and trust issues as well. He initially was cautious about being vaccinated himself, waiting to see more data about its safety in people. "Even being a scientist, I was hesitant," he says. "I didn't want to be one of the first," he says. But as he explained the science and helped alleviate concerns of others, he also convinced himself to get the vaccine too.
Meanwhile, back in the lab after the pandemic disruptions, Davis and his team are working to improve health outcomes for populations most at risk, one variant protein and pathway at a time.
- Carol Cruzon Morton
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7educon · 2 years
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Overseas Education Consultant in Panjim
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just a job
summary: working wardrobe for the new film ‘bohemian rhapsody’ is not all its cracked up to be. until it is.
word count: 2.6k+
warnings: language, ~suggestive~ themes (but who am i kidding? we’re all here for that)
a/n: i’m continuing to work on the next chapter for “even now” but this has been in my drafts for awhile, so i thought i would finish it. enjoy, loves! xoxo.
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you hate your job. really, you do. despite what your younger sister believes, it’s not glamorous and it’s not well-paid. it’s simply a 9-5, clock-in & clock-out, leave-work-at-work gig to hold you over until your final semester at university ends.
at twenty-seven, you could have two degrees by now. instead you have zero—and a startlingly amount of student debt amassed thanks to your two attempts at completing a single degree. it’s been complicated, to say the very least, and you don’t like to dwell on past failures.
you consider your job a necessary evil. there’s no one to pay tuition bills except you, so when your cousin landed a position in makeup for a new film and mentioned the need for a wardrobe assistant, you applied. the work is simple, mindless even. you take measurements, offer your opinion when asked, and catalog the different costumes. you’re truly a glorified hunter-gatherer: you hunt through the rows and rows of possible options and bring back what’s needed. 
still, it’s a job, and it pays the bills. for the most part, you stomach it. there’s loads of downtime, giving you ample opportunity to study or write a term paper. your co-workers are nice enough. they live completely different lives, surrounded by the latest fashion magazines and sketchbooks full of costume ideas. your workspace—a child-sized deck in the corner of the trailer—is covered in maths books. your future in mathematics lends itself to things like tailoring and fabric measurements, but it’s not the same. there’s an obvious disconnect; you try your best to smile and fit in, anyway.
your cousin, morgan, finds you on a lonely tuesday afternoon. it’s drizzling outside, so her hair is puffy when she enters the trailer. 
“this damn weather,” she mutters. though she’s your first cousin on your mother’s side, she grew up in australia, and her accent, thick as it is, never fails to make you smile. “i swear, if gwil comes back and his wig is all frizzed out, i’m gonna pop a lid or something.”
“that bad outside?”
“humid as hell and still raining.” she sets her paper coffee cup, stained with purple lipstick around the edge, on the counter. “how’s the paper comin’?”
you glance at your work, at the empty word document on your laptop screen, and shake your head. “it’s not. i tried to start but i just...” your words drift away, incomplete but crystal clear at the same time.
“hey.” morgan crosses the narrow trailer to squeeze your shoulder. “stop doubting yourself.”
peering up through your lashes, you shrug. “i don’t know if i have what it takes to a researcher, that’s all.”
morgan scoffs. “that’s horse-shit and you know it! think about it: you like maths, for some strange reason, and you like medicine, and you want to marry those two and become the best biomedical blah-blah researcher the world has ever seen. and be smoking hot at the same time. don’t give up on yourself now, [y/n]. not when you’re so close.”
you rise from your chair and lift your arms over your head to stretch. you know she means well—hell, you’ve been through this all once before—but your fears persist. with a good-natured roll of your eyes, you close your laptop. “you’re supposed to say that. you’re family.”
“maybe, but it’s the truth.”
the trailer door bursts open, and you glance at the faded clock on the wall. post-lunch break. time for a scene change and costume switch.
your boss, richard, climbs the trailer steps, his glasses fogged over by the weather. he tosses a plastic-wrapped lunch plate on your desk before feathering your cheek with a kiss. his beard scratches your face, but you return the air-kiss, still feeling slightly ridiculous any time you imitate his standard greeting.
“sorry, lovie. you’ll have to eat later. the boys are on their way and we only have them for a few before the cameras start rolling again.” richard sheds his leather jacket and runs a hand through his rain-slick hair. “morgan, you’re taking up too much space. shoo, honey, shoo!”
“right, of course! i’ve got to go wrangle gwilym’s wig anyway.” before exiting the trailer, morgan lifts her brows in your direction. “remember what i said, okay? it really is the truth.”
shuffling to the door, richard waves his hands in a shooing motion. “yeah, yeah, we get it. you’re family and you love each other. scram—and i mean that in the nicest way possible.” once morgan disappears, he points to the back of the trailer. “i need you to find those god-awful corduroy pants. joe has to wear them today and last time i checked there was a tear up the inseam.”
you do as your told, squishing your way to the storage area. four clothes racks—one for each of the boys—take up the majority of the trailer space. aside from a bathroom the size of a postage stamp and an area for fittings, it’s a tight squeeze. that squeeze is made even tighter anytime one or more of the borhap boys makes their entrance. their personalities are distinct and their friendships are loud; it should be endearing, but it often leaves a headache grating at the back of your skull from all the noise. 
from your place jammed between joe and ben’s clothing racks, you can hear him—joe—as he makes his way to the fitting stool.
“okay, but listen to this, richard.” his voice is muffled by the mink coat your head is pressed against, but you already know the routine. he’ll start with some ridiculous anecdote then work his way to a joke or two, peppering in a smattering of questions for good measure. it’s the same nearly every day. 
joe is kind. they all are. but joe, specifically, is the most gregarious of the bunch—a bit much for your quiet tendencies. he makes you laugh on occasion, but the majority of the time, his personality is too big for the sandwich-sized trailer. you’d never tell him that, of course, so you often spend most of his fittings with a haphazard smile on your face, your mind millions of miles away.
corduroy pants retrieved, you wiggle your way to the fitting area. richard has his hands full with rami, attempting to peel a black-and-white checkered unitard off the poor man, so he gestures to joe with his foot.
“fix that inseam,” he says, his voice strained with effort.
joe has a wry smile on his face when you look at him. “look, [y/n], i normally don’t take my pants off on the first date, but i’ll make an exception for you.”
you toss the pants at his chest. an girlish blush crawls up the back of your neck, so you turn away, rooting around on your desk for your sewing kit. to further enflame your face, you cringe when you hear his jeans unzip and drop to the floor with a soft whoosh. your fingers stutter over the assortment of books, papers, and fabric materials on the table. 
what has you so nervous, you aren’t sure. joe is handsome. again, they all are. you suppose it’s the idea of having your face inches from his crotch as soon as he’s clothed. not for the first time, you wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into. a biomedical researcher would never have to deal with this.
“m’lady, i am ready.”
the plastic surrounding the sewing kit bites your palm as you hold it tight, turning to face him. “don’t be so smug. it’s not cute.”
joe frowns. he looks slightly ridiculous, like a small child, in his wig: the straight bangs, the uneven locks of hair brushing the collar of his shirt. he looks like john deacon; at least, you assume he does. you’re no expert. still, his frown coupled with the wig and the striped shirt and corduroy reminds you more of a primary school boy than rock god oozing sex appeal. it’s discombobulating. 
“you’re a hard nut to crack, [y/n].”
lowering to your knees, you nudge his legs apart with your knuckles. already, you feel a lump rise in your throat. “yeah?”
“i’m in here every day and i don’t think i’ve made you laugh once.”
“that’s not true.” you search the recesses of your mind for a memory, but can only think about how, if you move an inch to your left, your forehead will brush the fold of his pants near his most delicate parts.
(god, you need to get laid. between a flurry of dead-end jobs and university courses, you can’t remember the last time you had a good romp in the hay just to blow off some steam.)
joe doesn’t seem at all bothered by your proximity. that is, until you run the flat of your hand down the inseam of his leg. you swear you hear him hiss, but maybe it’s just your imagination. regardless, he jumps a little, and you look up with a wince.
“sorry, cold hands. i’m just looking for the tear.”
he nods, a definite flush to his cheeks.
the tear—a whopping four inches from top to bottom—is nestled near the back of joe’s left thigh. you might be able to get away with a bit of fashion tape, but richard has an eye for detail. he claims the camera can pick out every loose thread, every minor snag. 
drawing back, you pop open the sewing kit with a click. “you’ve made me laugh before,” you say. it’s a lame attempt to break the silence, but you’ve never claimed to be the best conversationalist.
“huh? oh.” he hesitates. his eyes narrow, but there’s a playful glint to his gaze. “you’re only saying that to make me feel better.”
“no, it’s the truth. there was that time with the... dinosaur story. and the other time with the baseball thing and your brother.”
he runs his pointer finger over the fingers on his opposite hand, eyes rolled toward the ceiling as he counts under his breath. “so, twice?”
you nod. “at least.” with a flourish of your needle and thread, you warn, “cold hands coming in again.”
he shifts to stand a little wider. his arms cross over his chest, straining the fabric around his biceps. “twice is good. i can live with twice. my normal goal is twenty times at minimum, but i can adjust.”
you fall silent. once you’ve located the rip, you give it a good tug, testing to see whether it will tear more before you’ve finished the job. it holds, thank goodness, so you place the needle at the base of the rip and start threading it back and forth. 
you don’t turn when richard announces, "be back, [y/n]. rami’s stuck. we need baby oil from makeup.”
at this, joe laughs. his hand slaps his opposite leg, his body heaving as he all but cackles. you jostle with the force of his amusement, and the needle stabs the exposed flesh his thigh. this time he does hiss, pulling back on instinct.
you grimace. “sorry! you moved!”
“that’s your excuse? you sure you didn’t plan to stab me?”
“why would i do that?”
“‘cause you think i’m annoying!”
“i don’t think you’re annoying—not all the time, anyway.”
“aha! so you do think i’m annoying!”
you huff. “joe, please. i’m just trying to do my job.”
perhaps it’s the weariness in your tone that drains the good-natured grin from his face. maybe it’s your confession, which you hadn’t meant to confess. whatever it is, he clears his throat and looks toward the mirrors on the wall across from him, arms snug over his chest again. you return to the tear.
the silence stretches thin with tension. you’ve wounded his pride, you know, but you aren’t sure why it’s shut him down. you’ve interacted only a handful of times, and you try to keep professional, distanced, any time you do interact with a cast member. his suddenly-cold exterior is peculiar. 
“can you turn around for me?” he does so without complaint. his ass looks good in the pants, you’ll give him that, and this vantage point gives better access to the top of the tear. a win-win, you suppose. 
“what did you mean by twenty times?” you ask. “your normal goal being twenty times?” another lame attempt at breaking the tension.
he shrugs. “it’s stupid.”
tear repaired, you stand. “no, i want to hear. please?” 
gently, you tug his arm so he faces you again. you glance over his new outfit, searching for minuscule imperfections. you can feel his eyes search your face in a similar manor, and your face grows warm under the scrutiny. 
in lieu of an proper response, he kisses you.
the sudden contact causes you to drop your sewing kit to the floor. the plastic breaks—you can hear the crunch—but you don’t care. it’s been a long time since anyone kissed you and a longer time since anyone kissed you properly. his lips are soft and skilled, slow against your own. you rest your hands on his forearms, let him kiss you until he pulls back.
your skin feels like it’s on fire, and your chest is tight with anxiety. you swallow hard, eyes darting back and forth between his.
“i don’t like it when girls i like think i’m annoying.” his voice is thick, but his words remind you of a schoolboy’s again. it’s endearing; you smile.
“i’m quiet, that’s all.”
“i’m not.”
“i know.”
“usually i can tell if a girl is interested by how many times she laughs when i talk. twenty times and over, i’ve got a solid in. you’ve never given me an in.”
