The Pretender-Jarodx 其实丫就是一个装逼的

The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty:

A master's degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you're at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don't forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009

Photo: Gerbil, Licensed by Attribution Share Alike 3.0	Photo: Gerbil, Licensed by Attribution Share Alike 3.0	Photo: Jussi Puikkonen
Elizabeth H. Blackburn	Carol W. Greider	Jack W. Szostak
1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize
USA	USA	USA
University of California San Francisco, CA, USA	Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Baltimore, MD, USA	Harvard Medical School; Massachusetts General Hospital Boston, MA, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
b. 1948 (in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)	b. 1961	b. 1952 (in London, United Kingdom)

又是一年Master Class

Dick又来了，发现和去年相比没有太大的变化，老爷子依然精神矍铄，听了一天，没有丝毫的疲倦

很欣慰，今年的Master Class基本全部都听懂了，而且还能思考一点，相比去年在睡眠中度过还是有很大的进步

看着师兄师姐一个个介绍自己的结果，突然觉得自己也不远了，是时候该努力的做实验了

也许明年站在这个台子上就是我了

Mac的结束是一张去年的老照片。和swaab的合影

日子过的真快啊

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007

 The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2007

"for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells"

Photo: Tim Roberts/PR Newswire, © HHMI	Photo: The Press Association Limited	Photo: Scanpix/Dan Sears
Mario R. Capecchi	Sir Martin J. Evans	Oliver Smithies
1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize	1/3 of the prize
USA	United Kingdom	USA
University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute	Cardiff University Cardiff, United Kingdom	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC, USA
b. 1937 (in Italy)	b. 1941	b. 1925 (in United Kingdom)

Master Class & Anotomy

很早就起来去实验室,准备感受下本人的第一次Matser Class,不过说实话,早上3小时,我实在没有听懂什么.....

就是看到boss们不断的问一些问题 提一些建议 呵呵 估计我可能也有站在上面讲的一天 不知道那天会是什么样的

期待一下

下午的Anotomy人山人海,呵呵 不过由于是实验室内部人员,我就坐在Swaab的左手边,算是最近距离接触了.中间还递了一次纱布

呵呵 赞一个

人脑比我想的要小一点(不知道这个是不是未成年人的脑子...胡乱臆断啊),本来很难记的一些东西,现在演示下感觉好了很多

第一次看到真的人脑,颇为兴奋,就是这么一个手球大小的东西,蕴含了自然界最高的智慧,慨叹一下造物主的神奇

解剖没有持续很久 3个小时不到就结束

回想下Swaab来的这2天 收获真的不少

貌似又找到了一些我失去的东西

God Bless Jarod

初见大师

    今天祖师爷Dick Swaab终于来了实验室,一直就比较仰慕这些大师,现在发现原来大师就在眼前.并且居然还能和我套上关系,真的是一件很happy的事情

    初见祖师爷的印象,高高的个子,不过背很驼:) 很有风度,不难想象,年轻的时候必然是帅哥.由于swaab的来临,实验室似乎充满过节的气氛,来来往往的老板,领导.....实在是很热闹

     下午的学术报告还是比较容易理解,只要是有翻译并且很浅显.外国人的幽默风趣严谨都有体现

     不过下午的经典还是浙大的巴德年院士,非常可爱的老头,赞一个.相当的很侃,并且说的都很在理,笑声中还有要思考的东西

     很充实的一天

     明天有重头戏,Master Class和人脑解剖,继续期待

     明天来放图出来 呵呵

2006 Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006

Photo: Stanford	Photo: UMASS
Andrew Z. Fire	Craig C. Mello
1/2 of the prize	1/2 of the prize
USA	USA
Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, CA, USA	University of Massachusetts Medical School Worcester, MA, USA
b. 1959	b. 1960

Titles, data and places given above refer to the time of the award.
Photos: Copyright © The Nobel Foundation

