Here are some oddly specific rules for the Bahlai Lab.
- Never, ever use "Size matters:...." in the title (or anything else) of a presentation/poster/article you write. Not only is it an inappropriate joke about genitalia, which is gross, it represents a trivial hypothesis. More treatment = more effect? Don't embarrass us like that. You can do better.
- Significant figures! A mean should never be reported to a greater degree of precision than the first significant figure of its corresponding error. 123.456 +/- 6.789 is lying to make your data look more scientificer. Be honest, and report 123 +/-7, it's less precise but more accurate.
- Similarly, question the heck out of magic numbers- those numbers that are presented as a single, solid fact about how a biological system operates, without any representation of variability. More often, this is a model output or a mean, and you need to be really thoughtful: is this number a meaningful representation of the underlying process that created it?
- Use referencing software. Start now. You'll thank me later.