0

Your Cart is Empty

The Pocket Card Monthly QR Exclusive - July 2024

Thank you for ordering one of our popular STEM Pocket Tools and scanning the QR code to reach this page! This page is exclusively for holders of these cards and will have new content, freebies, resources and discounts every calendar month.

If you haven't signed up yet, subscribe here and you'll get our full toolkit of STEM resources!

July Discount: Buy 3 Word Magnet sets, get 1 free!

Mid-summer can be a time when things slow down and you might not see your lab mates as often every day. But you COULD leave them funny rants and passive-aggressive messages on the lab fridge if you had a few sets of our STEM-themed word magnets.

For July, buy any 3 sets of Word Magnets and the 4th will be free using code THREEFOURWORDS at checkout when 4 are in your cart. We’re limiting this to the first 20 uses. Enjoy!

 

A free, 3D-printable tube storage rack

This generous Redditor shared their design for a modular tube holder system on r/Labrats. You can get the printable files here. Let us know if it works well for you. It looks awesome!

How to publish “Zombie” papers

Want to keep publishing papers on auto-pilot after you graduate? When your name pops up on a new paper years after you “finished”, I call that a “Zombie” paper. Sometimes an advisor is kind enough to include you on something you helped to start. But you can take this into your own hands too! Here’s how I was first author on two papers AFTER graduating:

  • I had a very clear idea of how some future experiments were going to go, and even what the figures would look like in the final paper. I just didn’t have time to finish collecting data.
  • I wrote titles for both papers to clearly define the work
  • I wrote the introduction based on the “Why” the work needed to be done, the background, and what we were looking for.
  • I wrote methods for both to tell the next student exactly what needed to be done
  • I made a skeleton outline of the results, showing how to approach it.
  • I created dummy figures and captions, showing how to plot the future data and which to compare directly. I even hand-drew lines based on what I expected it to show.
  • I wrote discussions to fill out the theory part, referencing past work and explaining what I thought the future results could teach us.

18 months after I graduated, I had two new first-author papers come out! Of course, this relies on the experiments going according to plan. The new grad students were also very happy to have their first paper handed to them 80% complete. They just had to fill in the data and talk with me a couple times to discuss the results.

Do you have ideas for future papers? Even if it’s not this clear yet, lay it out and there’s a good chance you’ll be included in the author list!

    Just for fun: Science Cartoon

    When you need to cover for someone’s latest lab accident…


    Science cartoons by Tom Gauld

    July behind-the-scenes news:

    Expect slower responses this summer

    Derek is taking some time off to travel with his wife while she is between jobs! He’ll be back in full swing in November, and attempting to keep up with things in between. Luckily, several other team members are now helping out with customer service, so you might hear back from someone new!

     

    Did you miss last month? Check out our archive:

    *Note: Discount codes will no longer be active and some links may be broken.

    June 2024 - Don't Miss Upcoming PhD Fellowship Opportunities

    May 2024 - Prompting in Google Docs

    April 2024 - Google Drive hacks

    March 2024 - Mastering Lab Meetings

    February 2024 - Mastering Schlenk Lines

    January 2024 - Time-saving Excel shortcuts you didn't know

    December 2023 - Virtual coworking with scientists

    November 2023 - Data plots for colorblind scientists

    October 2023 - Crowdfunding your experiments and The Lab Coat Project finale

    September 2023 - How to quickly find info on chemicals and molecules

    August 2023 - An intro to quarterly planning for research

    July 2023 - Using AI to search research papers

    June 2023 - The easy button on literature reviews

    May 2023 - Negotiating vacation and Pocket Paleontologist launch

    April 2023 - Job interviews and lab coat updates!

    March 2023 - Lab coats affect your mental health?

    February 2023 - STEM books that won't put you to sleep

    January 2023 - AI Chat and SciArt

    December 2022 - SciComm video editing tools

    November 2022 - Focus timer 

    October 2022 - Career skills workshops

    September 2022 - Conservation in the laboratory

    August 2022 - Join a study to help scientists

    July 2022 - Lab Coat Materials Ultimate Guide

    June 2022 - Neuroscience Podcasts and Lab Coat Update

    May 2022 - Science Learning Centers near you

    April 2022 - The Pocket Physicist Launch and Best Math Blogs

    February 2022 - Fantastic Physics Blogs

    January 2022 - Pleasure reading for engineers

    December 2021 - Easy lab process diagrams

    November 2021 - Free STEM icons for your presentations

    October 2021 - WebPlotDigitzer and Lab Coats

    September 2021 - Engineering Podcasts

    August 2021 - STEM Holiday Calendar

    July 2021 - STEM on TikTok

    June 2021 - Productivity resources

    May 2021 - SciComm on Social Media

    April 2021 - Sustainability in the lab

    March 2021 - Gifts for Engineers

    February 2021- Focus on reading papers

    January 2021 - Focus on interviewing

    December 2020 - Inspirational reading for graduate students

    November 2020 - Graduate application resources

    October 2020 - Voting for Science

    September 2020 - New Lab Art Photography

    August 2020 - The Pocket Chemist Exam Edition launch!

    July 2020 - Word Magnet Launch!

    June 2020 - Constant giveaways and learning to code

    May 2020 - Time to get writing?

    April 2020 - Quarantine life and a new retro sticker!

    March 2020 - Focus on Best Chemistry Blogs

    February 2020 - Focus on Digital tools for chemistry

    January 2020 - Focus on Outreach

    December 2019 - Focus on Social Media Accounts for Scientists

    November 2019 - Focus on Helpful Reading for Grad Students

    October 2019 - Focus on Chemistry and Chemistry Resources

    September 2019 - Focus on Science Podcasts


    best gifts for civil engineers

    19 Best Gifts for Civil Engineers in 2024

    September 14, 2024 10 min read

    A list of unique, creative, and funny gift ideas for civil engineers for you to choose from. From...
    Read More
    plus sized woman wearing a white cotton lab coat sketch

    Plus-sized and Petite Lab Coats: Fit and Buying Guide

    July 28, 2023 6 min read

    Finding a lab coat that fits well can be a real challenge for many women, especially those ...
    Read More
    key differences between science and medical lab coats

    7 Differences between Scientist and Doctor's lab coats

    July 28, 2023 7 min read

    Are you wearing a lab coat designed for a doctor? Or for a scientist? How can you tell? We ...
    Read More