Siberian pole dancing isotopes!

OK, the last items on my old list of blog topics are as follows:

a) Siberia
b) Posture
c) Sunglasses
d) Radiation safety
e) Pole dancing
f) Hot dogs


Since they're on the list I feel obliged to tell you about them since I know you're all chomping at the bit to know what I have to say... *cricket... cricket...*. Okay, I know none of you are waiting to hear about any of it... except maybe the pole dancing, so like a crappy reality TV show I'll save that til the end to make sure you read all the other less interesting parts before it :)

*****Nerd alert***** (I'm going to talk about work)

So, Siberia! One of those places you think you'll never get to see, or would even want to go to because at -70C, who would?? Well, I do, and I very well might in the coming years! Let me tell you why. My new supervisor is in contact with a Russian scientist (who I believe has done some work in the UK before, or trained here, I can't remember) who wants to begin researching on native Siberians because they have such extreme adaptations to living in the cold, unlike any other human society. For example, many of them have mild pulmonary edema which arises from inhaling cold air which cannot be warmed sufficiently before it reaches the lungs, cardiac hypertrophy, obesity, elevated metabolism, and the list goes on. The most interesting part to me, is the fact they have such high metabolism, yet store abnormal amounts of fat. I know this has something to do with storing fat as insulation and generating a lot of metabolic heat in order to keep the body warm, but as of yet (as far as I know), no one knows how this occurs. While the science of this population is cool, so is the social science aspect. It turns out that the Russian government has been trying to get many of the Siberians to move south to warmer areas of Russia. In fact, they have been giving them money to purchases houses and flats in these cities as incentives. They've been doing this because these (rather large) Siberian cities (300,000-400,000 people) are entirely UNsustainable and isolated, and the government must fork over a lot of money and supplies to keep them going, which they obviously no longer want to do. If I were living in Siberia, I'd say hell yes get me outta here! But it turns out they had the exact opposite reaction. Many of them are apparently afraid to move more south because they believe that living in the warmth with kill them. Crazy, I know! But very interesting.

It would be a great project to be a part of, not just scientifically, but socially as well. At this stage it's a matter of putting it all together and applying for some funding to be able to do the work, so we'll see what happens. This is part of the reason I like the lab that I am working in. Andrew (boss) has many collaborators and works on a lot of different physiological problems, which means by association, so will I. I think personally and professionally this is going to make an impact on my career as a scientist and I am excited about all of it. I'm also excited to be doing it here at the University of Cambridge. Everyone knows that is one of the world's best universities, and I, after 2 weeks of listening to how this place works, have finally figured out why.  One afternoon I was trying to meet with Andrew to discuss some things, but every time I went to his office he was busy with students. This would almost never happen in Canada, because the faculty members would be telling the students to talk to their TA's instead. But here, the whole system is different...

a) The teaching in each semester is divided, so that for example, one physiology course, is taught by many professors, for short periods. So, the expert in one area teaches their section for 1-2 weeks, then the next, and so on, so that each professor is never over burdened with teaching load.

b) They have what they call, "supervision", which is generally faculty members, postdocs or senior PhD students who work with small groups (3-4 people) from whatever college they are associated with and discuss whatever the students are working on. Not necessarily to help them, but to stimulate them. Often times these supervisions are to go beyond the limits of the class and encourage the students to apply what they learn.

In the end, what this means is that the faculty members have much more time to focus on their research, which is why research at this university is leading among others, and they also have more time to spend with the students to help them, encourage them, train them, etc. which is why the students leaving Cambridge after a 4 year undergrad are generally better off than undergraduates from say, McMaster. The students here don't beg for marks so that they can get into med school. They actually work for it here. But I most certainly think the main difference is the time that students get to spend one on one with their professors. I know in my own personal case this is definitely true, because if it were not for one of my undergrad professors I would not be where I am today. Its very refreshing to be here in this type of learning environment, where the students actually want to learn, and the teachers actually want to teach. I'm going to keep this all in mind when I eventually land a faculty position. While I'm here I also plan on doing a bit of teaching/supervision and I'm really looking forward to it!

Now that I've made this place sound perfect, I will tell you why it's not. While it is a great place for learning, it's very much a waste of time for many things. I've never seen so much bureaucracy and paper pushing in all my life. I had to fill out close to 20 forms when I arrived here, all bullshit information that no one is ever going to read. Then I had to register for courses for both animal handling and radiation safety because without those I would not be allowed to use animals or isotopes in my research. Keep in mind I have been working with animals and isotopes for 5 years already, but I still have to do this again. I did the radiation safety last Friday, and it was a joke. Total waste of an afternoon for me. Granted, there may be some new users in the room who liked it, but realistically, someone can babble on to you for 4 about how to do something, but until you actually do it yourself you're not learning anything. Thank god for wireless internet and cell phones. I spent the afternoon doing work and chatting to people while they played videos from the 90's where the actors pretend like their super excited about what they're doing in an attempt to make the video interesting but instead have made it unbearable to look at. Furthermore, half of the videos were just plugs for different companies selling isotopes, with a bit of safety thrown in here and there. Great job guys, I really feel safe now and this was a very informative afternoon. NOT.

The real fun starts with the animal handling course though. First of all, you have to pay to take it, about 400 pounds. It's ridiculous. I'm glad I'm not the one paying. Second of all, it's only offered once per month, and it's 4 days long. 4 days???? WTF I'm not training to become a vet here! But the real kicker is the fact that they only have 12 spots for each session. TWELVE. And guess how many people work with animals at this university? A hell of a lot more than 12. Needless to say, I have to wait until MARCH to do my training, and then I still have to apply for the "license" after I'm done the training, which takes another month to get. How the hell is anyone supposed to do any work around here??? You'd think being in such a smart place that they could figure out that they need to run the course more often or take on more people for each one, but no... that's not happening. Regardless, there are some loop holes we can get through and I'm starting work without my license.

Now that you've read through all of this I will throw in the pole dancing bit as a reward. Actually, it's not even that good of a story. hahaha. But essentially, we had a party for my housemate who was moving out a couple of weeks ago. Things got a little crazy towards the end, and someone decided to haul the lamp out into the middle of the room. And no, it wasn't me this time believe it or not! Everyone was reluctant to give it a whirl, except for this one girl who came out of nowhere, and she worked that lamp like it owed her money! I didn't know whether to be impressed or worried that maybe she was doing this as a part-time job! But then I remembered that she is doing her PhD at Oxford so I doubt she is working as a pole dancer on the side... I hope. Anyway, it was at that moment that I decided these people were fun and I was going to have a good time here :)