“i suppose twice is a little below the mark.”
he leans forward, as if to kiss you again, and your eyes flutter shut, but his nose merely brushes yours. “go out with me... to dinner. let me make you laugh again.”
you know you should say no. if not for the sake of professionalism, for the simple sake of proving your sister wrong. she’d told you at the start that you would meet someone and it would be dreamy and romantic and totally Hollywood. you’d promised her you wouldn’t.
but joe is cute. and even though he’s loud and chaotic, there’s something about him. he’s like a magnet. despite when your head aches because he and ben are singing too loud, you’re drawn to him. there’s no use denying it.
“one date,” you whisper, holding up your finger. “i’ll give you one date to let you try.”
“how do i know if there will be a second?”
you have to laugh at his boldness. his grin widens at the sound.
stepping back, his hands dropping from your hips, he shows three fingers. “that’s three times. i think that automatically qualifies me for a second date.”
“we haven’t even gone on our first!”
“doesn’t matter.” he hops down from the dressing stool and presses a loud kiss to your cheek. “pencil it in. two dates, back to back.”
“joe—”
he pauses at the trailer door. his toothy smile flips your stomach. “i’m being annoying, i know.”
before you can laugh again, you bite your lip. “get out of here, you idiot.”
he purses his lips in an air-kiss before bouncing out the door.
you grab the broken sewing kit from the floor. straightening, glance at yourself in the mirror. 
your cheeks are flushed and your lips look freshly kissed, but you’re smiling. maybe not laughing, but smiling. joe’s the first guy who’s made you smile in awhile. he’s made the stress in your chest relax, and the constant worry at the back of your head slow.
that ought to count for something. maybe even a third date.
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mythiccheroacademia · 4 years
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Hi bb! I have a question 🥺👉🏾👈🏾 what do you think bakugo, kirishina, and deku would study in college if they were in college and quirks don’t exist
Katsuki Bakugo:
one of bakugo’s main goals in life is to be a civil servant. despite his nasty attitude and his weird ass way of showing affection, he wants to be able to serve the public for good.
everyone is barely an adult by college, but as he learns and grows, he’ll want to help those around him whiles having a direct impact, aka results he can see. regarding that, i think he’d study psychology to become either a social worker or an adolescent psychologist—and hear me out!
i think by the time he’s ready to go to college, he’d be a bit more mature and self-aware. he’d be able to come to terms with his own aggressive behaviors and want to help those in addressing their own inhibiting behavior. or, he’d want to be in the field a bit more and work towards helping families and children deal with a myriad of issues concerning drugs, abuse, negligent environments, etc. and he’d be good at both because he’s a hardass so he’ll get the job done no matter what.
bakugo would probably end up adopting kids along the way hehe
Kirishima Eijirou:
this one was hard bc i don’t think i really know his interests past being a hero and proving himself (and meat). the way i see kirishima is very different every other day. because of that, i think for a good amount of time, he’d be undecided. then, maybe major in education.
kirishima’s character is about discovering himself, growing his self-confidence, and learning about his place in the world. he’s got a resilient personality and, despite his lows, wants to be that ray of hope for his community. based on the fact that he’s physically strong, academically sufficient, and a people’s person, there are two avenues i see him taking.
if he had to go to college, he’d end up joining the ROTC and joining the military. he’d most likely stay with them and quickly climb the ranks. he’ll already be pretty up there since he’ll have a college degree. if not the army, a teacher. it could be a P.E. teacher or a kindergarten teacher. or an ex-military officer turned teacher. 
whatever he chooses, kirishima would make a huge difference just with his go-getter attitude alone!
Midoriya Izuku:
izu’s was the easiest to pick. he’d major in biomedical engineering.
in the bnha world, if he didn’t have a quirk and didn’t make it to UA, i always thought he’d be really good at making support items for heroes. the boy is just so observant regarding people’s strengths and weaknesses that it’s near genius in my opinion. it’d translate well into making modern prosthetics and support items for amputees and physically disabled people.
with that in mind, he’d probably end up in an engineering program after getting himself together.
izuku will struggle though. at first, it’s all science, math, and physics and he feels like he’s drowning. but then he takes his first real engineering course, and everything clicks. suddenly, it makes sense and he’s thinking in 3D. all his ideas can come to fruition, there’s a professor (all might) who sees his potential and takes him to other engineering professors to start on a research project.
he’d end up being a famous engineer.
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TOP 25 BOOKMARKS of 2019
See also: Top 20 Bookmarks of 2018
Hey guys! 
Since this is the last Fic Rec Sunday of the year, I’m going to give y’all the list of my favourite fics that I’ve read this year! I think this is a great way to end off the year, by letting y’all know what I thoroughly enjoyed reading while on my seemingly-never-ending quest to rec you guys the stuff y’all should read! <3 
And of course, I am reducing it to a small list or I will NEVER finish reccing fics because everything I’ve read this year have been fantastic, but these are the ones I’ve found myself going back to a couple times already :)
Hope y’all enjoy! 
------
JOHNLOCK BOOKMARKS
The Burning of the Leaves by blueink3 (M, 15,915 w., 3 Ch. || Post S4, Angst, Reichenbach, Parentlock, Past Jolto, Idiot John, Sherlock’s a Mess, Puppies, Fluff, Possessive / Jealous Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Matchmaker Sholto, Melancholic Feelings, Emotional Sherlock, Domesticity, Love Confessions in the Rain, Kissing in the Rain, Pet Names, Panic Attack) – After the events of series 4, Major Sholto invites John and Sherlock to lunch one day. It nearly proves to be too much for their tenuous relationship as the past haunts the present, putting the future that Sherlock so desperately wants at risk.
The Palmyra Atoll by elwinglyre (E, 16,609 w., 3 Ch. || TSo3 Divergence / Episode Fix-It, Stockholm Syndrome, Kidnapped John Watson, John Whump, Evil Mary, Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Toplock, Limited 3rd John POV) – As John's preparing for the wedding, Sherlock is preparing to have his heart broken, and Mary is prepared to do the unthinkable. Intervention required. Enter Sherlock. Set before Sign of Three with a far different outcome. John is drugged, kidnapped, and left on an island, but not just any old island.
Wonderful, Etcetera. by VictoryCandescence (T, 16,955 w., 3 Ch. || Wonderful Life AU || Alternate Timelines, Brotherhood, Homophobia, Suicidal Ideations, Mentions of Drug Use, Friendship, Different TRF, Sherlock’s Past, Victor Trevor is Past Boyfriend, Depression, Hallucination?, Love Confessions, Christmas, First Kiss) – Sherlock thinks everyone would be better off if he had never existed, including and especially himself. When he finds himself in a world in which his wish has been granted, he begins to think perhaps even he could be wrong – but it takes an unlikely chaperone to make him not only observe, but understand.
The Kepler Problem by kinklock (E, 24,270 w., 1 Ch. || Sci-Fi AU, Alien Sherlock, Space Repairman John, Alien Biology, Horny John) – Working in uncharted space exploration was not as exciting as John had hoped, especially when it turned out to be mostly bot maintenance on uninhabited planets. However, the mystery of the repeated, unexplained malfunctions on planet BAK 2212 might turn out to be exactly the kind of adventure he'd been craving.
A Home for Us by sussexbound (M, 30,581 w., 12 Ch. || Scars, Bedsharing, Grief, Doctor John, Hurt/Comfort, Post-TRF, Implied/Referenced Torture, Sherlock POV, Pining Sherlock, Suicidal Ideation, Heavy Emotions, Clingy Sherlock, Hallucinations, Disassociation, Emotional Turmoil) – He has been on the road for two years, and he is exhausted. He’s almost accepted that he will never see London (John) again—almost. But then there are nights like tonight, where he is weak, and all he can think of is the warmth of the flat they once shared, the crackle of the fire in the hearth, the teasing smile playing at the corner of John’s lips, the boxes of half-eaten Chinese takeaway balanced precariously in their laps. He aches at the memory of it, at the realisation that it is something he may never experience again.
Chaperones by MissDavis (T, 34,114 w., 7 Ch. || 11 Years Post-S4, Fake Relationship, Parentlock, Disney World, Bed / Room Sharing, Friends to Lovers, Fluff, First Kiss, Obsessive Sherlock, Insecure John) – Right. Of course. Everyone assumed they were a couple and no one would question it. John put his elbows up on the table so he could rest his head in his hands. "You want to pretend to be a couple so we can chaperone a trip to Disney World with Rosie's class and you won't have to share a room with a stranger?" "Exactly." Sherlock beamed at him. "Don't worry about the cost. The Birmingham case last month paid more than enough to cover expenses for all three of us."
Only To Be With You by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (M, 40,768 w., 4 Ch. || Black Mirror / Future AU || Character Death, Future Technology, Sickness/Cancer/Illness, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, First Person POV John, Pining John, Heart-Wrenching Angst) – I tell myself that next time I’ll come near this same place again. Wait around for the mysterious stranger in his coat to dash past me, hot on the heels of a new criminal in black. I think this all the way back to my Exit, planning where I’ll wait and what I’ll say when I see him. Scheming on how to get his name. It’s only once I reach the Exit Point door that I realize two hours and forty-five minutes have passed, and I realize that this won’t be the last time I Visit. It won’t be the last time at all.
A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w., 16 Ch. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because...new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride... prepare for blast off. Part 1 of SpaceBois go to Space
White Knight by DiscordantWords (M, 69,840 w., 13 Ch. || S4 Compliant/Post S4, Marriage For a Case, Jealous John, Pining John, Janine / Sherlock Fake Relationship, Serial Killers, Case Fic, Undercover as a Couple, Weddings, John is a Mess, Misunderstandings, Wedding Planning, Jealousy, Drunkenness, Love Confessions, Angst with Happy Ending) – Green. The word green was used to convey a great many things. Illness. Envy. Inexperience. Standing there amidst Janine's chattering bridesmaids, watching Sherlock furrow his brow and study fabric swatches, watching him smile and simper and flirt, John thought it a remarkably apt colour choice. Because he felt quite sick to his stomach, he feared the source of said sickness might very well be jealousy, and he had absolutely no idea at all what to do about it. Or: Sherlock needs to fake a relationship for a case. He doesn't ask John.
Being John Watson-ish by elwinglyre (E, 69,902 w., 17 Ch. || Bodysnatcher AU || Author John, Cranky Sherlock, Angst, Sexual Tension, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love, BAMF John, Past Soldier John, Feelings, Inside Someone’s Brain, Shy Sherlock, Sherlock Loves John, POV Sherlock, Switchlock, Slow Burn, Internal Dialogue, Mental Turmoil) – When consulting detective Sherlock Holmes steps on one toe too many at a crime scene, he's consigned to a desk job in an archaic office on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the New Scotland Yard. It’s in this bleak office that Sherlock discovers a portal into the mind of renowned author John Watson. Grander than his mind palace, this new wonderland affords Sherlock new vistas of experimentation. To learn more about the mystery behind the portal, Sherlock seeks out and befriends Watson. But then it all goes wrong when others find the secret portal door—including the man whose brain he visits.
Just To Hold You Close by sussexbound (E, 70,841 w., 18 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting, Sherlock POV, ASD Sherlock, PTSD John, Demisexual Sherlock, Bisexual John, Cuddling/Snuggling, Platonic Cuddling, Enthusiastic Consent, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, First Kiss/Time, Sexual Tension, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Cuddle Negotiations, For a Case Until It Isn’t, Hair Petting, Sexual Negotiation, Anxiety, Trust Issues, Slow Burn, Panic Attacks, Frottage, Hand/Blow Jobs, Referenced Self Harm / Abuse / Suicidal Ideation, First Kiss/Time, Anal, Autistic Sherlock) – When a woman is murdered and the last person to see her alive is recently invalided army vet turned reluctant (and prickly) professional cuddler, John Watson, Sherlock Holmes is pulled into a world of intimacy and intrigue he never could have imagined. John is a conundrum and mystery: frank yet reserved, tender yet angry, open yet afraid. Sherlock is instantly drawn into his orbit, and begins to feel and desire things he never has before.