在实验室的第一篇blog

庄小威：34岁的哈佛正教授

     庄小威，1972年生人。1987年， 15岁时考入中国科技大学少年班。1991年毕业赴美，1997年，在加州大学伯克利分校拿到物理学博士学位。2001年，被聘为哈佛大学助理教授。5年后的2006年初，成为物理和化学系的双聘教授。此前曾获得2003年“天才奖”，是第一位获此荣誉的华人女科学家。

                 南方人物周刊记者 李宗陶 发自上海

    庄小威长得有点像传说中的花木兰，英气逼人。加州六年的水果滋养，给了她好皮肤，分子世界的趣味，让她一点一点绽放出美丽来。

    中国科技大学校长朱清时很记得87级少年班的这个女孩子，记得她在2003年10月19日回母校做的那场高质量的报告会，当时她刚拿到美国麦克阿瑟基金会当年度的“天才奖”。

    报告的题目有点拗口，叫《展现单个核糖核酸酶分子的折叠和单个流感病毒的感染过程》，但庄小威的“讲故事”让包括外学科在内的所有听众都听懂了。

    如讲到流感病毒侵入生物细胞时，她在台上走来走去，模拟分子运动的情形；她还模仿病毒对细胞说：“I’m here， Take me in。(我在这儿，让我进来)”“but how does the virus get itself in? I’ll tell you…(病毒如何进入呢？我来告诉你)”她带领大家由浅入深、渐入主题。

    她还将幽默感注入这个自然界的微小动作：“I think the influenza virus is really smart， and the cell is quite stupid。You know， the virus simply manages to enterotnithe cell， and all the rest work(of the infection) is actually done by the cell itself。(我认为流感病毒相当聪明，而细胞挺笨的。要知道，病毒只想着要进入细胞，而余下所有的感染动作都是由细胞自身完成的。)”

    她的研究方法、实验原理、装置、结果、分析，逻辑清晰，简洁紧凑，充满科学精神，尤其实验中拍摄到的分子运动的短片，让同行赞不绝口。一位少年班女生望着自己仰慕的前辈说：“我就想从庄教授这里学习怎样做研究，怎样做好自己的学问。”

  ●  天才科学家

    庄小威的研究，是要探明生物体系中单个分子或单个粒子的运动表现。庄小威创造性地将荧光光谱和显微分析技术应用于单个分子，这种崭新的物理手段，使得实时揭示复杂生物过程中的分子个体及其运动步骤成为可能。

    这要拜跨学科所赐的灵感。事实上，庄小威完全转入了另一领域的研究。她19岁在中国科大拿到本科学位，然后赴美，在加州大学伯克利分校拿到硕士和博士学位，这些学位都归属物理学。1997年之后，她在斯坦福大学师从诺贝尔物理学奖得主朱棣文进行博士后研究时，才偶然与化学、生物学科的合作伙伴一起开始做一些跟踪分子行为的实验，但几乎有整整一年时间只是在摸索试探，什么结果也没做出来。

    2001年，庄小威被聘为哈佛大学助理教授。她的物理根底启发她将带荧光的分子标记物附在病毒上，当用激光照射时，标记物发射出特殊的彩色光。用这种方法，借助显微镜，她详实跟踪了单个病毒的行为，也跟踪了诸如蛋白质和核糖核酸 (RNA)片断这样的单个分子行为。她拍摄到单个流感病毒的连续影像，这是世界上首次记录到病毒的各阶段过程。

    50万美元的麦克阿瑟“天才奖”因此向她垂青。她是24个获奖者中最年轻的一位，而且是女性。

    美国艺术与科学文学院(FAS)的科比先生预见了庄的研究对病毒侵入细胞机制的深入了解和对传染病研究以及药物开发的意义。他说，庄的研究如此引人注目，很高兴麦克阿瑟基金会注意到了“她的天才”。中国科学院院长路甬祥也代表中科院给庄小威发去贺信。

    2004年，美国著名的《科技评论》杂志从来自美国、加拿大、英国、中国、韩国、新加坡、印度等国600余提名者中，评选出在纳米技术、计算机与通信及生物技术领域从事前沿技术研究的、年龄在35岁以下的100名青年创新者，庄小威名列其中。

