Best of 2013

Things have been crazy around here. In the last couple of weeks, I have submitted a book chapter (never again, no more book chapters), and am preparing for the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology meeting in Austin later this week, where I shall be:

• Co-organizing a symposium on parasite manipulation with Kelly Wienersmith.
• Giving a talk during that symposium.
• Co-organizing a workshop on parasites and phenotype, again with Kelly Wienersmith.
• Helping my student Meera present a talk on sand crab parasites in a complementary session to the symposium.
• Giving a poster that has nothing to do with parasites. It’s the latest on nociception, a.k.a., the “lobster in the pot” problem.

And I have a manuscript due in January and another due in February. So yes, blog posts have suffered a little.

To make up for this, here are the top five most popular posts from 2013!

1. All lobsters are mortal (by a wide margin of victory)
2. Sasquatch DNA: new journal or vanity press
   
3. What we know, and don’t know, about crustacean pain 
4. “I’ll be brave after I’m tenured”
   
5. When to pack it in