The Vapor Variant by 88thParallel (CanadaHolm) (M, 72,684 w., 18 Ch. || PODFIC AVAILABLE || Post-THoB, John Whump, Protective Sherlock, Guilty Sherlock, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Suspense, Virus, Sickfic, Big Brother Mycroft) – They stood face to face in the middle of a clearing. The dim light of the moon barely allowed Sherlock to see the glassy terror in John’s eyes and the sweat that glistened off his forehead. His nose was bleeding again, blood dripping in a slow stream from his right nostril. They were both gasping for air, John’s eyes locked on Sherlock’s. There was no recognition there, just wild animal fear. Time stood still for an eternal few seconds, and Sherlock took a shaky breath. “John—”Spell broken, John spun and bolted back into the woods. Still heaving for air, Sherlock took off after him
A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship's surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there's more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin' the eye, he has to choose... is it a pirate's life for him?
The Adventure of the Silver Scars by tangledblue (NR [M], 142,458 w., 41 Ch. || S3 Fix-It, Post-HLV/ Post-TAB / Canon Compliant, Case Fic, No Baby, Angst, Humour, UST, Slow Burn, Angry John, Reconciliation, Not Nice Mary / Leaving Mary, Dependent Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Caretaker John, Fist Fights, It’s An Experiment, Virgin Sherlock, Dancing, Drugging, John Whump, Pet Names, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Scars) – It’s been thirteen months since Mary shot Sherlock and John finds he’s still pissed off about it. Sherlock had thought everything was settled: John and Mary, domestic bliss. But when John turns up at Baker Street with suitcases, the world’s only consulting detective might not be prepared for the consequences. A new case. Some old scores to settle. Certain danger. Concertos, waltzes, and whisky.
Proving A Point by elldotsee & J_Baillier (E, 186,270 w., 28 Ch. || Me Before You Fusion || Medical Realism, Insecure John, Depression, Romance, Angst, POV John, Sherlock Whump, Serious Illness, Doctor John, Injury Recovery, Assisted Suicide, Sherlock’s Violin, Awkward Sexual Situations, Alcoholism, Drugs, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Body Image, Friends to Lovers, Hurt / Comfort, Pain, Big Brother Mycroft, Intimacy, Anxiety, PTSD, Family Issues, Psychological Trauma, John Whump, Case Fics, Loneliness, Pain) – Invalided home from Afghanistan, running out of funds and convinced that his surgical career is over, John Watson accepts a mysterious job offer to provide care and companionship for a disabled person. Little does he know how much hangs in the balance of his performance as he settles into his new life at Musgrave Court.
GOOD OMENS
you can dance in a hurricane, but only if you're standing in the eye by be_brave13 (G, 1,456 w., 1 Ch. || Non-Linear Narrative, Light Angst, 6000 Years of Pining / Slow Burn, POV Crowley, 5 and Ones, Idiots in Love, Song Fic) – 5 times Crowley knew he loved Aziraphale and the 1 time he knew Aziraphale loved him back (romantically).
Where Heaven Begins by sussexbound (M, 2,515 w., 1 Ch. || Pining Crowley, Soft Idiots, Emotional Love Making, Hurt/Comfort, Crowley Has Healing Powers, Kissing, Bed Sharing, Crowley POV) – Aziraphale bleeds. Is bleeding. He’s wearing human skin, after all.
In the (Second) Beginning by cherryfeather (M, 2,661 w., 1 Ch. || Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Confessions, Soft Crowley, POV Aziraphale, Post-Canon, First Kiss, Wings) – Aziraphale realizes that Crowley's been saying something rather loudly for a week.
The Picnic; or, the Drawbacks of Loving an Angel by sorrowfulcheese (G, 3,776 w., 1 Ch. || Post-Apocalypse/Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Misunderstandings, Moving On, Picnicking, Idiots in Love, Crowley POV, Cranky Crowley, Mutual Pining, Light Angst with Happy Ending) – Aziraphale lures Crowley out for a picnic. It doesn't go remarkably well.
The slowest moving object in the universe by chamyl (G, 4,996 w., 1 Ch. || God POV, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Beach Day, Games, Light Humour, Tenderness, Embarassed Crowley, Soft Idiots, First Kiss, Love Confessions) – Crowley and Aziraphale have had feelings for each other for a very long time. It takes a date at the lake and a round of 36 Questions That Lead To Love to give them the final push.
a garden all their own by leaveanote (T, 5,436 w., 1 Ch. || Post Canon, POV Crowley, Emotional Turmoil, Aziraphale Takes Care of Crowley, Crying, Nightmares, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Heart Wrenching Pining, Pining Crowley, Wings, Tired Crowley, Romance, Healing, Massage, Light Angst with Happy Ending) – The aftermath. An exhaustion deeper than body. A secret too heavy to carry when when grief burned so close. Crowley has to tell him. "What am I to you?" A saving thing, an agony, a binary star, tenderness, an unhealed wound, a home, a home, a garden. Come to me, we'll heal together.
i want to hold your hand (goddammit) by PersephonesReign (E, 7,695 w., 5 Ch. || Crowley POV, Pining Crowley, Emotional Turmoil, Slow Burn, Soft Crowley, Angst and Fluff, Love Confessions, Nervous / Anxious Crowley, First Kiss/Time, URT, Wing Kink, Anal, Top Aziraphale / Bottom Crowley, Hand Holding) – Crowley just wants to hold Aziraphale's hand. What's so difficult about that?
A Brief History of Touch by chamyl (E, 11,849 w., 1 Ch. || Moments in Time, First Kiss/Time, Heavy Mutual Pining, Romance, Idiots in Love, Slow Burn, Masturbation, Almost Kiss, Touch-Starved Crowley, Angst With Happy Ending, Love Confessions, Blow Jobs, Emotional Love Making, Friends to Lovers, Body Worship, Promise of Forever With a Ring) – Six thousand years of pining, stolen glances, almost-touches, plummeting towards the inevitable end.
The Nice and Accurate Love Story of A. J. Crowley and A. Z. Fell by SealandRocks (E, 16,353 w., 1 Ch. || Pining Crowley, Implied Mutual Pining, Emotional Love Making, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, POV Crowley, Jealous Crowley, Crowley’s Plants, Kissing as Healing, Moments in Time, The Arrangement, Love Confessions, Bottom Crowley, Gentle Aziraphale, Slow Burn, Falling in Love, Crowley is Bad at Feelings, First Kiss/Time, Anal Sex / Fingering, Wings / Wing Kink, Porn With Plot, Praise Kink, Kissing in the Rain, Symbolism, Historical References) – Crowley and Aziraphale have been dancing around each other since the beginning. From Eden to London, it eventually becomes very hard to avoid the only other immortal around. And after so many centuries, having a physically body becomes a bit uncomfortable. Crowley is left to wonder what it is about Aziraphale that helps ease the ache in his soul. It would only take him 6000 years to figure out that it was rooted in something deeper all along. Part 1 of Love Stories for the Oblivious
Any Way You Want It by LieutenantLiv (M, 27,585 w., 5 Ch. || Holidays, Slow Burn, Fluff, First Time, Eventual Smut, Swimming, Dreams of Dancing, Kissing in the Rain, Self-Esteem Issues, Misunderstandings, Crying Love Confessions, Soft Crowley, Clingy Crowley, Virgin Aziraphale, Romance) – Saving the world is exhausting work. With Heaven and Hell off their backs, it seems as good a time as any for Crowley and Aziraphale to take a proper break. Neither one of them predicts the direction their holiday takes.Who'd have thought that sharing a cottage in Scotland would be quite so romantic?
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Introduction
So where to begin, I guess the start?
I’m from a small town, where everyone knows everyone and their business. That town also just happens to be in a small country (Scotland), and is half way between our two major cities. My mum and her family are from Glasgow, one of those major cities so naturally I spent a generous chunk of my childhood in and around the beautifully mundane and surreal city.
I was always a ‘high flyer’ at school, and it was always a big focus in my life - it was always there when everyone asked about test results, it affected the books I read and more recently my mental health but more on that later. Along with the ‘high flyer’ badge came the expectations and dreams.
From the age of fifteen I was set on doing medicine at university and going on to be a doctor. I found a friend in someone just like me, he’s still one of my best friends now, and we did all our research and prep for applying to uni together. We went to open days, went on extra courses to help us pass mandatory aptitude tests and most importantly, we were there to support each other through the bulls**t that is an application to medical school. He’s another high flyer, and he did so well that he got into medical school and is still plugging away at it 3 years later! Me, not so much. I struggled with the aptitude tests from the word ‘go’. It ended up being the main reason I didn’t get into a medicine course. I didn’t need to do an aptitude test to get into my backup course - biomedical sciences.
The idea was to start on the biomedical sciences course and then internally transfer to medicine, I had spoken to various admissions teams and they said that it would be totally fine to do that. On the first day, in the first lecture, the head of the course said: “Don’t think that you can transfer to medicine. Even with outstanding grades, it is near impossible to do.” My heart sank so far down into my stomach that I felt unwell for the rest of the day. My flat mates, who I’d only met two days before when we moved in to the halls of residence (or halls for short), said I was sheet white when I got back to the flat that afternoon.
I tried my hardest to make the best of a not too good situation. I had worked hard enough at school to advance straight into second year of the course - bad idea. Everyone forms friendships in first year, it was hard to go into a lecture theatre knowing no one and seeing people come in and sit down while talking about their weekends and ideas for essays and projects they worked on together. I was like a little island, I made a handful of acquaintances rather than friends. We only spoke to each other when it was beneficial for us ie about assignments. I had never felt so alone in the world, and then my Grampa got sick.
My Grampa (my mum’s dad) was the bee’s knees. He was the one person I always looked up to when I was little. He was a gentle giant, and a smart man with uncompromising morals. I’m a big fan of doing charity and community work, I’ve been told I inherited that from him. I used to visit him at least once a week, there was even a time I lived with him and my grandma. He hadn’t had the best time of it health-wise, diabetic and prone to heart attacks but he kept up with his meds and regular check ups so it wouldn’t get any worse. Things started to change when I was 10. He started to forget things a bit more - not big things to start with - and his posture started to change, he always sat up really straight in his armchair but he had started to slouch a little. A few years go by and he starts to struggle to recognise people and is a lot more irritable and raises his voice more (remember I said gentle giant, wouldn’t breathe on a fly if it would harm it). He had dementia, linked to his diabetes and heart problems. My grandma struggled with looking after him at home, she is physically tiny so she couldn’t carry him around the house or up stairs. So he was moved to a care home where he stayed for a few years, still visited him as often as I could but with school and then uni and work piling up, that got more difficult. He got an infection in October 2018, a month after I started at university. His body did eventually fight it off but it left him very weak. He made it through one more Christmas. He passed away that January. I knew my mum was visiting him, and I had messaged asking how he was and he had only just gone.
I wasn’t the same after that, I wasn’t ‘okay’ for at least six months. I bombed all my exams at uni and had to resit them. I wasn’t enjoying the classes I was doing, and I was grieving - I wasn’t taking in information because my head was too full of emotions and questions.
After resitting my exams and passing the year, I took the bold step of telling my tutor and year head that I wouldn’t be returning next semester. I needed to take some time for me to figure out what I wanted for me, not what anyone else wanted or what they thought I might like. I was dead sure I was going to do what I needed to do. It was a completely selfish decision and that’s a good thing. I needed to start looking out for me and have my own back again. I had given so much of myself to other people, I was stretched thinner than the skin of a taught drum. I was like the rainbow fish from the kids book, I gave away some of my sparkle but it wasn’t healthy for me in the end. I wasn’t happy like the rainbow fish.