    2005年3月，美国霍华德·休斯医学研究会(HHMI，一家为全美科学家提供资助的富有卓越声望的非盈利型研究机构)从全美300多位提名人中选出43位生命科学家(当选者称为HHMI研究员，基本代表了美国生命科学及其相关交叉学科领域最活跃、最富创新能力、最高水平的研究力量，迄今341位当选者中，10人是诺贝尔奖得主，100多人是美国国家科学院院士)，在未来7年中向每位提供700万美元的资助。庄小威和科大校友骆利群榜上有名。

    “在科研领域搭建关系网络并不是最重要的，在博士和博士后阶段更应该专注于课题研究，成功的研究成果一定会引起别人的关注，功到自然成。”庄小威这样解释她的“顺”——博士后结束时，她拿到美国七所大学(哈佛、麻省理工、耶鲁、普林斯顿、康奈尔、加州理工、加州大学洛杉矶分校)的offer(录用通知书)，而此后她总能顺利获得研究资金。

    2006年初，庄小威晋升为哈佛正教授，34岁的正教授。她在哈佛大学建立了以自己名字命名的单分子生物物理实验室，带领21名博士、博士后研究流感、艾滋病、SARS等病毒侵入宿主细胞的过程。在实验室团队的网页上，她着无袖红色恤衫，戴着墨镜眺望远方，极其舒展。朋友们这样说她：“在课题研究之外，庄小威是一个活泼的女青年。”

  ●  静下心来做学问很关键

    在庄小威的字典里，动力、眼界和深度思考是三个关键词。

    “我从小喜欢科学。”庄小威的早期教育，是个性与顺其自然的结合，她顺着自己的心意和兴趣，保有了strong motivation(强烈的动力)。

    庄小威的父母退休前都是中国科大教授，母亲朱仁芝提起女儿，心满意足：“她小时候在江苏如皋跟爷爷、奶奶生活了5年，到5岁多时我们才接回来。小威没有上过幼儿园，拼音识字是我们在工作之余教的。我们落实政策以后分到合肥中国科大，小威就直接上了科大附小二年级。”

    庄小威自小聪明伶俐，勤奋好学。5岁多时，父母上班不在家，她自学了炒青菜、打扫卫生等家务活。初中时，年龄最小，但各门功课都拔尖，曾获得全国中学生数理化竞赛第一名。后被推荐到北京景山学校上了半年中国科大预备班，13岁转入离家较近的苏州中学科大预备班。以高考600多分的
状元成绩考进少年班之后，她的成绩也一直名列前茅，数学、物理常拿满分。

    少年班同学毛珺婕回想起19年前初见留着短发，热情爽朗的庄小威，觉得她不像苏州美女，却有几分枕霞旧友史湘云的神采。

    “小威得天独厚，虽然读书无数，视力却是1.5。有时在宿舍里，大家都伏案用功，她躺在上铺的床上看书，还能看见我们书上的字。小威还有个一心两用的本领，一边听三国评书一边做原子物理作业，这些都让我们好生佩服。”

    做科研是很辛苦的事，对自己的学问有热情，才有动力，保持动力是化解困难的秘诀。每当遇到梗阻，庄小威就勒令自己忘掉过去的成功和失败，一切从头开始，从不轻言放弃。在哈佛大学工作以来，她一周七天，每天都从

Low Latent Inhibition

Low Latent Inhibition Plus High Intelligence Leads To High Creativity?

Jordan Peterson of the University of Toronto and colleages at Harvard University have found that decreased latent inhibition of environmental stimuli appears to correlate with greater creativity among people with high IQ. (same press release available here and here)

The study in the September issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology says the brains of creative people appear to be more open to incoming stimuli from the surrounding environment. Other people's brains might shut out this same information through a process called "latent inhibition" - defined as an animal's unconscious capacity to ignore stimuli that experience has shown are irrelevant to its needs. Through psychological testing, the researchers showed that creative individuals are much more likely to have low levels of latent inhibition.

"This means that creative individuals remain in contact with the extra information constantly streaming in from the environment," says co-author and U of T psychology professor Jordan Peterson. "The normal person classifies an object, and then forgets about it, even though that object is much more complex and interesting than he or she thinks. The creative person, by contrast, is always open to new possibilities."

