Arula Ratnakar 🧠 💕
@ArulaRatnakar
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Computational neuroscience PhD student studying embryonic neurodevelopment @NeurosciBU . I write sci-fi & mathfiction stories. 5 stories @clarkesworld (6th soon)
Boston, MA
Joined April 2020
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Contract is signed and sent, so I’m thrilled to announce that Clarkesworld Magazine will be publishing my next mathfiction/science fiction novella, titled “Fractal Karma”!
Knot theory, klein bottles, drugs and conspiracies.
This one is pretty wild 😅
Thanks
@clarkesworld
!!!
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"Destruction of Troy" took me 3 years to complete. It's drawn freehand, and has messages scattered throughout, written in a cipher I invented that combines the Fibonacci sequence w/ sheet music. The title is written in the top left corner. Use it as a Rosetta Stone if you'd like.
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Wow. I didn't understand the Kalman filter until I read this beautifully illustrated, beautifully explained article! If anyone is interested:
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I just accepted an offer of admission into Boston University's Neuroscience PhD program!
Going to do lots of math and brain stuff for the next half-decade, excited to become a doctor of brain-math!
This is so wild! Very happy! I'm going to get a PhD lmao wtf
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Today I shared my entire screen instead of sharing a window and had forgotten to close a video I was watching yesterday called "How to make friends with a wasp" and everyone saw it. 😟
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If you, dear hard sci-fi readers, want my speculative neuroscience and molecular biology, you're getting my queer South Asian protagonists too. It's a package deal. 😌
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Officially been rejected from all the science PhD programs I applied to. Trying to focus on assignments due today but it's hard
I'd appreciate compliments and/or hearing non-PhD-related good news in your lives. Kind of low and questioning whether I really do anything well at all
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So the 40k word science fiction novella I recently wrote references a fictional children's book I said was published in the year 2030, and I 100% intend to write that children's book and release it in 2030.
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If you're a professor, please consider not doing super harsh late penalties. I had a class that had a 1 second or more late = 50% taken off, and it killed my grade even if I did well on exams, assignments, etc. in terms of content. I turned in a lot of things 2-5 minutes late.
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I’m in shock I’ll actually be PAID to spend all my time thinking about something I’m seriously obsessed with for half a decade
Im doing it bc I personally need to spend my life understanding how the brain works and figuring out the right math to describe it, it’s my ideal life.
why do people keep getting PhDs? I genuinely don’t get it
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I signed and sent the contract, so I'm THRILLED to announce my science fiction novella "Axiom of Dreams" has been accepted by
@clarkesworld
!!!!
It's a wild story haha, half set in the Boston academic science community and half set ... well, you will find out!
So so happy!!!!
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OMG!!! My science fiction novella Submergence is on the LOCUS RECOMMENDED READING LIST!!!!!
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Whenever you're like "damn I wish magic and cool monsters were real" remember we live in a world with things like WHALES and OPTOGENETICS exist, like the world is magical as fuck.
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@ohfeeIs
@fecundmaiden
I've gotten yawns and groans before. Those people are out of my life now and anyone else like that will be out too. Got no time for it!
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You get trolls over the most simple stuff, lmao. The phrase "queer South Asian protagonist" in the same sentence as "hard science fiction" really threatens a certain type of person, it's funny to see.
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You all a random person wrote out in an email a 20 page scathing critique of my science fiction novella Submergence in
@clarkesworld
and is this not the pinnacle of fame? (The critique is genuinely ridiculous too lol).
The effort though! Omg!
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I've signed+sent the contract, so I think I can announce that my science fiction novella "Babirusa" has been accepted by
@clarkesworld
!
It has an imaginary-architecture puzzle based on fascinating math, as well as speculative nanotechnology, neuroscience and wholesome siblings!
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Signed the contract, so happy to announce my scifi novella from 2021, Submergence (originally published in
@clarkesworld
) will be translated into French by
@ArgyllEditions
with translator Jean-Daniel Brèque (who did translations of Stephen King, Margaret Atwood, Clive Barker ...)
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Contract is signed and sent! I'm thrilled to announce that my novelette "Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City" has been accepted and sold to
@clarkesworld
! This is my third sale to Clarkesworld (and my third story sale in general). If I hadn't started writing science fiction, (1/2)
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My novella is here! If you'd like a story full of science and romance, check out "Submergence"!!!