I worked two jobs I loved, visited uni open days on my own and did hundreds of hours of research. Being on my own wasn’t so bad anymore, I was more comfortable in my own company than anyone else’s, so why not enjoy it? I took myself to an open day to see a few science courses on a whim (biomedical sciences might’ve been bad but I still loved other sciences) and drifted into the chemistry information lecture. It was like being in another world. It was so friendly and had everything I needed that biomedical sciences didn’t.
I cried a lot that day. I felt a persistent little tug on my heartstrings and I knew that I was where I was meant to be. I was overwhelmed with the sensation you got as a kid, when you were setting off on an adventure and the serenity that comes with returning home after being away for a long time. And I felt it all at once. I don’t think I had known pure joy properly as an adult until that day.
The rest is history from there. I wrote my application, with my parents helping as editors, and asked the most wonderful teacher I know to give me a reference. Mrs P has written references for me for every application I made while I was at school and helped me through some of the most difficult experiences of my life at school and I know I could never thank her enough.
So here starts the interesting part of the story, this new chapter and beyond, and I can’t wait to begin. I’m determined to enjoy this next part of my life and keep track of what could be the most amazing and formative years.
So that’s what I’m going to do.
Oxygen
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kirbymybeloved · 5 years
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I'm feeling shitty so I guess I'll distract myself some by doing a tag post again. Thank you for tagging me @gothiddy ily!!!!!
1. Are you named after anyone? I chose my name bc I wanted a gender neutral name, and watching Star Wars I loved Rey!! So I decided to go with a differently spelled version, thus Ray! :D 2. Last time you cried? Just now bc of exams hahaha I'll be fine just let me be dramatic abt it first 3. Do you have any kids? Lmao nah I'm barely an adult and can barely get my own shit in order 4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Yeah, I even got told I have good sarcasm recently:') 5. What is the first thing you notice about people? Their face, bc for some reason that's important to my brain, also hair bc I love hair. Ironically I suck big time at registering eye color tho so that's a fun fact for y'all 6. What's your eye color? Thankfully I do know my own eye color: Dark brown! 7. Scary movie ending or happy ending? Happy ending, I absolutely love a properly written depressing ending too, but I'm not a fan of scary things uwu 8. Any special talents? I have a near perfect intuition for people. I can tell from the second I see someone whether they are a decent person or if I can get along with them (aka my mom had too many shitty boyfriends so now I'm a human bullshit-o-meter) 9. Where were you born? In what is now my bedroom actually! 10. Hobbies? Piano, languages, gaming, and baking!! 11. Do you have any pets? Yes my doggo is the best I love her to bits (picture included below) 12. What sports have you played? Judo and archery >:3€ 13. How tall are you? 167 cm (5"4 or 5"5 I think?) 14. Favorite subject in school? Languages, chemisty (tho I fucked up my exam so rip), biology, and geography which I started this year but is really nice! Can you tell I'm a nerd 15. Dream job? Linguistic researcher, maybe alongside something like biomedical research or something with computational linguistics, I'm torn bc it's all fascinating!!! Maybe teaching at universities as well, but that is more of a far future thing
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I tag @purrfectgf @10-dutchies-12-bicycles and @space-luna !!
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cancerbiophd · 5 years
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Hi Julia! Your blog is amazingly helpful and I'm so grateful to you for taking the time to answer so many questions so thoughtfully! I am a freshman bio major at a small school that doesn't really do undergrad research (only for seniors who need it to graduate). However, I really want to get experience in a lab to see whether this is a career for me, so I was thinking of emailing PI's at the university in my home city to ask if I could volunteer in their lab for the summer? (1/2)
(2/2) I’m kind of apprehensive about this though because I figure they probably prefer having students from the actual university because they can keep them year round, and also I feel like April might be way too late in the game to contact them. However, I’m afraid if I don’t get any lab experience til after sophomore year, and only then find out if it’s a good fit or not, it’ll be too late to change tracks into something I could find a job in. I was wondering if you had any advice? Thanks sm!
Hi anon! thank you so much! I’m so glad I can help!
I’m so happy to hear you’re actively seeking out research experience to see if this is a career path for you. Love it. 
I think emailing those PIs in your home town university would be a fantastic idea, and you can for sure do it now/in April. You never really know if your assumptions are true or not; maybe the PIs you’re interested in would love to have that extra help over the summer. Only one way to find out! 
In your email I would add that you’re open to doing a Skype interview/Google hangout to have that valuable face-to-face interaction where you and the PI can get to know each other more. 
You can also state up-front that you understand the 2-3 months you’ll have isn’t enough to build up a project of your own, but you are willing to shadow members of the lab, learn as much as you can, and do as much as you can to contribute such as data crunching, organizing, cataloging, etc. Most labs are always super grateful to have someone do these nitty gritty things that everyone keeps putting off. 
If this doesn’t pan out, other options can include:
Looking at research universities, other non-academic but for-profit research institutions, and biomedical/biotech companies near your current school. Some may be more of a long-shot than others, but casting a net is the first step to getting fish! If they don’t accept volunteers, shadowing someone a few hours each week can still give you valuable exposure to the research world. Anything and everything helps!
Temp agencies are also great if you’re open to doing a part-time entry-level position during the school year (and because these are contract jobs, they may only last a few months to a year, so it’s good exposure (and some extra $$!) without the long-time commitment). 
Having an informational interview with a current researcher in biology, though not as good as first-hand-experience, can still give you valuable insight into research as a career. These are basically chats where you ask the person questions like.. what’s a day in the life like? What traits do you think are necessary for someone in your position? Berkeley has an amazing list of informational interview questions here. You can even sit down with one of those seniors currently doing research and ask them about what they do. I’m also open to doing an informational interview over chat/email too! (And this invitation is extended to anyone interested). 
I hope this helps!! Good luck anon! I hope everything works out for you!
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ontherun-writing · 6 years
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[imitation - 1/2] Elijah Kamski/Reader
A/N: a little wordy, not much young!kamski romance but more like sexual tension and you getting manipulated; ah yes fun-- it’s more about the time he developed an android who could pass the turing test. this conference is prob wrong but ehhhh
this is just me ranting about the turing test and androids tbh
Summary: With the rise of androids, you find yourself in midst of making history as you are chosen by Elijah Kamski to work with him and develop an android who can pass the turing test. Despite being younger than you, he’s proven to be a force of power that has you struggling to find out ways (and reasons) to avoid being wrapped around his pinky.
It was near the end of your first year of college when you turned on the news, expecting another scandal about politicians or a news story about the recent climate change but instead learning that androids now existed. You continued to listen. You glanced down at your statistics homework for only a brief moment before scooting it to the side; you haven’t really touched it for the past hour, and you doubted you would especially now.
You weren’t the only one enthralled by the newscast; everyone in the room looked up from what they were doing to learn that the creator of the most advanced technology ever known to man, the man that will propel the world into another technological revolution was a sixteen year old. No, in fact, you quickly searched up on your phone, the kid wasn’t going to be sixteen until July.
There he was now, on the screen. A scruffy-looking fifteen-year old (three years younger than you, if you did the math right) with a hoodie and jeans was currently on his way to the grand opening of his self-made company Cyberlife. You imagine if he actually dressed up, if he wanted to because he was powerful enough to wear whatever he wanted without repercussions, he would actually look like the successful entrepreneur/scientist he was. His face was more mature that you thought. Confident, mature: the face of a man who knew what he created and what that would get him.
You never imagined actually living through history, but as you sat there, wondering how the existence of intelligent robots who looked exactly like humans would shape your future, it seemed evident that history was being made.
Out of all the things the introduction of androids changed in your life, you did not think that one of them would be you changing your major to psychology. It was a hard-earned change, something you had to convince your parents about, something you had to convince yourself about since you were so intent on becoming something else. But you had a feeling that the emergence of something as great as androids was a sign. You were by no means superstitious, but the existence of androids opened so many doors and offered you opportunities no one else but you, a college student, a person at the place where science flourished and education changed constantly, would have. Adding on to that, the question of their intelligence and the possibility of androids being more than just machines infected you with a passion that surpassed anything you ever dreamed of.
It was your fervent dedication to android psyche and learning about the way they ticked that got you into the Cyberlife research position your last year of college. Or so, that was what Elijah Kamski said when you finally met him face-to-face at the introduction of your research. You were twenty-one, he was barely eighteen. But he was the one that was leading you, and other much more qualified and big wig scientists and researchers on a tour of Cyberlife. The ride up the elevator itself took more than three minutes, and that alone told you enough about how important and powerful Cyberlife came to be in just two years.
“Cyberlife is holding about five-thousand androids per unit,” Elijah explained, walking them through the white themed halls that housed newly-made and often currently making androids. “We expect to be able to expand them to more than ten-thousand by the end of 2025, if all goes well.”
The people around you chuckled, even though there wasn’t really anything funny about the success he so obviously exuded, making your eyes dart to the side. The older man to your right, with the dignified lab coat and ID tag that you saw to present his several PhDs, was much more intelligent, and he seemed to agree the way he avoided meeting your gaze and focused solely on talking to anyone else but you. When you had introduced yourself to him out of common courtesy, the best you had gotten was a polite greeting, but the abruptness of the conversation left you stung.
The group eventually had the tour of Cyberlife, and now all of you were being crowded into a large conference room. Great, you thought dryly, feeling the implicit exclusion from the rest of the research team as they split off into groups of specialties. A few electrical engineers, a few PhD holders of technology and robotics, a huge group of biomedical engineers, and then… you, the psychologist major. There were most likely other psych PhD’s in the room, but you had no time to search for them when Elijah began the meeting.
You thought you were clear of dumb arguments when you got up this high on the ladder rung but evidently, that was not the case. Or maybe you were being too rough-- sure, you disagreed with them, but it didn’t really warrant your frustration, did it?
“The androids are intelligent,” one of the engineers argued, tapping the document in front of him. “I don’t see the need for us to develop superfluous components when we could just make improve on their strengths: their ability to do human-work.”
“I agree, the idea of developing their minds, it doesn’t seem reasonable-- what if they become too intelligent?”
The comment threw the conference into a loud murmur, and you felt words threatening to boil over. Did no one in this room care that they were on the verge of creating an intelligent life form? Was all they cared about was control and superiority? There was always a risk with every action, but if you believed, as rare as it was, that machines could… be alive, for a lack of better words, then they could feel intentions and not blame humans. With androids came android laws, and they would need to be protected, but right now the development of androids was more important.
You wanted to say something, speak your opinion, but there didn’t seem to be a time where your opinion could make a stand. You watched as Elijah, who had been quiet thus far, stand up. He switched to another image, the one of his latest android-- a pretty, blond, blue-eyed android-- and turned back toward the conference. “What of the turing test, then?” He said, scanning his eyes across the room. You tensed in your seat as his gaze lingered on you.
“I had thought our research was meant to bring useful data to the table. The test is subjective, is it not?” The older man with the PhD you had noticed before had the gall to have an exasperated tone, and something in you just snapped.
“Yes, the turing test is subjective.” You said firmly, leaving no room for interruptions, “But in this case, where we’re attempting to give androids the ability to be more than just a machine, the turing test is the best assessment in order to improve their abilities and their presence in our society.” You turned to the scientist, maintaining your neutral tone as you spoke calmly, “If the question of the day is ‘what can we do to expand android technology and better the uses of androids,’ then improving their sense of humanity will allow them to blend in and truly assimilate into society.”
“...is what I think,” you ended weakly, noticing the silence that followed.
You felt your heart leap up to your throat when you heard name being called.
“Please,” Elijah said, nodding toward your direction. You discretely wiped the sweat collecting on your palms on your pants. “Your input is intriguing.” Elijah watched you, unfaltering, and you felt big yet small at the same time as you became the center of attention. “What else do you think?”
