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What else are you going to do, write letters explaining previously unexplained aspects of other peoples' experiments?
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<p>I don't know if you said that facetiously, but basically, yeah. That's one way to go. There are many published papers that do exactly that. In fact, there is an entire subfield - theoretical biochemistry - that is basically attempting to explain anomalies of other people's experiments in a conceptual manner. Some of the work is computational, some is experimental/empirical, but some of it is purely theoretical. </p>
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I think she was talking specifically about biochemistry and the like. And I'd be tempted to agree with her. Apart from bioinformatics, where all you need is a computer, most of the life sciences do indeed require some sort of lab setup. Independent research in a field which can't be reduced simply to mathematics in some way or another will normally require lab work
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<p>I never denied that a lot of biochemistry work requires an actual lab. What I question is why do you necessarily always need to work in a lab of a professor? Let's use a little creativity here. You can build your own lab. Will it be a very good lab? No, probably not. But at least you will be able to run your own experiments, come up with your own data, and have a chance a writing your own publications.</p>
<p>Impossible, you say? Are you sure? Let me give you an example. Here's a story of a high school kid who built his own nuclear fusion reactor at home. Nor is he the only such teenager to do that. He is the 18th such kid to do so. </p>
<p>Michigan</a> teen creates nuclear fusion - UPI.com</p>
<p>Here's the website of another young guy who has also built his own nuclear reactor, and describes exactly how to do it. He estimates that a fully functional model should cost less than $2000, and a demo model could cost as low as $200. I think that's well within most students' budgets. </p>
<p>What</a> it Takes-making a homemade nuclear reactor:the ultimate science project </p>
<p>I also know of guys who have built their own engineering machinery. For example, one team of guys I know built their own hovercraft. Another guyI know once built his own solar-powered motorcycle over his summer vacation. </p>
<p>Look, my ultimate point is this. I think we need to have some more respect for amateur science and technology. Not all science requires million-dollar equipment in somebody else's established lab. You really can learn a lot about science by just building your own setup and running your own experiemnts. Now, will those experiments be as incisive if you had use of a fully stocked lab, had strong support from a prof, and you had a high level of knowledge of what was going on? Of course not. But that's a false choice for many undergrads, as, like I've been saying throughout this thread, a lot of undergrads don't get much support from their profs. A lot of undergrads who work in profs labs know really know what's going on because nobody wants to take the time to tell them. Instead, many undergrads, sadly, do indeed get stuck with a lot of scut work with no oppportunity to advance. Building your own home lab and running your own experiments is going to give you a better experience that that. Like I said, if you can make a demo nuclear fusion reactor in your own home for perhaps $200, and a fully functional fusion reactor for less than $2000 (as that guy above says you can), I really don't think it's that hard to build a reasonable home biochem lab for a reasonable price, if you're willing to put in the time and effort to learn how to do it. </p>
<p>Look, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that people shouldn't try to get good positions in formal labs. If you can get a position where the profs and grad students really are willing to teach you what is going on, and are willing to support you and give you actual meaningful work and good opportunities to publish, then you should definitely go for it. </p>
<p>But not everybody gets those opportunities. I wish everybody did, but they don't. If you're not one of them, then amateur science is another way for you to go. You don't have to put up with an unhelpful prof.</p>