Art of Academia

By Madan Mohan & Komal Gupta

A weekly podcast hosted by a post-doc (Komal Gupta) and a PhD student (Madan Mohan) from the National University of Singapore, featuring interviews with leading scientists. We talk about our experienc... more

· Society & Culture

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FAQs about Art of Academia:

How many episodes does Art of Academia have?

The podcast currently has 27 episodes available.

Art of Academia episodes:

February 12, 2024 Soul-making Productivity
We dive into an essay titled "Soul-Making Productivity: A Process Manifesto" by River Kenna
(00:00) Intro
(10:00) River Kenna
(12:00) Soul-making productivity
(13:00) Two ways of working: Brute force vs waiting for inspiration
(18:00) Good and bad fuel sources for work
(22:20) Wholeness
(25:30) Desire infrastructure
(29:00) Why are you doing it
(31:30) Stray notes
(35:30) Trust the timing, Chronos vs Kairos
(38:15) Don't do it alone
...more
41min
February 05, 2024 Letters to a Young Scientist
We discuss the book "Letters to a Young Scientist" written by the American biologist and naturalist Edward O. Wilson
(00:00) Intro
(12:00) Edward O. Wilson and Letters to a Young Scientist
(15:00) Passion before training
(18:30) March away from the sound of guns
(25:00) Cultivate expertise
(32:00) Don't be afraid of math and computers
(37:00) Pursuit of knowledge for its own sake
(40:00) Two approaches to science
(42:00) Stray notes on collaboration and what it takes to succeed
(50:00) Outro - 20-hour rule, mastering stand-up comedy and getting unstuck
...more
57min
January 24, 2024 Meme Review
Listen as we share our thoughts on memes we have collected for you (Not your typical depressed PhD memes)
(00:00) Intro
(13:20) Meme 1 - Feeling burnout without working too hard
(23:00) Meme 2 - It's so over / We're so back
(25:00) Meme3 - Make it happier
(40:50) Meme4 - Shiny new project flow chart
(46:00) Meme4 - Pros and cons of doing things
(46:40) Meme 5 - Simple explanations
(50:20) Meme 6 - Not even wrong answers
(51:30) Meme 7 - Time spent doing research
...more
54min
January 15, 2024 The PhD experience | with Allison Chan
We talk about what life as a PhD student is like
(00:00) Intro
(02:30) Medicine vs science
(09:20) How did we choose our labs
(13:00) Alliosn's PhD topic (chemo + DDR inhibitor for lymphoma)
(14:00) Favorite thing about a PhD (Pursuing your curiosity)
(16:45) Working for a clinician-scientist (translational vs basic science)
(19:30) Reading papers
(25:45) Notion to organize your research
(37:30) Academia vs Industry
(47:30) Moving from America to Singapore
(55:00) Socializing as a scientist
(01:01:00) Hobbies (exercising and writing)
(01:14:00) Outro
...more
1h 16min
December 19, 2023 Reflections on the pod
We talk about our experience of making a podcast and what we have learned from it
(00:00) Intro - Interviews and APIs
(06:00) 10th episode milestone
(07:00) How we got started
(09:30) Podcasting is fun and rewarding
(14:00) Don't turn something into a "project" too early
(16:00) Coming up with new ideas for the pod and freestyling
(21:00) Make what you want, not what others want to see
(23:30) Try things before committing
(26:30) Don't set the bar too high
(28:50) Handling people's reactions to you art
(32:00) Be prolific
(38:00) Challenges with doing the pod
(39:00) Our favorite episodes so far
...more
42min
December 06, 2023 Studying Abroad
We talk about how we decided to study abroad, our experiences, and why you should too.
(00:00) Intro - Call of Cthulhu and building your own website from scratch
(06:30) Studying abroad
(07:45) How Madan decided to apply for masters
(11:55) How Komal decided to apply for masters and then PhD
(16:30) Madan's experience of studying in Singapore
(19:30) Komal's experience of studying in cambridge
(23:45) Reasons to study abroad
(28:15) Why Komal moved from Cambridge to Singapore
(32:45) How Singapore is different from the UK
(35:05) Should you study abroad?
...more
39min
November 27, 2023 Scenes
A scene is a group of people with overlapping interests creating cool stuff together. We go over examples of very successful scenes, what makes a good scene, scenes in science, and our attempts to participate in happening scenes.
(00:00) Intro - Journalling
(07:00) - Cooking
(08:00) - What are Scenes
(09:50) - Historical scenes - The Inklings and Oppenheimer
(14:20) - Mordern scenes - Silicon Valley, EA, tpot, lesswrong
(21:00) - Camp4 - The rock climbing scene
(23:20) - Lindy Hop in Singapore
(26:30) - Elements of a good scene
(29:20) - Why care about scenes
(30:30) - Scenes in science
(32:20) - You can't force a scene
(37:10) - Stray notes on scenes