Avoiding the gazes of anyone else in the room, you took an inaudible breath in before saying, “I do believe we can and should program an android to pass the turing test.” You looked deliberately at Elijah and continued as if all eyes weren’t on you. “If these androids are going to be welcomed into our homes and society and truly integrate, they will need to be able to indistinguishable from a human. Surely, we have to admit that other robots online such as ‘cleverbot’ is anything except unnerving despite the fact that it can appear as human 59% of the time, according to studies. It is only reasonable that our androids should at the very least, pass the turing test, and be way above the 75% mark if we are to ever have androids be a greater part of our lives yet also achieve something that has not been done yet.”
And there it was, the adrenaline in your veins, the rapid heartbeat in your best; when you started, there was little chance of stopping.
“In addition,” you blazed through, words leaving your lips eloquently, “an android who can pass the turing test will most likely further its usage in society by following orders that are not specifically programmed in its database because it can learn human mannerisms and adapt to situations. Androids need to be fluid, lest we want them to stick to menial jobs. Don’t we want them to understand us? Don’t we want them to be intelligent?”
“Don’t we want them alive? I--”
You faltered, stumbling over your wording. Alive? Alive? No, these people didn’t want living beings, they wanted-- “That is to say,” you finished, “machines that can help us in any situation that calls for them?”
“That, ladies and gentlemen,” Elijah said, letting out a quiet breath of laughter before continuing, “is and was one of my suggestions for today’s research topic.”
“However, if the group is not in consensus then we have no choice but to choose a different component to discuss.” Thoroughly embarrassed at being shut down after your outburst, you gripped the arms of the chair and looked at the desk, boring a hole in it. You knew you should have just kept your mouth shut-- “As for you…”
You spun your neck around and Elijah was behind you; your heart rate spiked again as he leaned down and smiled.
You didn’t know his eyes were teal.
“You and I… I feel like we’ll work well together. You’ll be my research partner for the turing test,” Elijah told you, then quickly leaned away and continued the conference and presentation as if he didn’t just extend an exclusive position to work with him to you. To you.
You hardly paid attention to the eyes that flickered toward your direction with how loud your blood was rushing in your ears.
The sun had set an hour ago, and the rest of the conference group had left long ago. As you stood in front of the android creator’s office door, you hesitated to knock. One, the room was dark and he probably wasn’t even in there. But... the situation from earlier kept replaying in your head, and for some reason, you struggled to provide an ample reason to why Elijah chose you, out of all people, that would convince you to go home, shut up, and just be happy. You wanted to deserve your position, and as much as you wanted it to be, you wanted him to hire you because of your mind, and not because… anything else. Convenience? Were you easy picking?
...Sex?
He was the strongest man in the country as of right now-- you rolled your eyes at your thoughts-- if he wanted to have sex, he wouldn’t choose you and he wouldn’t need to go to this elaborate ruse anyways. Deprecating, but hey, you were realistic. You were attractive, sure, but not drop-dead gorgeous.
“Are you going to come in any time soon?”
You retracted your hand from the door the moment you heard Elijah’s voice who was way too close and completely unexpected. You glanced at him and then at the door. “I thought you were--” You flushed red in embarrassment, as you were wan to do the entire day. “Well, I didn’t think it was right of me to enter your office without you in there.”
At your words, Elijah waved his hands to present himself, to which you quirked a smile at. “Here I am,” he said, amusement laced in his words as he opened the door to his office.
A large aquarium sat behind his desk, and the lights from the tank was the only way you could see where you were stepping. Shelves stood against each side of the wall, holding books and trinkets alike that you could not identify. Above, you could see lights installed, but as you watched Elijah lean on his desk, making no movement to turn the lights on, you guessed that your conversation with him would have to stay in the dark.
“Tell me,” Elijah began, “what brings you to my office?”
“I have one question,” you said. “I hope you have enough time.” Elijah motioned his hand for you to continue. “I wanted to ask you why exactly you hired me for this job,” you said uneasily, “why you chose me to be part of the research team, and-- and why you made me your research partner. I think we both know you could have anyone to work for you,” you said dryly, making Elijah chuckle at your bluntness. You crossed your arms and leaned against his desk, eyeing him warily. “You’re a successful man. I could even call you the man of the century. There’s no way you couldn’t just get what you want; you wouldn’t need to do anything besides existing.”
“I suppose there’s a difference between working for me versus working with me,” he replied enigmatically, walking around the room. “If I told you your mind intrigued me,” he said, tracing his finger on the books he kept out of antiquity, “would you believe me then?”
“You could have a multitude of doctors and professors with minds that could do something I would struggle with for hours,” you answered tiredly. You were winded by the intimidation they exuded from just being around them. Try as you might, they had no desire to talk to you, a person whose education amounted to nothing compared to them. There were nice ones, sure, ones that were willing to educate you, but it was still known that you were out of your league. “I-- I don’t mean to undermine your decision,” you said, dropping your eyes demurely, “but even I… have a hard time understanding your decision. What makes me… any different?”
At this, Elijah turned his head toward you and paused. You swallowed, not sure why the look he gave you, a mixture of amusement and something else, made your heart pick up the pace. He breathed deeply through his nose before continuing as cryptically as always. “In this world, do you think androids are well-accepted?” He asked you.
“Do I think they’re liked?” You furrowed your brows and spoke, “Sure. To an extent. You definitely did your job when you manufactured them to be useful and cost-efficient for the most part, so they helped out in families that could afford it. But the increase in unemployment is still hard for people to swallow.” You wet your lips before continuing quietly, “The number jumped to 20% just yesterday.”
Elijah looked at you in a way that set you on edge. He was compliant with your answer, but it wasn’t satisfactory, apparently, not to his standards. “Yes,” he said, “androids are useful, and we made them in our image.” He walked past you, around his desk before settling in his armchair. “But how do you think we treat them?”
“I-- well, we-- we don’t really know how to treat them,” you stammered, confusion swirling as you tried to decipher what he wanted you to say. “A lot of people are confused because they look like us so much, but at the same time--” you froze, and Elijah nodded slightly for your to finish your thought. You spoke slowly, “At the same time… they don’t treat androids well-- they treat them like…”
“Machines.”
Elijah looked pleased, and you barely stopped a strangled noise from rising up from your throat. You had to look away, knowing your face would only show how embarrassingly thrilled you were to have his approval. You were not, in any way, desperate enough to seek compliments, but… after feeling like your opinion didn’t matter and that you were never good enough in face of greater people, having the so-called ‘man of the century’ send such a look your way made you flustered. It was hard enough not to preen like a peacock.
“In your application to be part of our research,” Elijah said, pulling up your papers with a swipe of his hand on the holographic screen, “you wrote a small thesis regarding androids.” His face lit up by the soft light of the hologram, he looked up at you through the document. “You were only one who wrote about the possibility of their humanity.”
You mouth went dry. “What-- how was--” You cleared your throat and started again, impatient with yourself, “How was I the only one who wrote that? Isn’t the existence of androids-- is that not the beginning of the possibility that there may be the creation of another intelligent being?”
“I think you overestimate science,” he said, your name rolling across his tongue like he was eating candy. “These people may be interested in finding a breakthrough, but they’re more invested in their success as a scientist. Their status as an intellectual that has been elevated by being involved with me, and they wouldn’t dare say something that remotely disagreed with my ideas.” He rolled his eyes at the mention of brown-nosing, and for a moment you were reminded that he was only eighteen. Eighteen and powerful as hell, you thought, wondering how you got yourself into this.
“They’re afraid.”
Elijah took a sharp intake and stood up suddenly, making you flinch as you curled your hand around your wrist and pleaded for your heartbeat to stop quickening. “You, on the other hand, you’re actually interested in androids. Androids and their potential for humanity.” He continued, “I’ve said it repeatedly that androids are only machines, so there would be no reason for you to think that I would ever agree with you, but you wrote about it anyway. Defended your thesis and here you are,” he stepped closer to you, “with me, on the verge of another breakthrough.”
You breathed in deeply when he stood in front of you, shadows shrouding his face with the blue glow in the background. He looked much older like this, and if it were possible, even more intimidatingly out of your league. In more ways than one. “I… I look forward to working with you,” you stammered, not really knowing what you were saying except that it was what you should say in these situations.
At this, Elijah smiled and backed off, turning on the lamp at his desk, finally bringing some light in the room. “Your expertise in psychology, or more specifically, the human psyche will be greatly beneficially to our research as we try to have androids imitate human behavior,” he continued without pause, making you feel like you imagined the predatory gaze and suffocating gaze.
“Yes,” you could only reply. “I hope I can contribute as much as I can.” You glanced at your phone and began to excuse yourself, heading toward the door with quick steps.
“I wonder what you’ll think of this later, the making of androids,” Elijah said airily as you reached the door. “I wonder if you know how your words will shape the world.”
You opened your mouth to question him further. What did he mean? Surely, he didn’t believe that you, a fourth-year college student, could possibly have an impact on anything. “I-- The turing test would have still been your main objective with or without me here,” you said, though a prickly feeling crawled up your back anyways. You resisted the need to shiver.
Instead of responding, he merely smiled with a meaning you couldn’t decipher. Perturbed, you told him to have a good night. As you closed the door behind you, you heard him say lastly, “Looking forward to working with you.”
You had a feeling that you were biting more than you could chew, but you couldn’t understand why.
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npf-read-more-blog · 6 years
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She roamed across the Sahara and the Serengeti, spotting elephants. She traveled south to the Amazon, where the brilliant colors of the birds and reptiles left her dazzled. She dove into the ocean and marveled at the great blue whales. And then, promptly at 5:45pm, she’d head to the elephant near the Hall of African Mammals, where she’d meet her mother.
“As a kid growing up in New York, you have a couple of places that are really special, and the American Museum of Natural History is one of those for me,” says Mandë Holford, a biochemist at Hunter College and the American Museum of Natural History. “My parents would sometimes use it as a way of babysitting.”
A self-professed nerd, she spent a lot of time reading as a child. But the museum offered more than any one book could cover. “It’s just a place of wonder…Going to the museum is like bringing that reading alive,” she says. “It was like a walking book for me.”
Those afternoons spent wandering through the museum set a tone for Holford’s life. She roamed through the halls finding new adventures and new sets of biological wonders. “What I didn’t understand as a child was that that was science,” she says.
Bridging The Gap
Holford went on to study science, but she didn’t find what she was looking for in a single field. As an undergrad, she studied under a physical chemist. But they weren’t just studying the bacteria they were working with—they were growing it themselves.
“So he was doing a little bit of recombinant biology, as well as physical chemistry, and so that was the first time I learned about science being collaborative and integrated,” Holford says.  “And I just got completely blown away that this was a career, and this was a job.” She thought to herself, “I want to do this. I absolutely want to do this.”
[This polar bear researcher begins her day with a thrilling helicopter ride.]
While she pursued her Ph.D. at Rockefeller University, a very “human-centric” biomedical institute, the natural world was never far from sight—both literally and figuratively. The university was located on the east side of Central Park, and the American Museum of Natural History on the west. A bridge stretched across the park from one institution to the other, and as she crossed it, Holford thought, “This is what I would like to do. I’d like to bridge the medical training that I received at Rockefeller with the natural history and the wonder and excitement of studying what’s here in biodiversity. And figure out how to make science—how to do the kind of work that is both beneficial to society, but also exploring the wonder that’s here on our planet.”
But she needed to find an organism that encompassed that—one that had a human, biomedical application, but was also strongly grounded in the natural world.
New Pathways, Old Problems
Then, she saw a video of a snail eating a fish.