I'm so proud of this one. It's truly a compilation of what I've learned & loved in my science classes and research over the past couple of years. Ah, I'm going to thank people below
Our March issue features new stories by D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Isabel J. Kim, Wang Zhenzhen, Arula Ratnakar, Isabel Lee, Wole Talabi, and Sarah Pauling.
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Wow, thank you so much everyone, for appreciating my drawing! Some more details about it:
It's 10 ft x 3 ft. I started it when I was 15 years old, and finished it when I was 18 years old. I drew it left to right, taping sheets to it as I went along.
Some progress shots! :)
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SO honored that my scifi story from 2020 "Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City" was chosen to be included in the Best Science Fiction of the Year anthology, alongside so many incredible authors who inspire me with their beautiful work. Thank you so much for selecting my story! ❤🥳
Here's the official reveal for the contents and cover of The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 6
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I have now submitted all of my neuroscience PhD applications. Fingers crossed so hard. Oh man, I really want this.
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One dude said "you're interested in writing science fiction? I can teach you how to write it" and went on to explain his really bizarre military scifi story work in progress. I'm a published science fiction author on major genre award longlists! He didn't know, to be fair.
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Okay, don't like my story? Cool. Bad review of my story? Still fine! Emailing me directly with your negative opinions? Not cool. Emailing people I know/care about with your negative opinions of my story? Super super not cool tbh ...
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More good news! I have a new hard science fiction novella, BABIRUSA, out in the February 2022
@clarkesworld
! It has trippy imaginary architecture-math stuff (w/ diagrams/illustrations!), neuroscience of decision making, moral/ethical philosophy, and more!
Our February 2022 issue is now online and features original fiction by Arula Ratnakar, Octavia Cade, Sarah Pauling, Marissa Lingen, Isabel J. Kim, John McNeil, and Jess Levine. Cover art by JC Jongwon Park.
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Who are the authors that come to mind when you think "hard science fiction"? I've been asking some people outside the SFF literary scene and the answers are a bit disappointing (though it's also a great opportunity to introduce them to modern (and diverse!) hard SF authors)!
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Dude … I knew no advanced math until like 2021, was in architecture, and there’s a good chance (still tbd though, just at interview stage) l’ll start an extremely math intensive PhD in the fall so you do not know what you’re talking about.
You're learning the math I learned at 14 years old, I'm learning the social skills you learned at 14 years old, we are NOT the same
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I was accepted into a PhD program when I was truly ready for it. It took me multiple application cycles to get in but I feel very ready to just start.
I think I’ve even found a topic I’ve been obsessed with for months, I’m really excited to do a couple of my rotations about it.
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A cool announcement, confirmed this semester! I am going to be the first person to graduate from
@CarnegieMellon
with a degree in "General Studies" because I've studied Architecture, Biology and Neuroscience primarily, as well as set design, screenwriting and film studies! (1/2)
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Linear algebra helps you out at the most unexpected moments.
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Wild that I talked to Ted Chiang last week at a literature conference I was invited to, he's been a big inspiration for my scifi writing career lol. I told him about place cells and grid cells and we talked about volition and mental models of the future. Was pretty cool lmao.
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Here's my most recent hard scifi novella if you'd like to read it!
Optogenetics, memories, the deep sea, questions of what makes something intelligent, virology, future of climate protests, a fibonacci music cipher, all in a murder mystery+queer romance.
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My
#AwardsEligibility
2021
My hard sci-fi novella SUBMERGENCE
@clarkesworld
is eligible for Ignyte, Hugo, Nebula, Locus etc awards.
It has optogenetics, memory-neuroscience, murder, queer romance, a new gastrointestinal virus & sentient sea sponges (1/2)
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Another bittersweet detail: I'd drawn almost all of the "gate" portion of the drawing, when I had a better idea for it. So I erased all of the gates -- erased weeks of thinking and countless hours of painstaking detailing -- and did it again with my better idea. Paid off though!
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You all ... I've just finished writing my first novel. Going to read it through and polish it this week etc but yeah!!!
It was originally intended to be a novella but it's a novel now haha.
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What happens if you go against medical advice and take a bunch of psychedelics while having a brain chip that optimizes your dreams for mathematical breakthroughs?
