NSF Earth Science Change in Policy Regarding Postdocs and Parental Leave
A couple of weeks ago I got this email from a faithful reader. She writes: Hello, I'm passing on this wonderful news about a change in NSF's Earth Science postdoc policy on parental leave. I have not seen this in other NSF postdoc announcements and had to negotiate my own situation of unpaid leave in an ad-hoc way (there was no explicit policy) that included no paid leave apart from accrued sick/vacation time. And how much accrued leave is a postdoc really going to have, anyways? This new announcement allows up to 2 months of paid leave from the award for parents upon birth or adoption of a child. Fantastic news, but

Ask Dr. Isis Week - What Reference Software Do You Use?
Before I get down to business, I wanted to make some remarks about a post I a couple of days ago on having children and being exhausted. I really appreciate the frankness of the comments people left, but I suppose I didn't leave thing on a very positive note. I was pretty tired and this has been a challenging week, science-wise.  I am trying to get all of our projects in a place that I can leave for a week over Thanksgiving and just write the manuscripts and that may be coloring my perception of reality.  Still, so that none of you think that motherhood is all sleep deprivation,

An Open Letter...
...to the guy next to me in seminar yesterday morning. Dear Dr. Hot-Shot, I realize that you thought you were being discrete by turning your phone to vibrate while you texted at a break neck pace during seminar, but when your phone buzzes louder than my vibrator, it is not at all discrete. Then again, if I could text as quickly as you I probably wouldn't need my vibrator and then I would be more discrete. Best, Isis the Scientist

The Flawless Logic of Little Isis (One Year at ScienceBlogs)
Today is my blogoversary of joining ScienceBlogs. w00t! It's been, well, quite a year. Last week I was anticipating the big commemorative event, complete with fan fare, the sacrifice of some animals (but not JB Handley's horse), a full day of unabashed worship, and ballads and prose from my Sciblings telling me how I have totally hottened up the place. Cause, let's not lie, I have.... But, today I am mostly just exhausted. Yesterday I was so exhausted I went to bed at 8pm. Today instead of posting links to all the most amazing things I have written since joining ScienceBlogs I'm mostly thinking that it seems premature to be patting myself on the back. After all, w

The State of the Blog
So, yesterday was the first day in a while that I went with no post. I am mildly mortified, but I was also exhausted when I got home last night and had nothing pre-written to throw up. I ended up going to bed at 8pm. Even shoes were uninteresting to me last night. The only thing that tempted me was the softness of my pillow and the beauty of behind my eyelids. If you've emailed me a question in the last couple of days (I'm looking at you, End Note question asker), I'll get to it. I will. I promise. After work I will get back in the saddle. And now, back to science...