Baldomero “Toto” Olivera, whose research focuses on venomous marine snails, visited Rockefeller to give a talk on cone snails. Encased within their delicate and stunning shells, the cone snail’s proboscis is tipped with venom, and it uses it to harpoon and paralyze its prey before engulfing it entirely in its mouth. In its natural form, the venom could be lethal even to humans. But the snails’ venom is made up of many peptides, molecules composed of amino acids. And some of the individual peptides have potential medical applications—they could offer promising treatments for cancer, as well as opioid-free solutions for chronic pain. Here was the link to Holford’s biomedical work.
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writingmoonstone · 3 years
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Preview of Chapter 1
The military issued bus bumped continuously as it drove over the dirt road carved through the southern tip of Nevada, near the McCullough Mountain. The passengers had stayed rather quiet throughout the two hour drive from Vegas. On this bus sat Jacob Adkins, an extremely well put together young man of twenty-three. He kept his short brown hair neatly cut, as well as a short well-groomed beard that accentuated his chiseled features. His eyes were a dark brown, contrasting his fair skin of near perfect completion. He was commonly described as charming, sometimes even beautiful, and though he wouldn’t verbally admit it, he was well aware of this, and quite proud. In fact, the only blemish on his face was the small scar under his right eye that he had obtained when he was very young, but it was so small and faded, that people hardly even noticed it.
He looked around the bus at the others riding up with him, trying to gauge if he had overdressed for the simple arrival and orientation, but his case was a little special. Most everyone seemed to be formally dressed, but he was the only one on board in a full suit and tie. Then again, many came dressed more suitable for what he assumed were other jobs The Organization offered. Looking at the man behind him, she saw he wore a white collared shirt and tie with a lab coat over his other clothing. Adkins repositioned himself as he wished to break the agonizing silence.
“Did you get scouted out for the Research Division?” He asked, attempted to start a conversation with the man behind him. “I think the lab coat might be a little overkill.”
The man with slicked black hair and thick glasses turned to him, responding, “This coming from the man in a full suit. That’s not the sort of thing you’ll find yourself wearing here, no matter what Division you’re a part of.” He smiled. Something about the way Adkins spoke was pleasing.
“I just wanna look my best when I meet the General.” he said.
“Please, there’s no way we’re meeting the General on the first day.” he laughed.
“Trust me, I’ll be seeing him soon.” He reached out his hand over the seat, gesturing for a handshake. “Jacob Adkins, top of my graduating class in the army. Loved the work, hated the atmosphere.”
He took the hand and shook it. “Stephen Robinson. Biomedical researcher, top of my field at Cornell University. We’re all the best of the best here, Mr. Adkins. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
“I wasn’t implying you weren’t. I could tell just by looking at you that you’re exactly the type of person the Foundation is looking for. Do you want to know why?” He asked.
“Sure.” At this point, Stephan seemed to just be going along, but he was glad someone had finally slowed the rising tension as the bus continued its bumpy journey closer to the mountain.
“You have the look in your eyes of someone who’s passionate about learning what’s out there. It’s not just that you’re talented, it’s that you have the curiosity to delve into the darkness that the rest of the world would turn in terror from. That’s why they chose you.”
Stephan looked a bit taken aback, before smirking. “You figured all that out just from a look in my eyes?”
“Trust me, people’s eyes say more than their mouths do. You just have to learn how to read them.”
“Well, let’s see.” Stephan looked into Adkins’ eyes. “I’d say… you’re here because... you are confident in your ability to protect people and lead them.”
Adkins smiled. “You did better than I thought you would, actually. But you’ve got a way to go.”
“Well maybe you could teach me later. If I ever see you around base,” he said as the bus turned off road and stopped before a cliffside, completely obscured from the prying eyes of the outside world. Silence once again overtook the bus, and tension rose to new heights as everyone waited for the ride to continue. The cliffside quietly rumbled as a large door disguised into the rocky face began to open, revealing a long unlit room within. The transport slowly moved the recruits into the darkness, and stopped within, allowing the door to close behind them, removing the last connection to the outside world. The bus was left in utter blackness for several moments, and not a single noise was made. Then, without warning, a multitude of blinding lights appeared from all directions. After adjusting to the drastic change in brightness, Adkins saw a well built tunnel covered with ceramic tiles before him, as far as he could see. Lights built to the walls and ceilings illuminated the white tunnel.
There was no turning back now.
They began to travel along the tunnel in perpetual silence and continued for far longer than any had anticipated or found comfortable. After what might have been the longest ten minutes of their lives, they finally reached a large room resembling a hanger, filled with other vehicles, including the newest models of military grade buses, jets, trucks, and the Foundation Branded Motorcycles. The room was several stories tall, and a large screen overlooked the general perspective. The bus stopped, and the driver opened the door, signaling for everyone to remain seated. Walking up the stairs appeared a very tall, well-built man in uniform with short curling chestnut hair and pale, light skin, but everyone’s eyes were fixed upon his, or rather, the bandages covering them.
“Listen up, recruits. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Adam Hughes. I’m here to give you a brief overview before you step outside and receive a message from the general himself. Afterwards, you’ll do some other shit that isn’t my job.” Adkins has genuinely taken aback by how detached and aloof the man sent to be their first impression of the Foundation. “First of all, welcome to The Alius Orbis Foundation, usually referred to as simply ‘The Organization’ or ‘The Foundation. Above us, built into the mountain, are the quarters in which we all live, and the labs for less risky research. You research recruits will all be starting there. Below are the specially crafted holding cells, training rooms, and labs for more dangerous research. Agent recruits will start out on the first sub-level, but as your rank increases, you’ll be allowed to the lower, more dangerous levels. Once the video outside is finished, you’ll find your assigned mentor, and they’ll take over from there. Any questions? No? Good.”
Hughes stepped off the bus to allow the new recruits to disembark. As Adkins fell into line and stepped off the bus, Hughes grabbed his arm and pulled him aside. “Not you.” He jumped, wildly confused as to how he was able to pick him out of the crowd. “You need to get back on. The General wants to see you as soon as he can.”       
Adkins turned toward Stephan and smirked at his shock. “Hey,” Hughes interjected. “if you could hold off on flirting with your colleague, I’d like you to tell the driver to take you to Sector 6. There, you’ll meet your partner, and then you can proceed to the General’s quarters.”
“Wait, how did you-” Adkins tried to ask as Hughes began turning away.
“If you think that’s strange, you’ve not going to last very long here. You’ve got way too much other shit to worry about.”
Adkins stood in confusion for a moment. He’d never had such an inconclusive grasp on another person, but he brushed it off, and stepped back on. “Sorry, looks like your job’s not quite done yet.” 
Author’s note: Just a sneak peek of the first chapter I worked so much on in NaNoWriMo. Thought I’d put something here since I hadn’t posted in a hot minute.
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caspian-skye · 4 years
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The Apoptosis Project Ch.9, Biscuits, Tea, and the State of Humanity
Wow, considering I’m up to chapter 34 on ffn, and probably about chapter 10 on Ao3, you can see I’m not great at keeping anything besides my main posting on fanfiction updated oops.
"...So yeah! Back in the day, there was a species of Grimm that could drain your will to do just about anything, leaving your body to atrophy until it eventually just shut down entirely!" the always upbeat professor Brown concluded, her ponytail bouncing with her enthused words. "None of that will be on the test, but I just thought that was a cool little story!"
The bell rang, signalling the end of Intro to Grimm Studies. Caspian joined the others in closing his books, packing up his things, and zipping rain coat all the way to his neck. He planned to do the usual for a weekday, grab lunch with his friends in The Roots, get a bit of homework done alone, and spend the rest of the day back with Ichigo, Rowan, and Snow.
"Hey. Lilly," a voice grunted.
Caspian and Lilly both started with surprise. Towering over the two a row back was Noxis, stony gaze locked on the one he called.
"Yes?" Lilly prompted.
"Are you free? Let's grab some tea."
Caspian's heart felt as if it struck the inside of his ribcage. He kept his gaze down, jaw threatening to shatter his teeth with how hard it clenched.
"Ah, there actually is a place I've been meaning to try!" Lilly responded. "It's a bit North of campus but just a block or two away from a Link stop, so we should stay mostly out of the rain!"
"That works. I want to drop off my bag, so let's meet at the stop near Cedar," Noxis confirmed. Without another word, he turned and joined the crowd draining out of the lecture hall and into the storm. Lilly followed, then Rowan. Biting his lip and strapping up his backpack, Caspian joined with dragging feet.
The doors opened to Sentinel's Blue Square, often regarded as the center of campus. Students crossed the square in every direction, some coming out of the lecture hall behind the three, others going in. To their right was Slate Library. Its first floor was an open study space, with tables and chairs surrounding an abstract statue that spiralled up to the ceiling between the rings of mezzanines making up the second and third floors. Directly across the square was Skye Hall. A bit conceited of his dad, Caspian thought, naming the infirmary and main administrative tower after himself. But he earned the right to sit in his office, two hundred feet above the rest of campus. Between Skye Hall and the other main lecture hall to their left was a set of stairs lowering down toward the flowers and fountain of Halfmoon Plaza. No buildings had been built between those stairs and downtown Port Cyrreine a mile and a half across the bay, gifting the square a gorgeous view of the city, day and night.
"I was with Aspen until so late last night, I needed something to pick me up like this!" Lilly commented from under her umbrella.
"You sure are popular!" Rowan teased. He cocked his head with a mischievous smile. "Hey, if Noxis and Aspen fought over you, who would win?"
"Oh, stop," Lilly dismissed. "Aspen is a friend, and this is just going to be two partners getting to know each other."
"...It's not a date?" Caspian managed.
Lilly shook her head. "It's not. And if it was, I would politely decline. He doesn't seem much my type."
"What is her type?" Caspian wondered.
"I'd like the lavender chamomile, please," Lilly asked of the bunny-eared waitress. "I had been looking for cafés nearby since before coming to Sentinel, I'm so very excited to try this one!"
"Well, I hope we can live up to your expectations!" the waitress returned with a smile, entering a note into her Holoband. The stone fireplace ignited behind her as she turned to Noxis. "And what would you like?"
"Oolong."
"Ah. Good choice," the waitress affirmed. "Anything else?"
"I think that will be it for now, thank you," Lilly concluded. She brushed a white lock of curly frizz from her face, then folded her hands on the table. "So, did you ask me here for a reason?"
"Yeah. You seem like the only other one on our team who has any common sense," Noxis responded. "I want to pick your brain a little bit."
"Well, then. Pick away," Lilly invited.
"What do you think of this city?"
"This city?"
"Yes. Port Cyrreine."
Lilly bid a slight smile, looking to a painting mounted on the mahogany-panelled wall. "I grew up nearby, and have many good memories here, so I'm quite fond of it. The city really is quite beautiful."
Noxis looked dissatisfied with her answer.
"And you? What do you think?" Lilly inquired.
"This city makes me sick."
Several uneasy gazes flicked to him. He hadn't made any effort to keep his voice down, after all. As the waitress returned with their tea, the eyes turned away.
"It was little more than a handful of ports before Frontline built their headquarters here. This city is built on greed, and it's plain to see. Have you ever been to the Eastern Docks district?"
"No, I can't say I have."
"I'm not surprised," Noxis replied, slightest twinge of irritation in his voice. "Highest crime rate in all of Vale. Mean income? A third of what it is up here in the North, just a couple of miles away. You can't walk a block without seeing some addict passed out halfway in the street- or worse. It's worse than Mistral's slums these days. Worse than Mantle."
Lilly took a sip of her tea, and bowed her head. "It's... an unfortunate situation, yes."
Noxis's eyes narrowed. "An unfortunate situation? These are peoples' lives in this city,'' he growled. "All while Griswold Baine sits in his tower, watching over the place like he owns it, and building Organds to take more jobs from the people of Vale. He'd let the entire kingdom go to shit if it meant more money in his pocket."
