Decision making to be a sustainable scientist

Excellent advices to be a sustainable scientist The “want to–need to” matrix is excellent advice:

Say yes only to the things you both need and want to do, and say no if you either do not need or do not want to do something

If you are like most of us looking for time optimization, this is the way to go.

Tom Rapaport just reported that Organelle shape can be generated by a surprisingly small set of proteins in Powers et al., Nature 2017. It is well known that the eukaryotic endomembrane system is composed of various compartments with very specific function and shape. The development of such a complex system during evolution is expected to be complex and requiring many molecular players. This new report demonstrate that just a few component can induce a tubular network from proteoliposomes. The use of GTP hydrolysis inhibitor demonstrate that maintenance of this network requires continuous membrane fusion. Conclusions from the authors:

Our results show that organelle shape can be generated by a surprisingly small set of proteins and represents an energy-dependent steady state between formation and disassembly.

Thus, it appears that evolutionarily speaking, the development of an endomembrane system might require fewer players than previously expected.  

Keynote speakers, please try harder

Excellent comment prompting for a better preparation keynote speakers, but also speakers in general, in Nature by Judy Ford.
Best part is probably the following:

Speakers, it is likely that my registration fees have contributed to your travel, so I expect you to demonstrate that you have given a lot of thought to your talk and prepared each slide carefully rather than simply recycling it. I have come to listen to you, the expert, so I expect to enjoy a well-organized, possibly brilliant, presentation, in which creative visuals amplify your words and enhance my understanding.

But anyway, those are comments that we could all take into account.