Save Yourself Some Time

At Bitesize Bio, Emily Crow offers some tips — based on personal experience — on how to prevent other people’s errors from slowing down your work in the lab. First she says to always confirm important findings, that way you know that you, with your own materials, can get the same results and interpret them the same way. Crow then adds that if you cannot recreate all the materials yourself, that you should do all you can to test them to make sure they are what you are told they are. Finally, she says that character is important. “Trust your instincts when it comes to taking materials and results from others; if your senses tell you that someone is unreliable, avoid collaboration at all if possible,” Crow writes.