Links
Tweet thread on scenes: https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1153706486586994688?lang=en
...more
40min
November 22, 2023 Mutational Signatures | with Andy Wu
Andy is a self-taught bioinformatician who uses Mutational signatures to understand cancer genomes. We talk about how he got into bioinformatics, what mutational signatures as a field is like, making pretty presentations, aging research, and more.
(00:00) Intro
(02:30) Andy's Background
(03:50) Fascination with computer science
(05:45) Programming is ADHD friendly
(08:00) The wet lab grind
(09:00) The Thanos technique of splitting cells
(11:40) Transition from wet lab to dry lab
(14:20) Don't get trapped in tutorial hell
(16:30) Mutational signatures to understand cancer
(26:05) Publishing as a bioinformatics PhD
(29:40) Hybrid scientists
(32:20) Spending time on visualization
(39:00) Using Chat-GFP and co-pilot
(42:00) Aging research and philosophical concerns
(51:20) Leaving behind a legacy
(52:45) Tiktok and Memes

Links
Andy's Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wubbywub
...more
56min
November 15, 2023 Ambition
We talk about the nature of ambition, how unlikely one is to succeed, and why one should try anyway
(00:00) Intro - Getting into mediation
(02:00) Going on a meditation retreat
(05:45) Training to be a monk is no joke
(08:15) Ambition and expertise
(09:25) Ambitious careers do not maximize well-being
(11:40) Everyone loves an ambitious story
(12:30) Ambitious stories misrepresent the truth
(14:00) We underestimate the work it takes
(15:45) 10,000 hour rule
(16:20) Does a PhD make you an expert?
(19:00) Expertise on the internet
(22:10) How to find your calling
(23:40) Tiger Woods vs Roger Federer
(25:45) Being ambitious does not guarantee success
(29:00) Be ambitious in your youth
(30:50) Our ambitions

Links:
How Karate Kid Ruined the Modern World
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Crossing the Unknown Sea
...more
35min
November 05, 2023 From Physics to Bioinformatics | with Anya Korsakova
Anya's love for math has steered her career to theoretical physics, drug discovery, bioinformatics, machine learning, and more. We talk about her journey and what she is currently up to.
(00:00) Intro - Who is Anya Korsakova
(03:15) Training as a theoretical physicist
(05:00) Shifting to life science
(06:55) Transition to bioinformatics and machine learning
(08:55) Self-learning bioinformatics
(14:15) Pros and cons of having a math background
(20:15) Studying both math and biology
(21:00) Math in India and the role of teachers
(24:00) Math (and coding) can be addictive
(27:30) Consequences of the Artificial Intelligence revolution
(34:00) AI assistants for research and writing code
(38:40) Being ambitious in life and passion for science
(41:30) Hobbies outside of science
(47:20) Aging research
(01:00:20) Being a woman in academia
...more
1h 4min

FAQs about Art of Academia:

How many episodes does Art of Academia have?

The podcast currently has 27 episodes available.