Greenberg’s Lab Tips
1. If the protocol works, don't change it (If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it).
如果实验方案有效(或如果按照protocol可以得到预期结果),不要修改方案(如果它没坏,就不要尝试修它。通俗讲:别没事找事)。
2. If the protocol doesn’t work, change it.
如果实验protocol不能工作(或不能得到预期结果),则改变它。
3. If a protocol requires a laborious step, there is usually a reason for it – don’t try to avoid it (You are not as smart as you think).
如果一个protocol包括一些繁琐的步骤,那通常是有原因的。不要试图省略该步骤(你没有你想象的聪明)。
4. Two hours of work today will save you two days of work tomorrow.
今天两小时的工作能节约你将来两天的时间。
注:多花时间准备、提前思考实验细节、提前查资料,是有价值的。未充分准备前,不要轻易开始实验,否则碰到的问题会比你想象的多。
5. Every new experiment needs a positive control and a negative control.
每个新实验都需要阳性对照和阴性对照。
6. There are three types of experiments: One which yields interesting results, no matter the outcome (Type I), one which yields an interesting result, but only if it turns out one way (Type II), and one which yields ambiguous, uninterpretable results regardless of the outcome (Type III).Take your pick.
实验有三种类型:一种实验无论得到什么结果,都是有意思的结果(或有价值的结果);一种实验是只有在一种情况下,才能得到有趣的结果(或有价值的结果);第三种是无论得到什么结果,其结果都是模棱两可的、无法解释的。你自己挑吧;
注:我们设计实验时,实验方案应该尽可能往第一种实验上努力,避免第三种实验,否则做了等于白做,更有甚者,还有可能从第三种实验结果中得到错误的信息,误导后续的实验思路。
7. Label every tube and record every experiment.
标记每一个试管,记录实验的每一个步骤(细节)。
8. Assume nothing. A corollary of this is that opinions don’t matter, only data does.
不要做任何假设。由此推论,观点并不重要,只有数据才重要。
注:我们的任何结论都是基于实验数据的。所以另一个问题就是,数据的可靠性一定要高,如果数据不可靠,由此推论出的结论也是错的。
9. Experiments often don’t work. Consider all the possible reason why an experiment fails and concentrate on the likeliest causes.
实验常常是会失败的。考虑实验失败的所有可能原因,集中精力找出并解决最有可能的原因。
10. Complicated, multi-step experiments never succeed unless they are simplified. Break up each experiment into its components, work on one at a time, and verify that each component works before proceeding on to the next(Take one step at a time).
复杂、多步骤的实验往往不会成功,除非被简化。把复杂实验分解成一个个简单的实验。一次只完成其中一个步骤,待验证无误后,再进行下一步。
注:每次实验完成后,需要对结果可靠性进行评估(这就是我们设置阴性对照和阳性对照的原因)。
11. Don’t try to recreate the wheel. If someone else has successfully performed the same experiment as you plan to do, talk to her.
不要闭门造车。如果你想做的实验,别人做成功了,去请教人家。
12. Plan every experiment as if it will become a figure in a manuscript.
设计实验时,要把它当成即将发表的文章中的一个figure(数据、图表)来做。
注:你的实验设计,要具备科学性、合理性、完整性,根据此方案作出的结果要完整,要能说服别人。
13. If someone asks for your help, be as helpful as you can(What comes around, goes around).
如果有人向你请求帮助,尽可能帮助人家。你的付出总会有回报的。
注:What comes around, goes around通常翻译成善有善报,恶有恶报。
14. It is more important to be accurate than prolific. It’s also helpful to be prolific.
质量比数量更重要,虽然数量也很重要。
15. If an experiment is not hypothesis-driven, then it can prove nothing.
如果一个实验不是假设驱动(或基于假设)的,那它什么也证明不了。
16. What matters in science is not what can possibly occur, but what actually does occur.
科学实验中,可能会发生什么并不重要,实际发生了什么才重要。
17. Read widely. The most creative insights come from applying knowledge from outside one’s field.
广泛阅读,真正有创造性的想法往往是应用了一个人(专业)领域外的知识。
注:学习应不局限于自己的专业,有能力应尽力拓展视野。