The Struggling Scientists

Today we discuss the Ig Nobel Prize winners from 2022. Ten interesting pieces of research that were awarded this prize for Science, that first make you laugh and then think. Some highlights include: A Moose Dummy master thesis Ancient ritualistic Maya enemas Icecream as a treatment Constipated scorpions If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you can rea...

In this episode we interviewed dr. Elisabeth Bik about detecting fraud in scientific publications. She is an expert in detecting image tampering and has already found problems resulting in the retraction of over 900 articles. We talk with her about: The percentage of publications that have fraudulent images What steps to take if you find a fraudulent paper Why do serial offenders keep committing f...

Today we are talking about things we learned from the PhD besides our scientific knowledge. We picked 10 of our biggest learning moments and are sharing them with you. If you have questions/comments/suggestions or topics we really should discuss you can reach out to us via our website: thestrugglingscientists.com Also, check out our science-inspired merch! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle....

We talked with the very interesting Bryan Quoc Le about how he switched from academia to consulting after his PhD. Or more precisely already during his PhD! He has a lot of tips for people considering consultancy as their next step. If you want to learn more about him check out his website: www.bryanquocle.com If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you...

Today we talk with dr. Marc Reid, a Pi from Glasgow who wrote a book about imposter syndrome or as he would prefer to call it the imposter experience. We have a lot of questions for him about his own experience and his tips for dealing with feeling like an imposter. If you want to know more about Marc Reid, or get his book about the imposter experience, check out his website: dr-marc-reid.com If y...

We are back with another Science news episode! Not only will we bring you up to date on the most interesting (and funny) Science that has reached the news since our last episode and give you all the facts you need to astonish people at your next social event. We will also fact-check the actual research papers to make sure it actually shows what the journalist wrote about them. Which does not alway...

Today we interviewed Anna Clemens who became an academic writing coach after doing a PhD in chemistry. She specializes in helping researchers write really good papers and has courses you can sign up for. She really looks at the contents of the paper, how to get your story more clear and concise and how to get your paper more easily accepted. We got in contact after our previous episode on writing...

Today we talk with Nicole Betz from the US who recently switched to industry after her PhD and Postdoc. She now is a marketing researcher and talks with us about all the tips she has about getting a job outside of academia and about the job she has now. Together with some friends she also started a Twitter account called AltAcChats. They aim to help people switch to industry, definitely check it o...

In this episode, we talk with the newly graduated Dr. Maria Clemente about what it is like to defend your PhD in the Netherlands. While there are clear differences in the defense between countries that are interesting to hear about, she also has some very good tips for people preparing for their PhD that are useful for PhDers all around the world. In future episodes, we want to highlight what it i...

Our episode is a week late because Suzanne was finishing up her second paper. So we decided that this was the perfect timing for some academic writing tips! What have we learned from our experiences and what tips do we have? Check it out now! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or papers we really need to read, you can reach out to us via our website or email: thestrugglingscientists....

Today we invited dr Dave Speijer again, to talk about some science with us! We talk about one of his favorite topics, namely evolution, and this time specifically about Symbiogenesis the evolution of eukaryotes. If you have any comments, questions, suggestions, papers we really need to read, or other content you would like to share. You can reach us via our website: thestrugglingscientists.com or...

Today we are back with another cutting-edge research episode. But instead of talking in detail about one paper, we are going to discuss a broad range of papers that made it into the Scientific news recently. We will discuss: Nasal Vaccines against Covid-19 Scientists grew human skin on a robot finger Sleep-deprived mosquitos prefer sleeping over eating Ibruprofen in combination with two commonly u...

This week Suzanne went to an international congress in Milan. We talk about her experiences, Milan, the conference, and her colleagues almost dying. You know, typical PhD stuff! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you can reach out to us via our website: https://thestrugglingscientists.com/ Would you like to know more about becoming a guest on our po...

Do you ever wonder what other subjects you could have studied during your PhD? Well, this Podcast is here to tell you all about the cutting-edge research you could have done! And today we discuss a paper that was just published, where researchers found that screaming at rats for 3 weeks causes fertility issues. Intrigued? Then definitely listen to us discussing this paper. If you have any question...

In this episode, we talked with the CEO and CTO of a startup in Switzerland, named Bigomics. We interviewed them about what it was like to start their own company. They talk about their journey and have some nice tips for future entrepreneurs. Career talks is a collaboration between The Struggling Scientists and the Alumni association Bio-medical Sciences of the University of Amsterdam If you have...

Today we have another science life episode. We all know it is important to relax and unwind after a long day of the PhD life. But how do you do this? We discuss meditation, mindfulness, hobbies, and how our colleagues and fans relax after work! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you can reach out to us via our website: https://thestrugglingscientist...

Today we discuss a very interesting paper recently published in Nature. This paper proposes that people that grew up in the city are less good at navigating than people who grew up in the countryside. And even more excitingly they investigated this in a very interesting way... with a mobile game! Listen to this episode to learn more! Paper: Entropy of city street networks linked to future spatial...

Today we talk about life as a 4th year PhD student and reflect back on all the struggles throughout the years. What did we enjoy, regret, and expected during this PhD. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you can reach out to us via our website: https://thestrugglingscientists.com/ Would you like to know more about becoming a guest on our podcast or s...

Today we discuss a Nature paper from Morinaga et al., They wrote a really interesting paper that is called Obesity Accelerates Hair Thinning by Stem Cell-Centric Converging Mechanisms. They show quite convincingly that obesity is a risk factor for baldness and the mechanism behind this. We discuss what we learned reading this paper and discuss it. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions,...

Today we talked with 2 PhD advisors from the AUMC doctoral school, Jordy and Mandy. They coach and advise PhD students in our institute and help them with the problems they face. We talked about their work, the most common PhD problems, and what they would advise. Do you have a problem during your PhD, definitely check out if your institute has something similar! Follow their blog on: https://amst...

You might have heard that taking a short cold shower has health benefits. We heard things like increased metabolism, more energy, and helps with weight loss. But this made us wonder, is there actually a scientific basis for this? So we decided that it was time for us to dive into the world of Scientific Research about Cold Showers. Curious about what we found? Listen to this fun episode! If you ha...

In the First Author Talks series, we talk with the first authors about their papers, the Struggles to get to this point and life as a Scientist. In this episode, we invited our good friend Denise van Uden to talk about her life as a PhDer and all the struggles that came with publishing her first first-author paper. Paper: Central Role of Dendritic Cells in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Human...

In this first episode of the year, we talked with Alex Cloherty. She won the international Famelab competition for science communication in 2021! We talked with her about this competition and about science communication in general. She has a really nice blog Microbial Mondays and a Youtube channel Alexgoesviral. Check her out if you are interested in learning more about microbes, from bacteria to...

For this Christmas special, we decided to make a crossover podcast with two other podcasting scientists. dr Yoah Sui and Ana Sui from the Grad School Confessional Podcast based in Canada. We talked about the differences between doing a PhD in the Netherlands and doing a PhD in Canada. Be sure to check out the Grad School Confessional Podcast on your favorite streaming platform! If you have any que...

In this episode of our cutting-edge research series, we talk about a very interesting paper: Mammalian enteral ventilation ameliorates respiratory failure. Or as many people call it now Butt-Breathing! A super interesting paper that is at the same time pretty funny. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.medj.2021.04.004 If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or papers we really need to read, you ca...