Read my story “Axiom of Dreams” in
@clarkesworld
& find out
Set in the 2050s Boston academic science community 😬
Our September 2023 issue features original fiction by Nnedi Okorafor, D.A. Xiaolin Spires, Nika Murphy, Arula Ratnakar, Djuna, R. L. Meza, and RJ Taylor.
Subscribe at:
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It's not bad if I only have time to write 1 or 2 pieces of science fiction a year right? And only have one, *maybe* two publications each year? I can still have a successful writing career if I'm a slow writer right? What if I only really write novellas/novelettes? Is that okay?
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I technically graduated today, there was a virtual ceremony. I didn't order a cap/gown but once my diploma arrives in the mail I might take some nice pictures in a nice dress or something. 🙂
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Does anybody know autistic women of color who are professors, PI's, science writers, etc. in neuroscience? It would be so cool if I could talk to one of them.
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Fell down the stairs carrying my recycling and broke BOTH my legs lmao!!!! One much worse than the other but damn.
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After I posted that I got into a PhD program, a lot of people followed me who are planning to apply this fall. I really want to stress to you: do NOT attach your self worth to this process. If you get in, awesome! If not, try again. Love for the subject will be your lifeline(1/2)
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My Clarkesworld stories especially Submergence & Babirusa took 6-8 months of plotting. The story I’m finishing up writing now took nearly 2 years of neuro research and life experience-accumulation to plot. Love* how techbros think they can shortcut their way with AI.
*sarcastic
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@nameshiv
@priyachandscifi
Oh gosh. I'm one of those people that needs to know how many full turns of a pepper grinder are needed for "salt and pepper", this is a nightmare recipe to me!
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AHH! I cannot believe this! My science fiction novella "Submergence" from the 2021 March issue of
@clarkesworld
is on the longlist for the Hugo Award for Best Novella! I'm so glad people like my weird little story about optogenetics, sea sponges, memory neuroscience and lesbians!
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Okay. I'm going to read my sci-fi novella over two more times this weekend, and if I like it both times, I will submit it to a place on Monday 😬
Really proud of the neuroscience and speculative cell biology I put into this one 🤓 and the sapphic enemy-to-lover stuff 😏
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So I'm officially an Active SFWA (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America) member!!! 🎉 Look out for my third publication on March 1st!!!
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So honored that my science fiction novella "Submergence" from the March 2021 issue of
@clarkesworld
is a finalist for the Utopia Awards!
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Guys my romantic sci-fi novella about smart scientist ladies in a science-filled plot full of optogenetics and memory-neuroscience and virology and marine biology is going to be published in less than a week!!! I'm so excited :D
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If I never get into a PhD program, I’ll still just self study lots of math and neuro and quantum mechanics and come up with theories I guess, and synthesize everything in sci-fi stories.
I really don’t know if it’s going to work out for me :( I don’t know if I have a future here
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Despite what the updated CDC guidelines say, I think I'm going to keep wearing masks even if I'm vaccinated because I recently discovered a black turtleneck + black mask + dark sunglasses outfit and I've never felt more like a fictional spy before.
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It's my birthday today, I'm now 22 years old! Feels good to be a palindrome 😊
Hope you have a nice day! Here are my paintings "The Eye Garden" and "Detached"
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Nothing I cared about 2 weeks ago matters. PhD rejections don't matter. Boston still exists, my livelihood still exists. That's something to be thankful for that I took for granted. It's more than what my cousins who lived in Kharkiv have right now. They're experiencing hell.
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If you hate hard science fiction/super science-y science fiction, & have sworn off it, please know I am writing for *you*. In 9th grade I failed high school biology and had to redo it, but in university I aced my neurobiology and molecular/cellular immunology courses. (1).
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I wonder why mathematical notation feels so intimidating. Once I get over being intimidated and figure out what it's saying, it's *never* as terrifying as it looks. But why is it so intimidating in the first place?
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LISTEN, please share this fundraiser for
@MohdLbd
who is in Gaza, in danger, and trying to get his family to safety.
He told me he needs this to reach people with many followers and get the attention of orgs, so please get this to someone who can spread it even more effectively.
Hello friends,
Albert Camus said:
“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal“
We tried hard, we expended our energy only to survive and to be normal!
