Say what???
Evidently, it's standard practice to make published biology papers as cryptic as possible. We had to read one for cell bio this week (and will every week, for that matter), and I swear it was a totally different language. So then I spent several hours focusing on just the figures. My professor explained them to the class. I explained them to classmates. Classmates explained them to me. TA's explained them to many poor, confused souls. And I wrote answers to questions about them.
And then I re-read the paper and lo and behold, suddenly it was in english again! It was a very strange feeling. I read it and actually understood most of it, and I wondered how it could have been the same paper I read before. It was like I had acquired a Babel fish (but for reading instead of speaking).
Seriously, though, some of those figures are really cryptic. And I always try to make them out to be showing something much more complex then they actually are. For example:
Me: "Uhh, this one must be showing that these cells have more of this protein than these other cells do when they're proliferating, but it also has some when it's differentiating, so this protein must be the most important one..."
TA: "Actually, it's just saying that all three of these proteins are present during cell proliferation."
Oh. Why couldn't it say that in the caption?
And if that even makes any sense to you, kudos, because it probably only does to me since I was there and looking at the picture.
And then I re-read the paper and lo and behold, suddenly it was in english again! It was a very strange feeling. I read it and actually understood most of it, and I wondered how it could have been the same paper I read before. It was like I had acquired a Babel fish (but for reading instead of speaking).
Seriously, though, some of those figures are really cryptic. And I always try to make them out to be showing something much more complex then they actually are. For example:
Me: "Uhh, this one must be showing that these cells have more of this protein than these other cells do when they're proliferating, but it also has some when it's differentiating, so this protein must be the most important one..."
TA: "Actually, it's just saying that all three of these proteins are present during cell proliferation."
Oh. Why couldn't it say that in the caption?
And if that even makes any sense to you, kudos, because it probably only does to me since I was there and looking at the picture.