Category Archives: just for fun

FAQ: Should I invent an acronym?

Q. I’m writing a research article, and the text frequently mentions the biological process that is the subject of the article. I’m also worried about exceeding the length limit for the journal I have in mind to send the article. … Continue reading

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Summer session accountability

Summer, as an astronomical season, doesn’t end for a few weeks yet, but academic summer is well and truly over. Today is already the end of the first week of classes on my campus, and both the courses I’m teaching … Continue reading

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Summer session resolutions

Like all good academics, I bristle at the not-infrequent suggestion, from innocent but insufficiently browbeaten friends and family, that I “take summer off”. In point of fact I am simply not paid for the months between the spring and fall … Continue reading

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Our one thousandth post!

About six months after The Molecular Ecologist‘s tenth anniversary, we’ve hit another round-number milestone — this post is the one thousandth published on the site. I’ll refer you to that anniversary post for a rundown of highlights from the nine hundred … Continue reading

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Fieldwork in the time of COVID

Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt back in March. Almost a year ago, how is that possible??? Yet, at the same time it feels like several lifetimes have passed … At a recent editorial meeting, we … Continue reading

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Dreaming of Fieldwork Post 1

For many of us, fieldwork has been cancelled this summer due to COVID-19, leading to a lot of fieldwork nostalgia. We forget the dirty clothes (and everything else), the long hours, the bruises & cuts, the broken or stuck vehicles, … Continue reading

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Conference catch-up: Seventh European Phycological Congress Zagreb, Croatia – algae and abominable life cycles!

The first European Phycological Congress was held in Cologne, Germany in 1996. In the last 20-odd years, the meeting has been held every four years since then in Italy, Northern Ireland, Spain, Greece, and then in London in 2015 (see … Continue reading

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The Research Coordinated Network for Evolution in Changing Seas (RCN-ECS)

The Molecular Ecologist contributors Reid Brennan, Laetitia Wilkins, and I (Stacy Krueger-Hadfield) were invited to attend the Research Coordinated Network for Evolution in Changing Seas synthesis workshop at the Shoals Marine Lab this past week (19-23 August). Evolving Seas is … Continue reading

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0.80994 leagues under the sea

After a month on the water (and a few weeks getting my land legs again), I’m happily settling back in at home. I just returned from an expedition to a site known as North Pond along the western flank of … Continue reading

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Of Of Mice and Men: High school English class lives on in scientific paper titles

Writing titles for scientific papers is hard. The title is the one element of the paper everyone reads if they so much as skim a journal’s table of contents e-mail. These days, you also want something that’ll fit in a … Continue reading

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