Previously, scientists have associated failure to screen out stimuli with psychosis. However, Peterson and his co-researchers - lead author and psychology lecturer Shelley Carson of Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Harvard PhD candidate Daniel Higgins - hypothesized that it might also contribute to original thinking, especially when combined with high IQ. They administered tests of latent inhibition to Harvard undergraduates. Those classified as eminent creative achievers - participants under age 21 who reported unusually high scores in a single area of creative achievement - were seven times more likely to have low latent inhibition scores.

The authors hypothesize that latent inhibition may be positive when combined with high intelligence and good working memory - the capacity to think about many things at once - but negative otherwise. Peterson states: "If you are open to new information, new ideas, you better be able to intelligently and carefully edit and choose. If you have 50 ideas, only two or three are likely to be good. You have to be able to discriminate or you'll get swamped."

"Scientists have wondered for a long time why madness and creativity seem linked," says Carson. "It appears likely that low levels of latent inhibition and exceptional flexibility in thought might predispose to mental illness under some conditions and to creative accomplishment under others."

A less able mind has a greater need to be able to filter out and ignore stimuli. A less intelligent person with a low level of latent inhibition for filtering out familiar stimuli may well sink into mental illness as a result. But a smarter mind can handle the effects of taking note of a larger number of stimuli and even find interesting and useful patterns by continually processing a larger quantity of familiar information.

You can find the original paper here: Decreased Latent Inhibition Is Associated With Increased Creative Achievement in High-Functioning Individuals (PDF format)

The central idea underlying our research program is therefore that individuals characterized by increased plasticity (extraversion and openness)retain higher post-exposure access to the range of complex possibilities laying dormant in so-called 'familiar'environments.This heightened access is the subjective concomitant of decreased latent inhibition,which allows the plastic person increased incentive-reward-tagged appreciation for hidden or latent information (Peterson,1999). Such decreases in LI may have pathological consequences,as in the case of schizophrenia or its associated conditions (perhaps in individuals whose higher-order cognitive processes are also impaired,and who thus become involuntarily '?ooded'by an excess of a ?ectively tagged infor- mation),or may constitute a precondition for creative thinking (in individuals who have the cognitive resources to'edit'or otherwise constrain (Stokes,2001)their broader range of mean- ingful experience).

Note from the text of the full paper that stress causes the release of the hormone corticosterone which lowers latent inhibition. In a nutshell, when an organism runs into problems that cause stress the resulting release of stress hormones causes the mind to shift into a state where it will examine factors in the environment that it normally ignores. This allows the organism to look for solutions to the stress-causing problem that would be ignored in normal and less stressed circumstances.

So perhaps we could hypothesize something like this:under stressful conditions,or in person-ality con?gurations characterized by increased novelty-sensitivity,approach behavior,and DA activity, decreased LI is associated with increased permeability and ?exibility of functional cog- nitive and perceptual category [see Barsalou (1983)for a discussion of such categories ].Imagine a situation where current plans are not producing desired outcomes —a situation where current categories of perception and cognition are in error, from the pragmatic perspective. Something anomalous or novel emerges as a consequence (Peterson,1999), and drives exploratory behavior. Stress or trait-dependent decreased LI, under such circumstances, could produce increased signal (as well as noise), with regards to the erroneous pattern of behavior and the anomaly that it produced. This might o?er the organism, currently enmeshed in the consequences of mistaken presuppositions, the possibility of gathering new information, where nothing but categorical certainty once existed. Decreased LI might therefore be regarded as advantageous, in that it allows for the perception of more unlikely, radical and numerous options for reconsideration, but disadvantageous in that the stressed or approach-oriented person risks'drowning in possibility', to use Kierkegaard's phrase.

One can easily see how this response could have been selected for evolutionarily. At the same time, one can also see how chronic stress could lead a person to fall into a state of confusion as a sustained large flood of stimuli could overwhelm the brain by giving it too much to think about and make a person unable to clearly see solutions that will relieve the feeling of stress.