#elkstudies

09.30.17 // 1:59 PM

Productive Saturdays are my fave. Bike-run training in the morning, coffee and studying in the afternoon. I hope everyone’s having a great weekend! ✨

09.19.17 // 12:03 PM

Finally done with exams for the month but all the quizzes and papers are starting to pile up. Can third year med just please chill???

09.12.17 // 8:56 AM

It’s going to be a long day, so I started the morning with a little note to self. Wishing everyone a productive Tuesday!

09.08.17 // 12:59 PM

Crunch time! It’s the weekend before exams and there’s still so much to cover, but I’m buzzing with energy so it’s time to get productive!

09.04.17 // 7:29 PM

We’ve had so many holidays these past few Mondays that I’m not used to Monday classes anymore. Today’s not particularly good either, but that’s the thing about med school—you gotta suck it up and keep moving forward because there are bigger problems for the next day.

08.02.17 // 6:43 PM

A month into third year of med school and I’m just so drained. I’m not sure where I’m gonna get the energy to power through the rest of the year.

07.31.17 // 5:06 PM

Officially the last day of summer! Working on my calligraphy before everything gets too busy with med. I hope I can still find the time to sneak some writing in the chaos of studying.

I hope everyone’s having a lovely Monday!

07.10.17 // 3:32 PM

It’s been a while! Haven’t been posting much because I’m still on vacation for 3 more weeks, but hello again! I decided to break my silence since a certain anon asked me about my fountain pens. I still have a couple more in storage, but right now, these are the ones I have in rotation. They’re nothing fancy, but I love them still. I used a Zig Cocoiro Letter Pen in extra fine for the brush lettering on top.

05.20.17 // 7:42 AM

Most days, I don’t really know what I’m doing. But as my man, @neil-gaiman, once said, “When things get tough, this is what you should do—make good art.”

I love med school (well, most days), but it gets exhausting. So I’m grateful I have the opportunity to take a break and do other things that I love.

05.09.17 // 2:42 PM

Sometimes I sketch and journal to take a break from studying med.

Summer’s almost here! Just one more day of exams then I can focus more on art and triathlon. I hope everyone’s doing great! ✨

Morning Session // Writing up project proposals…

I actually enjoy getting on campus early in the morning, before too many students are around. It gives me time to ease myself into the day (and eat my apple in peace). These pretty red chairs are super comfy too. 

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Assignment Checklist Free Printable (PDF in Google Drive)

Keep your assignments looking professional and academic with these checklists that are used once you have completed a piece of work.

Tick off each task to make sure your work is of a presentable standard, for example:

• Single/Double spacing.
• Hanging indent for references.
• Completing title pages; Title, student ID, module code & name. 
• Consistent font and font size. 
• …And feel free to add your own tasks specific to your course too. 
  
• Bonus: Box at the bottom has common reference styles (MLA, APA, Harvard). 

I usually print these, cut them out and keep one with each assignment. It saves me time having to Google what’s required when referencing University/College work. If you can’t print then just write it out on paper/sticky notes. Let me know if this is helpful (and where to improve!). 

More help: MLA Referencing//APA Referencing//Harvard Referencing 

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Neuroscientist captures an MRI of a mother and child

Professor Rebecca Saxe (MIT) has taken the first ever MR image of a mother and child. 

“This picture is an MR image of a mother and a child that I made in my lab at MIT. You might see it as sweet and touching… an image of universal love. We can’t see clothes or hairstyles or even skin colour. From what we do see, the biology and the brains, this could be any mother and child or even father and child at any time and place in history; having an experience that any human can recognise.

Or you might see it as disturbing, a reminder that our human bodies are much too fragile as houses for ourselves. MRI’s are usually medical images and often bad news. Each white spot in that picture is a blood vessel that could clog, each tiny fold of those brains could harbour a tumour. The baby’s brain maybe looks particularly vulnerable pressed against the soft thin shell of its skull.

I see those things, universal emotions and frightening fragility but I also see one of the most amazing transformations in biology.”

Quotes have been taken from a TEDx talk given by Professor Saxe explaining the story behind the above picture.

9:00 // Royal Holloway, University of London is beautiful.

I’ve been running experiments with a masters student using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging). I also got an updated scan of my own brain. Nice nice.

Some cool stuff about fMRI experiments:

• Glasses can’t be worn in the scanner (because they contain metal) so you get to wear these sexy specs instead. The lenses that work best for you are slotted in. They’re like swimming goggles. 
  
• People who wear the hijab or a turban can go in the scanner with their head coverings on. Yay! All pins,metals and hair ties need to be removed though. 
• Experiments in fMRI tend to have a maximum running time of 90 minutes. 
• There is a panic button (looks like a pump) given to participants in the scanner, if you ever want to leave the scanner all you have to do is press it. 
• If it’s not given by default you can ask to have a copy of your brain scan. Download a free software called Mango and play around with your brain!!
• The equipment tends to look old - our comps run Windows XP. You’ll see this in science quite a bit and think “why don’t they update??”. Operating systems (Windows/MAC OS) sometimes have updates that tamper with medical software and it can be hard to pinpoint what’s gone wrong. So if it’s working we don’t update it until there’s a reason on our part e.g. when it breaks.

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How to get links in your description (successfully!) using the tumblr mobile app. 

For those who already know what they’re doing here’s the link you need to insert with an example:

INSERT TITLE

Example:

About

In order for the tumblr mobile app to redirect to something, it has to be a post e.g. /tagged/about - It can’t be an actual page e.g. studyingbrains/about (this won’t work). 

A couple extra pointers:

• The accent colour (in the mobile app editor) is the colour of your links.
  
• Try to use obscure tags for “about” links and “my post” links. Otherwise random posts with the words will pop up. For an about page maybe tag the post as “ab0utm3″ then other posts on your tumblr with the words aboutme won’t be shown. 
• The above applies to original content too if you tag your stuff as “personal” all posts with that word will pop up (even other users that you’ve reblogged). Come up with obscure tags for mobile links (this makes it easier for followers to navigate). 
• When editing your tumblr theme, links tend to break and need to be reentered. Keep that in mind. Check your links every time, after you edit.
• You can still write in the description box, just write before and after the links. e.g. “Brains | UK |  About|”
• You can add as many links as you can fit!
• You can add links via the desktop theme editor (I prefer this way), by writing in the description box:

I hope this helped! Any questions, just ask!

Friday’s // London is actually really dull today and I am tired. 

We’re celebrating as two of my friends are getting married and another is pregnant. Being The Antisocial Trash™ that I am, I decided to bake cakes in lieu of my attendance. I also read some infamous Dahl and sorted out my evergrowing stamp collection in the morning. 

11:00am // Work breaks.

With formal modules over, my breaks consist of reading [Phantoms in the Brain by V. S. Ramachandran] and walks around campus whilst listening to podcasts.