Timing is everything, or, Just ask

Today is Friday, the 10th of February, 2012 AD, Epoch: Holocene. I have spent the last few days planning what methodology to employ in my selection experiments, and how best to manage time. Timing is everything. In the past I would have not bothered trying to timetable specifics for lab experiments, I would have just winged it and see how I fit everything in given 24 hrs in a day. That was part of the adventure in research, cramming an immense amount of work into the space of just 2 days due to poor planning. Ultimately, this led to disaster as organisms were forced to adapt to different conditions within stringent timeframes, giving me dicey data at best. Nature will always refuse to cooperate with my planning, so I need to change the way I think and cooperate with nature. Thankfully, that happened in Honours research, and now I am in my PhD with just a little more wisdom in my belt.

Drosophila kicking back and enjoying a cold one: nature's suggestion for Friday afternoon activities

I have never worked with Drosophila, so when I read papers about the types of correlates used to assess fitness in different lines of selection, I imagine that the work and time involved in performing these assessments is relatively easy and short. I mean, the methods section is easy and short to read, and Drosophila are small animals, so the process is likely to be easy, right? But, knowing my usual 'flawless' train of logic, I thought that this assumption is potentially detrimental to my research and it was time to talk to people who actually do this kind of stuff, to get a real answer. Lucky I did. Apparently, the logistics associated with what I was planning to do were insane - too much work for one person with time constraints. Even better: the people in this lab were very helpful and gave me some great suggestions for time-managing my experiments. I now have contacts who are also happy to train me in Drosophila husbandry and managing lines of selection. By simply asking people with experience, I have saved myself a lot of time and heartache. Drosophila, you guys are crazy!

Image: http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=drosophila&order=9&offset=24#/d2ynv1p