"Of all companies, it seems odd you should take issue with Frontline," Lilly asserted.
Noxis raised a brow.
"They have done far more good than harm," Lilly stated. "Frontline's scientists have developed cures for multiple diseases previously thought incurable. Much of the money they make goes to funding further research, and-"
"What they're doing is unnatural."
"Excuse me?"
"Organds make humanity weak," Noxis snarled. "Their use in security has rendered the few who still choose to be huntsmen useless, unless they go into that corporatized professional league." He took a deep breath, then returned to his point seemingly angrier than before. "The Creatures of Grimm are humanity's predator. People have grown complacent with the creation of those... glorified computers, and have forgotten how to defend themselves. Organds shouldn't exist."
"I see..." Lilly offered.
"Have you heard of natural selection?" Noxis continued.
"I'm familiar with the basic idea, yes."
"Then you'll know that in the natural world, those with some advantage over their peers will survive to pass their genes to the next generation more often?"
Lilly nodded. "That's how species evolve, yes."
"Well, in Frontline's care, we've created a world with no place for natural selection. All can survive and pass their genes on, no matter how slow, sickly, or unworthy. We've stunted our own evolution."
Lilly looked down to her tea, then side-eyed out the window, pursing her lips. She took a breath of pause. "The question as to what constitutes 'worthy' of passing on genes aside, I fail to see how Frontline curing illness has ceased our evolution," she debated. She looked up. "On the day mankind first created weapons, and harnessed the power of dust to defend themselves against Grimm, did they become weaker? By your logic, it would seem so. But I daresay this allowed humans to survive longer and reproduce at a greater rate; biologically making them a more fit species."
"Weapons are different. They're simply a tool humans use in order to ensure their survival," Noxis explained.
"You've previously called Organds 'computers.' How is this not a tool?" Lilly inquired. She took a sip of her tea, waiting for a response that did not come. "Left only to their strength, without weapons or dust, not even the most physically gifted human can hope to compete with nature's top predators, nor the Creatures of Grimm. The human body is simply weaker. Human evolution is through the mind. With all its advancements, Frontline Biomedical is evidence we are evolving more rapidly than ever before."
"I..." Noxis began.
Lilly smiled politely, straightening up in her seat. "The tea here is quite good, wouldn't you agree? I'd like to return sometime."
Noxis bolted upright, the pounding of his boots on the hardwood floor drawing half the eyes in the café. Lilly held her cup to steady it against the shaking of the table. The wolf faunus plunged his hand into his pocket, and slapped a few one-lien notes on the table in front of her.
"This should cover mine. Goodbye."
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montclarelab · 4 years
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My scientific summer with the Navy
By Joe Thomas
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Academia or industry? This is a question that every grad student is asked at some point regarding their career plans.  As tenured academic positions become incredibly difficult for the bulk of life science graduates to obtain, industry is an attractive alternative that provides a wealth of different opportunities. These jobs are an obvious choice to apply the skills accumulated over the course of a PhD, but there are even more opportunities available outside of the traditional academia/industry dichotomy for those looking for something a little different. PhD scientists are trained to be highly technical leaders, a skillset that is in high demand in many defense/military positions. The Department of Defense (DoD) is always looking to recruit highly specialized researchers to work on projects of national importance. These roles allow researchers to be involved in cutting edge work that has a direct, near-term impact while serving your country.
Since starting graduate school, I have had an interest in working for/with the military as a researcher but was never able to interact with anyone who had direct knowledge of how to break into the field. Scholarships such as the NDSEG are widely publicized and allow graduate students to work on topics of national importance, but I was looking for something more involved with day-to-day military operations. A chance Google search revealed that the Navy uses numerous internship programs as pipelines for new hires. I applied for an NREIP internship and was fortunate enough to be selected to spend the summer at a Navy lab. NREIP internships are available to undergraduates and graduate students alike and involve working alongside a Navy mentor for 10 weeks to get a glimpse of how the DoD does science. My internship has me working with the Naval Medical Research Unit garrisoned at Wright Patterson in Dayton, Ohio. I am working in their Environmental Health Effects Laboratory which is in charge of investigating the effects of chemical exposures on military personnel. I have been tasked with developing a high-throughput analytical chemistry workflow that will allow the Navy to rapidly screen many different environmental exposures to assess how service members may be at risk. This new procedure will directly support and inform the military during their operations to help keep soldiers, sailors, and airmen safe and effective. During my time here, I have interacted with many Navy officers as well as civilian employees who work together in a tightly coordinated team to achieve their mission. The unit has researchers from many diverse backgrounds including biochemistry, physiology, physics, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, and psychology. Since the team is incredibly multidisciplinary, scientists are able to step outside of their comfort zone and gain experience in different fields if they choose. In this way researchers can build their resumes to move up within the organization or to transition into other scientific specialities.
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Opportunities exist for those looking to serve in and out of uniform. The Navy recruits life science PhD graduates as officers to act as biochemists, microbiologists, and aerospace physiologists. In these roles they use their scientific knowledge to complete a wide range of tasks such as conducting safety training, running drug testing labs, developing vaccines, teaching at the Naval Academy, performing humanitarian missions, and carrying out basic research. Aerospace physiologists for example leverage their knowledge of biology and the human body to act as aeromedical safety officers. In this role they are in charge of the safety and training of their aviation unit and even have the chance to become rated pilots. These officers typically spend little time conducting experiments at the lab bench, but the knowledge and scientific skills they have acquired during graduate school are still applied every day during operations where they have to identify and solve technical problems. When they do receive research assignments however, they can act as department heads responsible for writing grants and coordinating a large team that conducts relevant aerospace research. PhD’s are also hired as civilians to conduct and oversee research programs of interest to the DoD. In this role they act as PI’s who are responsible for writing grants and directing a research team, similar to a PI in academia. PhD level scientists can work in GS (government service) rated roles or as government contractors. Bachelor’s and master’s level scientists can also work as contractors to carry out the day-to-day lab work that supports their command. 
The career fields available in defense research are incredibly varied on both the civilian and military side. Scientists have control over their careers and still maintain plentiful opportunities to secure grant funding and journal publications. Work/life balance is also heavily emphasized which can be a huge benefit for anyone with commitments outside of the workplace. If you are shying away from a job in academia or industry but still want to conduct meaningful research, a DoD job might be a good fit for you!
If this sounds interesting to you, Tweet me @jthoma91 and will be more than happy to answer any questions about the internship process and doing science with the Navy!
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informationpalace · 4 years
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US Vaccine Expert Is Removed for Opposing Trump-Backed Chloroquine
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The US president has promoted the use of hydroxy chloroquine for Covid-19 diagnosis. Results of a Washington-funded drug review, the largest yet, connected the drug to more deaths and showed little advantage over standard treatment against the disease. On Wednesday, the director of the U.S. department responsible for creating a coronavirus vaccine said he had been suspended from his job for rejecting the chloroquine medication advocated by President Donald Trump. Dr. Rick Bright said that on Tuesday he was fired as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the federal agency overseeing the production and procurement of drugs and vaccines, and moved to a lesser position in the National Institutes of Health. In a statement to the U.S. media, he said, "I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the Covid-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit." He said the move was a direct response to his opposition to "misguided directives" that would promote the use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine malaria treatments for COVID-19. Those treatments were "promoted by the administration as a panacea," but "clearly lack scientific merit," he added.
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"While I am prepared to look at all options and to think 'outside the box' for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public." Since mid-March Trump has been promoting the use of chloroquine to treat Covid-19 infections, supported by the influential Fox News channel, despite little evidence from research of its safety or efficacy. Given his own science advisors saying further research is required, Trump has repeatedly called for the use of the medications, believing the cure could be a "gift from God" to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The findings of the largest yet hydroxy chloroquine report, sponsored by the US government on Tuesday, showed no advantage against the disease over standard treatment. And it also revealed hydroxychloroquine use has been linked with further deaths. Bright said he would ask the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general to examine BARDA's policy-making by the Trump's administration and its pressurizing scientists in favor of enterprises with political ties. He said, "Sidelining me in the middle of this pandemic and placing politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk and stunts national efforts to safely and effectively address this urgent public health crisis." Scientists in Brazil have abandoned part of a review of the malaria drug that was thought to be a potential cure for coronavirus after heart rhythm problems formed in one-quarter of people provided the higher of two doses studied. Do not forget leaving your valuable comment on this piece of writing and sharing with your near and dear ones. To keep yourself up-to-date with Information Palace, put your email in the space given below and Subscribe. Furthermore, if you yearn to know about face masks to be compulsory in Germany, view our construct, ‘Coronavirus: Face Masks to Be Mandatory across Germany’. Read the full article
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Hey Steph! I absolutely love your page! Do you have any PTSD related fluff? like Johns having nightmares so Sherlock goes to comfort him and they both know but don’t mention it?
Anonymous said to inevitably-johnlocked: I was wondering if you knew of a johnlock fanfic which has john having PTSD or other war-related problems, and sherlock either helps him get through it or john comes to sherlock in the middle of the night like a child asking if he can sleep with (not that kind) sherlock so the nightmares will stop. If you do, great. If not, that’s fine too :)
Hi Nonnies!!
I don’t know if you’re the same Nonny or not, but since they’re both the same-ish, I’m putting them on the same ask, LOL!
So I HAVE done a list in the past for PTSD, and because I have a few new fics, I’m gonna make a part 2 list! Hopefully you’ll find something you’re looking for on one of the two lists I have!
NIGHTMARES, PTSD, PANIC ATTACKS, & MENTAL or EMOTIONAL TURMOIL (Pt. 2)
See also: Nightmares, PTSD, Panic Attack, & Mental / Emotional Turmoil
Better Late Than Never by sussexbound (NR (T), 3,021 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S4 / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Sherlock POV, Love Confessions, Drunk Sherlock / Sober John, John Takes Care of Sherlock, First Kiss, Jealous Sherlock, Emotional Turmoil) – He suddenly wants John Watson out of his bedroom, out of his flat, out of his life, because he has been lying to himself these last few months, he realises. He doesn’t want John here, not with the way things are. He doesn’t want 221b Baker Street to be nothing more than rest stop John returns to on his journeys between women. He doesn’t want to play co-parent if Rosie is going to be snatched away from him and placed in the arms of whatever nameless woman du jour John lands on next. He doesn’t want to keep being so careful, so generous, so, so…
Welcome Home, John by slashscribe (G, 5,504 w., 1 Ch. || Post-S3, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Awkwardness, Stabbed Sherlock, Protective Sherlock, Panic Attack (Sherlock), Self Esteem Issues, Love Confessions, First Kiss) – When John moves back to 221B, he thinks he’s the broken one, but after a while, it becomes clear that he might not be correct.
What Did I Do Wrong? by Starlight05 (T, 7,880 w., 5 Ch. || Hurt Comfort, Angst, John Whump, Hospitalization, Worried Sherlock, Emotional Turmoil, Nightmares, Sherlock Being Dumb) - After John almost dies on a case, Sherlock disappears. So John is left to figure out what he can do to get his best friend back. Meanwhile Sherlock, guilt-ridden and willingly alone, is doing everything he can to stay away.
London Gods by a_different_equation (E, 11,092 w., 5 Ch. || American Gods Fusion || Magical Realism, Sex Magic, True Love, PTSD John, First Kiss/Time, Marathon Sex, Sensuality, Genie Sherlock, Human John, Internalized Homophobia, Star-Crossed Lovers, Soul Mates) – Sherlock Holmes is a jinn who does not grant wishes. However, when Dr. John H. Watson, recently returned from the war in Afghanistan, gets into his cab by “accident”, it might not even need magic to grant both men their deepest wish: love.