I hope to help publishing our story, your energy is needed!
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Lmao, if you'd rather not learn about cutting edge neuroscience and neurophotonics research through my "emotional" science fiction, be my guest.
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Usman is right. I'm disappointed in author colleagues who write stories about rebellion and dismantling empire, yet stay silent in real life. Empty words.
Remedy this by using times you are given a platform to speak out. Stick to the sentiments you claim in your fictional worlds
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Personal post: I have an autism diagnosis. Today I heard personal stories from others on the spectrum and how the massive routine change affected them. I started crying, because I related a lot. I missed my routines so much it physically hurt. Finishing the semester was hard.
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Putting the finishing touches on a sci-fi story I’ve spent like 1.5 years figuring out, inspired by my own research I’ve been doing and my colleagues research I’ve been helping out with in the neuroscience labs I’m working in/collaborating with!! it’s set in near-future Boston!!
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Today someone told me my neuroscience ideas are what they'd expect from a 5th year PhD student so that cured my impostor syndrome a little bit lmao!
I really hope I get into a PhD program when I apply this year. Especially my top choice program. Really really really hoping 😟🥺
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omg I got an A! I aced a super hard math class wtf.
I actually used to struggle academically. In high school I failed 9th grade biology and swore I'd never become a biologist. I struggled in architecture school too, and STEM classes during COVID.
So it's cool to get good grades
omg my Discrete Math final was hard🥲 I think I did okay?
idk how I did, there was definitely one Finite State Machine problem I could not figure out (until the moment after I submitted my exam of course because the math gods needed to humble me)
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I've found this cool game that teaches you CPU architecture and assembly and stuff! You end up building your own computer!
I wanted something that didn't feel like extra commitment but taught me how to bridge software and hardware. This is perfect!!!
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So excited to have my novella "Submergence" (first published in
@clarkesworld
last year) reprinted as one of the 12 stories in "The Year's Top Hard Science Fiction Vol. 6" collection! Sharing this TOC with authors whose work I really respect. Definitely honored!
Año Nuevo
@raynayler
Vaccine Season
@hannu
Submergence
@ArulaRatnakar
Aptitude
@900_0001
The Egg Collectors
@lavietidhar
3 novellas in this TOC!!!
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Very pleasantly surprised to see my science fiction novella Babirusa from last year in
@clarkesworld
included on the British Science Fiction Association Award longlist! This is wonderful news!
🚀 The BSFA Long List is now available to view! Check it out and see if your favourites made it!
Congratulations to the nominees. Voting for the Short List opens next week, so stand by!
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A few months ago I met Ted Chiang at a literature conference I was a speaker at
Told him about place & grid cells and we talked about accuracy of mental models of the future. He told me to keep sending my sci-fi novellas to Clarkesworld & write at my own pace. He was super nice!
People say don’t meet your heroes but sometimes your heroes are actually very smart and kind people who give you good feedback on your outline and encourage your curiosity
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You all do know my
@clarkesworld
stories take place in the same future history timeline right? There are small references to each other in all of them. Try reading them in this order: "Babirusa", "Submergence", "Insaan Hain, Farishte Nahin", "Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City"
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I'm tired of people (usually white man hard sf fans? Bizarre?) being mad at how much science I put into my stories. Why? Isn't this what they want from hard sf? The double standard is astoundingly clear sometimes.
Anyway just annoyed about some recent stuff!
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There have been enormous stressors in my life this year but I have achieved some stuff! I've had a new novella published in Clarkesworld, made the Locus list, made it into the Year's Top Hard Science Fiction anthology & done a lot of sci-comm while working in a lab full time.
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Took a mirror selfie w/ my two leg casts haha. Not stopping me from pretty dresses.😊Hopefully only 2 more weeks for one of the casts! Other ankle/bit of leg was really messed up though lol I have a bunch of metal plates and screws in it and it's going to be a while for that one
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Needed emergency abdominal surgery. Will be in hospital for the next few days re-learning how to sit up and walk 😟
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Hmm. Got particularly painful PhD rejections in the past week.
But I also had a novella published, and it's getting a good response, and I learned REALLY cool immunology facts and molecular design concepts, which overall makes up for the bad.
