Listen. Do It For The Aesthetic. If You Want To Fill An Entire 20 Dollar Sketchbook With Anatomy Drawings

I think it’s important to realize you can miss something, but not want it back

Paulo Coelho (via itcuddles)

dark academia*: science version

*an aesthetic that revolves around romanticizing university and academia, classic literature, the pursuit of self-discovery, and a general passion for knowledge and learning

opening a lab notebook from decades ago and hearing the soft crackle of the pages, trying to decipher an old lab tech’s cursive handwriting

an entire shelf of old glass specimen jars with peeling and faded labels

someone’s brainstorming flowchart that was left on the whiteboard for so long the ink’s turned permanent

going to science museums on rainy weekends and quiet evenings

spending hours at the microscope staring at your samples because it’s like visiting a whole hidden world

reading papers so old they have hand-written labels on their figures

lab benches that stay forever occupied and forever messy

scattered paper towels with hurried last-minute math equations

equipment from years and years ago that are slowly losing their color saturation, but still work just fine

trying to make your lab notebook legible, but sometimes you just write too fast

walking a little ways off from the group during fieldwork, just to see what’s deeper in the forest

feeling a sense of beauty at dead and broken things–be they preserved samples of a once living thing, or an unusable piece of equipment no one can bear to throw away

walking around with the lab coat unbuttoned so it flows behind you like a cape

journal articles scattered throughout your desk, some in precarious piles, others folded open to a page you had meant to read months ago

1-hour lab meetings turning into 3 hour brainstorming sessions

always an entire wall of flasks, beakers, and graduated cylinders drying in the rack above the sink

sharing articles with colleagues who can’t access them bc fuck paywalls

a hallway filled with light-bleached posters from past-conferences

running multiple experiments at once, and turning to each one right before the timer goes off like a skilled dancer

blowing the dust off of old specimen display cases

bubbling flasks in one corner, a high-tech bench robot in the other corner

bookshelves overflowing with science textbooks and nonfiction, and binders containing data for all your different manuscript ideas (and you have quite a few of those)

walking everywhere with a timer clipped to a piece of clothing, forgetting about it, and having it go off in the middle of a conversation with a professor

I don't normally post photos or talk about the protest actions I participate in, but I was at the Chicago Stand Up For Science rally on behalf of my job recently and this sign took me out at the knees.

Turn on the sound on the video and listen 👂

thedragonwoodconservancy on ig

2,300-Year-Old Plush Bird from the Altai Mountains of Siberia, c.400-300 BCE: this figure was crafted with a felt body and reindeer-fur stuffing, all of which remains intact

This plush bird was sealed within the frozen barrows of Pazyryk, Siberia, for more than two millennia, where a unique microclimate enabled it to be preserved. The permafrost ice lense formation that runs below the barrows provided an insulating layer, preventing the soil from heating during the summer and allowing it to quickly freeze during the winter; these conditions produced a separate microclimate within the stone walls of the barrows themselves, thereby aiding in the preservation of the artifacts inside.

This is just one of the many well-preserved artifacts that have been found at Pazyryk. These artifacts are attributed to the Scythian/Altaic cultures.

Currently housed at the Hermitage Museum.

mental health tips i wish i’d been given before starting university

trying is much more important than succeeding

10 minutes of studying > not studying at all

being a college student is more than academics. it’s also learning how to enjoy your own company, learning and occasionally screwing up meals, wandering outside campus like a tourist, questioning your ideals and presuppositions, discovering new talents and skills for the hell of it, and SO much more. if you feel burnt out in one dimension of college life, that’s a sign to spend some time relishing in another dimension.

if you need more time, take a deep breath and shoot that email to your professor/TA asking for an extension. at worst, they say no. and don’t stress over properly explaining yourself/your situation. hell, just email them: “Hi, Professor. I need your help. Sincerely, y/n.” all it takes is that one initial reach out and the rest will follow.

failure does not reflect character. read that again. remind yourself as often as you see fit because at one point or another, you will feel like you’ve failed. it’s growing pains. once you’ve accepted that, learn to view any setbacks as a hint that you need to try a new method/approach. didn’t do well on that math quiz? don’t beat yourself up over it–instead, regroup with yourself and see which metaphorical gear got stuck in your personal learning process machine. for instance, maybe you used flash cards and that wasn’t really your style. act like a detective, not a bully.

THERE IS NO NORMAL TIMELINE FOR YOUR COLLEGE CAREER(!!!!!!). a lot of people need more than 4 years, a lot of people need 4 years, and a lot of people need less than 4 years. and every single one of those timelines are valid. the worst thing you could do is squeeze the living hell out of yourself into some rigid schedule that is incompatible with who you are and how you learn. trust me when i say u will find yourself doing the best work when u do it at YOUR pace.

If your life is horrible and you need a new source of meaning and direction.... Do NOT find religion. Learn to identify plants.

قالت : متى نلتقي؟ قال : بعد عاماً وحرب. قالت : متى تنتهي الحرب؟ قال : عندما نلتقي.

محمود درويش. (via child-of-the-univerrse)