Time-Wasting Tip #13 for the Overworked Grad Student

Got a long incubation time to kill? Waiting for your cells to spin? Bored in-between classes? In class?  This week I’ve decided to finally dust off the official list of grad-student approved webcomics for your time-wasting pleasure. They’re all a bit goofy, esoteric, somewhat vulgar but safe for work; most importantly, they are all very, very nerdy.

1.     PhD Comics You should already be familiar with this comic from Synapse’s weekly print edition. If you are not, you need to go to PhDcomics.com and catch up. It’ll take a while, considering the comics have been around for almost 10 years. There’s a handy list of the 200 most popular comics on the lefthand side of the page.

2.     Xkcd  Many of you are also likely familiar with this. Like Phd Comics, xkcd is heavily science-oriented, with more of a computer science and math focus. Some of the comics go over my head, but I still check every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for a new one (xkcd.com). Make sure to mouse over the image for a secret message in each comic!

3.     Abstruse Goose (abstrusegoose.com) I hadn’t heard of this one until a grad student friend pointed it out to me, but it also has a scientific humor about it. The most recent comic, all about penultimate authors on journal articles, hit particularly close to home. I have a feeling the author isn’t foreign to scientific publication…

4.     Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC-comics.com) Perhaps my favorite webcomic of all. SMBC is updated daily and pretty much exclusively covers science and philosophy. Like xkcd, there’s always a secret extra panel if you mouse over the red button at the bottom (it took me a year or so to notice it!).

Am I missing any? Send us an email and give us your grad-student approved comics. Check next week for another grad-student approved distraction—suggestions are welcome!