My painting "The Eye Garden"
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Idk. I think having three stories in Clarkesworld and being on the Locus Recommended Reading List is successful but 🤷♀️
Anyway. Going off Twitter today now.
@ArulaRatnakar
@nathane95
@KealanBurke
@Johnholroyd14
Having a short story published is not 'being a successful writer'. Good grief.
I'm talking about someone who has actually been a successful writer and done it as a career.
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I legit made a "notebook of human behavior" in 6th grade to try and figure out, write down and rote-learn behavioral rules. It ... sort of worked but at a great cost and variable success rate. Still, even now it's hard to come to terms with there being no rules!
For YEARS I thought "If I just get the right tone of voice" or "if I just try to word it this way.." or "if I just smile more maybe people will think I'm approachable"
Still to this day I have to remind myself that There Are No Rules. There's not! There's no formula.
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My left leg is 100% healed and doesnt even need a brace anymore! Right leg is still pretty broken and nonweightbearing lol but I now only have ONE broken leg!!!
Fell down the stairs carrying my recycling and broke BOTH my legs lmao!!!! One much worse than the other but damn.
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I'm SO EXCITED to start a job in June at a neuroscience lab in Boston that does neurophotonics and does fascinating decision-making AND episodic memory research!!!!
Wish I could go back in time and tell my past architecture student self that she can totally become a scientist!
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My mom is adorable she said "I can't give you a Hugo award but I can give you a Hug award"
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No freaking way. I got a 98% on my Real Analysis assignment?! The proofs were hard! I was expecting to do badly!
Maybe I'm good at math?
I didn't know about math in undergrad, and I got bad grades in other classes in undergrad. I think I've found something I might be good at?
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When my high school geometry teacher asked someone to come to the whiteboard and bring a ruler with them and I got up too because I thought he said bring "Arula" not "a ruler"
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ugh, resurgence of annoyance towards the uppity literary fiction crowd who look down on scifi and fantasy while using our tropes, and remove anything they like from the genre label.
Vonnegut was a scifi author. And magical realism is a fantasy subgenre.
#WritingCommunity
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If you didn't get into PhD programs after undergrad, what did you do in between/instead? I think of a lot of you as role models & would appreciate hearing about your experience. Objectively looking at my application in comparison to others, it's not strong. I'll get there someday
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I reread the science fiction novel I wrote and actually felt "wow, that's a good novel" as a reader reading my own words (usually I'm tired of my own voice rereading my stories). It's the best thing I've ever written, in plot/characters, speculative neuroscience & philosophically
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I have exciting news! There's a science conference at Penn State on SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) later in July and I've been invited to be a panelist on a virtual scifi+science panel! Excited to share my thoughts on how neuroscience & sci-fi can influence SETI!
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I've been thinking about this more and I've decided to get a neuron tattoo regardless of whether I get into a PhD program or not. It's not like the decision will change anything about my passion for neuroscience! Neuro means the world to me and I want this tattoo 🙂
If I get into a neuro PhD program I'm definitely getting a neuron tattoo.
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Science is so fun rn. I love thinking about math that could describe biological phenomena I’m interested in, writing a model, and puzzling out the code for a program I come up with.
Why do ppl lose their enthusiasm as they progress? Is it because of grants? Will it happen to me?
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Omg!!! The doctors say I'm "impressively mobile" with the walker so I don't need to keep injecting myself with blood thinner!!!
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Will only post science, writing, and art related things here -- little to no personal posts. You can find my first published story in the May 2019 issue of
@clarkesworld
. It's titled "Insaan Hain, Farishte Nahin"
Link to my story:
Here is some of my art:
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My contributer copy for the Hugo/Astounding Long List Anthology for 2021 arrived! So honored to have my
@clarkesworld
story "Lone Puppeteer of a Sleeping City" in it.
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There's no rush tbh for me to get into a PhD program. I'll try every year but even if I keep getting rejected, it's okay. I'll keep doing research and working really hard and doing a sh*t ton of sci-comm work and eventually neuro grad schools will see this route is meant for me.
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Oh man this is a bit late (intensely busy time) but my hard science fiction novella “Babirusa” in
@clarkesworld
is eligible for the Hugo Awards if you’re voting! Trippy mind-maze-puzzle and synthetic biology stuff:
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