The Palmyra Atoll by elwinglyre (E, 16,609 w., 3 Ch. || TSo3 Divergence / Episode Fix-It, Stockholm Syndrome, Kidnapped John Watson, John Whump, Evil Mary, Angst, Cuddling & Snuggling, Toplock, Limited 3rd John POV) – As John’s preparing for the wedding, Sherlock is preparing to have his heart broken, and Mary is prepared to do the unthinkable. Intervention required. Enter Sherlock. Set before Sign of Three with a far different outcome. John is drugged, kidnapped, and left on an island, but not just any old island.
Silhouettes by allonsys_girl (E, 28,585 w., 7 Ch. || Canon Compliant, POV John, Heavy Drinking, Sad/Depressed John, Grief/Mourning, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Reunion, Foot Jobs, Blow Jobs, Infidelity, Cheating, Drug Use/Abuse, Anal, Switchlock, Rimming, Parentlock) – Sherlock and John find comfort in each other’s arms, but as ever with these two, it’s not your typical relationship. It’s fluffy at the beginning, gets deeply angsty in the middle, gets porny at the end.
To Mend Icarus by AlessNox (T, 29,186 w., 14 Ch. || Post-TRF, Friendship, Drama, BAMF!John, Emotional Turmoil, Introspection, Harry is in this Fic, Angry John, Happy Ending, Queerplatonic Relationship) – After a case lands John Watson in court, he tells Sherlock that he is leaving. Not understanding why, Sherlock decides that the only way to learn the truth is to investigate his flatmate, Dr. John Watson. A revision of the story Mending Icarus.
Only To Be With You by SinceWhenDoYouCallMe_John (M, 40,768 w., 4 Ch. || Black Mirror / Future AU || Character Death, Future Technology, Sickness/Cancer/Illness, Heavy Angst with Happy Ending, First Person POV John, Pining John, Heart-Wrenching Angst) – I tell myself that next time I’ll come near this same place again. Wait around for the mysterious stranger in his coat to dash past me, hot on the heels of a new criminal in black. I think this all the way back to my Exit, planning where I’ll wait and what I’ll say when I see him. Scheming on how to get his name. It’s only once I reach the Exit Point door that I realize two hours and forty-five minutes have passed, and I realize that this won’t be the last time I Visit. It won’t be the last time at all.
A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w., 16 Ch. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because…new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride… prepare for blast off. Part 1 of the SpaceBois go to Space series
The Thing Is by TSylvestris (E, 56,743 w., 21 Ch. || Case Fic, Dev. Rel., Anal/Oral, Blow Jobs, Meddling Mycroft, Drama, Romance, Humour, Casual Encounters, Pining Idiots, Possessive Sherlock, Orgasm Delay, Rough / Alley Sex, Public Sex, John Whump, Drugged John, Emotional Love Making, Awkward Relationship, Marriage of Convenience, Switchlock, BAMF John) – The problem with living with Sherlock, John thought, was that you never, never, ever knew the significance of anything. Like your flatmate’s nose buried in your hair. Whilst you’re in bed. Part 1 of Nitroglycerine
The Burning by SrebrnaFH (M, 60,658 w., 24 Ch. || Reverse Reichenbach, Suicide, Depression, Hurt Sherlock / John, Separation, BAMF John, Good Big Brother Mycroft, Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Fake Character Death, Rescue Mission, Reconciliation / Reunion, Hospitalization, Marriage Proposal, Illnesses, Physical Therapy, Happily Ever After) – Something went very, very wrong. John had seemed, if not happy, then reasonably content with his life. Sherlock had never predicted something like THIS might have happened. Not in his worst nightmares. He was the lousiest friend ever, apparently. At least Mycroft found him something to occupy his mind with, so that he didn’t have to go back to 221B and stare at the walls and the chair, where John Watson would never sit again.
Being John Watson-ish by elwinglyre (E, 69,902 w., 17 Ch. || Bodysnatcher AU || Author John, Cranky Sherlock, Angst, Sexual Tension, First Kiss / Time, Falling in Love, BAMF John, Past Soldier John, Feelings, Inside Someone’s Brain, Shy Sherlock, Sherlock Loves John, POV Sherlock, Switchlock, Slow Burn, Internal Dialogue, Mental Turmoil) – When consulting detective Sherlock Holmes steps on one toe too many at a crime scene, he’s consigned to a desk job in an archaic office on the seventh-and-a-half floor of the New Scotland Yard. It’s in this bleak office that Sherlock discovers a portal into the mind of renowned author John Watson. Grander than his mind palace, this new wonderland affords Sherlock new vistas of experimentation. To learn more about the mystery behind the portal, Sherlock seeks out and befriends Watson. But then it all goes wrong when others find the secret portal door—including the man whose brain he visits.
The Vapor Variant by 88thParallel (CanadaHolm) (M, 72,684 w., 18 Ch. || Post-THoB, John Whump, Protective Sherlock, Guilty Sherlock, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Suspense, Virus, Sickfic, Big Brother Mycroft) – They stood face to face in the middle of a clearing. The dim light of the moon barely allowed Sherlock to see the glassy terror in John’s eyes and the sweat that glistened off his forehead. His nose was bleeding again, blood dripping in a slow stream from his right nostril. They were both gasping for air, John’s eyes locked on Sherlock’s. There was no recognition there, just wild animal fear. Time stood still for an eternal few seconds, and Sherlock took a shaky breath. “John—”Spell broken, John spun and bolted back into the woods. Still heaving for air, Sherlock took off after him.
The Cost of a Wish by slashscribe (E, 102,493 w., 12 Ch. || xxxHolic Fusion || Spirits / Ghosts and Magic, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Soul Mates / Fated Lovers, Adventure, Immortal Sherlock, Powerful John, POV John, Frottage, Wish Granting, Angst with Happy Ending, Nightmares) – John has been plagued by a secret his entire life that has made him feel hopeless until he meets a mysterious, seemingly omniscient man named Sherlock Holmes who owns a wish-granting shop. Their meeting sets off a series of inevitable events that will change the course of both of their lives forever.
Two Two One Bravo Baker by abundantlyqueer (E, 114,574 w., 27 Ch. || Military AU || Afghanistan, War Story, Thriller) – Captain John Watson of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, is assigned to protect and assist Sherlock Holmes as he investigates what appears to be a simple war atrocity in Afghanistan. An intense attraction ignites between the two men as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens everything they’ve ever known, but Sherlock is as much hunted as hunter, and everyone close to him is in deadly danger. Can he solve the case in time to save himself and John? Part 1 of Two Two One Bravo Baker Universe
The Adventure of the Silver Scars by tangledblue (NR [M], 142,458 w., 41 Ch. || S3 Fix-It, Post-HLV/ Post-TAB / Canon Compliant, Case Fic, No Baby, Angst, Humour, UST, Slow Burn, Angry John, Reconciliation, Not Nice Mary / Leaving Mary, Dependent Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Caretaker John, Fist Fights, It’s An Experiment, Virgin Sherlock, Dancing, Drugging, John Whump, Pet Names, Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Scars) – It’s been thirteen months since Mary shot Sherlock and John finds he’s still pissed off about it. Sherlock had thought everything was settled: John and Mary, domestic bliss. But when John turns up at Baker Street with suitcases, the world’s only consulting detective might not be prepared for the consequences. A new case. Some old scores to settle. Certain danger. Concertos, waltzes, and whisky.
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SYMMETRY MAGAZINE Neural networks for neutrinos 01/23/18 |By Diana Kwon Scientists are using cutting-edge machine-learning techniques to analyze physics data. Particle physics and machine learning have long been intertwined. One of the earliest examples of this relationship dates back to the 1960s, when physicists were using bubble chambers to search for particles invisible to the naked eye. These vessels were filled with a clear liquid that was heated to just below its boiling point so that even the slightest boost in energy—for example, from a charged particle crashing into it—would cause it to bubble, an event that would trigger a camera to take a photograph. Female scanners often took on the job of inspecting these photographs for particle tracks. Physicist Paul Hough handed that task over to machines when he developed the Hough transform, a pattern recognition algorithm, to identify them. The computer science community later developed the Hough transform for use in applications such as computer vision, attempts to train computers to replicate the complex function of a human eye. “There’s always been a little bit of back and forth” between these two communities, says Mark Messier, a physicist at Indiana University. Since then, the field of machine learning has rapidly advanced. Deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence modeled after the human brain, has been implemented for a wide range of applications such as identifying faces, playing video games and even synthesizing life-like videos of politicians. Over the years, algorithms that help scientists pick interesting aberrations out of background data have been used in physics experiments such as BaBar at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and experiments at the Large Electron-Positron Collider at CERN and the Tevatron at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. More recently, algorithms that learn to recognize patterns in large datasets have been handy for physicists studying hard-to-catch particles called neutrinos. This includes scientists on the NOvA experiment, who study a beam of neutrinos created at the US Department of Energy’s Fermilab near Chicago. The neutrinos stream straight through Earth to a 14,000-metric-ton detector filled with liquid scintillator sitting near the Canadian border in Minnesota. When a neutrino strikes the liquid scintillator, it releases a burst of particles. The detector collects information about the pattern and energy of those particles. Scientists use that information to figure out what happened in the original neutrino event. “Our job is almost like reconstructing a crime scene,” Messier says. “A neutrino interacts and leaves traces in the detector—we come along afterward and use what we can see to try and figure out what we can about the identity of the neutrino.” Over the last few years, scientists have started to use algorithms called convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to take on this task instead. CNNs, which are modelled after the mammalian visual cortex, are widely used in the technology industry—for example, to improve computer vision for self-driving cars. These networks are composed of multiple layers that act somewhat like filters: They contain densely interconnected nodes that possess numerical values, or weights, that are adjusted and refined as inputs pass through. “The ‘deep’ part comes from the fact that there are many layers to it,” explains Adam Aurisano, an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati. “[With deep learning] you can take nearly raw data, and by pushing it through these stacks of learnable filters, you wind up extracting nearly optimal features.” For example, these algorithms can extract details associated with particle interactions of varying complexity from the “images” collected by recording different patterns of energy deposits in particle detectors. “Those stacks of filters have sort of sliced and diced the image and extracted physically meaningful bits of information that we would have tried to reconstruct before,” Aurisano says. Although they can be used to classify events without recreating them, CNNs can also be used to reconstruct particle interactions using a method called semantic segmentation. When applied to an image of a table, for example, this method would reconstruct the object by tagging each pixel associated with it, Aurisano explains. In the same way, scientists can label each pixel associated with characteristics of neutrino interactions, then use algorithms to reconstruct the event. Physicists are using this method to analyze data collected from the MicroBooNE neutrino detector. “The nice thing about this process is that you might find a cluster that’s made by your network that doesn’t fit in any interpretation in your model,” says Kazuhiro Terao, a scientist at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. “That might be new physics. So we could use these tools to find stuff that we might not understand.” Scientists working on other particle physics experiments, such as those at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, are also using deep learning for data analysis. “All these big physics experiments are really very similar at the machine learning level,” says Pierre Baldi, a computer scientist at the University of California, Irvine. “It's all images associated with these complex, very expensive detectors, and deep learning is the best method for extracting signal against some background noise.” Although most of the information is currently flowing from computer scientists to particle physicists, other communities may also gain new tools and insights from these experimental applications as well. For example, according to Baldi, one question that’s currently being discussed is whether scientists can write software that works across all these physics experiments with a minimal amount of human tuning. If this goal were achieved, it could benefit other fields, such a biomedical imaging, that use deep learning as well. “[The algorithm] would look at the data and calibrate itself,” he says. “That’s an interesting challenge for machine learning methods.” Another future direction, Terao says, would be to get machines to ask questions—or, more simply, to be able to identify outliers and try to figure out how to explain them. “If the AI can form a question and come up with a logical sequence to solve it, then that replaces a human,” he says. “To me, the kind of AI you want to see is a physics researcher—one that can do scientific research.”
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