What do I do

Being a PhD student, I always get this kind of questions from others: Do you go to class everyday? Do you sit for exams? Have you finish writing your thesis? (Hello, I'm still in the mist of screening anything that is interesting and worth further investigation.) Yet the most difficult question to answer is: What do you do?

Normally I'll just answer 'Er, I study life science or biology.' So you study animals and plants? (Yes, I guess. Homo sapiens is animal right?) 'Not exactly, I research on human cancers.' So are you a doctor or what? 'Err, I'm not a doctor (although I can be called one if I manage to complete my study), I study about genetics and genes to find out how they contribute to cancers.' Wow, then can cure cancers! (Seriously, people would think we are GIANTS when we mention the word 'Genetics' but in reality only we ourselves know that what we are researching may lead us to nothing significant in the end.)


PHD comics released a new strip just recently, which I find quite useful to explain my kind of research, what I do (for a living currently) and some truths about our study. Here you go!

Hope this answers the question 'What do you do'.

p/s: If you want a better resolution comics, click on the PHD Comics link at the bottom right of my blog. I mean if you really care to understand what I actually do. HAHA!